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Audigy 2 NX for Notebooks

post #1 of 22
1/8/05 at 4:42pm
Thread Starter 
I came across the creative audigy soundcard that plugs into the PCMCIA slot of your notebook.
Can anyone tell me whether a soundcard like the audigy really enhances your overall audio experience? I'm using my 8600 for music, gaming,movies, that kinda stuff. I currently have the logitech z3 speakers and the sound quality is awesome so I was curious in what ways will the audigy improve my sound quality.
Thanks people! =)
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post #2 of 22
1/8/05 at 5:15pm

Audigy 2 ZS gives you EAX & DirectSound3D

For the specific ways that the sound will be improved you should check out the Creative web-site. I plugged in my 8600 using line-out from the head-phone jack to my Logitech Z-680 speakers. Playing the exact same sound source (MP3, game, DVD, CD - you name it) through the Audigy on my desktop is a completely different (much improved) experience. For one thing the sound card off-loads the sound processing to the card from the CPU. For another, you get EAX from the Audigy soundcard which provides nice depth.

Edit: Maximum PC did a good review of the notebook PCMCIA Audigy 2 ZS card and mentioned that it is pretty close to the desktop version. The signal-to-noise ratio drops to 104dB but you do get EAX 4 and hardware acceleration of DirectSound3D. They said that it offers so much presence and resolution that it is easy to tell apart from an on-board codec.

Keep in mind that the card won't improve your notebook speakers. It is strictly for use with external speakers & headphones. And it'll also let you do 24-bit recording.
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post #3 of 22
1/8/05 at 6:20pm
wait, so are you saying this new PCMCIA card Audigy 2ZS Notebook is better than the USB sound blaster Audigy 2NX?
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post #4 of 22
1/8/05 at 6:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Catleet04
wait, so are you saying this new PCMCIA card is actually better than the USB Sound blasters? like Live! 24bit external and extigy?
Depends on how you define better. For one thing the external USB requires a separate power source and you'd need to carry around a separate block a little larger than a PDA. If you only expect to use the card when it is sitting on your desktop this won't be an issue. To me the point of having a notebook is portability. The PCMCIA sticks out about an inch and that's it.

I believe that the specifications of the USB Audigy 2 NX are superior to that of the Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA. Almost certainly (somebody check the specs and tell me if I'm wrong) the Audigy 2 PCMCIA would be superior to the Live! and the Extigy anything.
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post #5 of 22
1/9/05 at 12:08pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks skifiend =D
one more thing...as I have only 2.1 speakers and the Audigy 2 NX/ZS is supposedly to give 7.1 surround sound, how then am I going to hear the difference through my 2.1 speakers? My logitech z3-e speakers don't have THX or any of that home entertainment audio quality kinda stuff.
Just wanna make sure before I spend my hard earned cash.
Cheers~
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post #6 of 22
1/9/05 at 1:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kean
Thanks skifiend =D
one more thing...as I have only 2.1 speakers and the Audigy 2 NX/ZS is supposedly to give 7.1 surround sound, how then am I going to hear the difference through my 2.1 speakers? My logitech z3-e speakers don't have THX or any of that home entertainment audio quality kinda stuff.
Just wanna make sure before I spend my hard earned cash.
Cheers~
While you obviously won't hear 7.1 with the 2.1 speakers the sound quality is much improved with the card. You should be able to tell the difference with decent speakers although the better your speakers the bigger the payoff for getting the card. The reviewers suggest getting the card if you listen through the head-phones, use external speakers, or if you want to record. It's unnecessary for those who use the notebook speakers. In the end, the only way to know for sure will be to try the card out with your external speakers.

Here is the Cnet review. The MaximumPC review is not on-line yet but available in their current issue.

Edit: Dang it! I've just spent about $600 on upgrades and now I want this card. Must resist......
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post #7 of 22
1/9/05 at 2:15pm
AHH, i am still going back and forth about getting audigy 2 ZS or NX, both look awesome, specs are good too, but it looks like NX is better just because it comes with remote and specs are little better, i mean ZS is good too, but you still need to carry the stupid cord that plugs into the PCMCIA card, might as well just carry the NX box and a 2.0 USB cord, what do you guys think?
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post #8 of 22
1/9/05 at 2:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Catleet04
AHH, i am still going back and forth about getting audigy 2 ZS or NX, both look awesome, specs are good too, but it looks like NX is better just because it comes with remote and specs are little better, i mean ZS is good too, but you still need to carry the stupid cord that plugs into the PCMCIA card, might as well just carry the NX box and a 2.0 USB cord, what do you guys think?
You don't need to carry the PCMCIA dongle/cord unless you plan to connect to external speakers. The headphones plug directly into the PCMCIA card. And surely, the little dongle isn't as much to carry as the external USB module? In addition, the external USB card has a power adapter. You will always need a power source to be able to use the USB soundcard and a place to set it down outside the notebook so I don't consider it to be a portable solution. The USB soundcard could sit on your desktop if that's where you primarily intend to use it.

It really depends on your priorities. I want to upgrade the sound on my notebook without compromising portability. I will connect it to my desktop speakers when I am home and the dongle/cord will sit there. So the PCMCIA card is the solution for me.
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post #9 of 22
1/9/05 at 3:26pm
If they have the technology to put SB Audigy 2 in a PCMCIA Card, then there is no reason why they can't integrate this card within the chassis of beasts such as the i9200.

Is that next? I won't be happy till it's 'built-in' as I do not like 'pieces' sticking out the side. Especially in a notebook like i9200 where you don't need a bag of accessories with you since the battery is good for 3.5-4.5 hours of real use. Just the notebook itself in a nice sleevecase.
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post #10 of 22
1/9/05 at 9:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by skifiend
....

I believe that the specifications of the USB Audigy 2 NX are superior to that of the Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA.
From the spec. on Creative's website, ZS PCMCIA is the best among all the "external" sound card, also, don't forget that USB soundcards are notorious for their high cpu usage.

http://www.soundblaster.com/products...ok/compare.asp

I'm using one now, and quite satisfied with it.
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post #11 of 22
1/9/05 at 10:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lucida
From the spec. on Creative's website, ZS PCMCIA is the best among all the "external" sound card, also, don't forget that USB soundcards are notorious for their high cpu usage.

http://www.soundblaster.com/products...ok/compare.asp

I'm using one now, and quite satisfied with it.
Thanks for the correction, Lucida. It is getting harder to resist....
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post #12 of 22
1/9/05 at 10:52pm
^^ gonna get one tomorrow since i have my laptop playing music when ever its on, i also agree with Sowelu, for people who cant live without music :-)
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post #13 of 22
1/9/05 at 11:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lucida
I'm using one now, and quite satisfied with it.
Lucida, do you use your card mostly with speakers or with headphones? I'm trying to figure out if the difference from the 8600 Sigma-Tel is appreciable while using headphones, which is how I'll be using the card. Also, do you mostly use it more with music, movies, or games?
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post #14 of 22
1/10/05 at 12:01am
I have the Audigy 2 NX and I am quite happy with it. One of the reasons that I went with the NX over the ZS is because I have a desktop PC as well. By getting the NX, I upgraded the sound card in my desktop and my notebook simultaneously. Basically, having the NX means I have just upgraded the sound card in any Windows machine that can connect via USB 2.0. Since I have 6 PCs in my house, this was a big selling point.
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post #15 of 22
1/10/05 at 1:00am

Audigy 2 ZS notebook reviews

Extremetech review

IGN Gear review

Resistance has broken down. I am in.

EDIT: Fixed the IGN link above.
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post #16 of 22
1/10/05 at 1:28am
funny, extremetech review gave Audigy 2 NX a review of 8.0 out of 10, and for ZS a 9.0 out of 10, more +++ toward ZS

ONLY IF ZS included a remote, like NX...sigh
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post #17 of 22
1/10/05 at 3:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by skifiend
Lucida, do you use your card mostly with speakers or with headphones? I'm trying to figure out if the difference from the 8600 Sigma-Tel is appreciable while using headphones, which is how I'll be using the card. Also, do you mostly use it more with music, movies, or games?
I use this most for music, with a sennheiser pxc 250. And by using foobar w/asio output, the diff is quite noticeable.

ps, I'm not a fan of HiFi, and I would define my ear as "average".
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post #18 of 22
1/10/05 at 1:55pm

Another option is the Echo Indigo PCMCIA

A discussion of the Creative Audigy 2 ZS Notebook in a Sager forum seems to indicate that the Echo Indigo PCMCIA card is better for music/stereo while the Creative card is better for games, DVDs and has 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 support.

It seems that the Echo card is intended for DJs and may do a better job with music. I almost certainly wouldn't be able to tell the difference from the Creative card and mostly use my notebook for games & movies. On the road I use my Creative Zen Xtra jukebox for music and it already has 104dB SNR. Plus the Creative card would play DVD Audio and there are many glowing reviews on it. Mine shipped today!
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post #19 of 22
1/24/05 at 7:07pm
Hey,

It seems the Sager guys are having problems with the Audigy ZS because of their PCMCIA 1410 Cardbus.

I just checked and I have a 4510 Cardbus (I8600). So are we fine or do we have the same issues with the ZS?

P.S. I have since 6 months the NX (USB). I am satisfied, but it is not perfect. CPU usuage is kind of high, which is bad for Gaming. DVD Players like WinDVD can only work in digital mode (external decoding). This is not so good, since if you have PAL DVDs and would like to enable the PalTruespeed option in WinDVD the digital output won't work anymore (because of streching of audio) So you need to rely on analog sound. Problem: WinDVD with Audigy NX (USB) just recognize a 2.1 Speaker system and not more.

Under Bottomline, NX makes indeed some problems. I hope the ZS would solve them. BTW NX is not THX certified, ZS is.

Regards
Houmie
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post #20 of 22
1/24/05 at 7:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Houmi
Hey,

It seems the Sager guys are having problems with the Audigy ZS because of their PCMCIA 1410 Cardbus.

I just checked and I have a 4510 Cardbus (I8600). So are we fine or do we have the same issues with the ZS?

P.S. I have since 6 months the NX (USB). I am satisfied, but it is not perfect. CPU usuage is kind of high, which is bad for Gaming. DVD Players like WinDVD can only work in digital mode (external decoding). This is not so good, since if you have PAL DVDs and would like to enable the PalTruespeed option in WinDVD the digital output won't work anymore (because of streching of audio) So you need to rely on analog sound. Problem: WinDVD with Audigy NX (USB) just recognize a 2.1 Speaker system and not more.

Under Bottomline, NX makes indeed some problems. I hope the ZS would solve them. BTW NX is not THX certified, ZS is.

Regards
Houmie
I haven't had any such problems beyond some static which was solved by downloading the lastest drivers. USB cards are known for their high CPU use. The ZS notebook does not have that problem and you are correct that it is THX certified. WinDVD works great with (outputting to 5.1 speakers). I'm happy with the card in my i8600 and would recommend it.
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