Home > Consumer Reviews > Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Internal Sound Card

This is going to be a long review because I just purchased this and I want to answer some questions that I couldn't find answers to before I purchased it. If you want the 1 word summary, it's "INCREADIBLE"!!

I was upgrading from a Fortissimo 1 sound card. I understand that this is not a great card, however I was using the optical out to connect to a DTS receiver. Essentially the sound card was doing nothing but transferring data and my nice receiver was doing all of the work. This made me apprehensive about upgrading to the Audigy 2 because I wasn't sure if I would notice a difference from my optical card. (pause for a quick side note) You can NOT hook this card up digitally to a receiver. I LOVE this card, but I feel this is important for customers to understand this fact, and very deceiving from Creative. The digital output on the card uses a proprietary digital signal. For the techs out there, a normal (electrical not optical) digital signal is a sine wave. The crest of the wave registers as "on" and the bottom of the wave registers as "off". The creative digital-out uses 8 points on the sine wave to create the signal. 1 point for each audio channel. This will only work with computer speaker sets designed for this type of proprietary signal. It will not work with home theatre receivers because it is not a standard digital signal. (now back to my review) With the Audigy 2 ZS I would need to hook everything up using analog THX certified monster cables. Essentially it boils down to weather my receiver will sound better decoding the digital signal (old card), or if the Audigy 2 ZS will sound better decoding the signal and then passing it to the receiver for amplification. I honestly could not be happier with the results. The Audigy 2 ZS sounds 10 times better than my old setup. Everything is MUCH more crisp and well defined, and the low end sounds AMAZING. I'm not talking loud bass, I'm just talking really really tight and smooth. I could not recommend this card more. It is THE BEST upgrade I have made to my PC in years.

I also wanted to touch a bit on the setup, because I couldn't find any reviews anywhere that explained how to hook up the analog outs to a home theatre receiver, and Creative made it a little tricky. First, the 8 channels use only 3 mini plugs as connectors. How you ask? The first connector is an easy to find cable. It's a mini -> 2 RCA. This is the same cable you use to hook a Discman up to your receiver. The other 2 are weird. They are mini -> 3 RCA. The only use I've ever seen for a cable like this is hooking up a DV camcorder to a TV. If you are using monster it is called a CAMAV cable. The first plug feeds your front right and front left speakers. The second plug feeds you rear left, rear right, and side left speakers. The third plug feeds your side right, center, and sub speakers. I could not find that info anywhere before buying and experimenting. I use a double receiver setup with two 5.1 receivers. The second receiver has some unused channels, so later I can expand as far as 10.2. I highly recommend this setup.

I also HIGHLY recommend this card. Like I said before, I am blown away by the sound quality. I've never heard a computer sound so good.

I bought this card as an upgrade for my default Dell system, having done a little shopping around for a good deal. I was attracted to this card for several reasons - A) It supports 5.1 surround sound (just got some new shiny speakers to play with y'see), B) I trust Creative to make a reliable and compatible product, since I'm not a computer whiz, and I don't have the time or experience to reconfigure stuff just to get it to work, and C) The price is just about right.

Installation was a breeze - like always just follow the instructions carefully and make sure everything is connected before you close the case - this model comes with a separate cable to link the sound card to the digital port on the CD drive. My XP system detected everything right away, and the software installed without a hitch. There's a few different programs bundled with the card, including EAX, THX and speaker configuration support, all of which is nicely presented and was helpful when setting up my speakers. The 5.1 surround support is just as groovy as I'd hoped, and the card software made it a breeze to adjust the levels, configure Winamp 5 to play through all the channels, and add funky effects. I don't really have much use for all the software included, but I can imagine if you were starting from scratch, or, conversely, quite an advanced user, you might enjoy the various different functions included here. I'm a bit middle-of-the-road to need all the bells and whistles, but I appreciate them being there.

So, easy to setup, easy to use, simmering with latent power and nicely priced. I admit that I was also persuaded to get this card for secret reason D) It came bundled with Raven Shield (and Angel of Darkness, but I'm treating that as a fancy test for my speakers rather than a `real' game...I'm such a snob) which sounds awesome through this card. A great buy for a lower end user who wants to ramp-up their audio experience without breaking the bank (or an eardrum). Recommended.

First, the something you should know. If you are upgrading from a previous Sound Blaster card you will need to completely uninstall this card, the drivers and all files related to it. The Sound Blaster website has a very clear cut article on how to do this. If you do not completely uninstall your previous card this new one will have conflicts and lock your computer up. Also you will need to download the newest updates for the card and make sure your BIOS is updated (something you probably need to do anyway.) The process took about 45 min but once it was done this card absolutely rocks!!!

And now the performance. If this is your first plunge into the whole THX/true Dolby surround sound experience on your computer you won't regret buying this card. Since installing this card I have replayed Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, URU and other games and it's a whole new experience. With my 5.1 surround sound speakers the sound was crisp, clear and definately worth the $85.00. I am not a hardcore "tech guru" so I can't get into the serious stuff that some of the other people here have: They seem to have done a good job with those reviews, so I'll leave it at that. But if you are looking for great surround sound and don't want to spend loads of money this card is for you.

I am in the process of setting up my kick-ass Dell XPS Gen 5 system, which I configured with the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS. I also ordered the Logitech Z-5500 500 watt 5.1 digital surround speakers (very kick-ass).

As others have mentioned in their reviews, the sound card does not come with the digital coax or digital optical cable; you must purchase this separately. Not a huge deal until you find out that a standard Toslink to Toslink digital optical cable won't work. The digital output on the sound card is a standard din connector/mini-plug. A standard digital coaxial cable won't work with the sound card either. You need a "converter" that can convert the digital coax cable connector or Toslink digital optical cable connector to the sound card's din connector.

In my case, the Logitech speakers have a control pod that has a Toslink connector for the optical cable, but I'm having a difficult time finding what I need on the Internet. Both the Creative and Logitech Websites aren't very clear on this. Since Dell installed the sound card for me, I don't have the manual so I don't know if the manual is a little more clear on this. The cables are out there; you have to search for them.

If you're going to use a coaxial cable, I've learned that you can use an RCA to 1/8" miniplug that the coax cable can connect to and then you can plug this into the sound card.

This sound card would have received a 5-star rating, but it's disturbing to me that Creative doesn't have the standard Toslink or coax connection directly on the sound card.

Another thing about this sound card: the default is typically analog, NOT digital. If this sound card came preinstalled in a system (mine is a Dell), the default is analog. I'm guessing it's this way right out of the box. Many of the reviews state how simple it was to set up using the Creative software. You have to change a setting on the sound card itself to enable the digital audio.

Just because you use digital speakers with your Audigy 2 ZS doesn't mean that you are automatically listening to digital output.

Also, if you're using Logitech's Z-5500 speakers, then you have to let Logitech's built-in decoding take care of everything. You have to actually configure the sound card to work with these speakers.

I'm still working with Dell on finding the proper cable and then we're going to work out the sound card settings as well as the software configuration so that I'm getting true digital sound. I'll update my review once that is complete.

Basically, this is a great sound card. Just make sure you read up on this; search google or yahoo and read some forums. This isn't something you can use straight out of the box if you want true digital and 5.1 surround sound.

Everything I know about the Audigy cards by Creative Labs tells me they are "most excellent". I upgraded from the most stripped down card they ever offered (as far as I know)- the SB Live! Value (Dell OEM). The OEM was even more stripped down than the retail version. The sound was INCREDIBLE on the nice speaker system I owned. Well, I updated the speakers and found that old card would not support them, so I decided it was time to update the card as well. I researched the newest ones on the market and found the Audigy 2 series to be affordable, "high zute", and rated great by most techies.

HERE"S THE GLITCH!!!!! If you are upgrading from an older computer system---- ESPECIALLY a DELL XPS generation 1 or 2 system----- the Audigy cards, even the oldest ones, will not work on the Dell mother boards. Your computer may meet the minimum requirements the sound card calls for but IT WILL NOT WORK. You won't find this information at Creative Labs anywhere, but if you go to Dell Forum and check the Dimension/Audio forum you will find plenty. I found out too late.

Bad news-- once you uninstall it to send it back cuz it don't work-- it will mess up your system. My scanner won't work right, I have had to uninstall other devices and reinstall them to get them to work.....etc, etc. Not worth the headache!

So, what can you do if you have no sound card or an old sound card and want to be able to support 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 speakers.

Try the Live! 24-bit card offered by Creative Labs, or the older Live! 5.1. I think they still offer it because they know there are millions of old Dell users out there with this known issue. Seems to affect some with the AMD bother boards too. See other reviews.

Hope this helps someone avoid the 40+ hours I invested in getting my system back to where it was before I inserted the card.

By the way, if you have a nice, new system- like less than a year old- then by all means buy this card- it's awesome.