Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: 24bit/96khz, Creative Media software good organizer and MP3 ripper, Firewire port, Tomb Raider, Rainbow6 software included

Weakness: None

The sound-card filled all my needs, providing 24bit/96khz recording ability which I'm using with Cakewalk. I also use the Firewire port to get my Sony Digital8 camcorder movies into the computer. The software that comes with it is very well thought out, particularly when it comes to ripping MP3's from CDs you own: Gives you good control over quality and file naming. Tomb Raider and Rainbow6 are just great bonuses. All this for $86 after shipping? Wow.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: THX certified... eax 7.1 audio what else could you ask for? 108db

Weakness: nothing yet =)

a+ quality, wow im impressed upgraded from an audigy oem feels great with my t7700's 7.1 speakers which i also recommend. packed with rainbow six and tomb raider which demonstrates the true power of this sound card, go buy this sound card now you wont be disapointed

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Crystal Clear Sound, Great SNR.

Weakness: No good drivers.

I bought this Sound Card about a month ago and this card rocks. Even though the drivers of this card are not very good the live updates do some good. I upgraded from a Creative Live 5.1 sound card, and I fell a big difference in sound. The games work great with this card like Call Of Duty makes my room a battlefield with sounds coming from the back and front and everywhere you can imagine of. I have combined this card with a Creative Inspire 7700 7.1 speaker system so my sound experience is to the max it can get.

Talking about the drivers, the drivers which come bundled with the card is not so good, the Creative Advanced HD does not WORK!, so the games do not detect my sound card as a Advanced HD compatible card, even the Live update did not work out for me, so I went to the game manufacturer's web site and downloaded the patch, this is not the situation for all the games but it happens for Enter The Matrix.

WHILE COMPARING THIS CARD TO OTHERS THIS CARD WORKS FINE THAN OTHERS.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Features included compared to prcice

Weakness: You have to know how to deal with the software installed to get the maximum results+ I didn't like the games included

If you are an enthusiaist gamer and/or listener and would not expect less than perfect, with a reasonable amount of money I would say this is the card that you are looking for, because this is the same card in the Pro & platnium versions with the excpetions that the later ones include more i/o options..plus the pro & platinum are much more expensive.
My previous soud card was a mother board built in Realtek 5.1, so after I have installed the Audigy2 ZS, I found really a big differnce, A Crystal clear sound, frame rates improvements in some games especially the new games ( games paly became faster),I heard sounds I couldn't hear it before ( ambient sounds), alot of features and options wich will serve you well if you have the patience and expeirnce, I think a card with so many features must have alot of software to get all the benifits, other wise you will miss many many features provieded by that card.
Finally to full enjoy what the Audigy 2 Zs can provide try to have a high quality-multi speaker system beucause this a high end card and it will be a great loss if you use an ordinary speakers and you will lose the joyement of 3d positional soud which is this card is all about.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Sound quality is flawless, 5.1 support, EAX, morphing!

Weakness: None come to mind

Well it may just be me, but I actually did notice that my music and games sound just slightly clearer with the Audigy 2 ZS over my old Live x-gamer. I like all the new configuration applications, they've clearly put a lot of effort into making easy to use, good looking programs to tune every part of your sound card to your liking. They're much more polished than the old live apps.

The EAX morphing is the main reason I upgraded and I do love it. The discrete EAX effects sound boundaries are gone. Everything sounds much more realistic with the blended effects in place. If you have a live card now with EAX you no doubt hear those nasty changes in effects I'm referring to.

All in all a great purchase at

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: I need this for karaoke and it perfect. Sound great especially watching DVD

Weakness: More Input will be greater and feature to RR or LL

When I had built my first computer, I had a Motherboard that had built-in Sound & Video. I disabled both Sound and Video and put in my own Video Card; the Sound Card I chose was a Sound Blaster Live Platinum 5.1.I've up-graded Motherboard,Video and now Sound to the Audigy 2 zs Platinum. It's Built from the same tech that my card has with sweet added features; Like 24 Bit vs. 16 Bit,instead of just 5.1 it will do 6.1 and 7.1 THX Speakers. It also has a Built-in dts ES decoding,Dolby Digital EX decoding, EAX Advanced HD. The price; I couldn't pass up! Brand New, everythink in the Box, shipped fast! Need I say more? how about SWEET!

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Great Sound, dts decoding

Weakness: poor i/o options

The Audigy 2 zs is a wonderful sounding card. It makes movies playing through my computer with my Klipsh Promedia 5.1 ultra sound as good or better than my yamaha speakers running on my Sony ES 555 dts receiver.

The downside to the board is that they don't have any options for optical in or out. I had originally purchased the card to build a media center pc. The core components being an ATI all in wonder 9800 pro and the Audigy 2 ZS. The setup works great for movies and computer games. But you can't hook up any other devices to your computer and get 5.1 sound.

I could have gotten the Platinum(and of course still can), but the drive is made to go into a 5 1/4" drive bay, and of course, I don't have one of these on the back of my case, so it would look clumsy having the optical cable running to the front of the computer, plus it doesn't seem worth the $100 just for an optical in.

The Audigy and the SB live both allowed use of an extra daughter card for rear ports, so I'm not sure why creative figured people wouldn't want this anymore, but many other cards in this class have an optical or digital in of some sort. With this card, it's simply impossible to hookup an external 5.1+ channel device, and it doesn't have the daughter port to even connect the platinum drive as an add on.

So, dispite this being the best card on the market imho, I'm probably going to sell it on ebay and get the turtle or hercules card.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Great sound, decent game bundle.

Weakness: Only the price. This is a pretty expensive card, especially compared to something like the Chaintech AV-710. But you’re getting plenty of bang for your buck with the ZS.

I know a lot of people complain about Creative software, but I don’t see any problems with the ZS. You can keep the software completely minimal if that’s what you want to do. If you do install everything, there will be a few programs loading (unnecessarily) at start-up; but that is easily taken care of with msconfig. As for the performance and quality of this card, I have no complaints. Everything has met my expectations. This probably isn’t the card to buy if you just want to listen to music. But if you want an all-around good performer and a great gaming card, you really can’t go wrong with the ZS. I really can’t imagine anyone being disappointed with this card.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: - 24bit!!! - THX certified. - 108dB SNR clarity across 8 channels. - Acoustic enhancements. - 7.1 surround audio in games and movies and supports Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES.

Weakness: None so far.

I am very pleased with this sound card. My games sound great with it outputting to my 5.1 speakers. Very crisp sounds with 108db clarity. It comes with many features to fine tune your settings to your preference from changing environmental effects to determining the distance and angle of your speakers for the best acoustical sounds. I would highly recommend this product.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Excellent Sound Quality, Very Clean Signal, Massive Software Suite, Firewire Port.

Weakness: Very little innovation since the Audigy 1, latest driver update is buggy, Creative's commitment to continuing support leaves a lot to be desired.

Upgraded from an Audigy 1 and didn't notice any difference (not that I was expecting much). Unfortunately, there have been very few physical changes between the Audigy 1, Audigy 2, and Audigy 2 ZS. Most of the changes are in the drivers & software.

With that said, this is an excellent soundcard. Sound quality is wonderful and many of the applications are very useful. EAX is is a pretty amazing technology, and definately ehances the realism of games.
Well done Creative. Now if you guys could just get your butts in gear and make the next generation soundcard more than just a minor update!

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Excellent features; amazing quality! Creative Labs has certainly expanded on the old EAX standard for 3-D sound with EAX 4.0 on the Audigy 2 ZS.

Weakness: A little too expensive if you do not use your computer on a daily basis for gaming or music. Requires good speakers and subwoofer for full enjoyment and use.

The Audigy 2 ZS is the perfect sound card for the computer gamer! The new EAX 4.0 standard allows even more realism in today's complex game environments than the old EAX 2.0. The Audigy 2 ZS also includes many options that allow you to personalize its numerous features for your own uses and tastes. Note: If you plan on buying the Audigy 2 ZS, make sure you also have good speakers and a subwoofer; I had an Altec Lansing 2.1 system that was about 3 years old when I bought the Audigy 2 ZS- and the speakers simply could not keep up with the card. During normal speech, the speakers produced good quality, but when music or sound effects from games or movies were played, the speakers could not keep up. I would highly recommend a 5.1 speaker system to accompany the Audigy 2 ZS; this will allow you to take full advantage of the card's excellent sound quality and 3-D positional sound features. The Audigy 2 ZS is simply the best sound card for the computer gamer and/or music lover.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Very low noise, supports 5.1 up to 7.1. Comes with 2 games.

Weakness: No analog inputs, you need a one of the more expensive models for this (fair enough).

After dealing with MAJOR sound issues with the IC7-G onboard sound (LOTS of noise), I had no choice but to purchase a soundcard or forever turnoff my new 5.1 speakers. Although I'm sure the Live 5.1 series is good enough for most, for the difference in cost I thought it would be worth it to have EAX 4.0 support, 7.1 support and excellent SNR. And since this is Creative's newest line, I will expect better driver support than their other Audigy cards which are being phased out.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Incredible sound with no game slow down

Weakness: None noted as of yet

I upgraded from an Intel Motherboard sound system to this Audigy2 ZS System and didn't expect the results that I got. The sound is cleaner, my games run smoother and I am incredibly happy with the sound card. I didn't give it a "one of the best" products because I don't have much of a source to compare it to. I LOVE THIS CARD AND THE SOFTWARE IT CAME WITH, but there may be better options, I just don't know.

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Akmost Great.

Strengths: Great Audio and the best non professional midi card out there. It's clearly a better card than the AudigyI.

Weakness: The installation CD package is bloatware, confusing, and ignores your custom installation choices. It also puts a URL shortcut to AOL on your desktop! "Who asked ya?"

Anyone who plays with midi needs this card. I've tried MANY other cards and no other reasonably priced card has a comparable wavetable. Audio quality is noticably better than the AudigyI it replaced. Also, the AudigyII doesn't try to "take out" my speakers during start-up and shut down like the AudigyI did. The internal drive from the my AudigyI Paltinum plugged right into the II ZS so I was able to salvage that. Overall: Great hardware but driver/software needs a lot of work. Creative needs to hire a consultaant to help them figure out how to make an acceptable installation CD. Perhaps they could share the cost with ATI -- another company that "needs a clue". Attention Creative: "Ditch that annoying and invasive eax.avi file." Substitute quality for cutsy!

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: True audio accelerator.

Weakness: documentation can be better.

Creative Labs continue to define the standard audio card with the audigy 2zs, a relatively minor tweak of the audigy 2 that I have on my other system. I like the fact that the card handles its own processing needs as opposed to dumping it to the cpu. Sound quality is consistently excellent. My only minor complaint is that given the numerous connection options, the included documentation and web based support is not as comprehensive as one would expect from the major sound card manufacturer.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Great sound; Good Price

Weakness: Bundled games a little behind the times.

Music and games have never sounded better. I never realized what I was missing until I put this card in. Of course now I want new speakers! :)

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Everything. DTS.

Weakness: None.

The price is moderate for this card since Creative is the leading soundcard makers. Sound is excellent like always however my speakers can't match the greatness of this card. I use the Altec 251 90 watt power and can't wait to upgrade to hear the full potential of the sound card. Tried X2: X-men United on DTS and the sound is unbelievable. A must get for everyone building the perfect PC, however if you have the cash to spend, get a platinum.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Excellent Sound, 7.1 output, Games Package, DVD audio support.

Weakness: OSD a bit slow, no DVD video player included, No front Audio connection on Card.

I love this sound card; it is the Best for music, and games. 7.1 output is a huge plus. Tomb raider and Rainbow six games are included. I have always bought creative labs sound cards and none has ever disappointed me, and this one is not an exception. The only thing I didn't like about his card is that it doesn’t allow you to connect the front audio I/O to the board. In order to do that either have to buy the platinum ver. which I didn't buy because it was too expensive for my taste! or make sure you have a back panel connections to your front audio. Overall, this is awesome!!

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: High quality, good sound.

Weakness: No longer has internal connector for old modem; game connector takes up another expansion slot.

Very good all around; paired w/my 4.1 speakers, I get very good sound.

The weaknesses are fairly minor. I upgraded from SB Live Value, and the new card no longer appears to have the internal modem connector. Also, the game port requires a separate slot because the card is full.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Install went well, sounds very good, many options to tweak the sound. All in all, a solid, good sounding sound card.

Weakness: "Extra" unwanted software, not much of a sound quality improvement over the SB Live series.

I bought this card to replace my SBLive card, as it was advertised to take a load off the CPU and sound great. It does sound very good, but I can't discern much difference from the SBLive. In testing framerates, I didn't notice any difference. While you can't argue with Creative's compatibility with computers, they are heavy handed in installing software (i.e., they install a link to AOL and put it on your Links bar). While some of the software is very nice (you can tweak the heck out of the settings), some is unnecessary (CD software/burner). All in all, I would get this card if I didn't have one of at least SBLive calibre or better.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Excellent sound card, great surround when paired with Logitech 5.1 Z5300 speakers. Had SoundBlasters before but this one is a gem. I highly recommend it.

Weakness: None.

You want your gaming experience to be the best, then purchase this card. Great software bundle also. It is paired with Pentium 4 3.20Ghz. and with the above mentioned speaker system, machine really rocks! ZipZoomFly has the card for a great price.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: Great sounds for music and games

Weakness: none yet

After shopping for video cards in my price range, I decided to give this one a try. I have four speakers sourronding me as I play games and it sounds great. Comes with an optional Joystick connector which I have yet to try.

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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Strengths: works good

Weakness: none so far

I ended up ordering this from Newegg because I have a 5.1 surrond speaker set and my ASUS on board device wouldnt run the speaker to full potential. Sounds better now. Haven't tested it much yet, but at 85.00 I was worth it. Creative has always made nice cards so I stuck with them.

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Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS USB2

Testseek.com has collected 9 expert reviews for Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS USB2 and the average expert rating is 81 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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Creative Audigy 2 ZS Notebook: High-end Sound in a CardBus Slot

The basic version of this new Audigy is a PCI card on its own. It is fitted with all the necessary connections with the exception of the MIDI/games, which are installed on a separate card in the now-standard format. For many users who don't use MIDI and attach their games connectors through the USB port, this socket is useless so you could discard it; there's no point in cluttering up your PC...

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Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS review

The Audigy 2 ZS currently remains as Creative’s flagship product, sensibly named after the original Audigy 2, the card has received a number upgrades and added features however change hasn’t been drastic enough to force over a new generation. Among the new features offered in the ZS we have true support for 7.1-channels, THX certification, DTS ES support (along with Dolby EX which was already...

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