Creative Sound Blaster Audigy FX vs integrated sound?

[Astraea Kisaragi]

My birthday closes up and I always wish myself something nice (and not too expensive).
The Rem (Re-Zero) anime plush is already on its way but had the idea to buy something technological too.

Would be a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy FX a noticable change over my Realtek AL892 (Elna Audio caps) or you need pay for a better one to note adifference?

[tacoshy]

yeah but the difference not going to be that huge. If you not having real good headphones already then this would I upgrade first. Otherwise I would spend a little more into a: Fiio E10K

[Bad 💀 Motha]

AUDIGY won't be worth your time/money. What are you trying to do?
Get official Realtek HD Driver and you wont have any issues, configure it all properly, like the Equalizer and such.

If you want a Sound Card, then don't settle for junk...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Q11ZTC

[Astraea Kisaragi]

I use the driver which came with my brand new mobo - ASRock B350 (via the driver CD). Is the one which I download from Realtek better?

I use my computer for watching anime in HD, occassional gaming and I listen music (KISS/Orbital/various game and anime OSTs) when I draw in Photoshop. Im not some real audiophile.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

From a CD? LOL throw those in the trash...

Yes go get the Driver from Reaktek
http://www.realtek.com/downloads

Like you would with any driver, get from Chipset Maker.

[Astraea Kisaragi]

I asked cause I could have got the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy FX for a mere 24€.
I dont want spend too much and I heard cheaper ASUS Xonars have issues in games.

I like Musiland sound cards, but is quite hard to get one arround those parts. Not sure how they are under Win 10 too.

[R-S!N]

Normally add-on cards are better than on-board. They usually have better frequency capabilities[bass/mid/treble](clearer sound), and it can improve overall system performance...

Sound Blaster Z is OK for the price... imo it's better than the Audigy FX.
It has more features, like Voice modifcation through your microphone (CrystalVoice FX) which can make you sound like a munchkin, or Female to Male / Male to Female, etc..
and other Special features.
If u don't wanna spend a load of $$$ on just a sound upgrade, go with the Z.
Just make sure to get the correct interface (such as PCI Express x1 slot), unless you have an older motherboard then it's just a PCI slot. There are also External Audio add-ons for the USB port.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

I would not go with anything older than SoundBlaster Z
Due to XFI and AUDIGY having always had poor Win8/10 support

[Athenas]

I wouldn't buy an Audigy FX. It's based on a Realtek codec + Creative software which ain't any better than the integrated sound in your motherboard. Hence why it is so cheap. It has no Creative hardware at all.

From my experience, most sound cards from Creative sound way better than the integrated sound (not the Audigy FX, which has no Creative hardware). I used to have an original Audigy replaced then by an Audigy X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro that I regret selling so much.

Currently, I have an Audigy 5/RX which has actual Creative hardware on it (unlike the FX version) and it is a world of a difference from the Realtek ALC1150 integrated sound codec that my motherboard has.

From starters no more interference. It has hardware 7.1 support. Then there is the impressive cristal clear sound when using its ASIO drivers. Even if you don't use or need ASIO, the sound is more natural, warmer and rich than with the integrated sound.

Seriously, my Bose headphones have never sounded so good until I got the Audigy 5/RX.

Also, thanks to Alchemy, I can use EAX on some old games I still play like Medieval II Total War, STALKER and The Witcher 1. I like the hardware EAX of my card, unlike some other software emulatad alternatives from Asus, Realtek and even Creative themselves.

And it isn't that expensive either. Just $58.99 from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EO6X7PG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508359567&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=audigy+rx&dpPl=1&dpID=51MDAqA-ceL&ref=plSrch

Of course, if you want more and newer features and you are willing to spend more, then you are better off going with any card from the Sound Blaster Z series, or even better, with the new Sound BlasterX AE-5.

Just my 2 cents.


BTW, I'm running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit with the latest Fall Creators update with no problem whatsoever on my Audigy 5/RX.

I'm also using Daniel Kawakami's latest improved Audigy drivers from here: http://danielkawakami.blogspot.mx/?m=1


EDIT: integration to just one post and typos lol.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Legatus님이 먼저 게시:

BTW, I'm running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit with the latest Fall Creators update with no problem whatsoever on my Audigy 5/RX.

I'm also using Daniel Kawakami's latest improved Audigy drivers from here: http://danielkawakami.blogspot.mx/?m=1

That's exactly what folks want to stay away from...

[[☥] - CJ -]

Astraea Kisaragi님이 먼저 게시:

I use the driver which came with my brand new mobo - ASRock B350 (via the driver CD). Is the one which I download from Realtek better?

I use my computer for watching anime in HD, occassional gaming and I listen music (KISS/Orbital/various game and anime OSTs) when I draw in Photoshop. Im not some real audiophile.

The one from the manufacturer provides the driver designed for your board

The one Realtek offers, while being updated in most cases, is technically the generic driver and not configured for your motherboards sound setup.

It'll work just fine, but you'll probably have to configure your sound to match how you have it set up

since you are using the 1 from the disk, check the ASRock website and see if they have an updated driver for your board.

I however tend to use the driver from realtek as its updated more often.

But as you have a newer system you should stick with the ones ASRock provides.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

The one from Realtek is for every device that uses that

[Athenas]

Bad_Motha님이 먼저 게시:

Legatus님이 먼저 게시:

BTW, I'm running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit with the latest Fall Creators update with no problem whatsoever on my Audigy 5/RX.

I'm also using Daniel Kawakami's latest improved Audigy drivers from here: http://danielkawakami.blogspot.mx/?m=1

That's exactly what folks want to stay away from...

Why exactly?

Please elaborate more.

If you don't like then you can still use Creative's own drivers with Win 10 support which also did work fine for me.

Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's inherently bad.

Realtek codecs sound like trash to me, even with latest drivers from Realtek on "premium" motherboards. That doesn't mean they are bad nor the reason why people avoid integrated sound. You seem to love them after all.

To each their own.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

It's just pointles to buy a $40 card that does the same thing to which you already have.
There is litteraly zero differences, unless maybe you need TOSLink Optical Out.

Something like SoundBlaster Z however, would be a huge improvement.

[Athenas]

Bad_Motha님이 먼저 게시:

It's just pointles to buy a $40 card that does the same thing to which you already have.
There is litteraly zero differences, unless maybe you need TOSLink Optical Out.

Something like SoundBlaster Z however, would be a huge improvement.

In the case of the Audigy FX, yes there is no point in getting it, because it uses the same crappy codecs from Realtek (ALC898 in this case) like I already said above and which I advised not to get. I guess reading comprehension ain't your forte.

In the case of the Audigy 5/RX, you are totally wrong because it has a fully hardaware accelerated DSP: the Creative's E-MU CA10300 which of course does way more than your Realtek counterpart you love.

You would know this if you had researched before writing without thinking sigh...

EDIT: also, both cards have a dedicated 600-ohm headphone amplifier which most motherboards' integreted audio don't have.

[Revelene]

What is the use case? Kinda hard to tell you anything when we have no clue what kind of audio equipment you are using.

That said, the Audigy FX would be a side grade from your onboard sound.

Go for something external. The audiophile world has pretty much left internal cards in the dust for external options. Even in production studio use, it just isn't viable. The internal card market is stagnant.