Creative Audigy vs. hi-end sound cards

[jkowtko]

Hi all,

I am preparing to buy my SCS Prof. license, and due to budget constraints I would like to consider initially using a cheap card such as the Creative 7.1 Audigy SE or the 7.1 Audigy 2 ZS instead of the higher end cards (M-Audio or Edirol) which cost $300-500 more.

I don't think I need balanced connections right now because I can get the PC close enough to the sound board to run 3 or 6 foot cables, so the main issues I would be concerned about are general sound quality, floor noise, and possibly hardware vs. software sound processing capabilities that may affect performance and "glitchiness".

Does anyone have any experience with the Creative Audigy sound cards, good or bad?

Specifically, has anyone used the Audigy SE with the lesser S/N ratio, and if so, have you noticed any noise coming from the card?

Thanks. John

[jkowtko]

I've also been looking at other sound cards to try to understand the differences. Turtle Beach Montego looks pretty nice, as does Diamond Xtreme, which is incredibly cheap ($30 list price). And they both accept standard 3-pole input jacks whereas the Creative Audigy cards require 4-pole jacks to get the full 8 channels of sound out. I really don't want to have to use 4-pole jacks if possible .. but on the flip side the Audigy cards have the highest posted S/N ratio, at 100-108db, whereas the others either post something lower (93db) or don't have any information at all.

While I know that any of these options is going to cost me under $50, I don't want to end up buying two or three cards to find the one that works well.

So ... has anyone out there used Turtle Beach or Diamond cards? If so, any comments and/or comparisons to Audigy in terms of connections and floor noise?

Thanks. John

[Daryl]

I've been running several shows with the USB audigy. I have it connected to a Mac with the Intel chips running XP pro and doing 5.1 surround. (In an 8000 seat venue, can you believe it?)
Then I midi the Mac to my console (PM1D) and control all cues from there. System rocks, no problems, after initial setup, and you gotta love the price. I was usng the internal Audigy 2 PCMCIA card on a Sony VAIO before I got the Mac, and since the Mac obviously doesn't have PCMCIA, I went back to the USB version. Both have worked great for me.

[Mike Daniell]

Daryl,

What are you using on your Mac to run XP Pro? Are you using Parallels? I have Parallels installed and have an Edirol UA-101 connected via USB, but as soon as I turn on the UA-101 my Parallels session complains that the device "is being used by another process". But nothing I can find is using it, including system sounds, etc. I didn't get any help from the Parallels forum.