Is there any performance difference from the SB 2 6.1 and SB 2 7.1?

[ZeroAce]

Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 2 - 6.1
vs.
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy 2 ZS - 7.1

?

Actually I should start with this question:
If I already have a Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1, would my gaming (either now or in the next year or so) gain any improved performance with the newer card?

[troublesome '03]

definetely, i went from SB Live! Value to Audigy 2, and damn wht a difference, and also i got Z680s. Now it feels like my house blew up everytime i fire the rocker launcher...lol

i don't think there is much difference between the two in terms of performance except for the fact that one supports more channels. Creative has alot of marketing schemes and has almost identical cards with completely different names and prices......trust me if your getting a 5.1 system forget abt anything above Audigy 2, and just get Audigy 2. You will not be able to tell the diffference i can guarantee you that....lol

hope i helped, if you have ne other questions, i'll try to answer them with what i know...lol

[Jeordiewhite]

Well upgrading the card from the sound blaster live, it may run better, however many games that support EAX 1, 2, 3 will be much better in terms of gaming, playing on software emulated sound can cause a lot of system performance loss, but if you have something that supports EAX 3 and a 5.1 surround system or even one of creatives 6.1 or 7.1 systems you would likely be very happy with that.

However it depends on what you need and how much your willing to spend. Generally it's best to get the latest card anyhow like the sound blaster 2 or ZS, each card doesn't have a big gap between the features available on both, if your upgrading from the sound blaster 5.1 and plan on using a previous set of purchased 5.1 speakers, i would suggest just the sound blaster 2 if the ZS would cost more, if you find it to be around 10-20 dollar difference then go with the ZS.

[JohnE.]

If your main interest is purely in gaming you could save a few dollars and go with the Audigy 2 but if you're a bit of an audiophile and/or musician and good sound (for recording, CD, mp3, DVD playback, etc) is also important to you go for the Audigy 2 ZS.

Here's a review/comparison between an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 and the Audigy 2 ZS which also goes into some details about the differences between the older Audigy 2 and the new Audigy 2 ZS. According to the article the differences are mainly to do with audio quality - here's an excerpt:

"Purely in terms of manufacturer's SNR numbers, the Revolution 7.1 sits between the original Creative Audigy 2 (which claimed an SNR of 106dBA and 6.1 playback) and the newer Audigy 2 ZS (with an SNR of 108dBA and 7.1 playback). Both the Revolution and Audigy 2 ZS have similar recording capabilities, with support for genuine 24-bit/96kHz recording with low-latency ASIO support (the original Audigy 2 was limited to 16-bit/48kHz ASIO support)."

The difference between 106dBa and 108dBa SNR is roughly equivalent to the difference between, say, a top-of-the-line Kenwood CD player (Japanese) and a mid-level Denon (British) and the original Audigy 2's limit of 16-bit/48kHz ASIO support was a serious fun killer for many musicians.