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Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

As the hunger for music grows, so do the manufacturers efforts to bring out higher quality audio to the shelves. Enter Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro. The name is a mouthful, and so are the features. Let’s start with support for DVD-Audio, the latest in audio formats. The card supports the format and a high SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) at 108 dB.

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Moving further, for the gamer, the usual Enhanced EAX and Directsound 3D are built-in. For the movie buff, it has support for DTS ES and Dolby Digital DX encoded DVD movies. This is taken further by the THX certification for cinema type experience on the desktop. It also has immaculate connectivity options in the form of an external breakout box for professional musicians. These include three line-ins, SPDIF input/output as well as a FireWire jack to connect external devices and MIDI in/out ports.

We teamed up this system with the recommended Creative T7700 speaker system for testing. We used Right Mark Audio Analyser (RMAA) version 5.1 for general sound tests, Audio Winbench for CPU usage and general subjective listening tests.

Synthetic tests



We tested the card at 96 and 192 kHz with 24-bit resolution. The results were very good, and if you see them in the adjoining graphs, you’ll find that though the card just marginally goes out of range in the frequency response tests, it performs immaculately in all the other tests. The total harmonic distortion is almost negligible and so is the stereo cross-talk. Going further, we checked for the card’s CPU utilization using Audio Winbench 99, and found that it doesn’t cross 2.5%. Thus, it would not hinder your work while you’re playing music.

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Real world subjective tests



Here, we played DVD-audio, video and games just to get an idea of the audio quality. If you are wondering about DVD-audio, we don’t blame you. It is the latest loss-less audio format available. If you compare it to CD audio, there is loads of difference in quality. This can be attributed to the high bit resolution that is 24 bit instead of 16 bit in the CDs. The sampling rate is at 96 kHz and the data rate at 6,912 kbps as against the 44,100 Hz and 1,411.2 kbps of the CD. Also not to miss the 6 channel sound!

The sound card toped in all the things and performed quite well. Especially, in the DVD audio, the listening experience is enhanced multifold with the 6-channel sound. 

We also played Lara Croft, The Angel of darkness using this soundcard. The advanced EAX environmental effects take control at this point enhancing the sound effects and giving a real life affect. 

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Software



This includes various Dolby and DTS controls along with the THX control panel. The control panel even allows you calibrate the speakers according to the room, be it stereo or a 7.1 system. The levels of the speakers can be adjusted according to the listener’s seating position. Other software includes a media player that can also play DVD-Audio, Fruity Loops studio 4 and Cubasis VST CE.

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Price : Rs 16,999
Cons : OSD a bit slow, no DVD video player included
Key specs : Small-scale ERP

software with all the essential modules
Pros : 7.1 Channel Sound, DVD-Audio support
Contact : Creative Technology, Mumbai.
Tel : 9820357713.
E-mail : rajshekhar_bhatt@ctl.creative.com 

The card is also accompanied with a remote control that works with the breakout box. Though its interface is quite interesting and lets the person control the whole media player remotely, it was a bit buggy. When we tried to open a file using the remote from the computer while playing DVD audio, the audio stopped playing. Also sometimes the interface can be a bit slow in responding and does not recognize network drives. 

Given the rich set of features, don’t be surprised at the price. At 17k, it’s not something everyone can afford. If you are a music enthusiast or a budding audio professional, you would find this card a good choice. 

Geetaj Channana

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