I got an Audigy 2 ZS after having the original SB Live forever and it's a huge improvement. Being able to use EAX in all the new games is great!

Hmmm. Good this subject was broght up.Is there a known incompatability with the Audigy 2 ZS that came out? I upgraded my sound card and even reformatted and reinstalled windows to make sure I had everything cleared out from theold sound card (which is necessary to do) and now FS2004 shows the splash screen, but then crashes. It just wont start up at all.My FS2002, among all my other games as well, work AWESOME. I absolutely love this sound card . . but . . . . . The ENTIRE reason for the upgrade was to improve my FS2004 - the ONE program that is seemingly acting incompatable with it.Any insight on this, while we are on the subject of sound cards here? Just curious.And, yes, I did update to latest DirectX and latest sound and video drivers. It's got to be a compatability issue - but why? LOLChris

Hi Jimmy,Have you done your upgrade yet?I am also considering doing the same as you. Although my sound is OK I am getting the annoying pauses when ATC starts to talk, so I am interested to hear if this has solved your problem.Ross

"If you want to know how much CPU is actually used for the sound, just press Q (mute sound) and see how better it is. If you don't notice a change, then it means the sound is NOT the bottleneck. If you do get a framerate increase, then assume this is the best you will ever get with a good sound card."I've heard this before and it makes sense. But a thought just occurred to me. Maybe the board is still doing some or all of the processing it just has the output port or volume turned off....rgds,billg

To be honest, I have gotten away from the Sounblaster cards. I was an avid Sound Blaster user in the past, but I have now switched to the Hercules sound cards.I currently use the Hercules Digifire 7.1 with firewire surround card. I have found that it has an excellent on-board processor that "frees up" the CPU to do other things.I get clear, crisp sound with no crackles or static and the card doesn't affect the overall performance of my simulations and games.The hercules card also supports A3D and EAX audio, so it is very compatable with all the simulations and games that use these sound enhancements.I have found the Hercules cards to be great gamming system sound alternatives to Creative Labs products.Nothing against Creative Labs, but I get better performance in most my games and flight simulators with the Digifire sound card.Happy Simming!Scott :-)

>I've heard this before and it makes sense. But a thought just>occurred to me. Maybe the board is still doing some or all of>the processing it just has the output port or volume turned>off....No it isn't. When you turn the sound off, it really stops generating the sound (other sounds from other apps would still play).On an MSI MB with XP1700+ and onboard AC97 basic sound, I see a difference of about 2 fps (on 18 to 20) with or without sound. On an ASUS nForce2 with XP3200+ and onboard Soundstorm, I see no difference at all.Eric.

Just a note to say that in the UK the Audigy2 ZS retails for around

Hey all,I have just recently upgraded to the Audigy 2, and compared to the terrible sound problems i had with the SB Live! card it works perfectly. I've noticed an improvement in the smoothness of the sim, and not as many stutters, in comparison. The Audigy 2 is definitely worth the investment, and proves to be a big step up from the SB Live!

I also upgraded from Live! 5.1 to Audigy 2 ZS.Absolute nightmare to install in XP, but the results were well and truly worth the 40+ hours I spent on it!Andy

Forget about Soundblaster/Audigy/Creative cards. Terrible audio quality and lots of bugs IMO. Spend the money on a professional audio card like an Audiophile 24/96 and hear the difference (and see the difference as it doesn't install lots of horrible SOundblaster drivers and utilities on your machine.)I make music for a living and the Audiophile 24/96 is a superb professional card for little money (

I just upgraded from a 5.1 to an audigy 2 zs as well and i can say that im very happy with it, im not sure why some people have had problems installing it, for me it was seamless! i find adams comments to be unfounded as i have had no bugs and a very high sound quality.

Each to his own. The Sounblaster/Audigy series is a domestic soundcard for gamesplay so if you are happy with a basic soundcard so be it!By the way I have no affliation whatsoever with Audiophile - just a very happy user. The sound quality is superb and much much better than anything Creative have produced (I have owned and used both Soundblaster and Audigy hardware)Cheers and best of luck with your decision.Adam

Nice condescending remark there! The audigy 2 is not a 'basic' soundcard in any sense of the word, I realise that it is not a professional soundcard but I cant imagine that the audiophile card costing

I thought I'd come back and report on my decision, since this post recieved a bit of activity. I ended up replacing my Sblive with the Audigy 2.The install was a bit of a mess. For whatever reason it took 2 re-boots and 2 installs of the drivers before the card was detected. Not sure what happened there, but I know it wasn't anything I did wrong. It wasn't exactly a confidence booster.Nevertheless, I finally got it working and tested it out in IL-2 (I'm taking a break from FS2004 right now because I'm weary of the inconsistent performance and just want to be able to fly).IL-2 used to be plagued with pretty bad scratchy sound on my set-up, but now it's clean as a whistle. It's very nice to finally have sound without all of the popping and scratching. The Sblive used to sound like an old victrola.I also ran a benchmark with sound disabled, with my SBLive, and then with the new Audigy 2--just to see the impact on performance. The results were:Sound disabled = 52fpsSblive (all options enabled) = 37fpsSblive (only basic sound, with hardware acceleration turned off) = 44fpsSoundblaster Audigy 2 (all options enabled) = 43fpsSo, the Soundblaster Audigy obviously offers an improvement over the SbLive on IL-2, at least with the effects enabled. A 9fps penalty for sound still seems like a lot to me, but at least that penalty seems worth it when the sound is decent.So, in my experience, the upgrade is worth it, and pretty cheap as far as computer upgrades go.Thanks to everyoen for your input.

Given the FS focus of this forum, I'd appreciate your before and after assessment of the upgrade's impact on FS2004, when you get the chance. Gary