Creative Labs sound card.
Ok, this thing is COOL!!!
Good packaging, safe, well wrapped.
PCB is a cool colour, sort of purplish, almost clear looking. Gold plated connectors.
7.1 capability.
Firewire, 24bit/192hz audio, THX cert, EAX 4.0 3D sound, Dolby Pro Logic, DTS, DTS ES.
Comes with a Digital CD cable instead of the analogue ones we are used to, Media Source 2(thier answer to Media Player, WinAmp etc), feature showcase and demos, and full versions of both Rainbow Six 3 and Tomb Raider:AOD.
Its compliant with tons of different formats, conventions etc. INCLUDING Windows 98SE
Cost is a bit on the high side, London Drugs, $149 as of yesterday. Might go on sale, would be a bargain for less. Still a good deal, you get alot for the money. And the 2 ZS is a different chip than the Value or the LS.
Only complaint so far is the setup time. Installing the software took nearly 15 min. And I have fast drives and a decent processor.
And if you are a type A, you will be in heaven!! This thing is TWEAKABLE!! TONS of settings, buttons etc. Its gonna take a while to learn it all. Might not be for someone who isn't into all that. Course you can just install the basic drivers and leave the rest of it alone, but once you have it tweaked, it sounds WAY better.
For example you can tweak distance from each speaker to your ear, each speakers angle to your ear, and each speakers angle to the floor!
Plus gain, polarity and TONS of other things.
Very nice setup.
Not really needed if you just want basic sound, and don't have good 5.1 speakers.
