So, my trusty old Audigy 2 died (there is a thread on the crackling noises here somewhere, turns out that was a sign). It served me well for many, many years. The onboard sound doesn't cut it. This runs over a real amp on real speakers and honestly, this doesn't go together. And I haven't been inside a PC in many years, so, external sound card it was. Looking around I found this. No drivers, no fuss. Plug in and go on Macs and PCs, it simply makes itself the default sound device. Sound quality is excellent. Not better than CD as claimed but really close. And the best part? The thing costed only €43 which makes it by far the cheapest X-Fi device. Pays to look around, tho: The large chains sell it for €70.-, the smaller dealers go for around 50.-. Only downside was that my dealer had to backorder it and the guys there had never even heard of it Definitely recommended, especially for laptop users (I have it on the desktop PC).
I'm staying as far away from Creative as possible. They just want your money, and once they've got it, they don't give a shit about you.
^ I love their products. I keep hearing about their bad customer service, but the truth is... I never needed it. The stuff works and works and works without a problem.
Ah, you must upgrade cards when you upgrade your OS then . Or never need new drivers. Or not have any software conflicts whatsoever. I wish I were so lucky .
