Creative Audigy 2 ZS or Audigy NX?

I have an HP zd8000 arriving in a couple of weeks and want to hook it up to my surround sound speakers in my living room. The laptop will pretty much reside on a desk next to my TV and serve as a PVR/multimedia/gaming hub. From my understanding, the laptop's sound card doesn't support surround sound out of box, so I'm looking for a product with that option. I've read pretty good things about both Creative sounds cards (PCMCIA and external USB 2.0). I like the Audigy NX (external) because it comes with a remote for making adjustments. I like the Audigy ZS (PCMCIA) because it's more compact and won't take up desk space. I would get the Audigy NX but I've read a couple user reviews that have said the USB sound card eats up processor resources. I can't afford for that to happen when my machine is going to be my PVR and gaming system. I'm not doing anything fancy with this thing like recording instrutments or doing music production. I just want surround sound on music, movies, and games that I have on my laptop. Has anyone had experience with either one of these products? Any recommendations?

 

I'm using the PCM card version of the Audigy and I like it a lot. It works just like a regular PCI audigy sound card and sounds great when hooked up to surround speakers. I generally use it with h/phones when listening to music with my laptop.

I can't speak for the NX version of the card since I don't use it and I guess you'll have to decide if having a remote is worth the extra desk space needed for the Audigy NX.

One thing about the PCM card, go to soundblaster's website and check the info re: PCM board compatibility. Some laptops may not be able to use the full features of the card depending on the board they are shipped with. On my Acer for example I get to use it in advanced mode instead of compact mode so all the features avail on the card is there for me to use. Good luck with your choice.

Tony



T. Chan

Self built PC, P4 3.2Ghz HT

Acer 1681WLMi

 

Doesn't the zd8000 come standard with a digital out? If so, simply run it to the digital in of your sourround sound processor/amp. Why buy an extra card to get analog outs and run them over to your receiver? Not only is it better to run it in digital(less noise), you've probably got better audio DACs in your receiver anyway.
This will pass Dobly Digital and DTS no problem to your recevier, as well as a digital PCM stream for your music, windows sounds, and game audio (including if Game audio is dobly digital). Then you can set your receiver to whatever surround mode you want.
That zd8k is pretty hardcore -- you shouldn't need to add much (anything!) to it for what you want to do.

 

That's a good point daniel422 but I didn't elaborate as much as I should have. I had an old school Sony receiver with a 5 cd changer from the early 90s (no surround sound support) in my apartment living room but moved that out of there to make room for the desk and zd8000. I bought some Logitech 530x speakers for $50. They actually sound really good for that small amount of cash. They should be adequate for music/games in my small living room. They don't decode for surround sound like the newer Logitech z-5500 speakers so I think the Audigy ZS is a necessity right now. Please let me know if I'm wrong.

 

Yup, you're right. Looking at those X-530's I see they are surround sound speakers with built-in amplification. It looks like it's just straight-though analog -- no surround processing (6 ch analog into the subwoofer, which feeds the speakers). You need something to do the 6ch decoding only. Either of those would work, or any DD/DTS decoder (like Creative DDTS-100 or others). The advantage of an external decoder is that you could plug other AV devices into it (like DVD players, your TV, game systems) and thus use them with your new surround sound setup and they will integrate quite easily. You could also just leave it hooked into your living room and just take the computer whenever you needed it -- only unplugging the digital cable (as opposed to 3 stereo pairs on an external sound card).
Just things to think about -- you know your application better than I. Do make sure that zd8000 has a digital out (I'm usre it does, but hey -- I don't own one) if you're going to consider this approach.

 

That Creative DDTS-100 looks like a sweet product. I didn't even run across that in my research. According to CNET's review: http://reviews.cnet.com/HP_Pavilion_zd8000/4505-3121_7-31213300-4.html?tag=top
the zd8000 does not have a digital-audio output. Does this mean the Creative DDTS-100 wouldn't work for the Logitech surround sound speakers? The Audigy ZS is already sitting at home from buy.com. I'm sure I couldn't return it unless I wanted to pay some sort of restocking fee. I guess I could Ebay it but I'll probably try it out to see how it works. I'm going to have the TV hooked up to the laptop through s-video so I'm guessing any sounds that would come through the TV will be filtered through the laptop through the Audigy ZS to the Logitech 530x surround sound speakers. I've never done a setup like this so I could be completely wrong. I guess I'll find out on Thursday when I get the zd8000. I'll be up all night screwing around with that thing [ ]