Product Type: Sound Card | Manufacturer: Creative | Price �99.99 inc VAT
Hardware Fusion gets to grips with the new Audigy 2 ZS audio card from Creative, their first 7.1 surround sound card to be released and with THX certification. Surround sound products are big business for companies like Creative, companies are always aspiring to bring the effect of cinema entertainment into the home and with Creative�s entry of their 7.1 surround sound card the reality is becoming even more apparent. With every audio card release that rises above a new format, for example 6.1 to 7.1, comes an easily profitable opportunity in the form of new surround sound speaker systems that are able to support the new format. Creative�s Inspire T7700, TD7700 and S750�s are all products which are instant bread winners as they are marketed so closely to the Audigy 2 ZS sound card. Having said that Creative has been clear to note that their TD7700 and S750 products are able to support both 6.1 and 5.1 sound cards via their CMSS upmix option. However, CMSS upmix does not mean true 7.1 surround sound! The leap from the Audigy 2 to Audigy 2 ZS saw some noticeable but minimal improvements. Creative�s idea to withdraw the Audigy 2 and replace it with the ZS was probably due to the small gap in advancement between the two products.
Features and Specifications
Creative�s Audigy 2 ZS incorporates the addition of two significant new features over the Audigy 2, which are support for 7.1 surround and EAX 4.0. In terms of additional features the Audigy 2 ZS has improved very little. The Audigy 2 ZS is simply a revamp, or tweaked version of the Audigy 2 that adds a certain degree of necessary updates to cope with today�s modern 7.1 speaker systems and lets not forget EAX 4.0, which Creative say is the next revolutionary technology to hit PC gaming.
High Definition Audio Quality for Playback and Recording
- 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion during playback with sampling rates of 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz in 7.1 mode and up to 192kHz in stereo mode
- 24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion during recording in 8, 16 or 24-bit at sampling rates of 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz
- SPDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) input at up to 24-bit/ 96kHz quality
- SPDIF output up to 24-bit at 48 or 96kHz
- ASIO drivers for low latency (�2ms) multi-track playback and recording at 16-bit/48kHz*
Advanced Audio and 3D Audio Technology
- Hardware acceleration of EAX� and EAX� ADVANCED HD� for games
- 32-bit Professional Quality Effects Engine with support for real-time digital effects like reverb and chorus across any audio source
- Creative Hardware synthesizer (2x16 Channels) with 64-voice polyphony featuring E-MU��s patented 8-point interpolation technology for accurate sample reproduction
- Creative Software synthesizer - multi timbral wave-table (16 Channels)
- FireWire� (IEEE� 1394) / i-Link� compatible interface with up to 400Mbps transfer rate
- Line level out (Front / Side / Rear / Center / Subwoofer)
- Digital Out for 5.1 support (6-channel SPDIF output to Creative digital speakers
- Line in
- Microphone in
- FireWire� (IEEE� 1394)
- Telephone Answering Device in
- Analog / Digital CD Audio in
- 15-pin MIDI / Joystick port extension header
- AD_EXT extension header to the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Internal I/O Drive (Upgrade Option)
- Internal IEEE� 1394 header to Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Internal I/O Drive (Upgrade Option)
DVD Entertainment
Creative�s Audigy 2 ZS provides home users with a solution to achieving cinema quality audio effects on the PC. The Audigy 2 ZS achieves this by providing extended surround format technologies, such as Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES. Dolby Digital EX, also known as THX Surround EX, is a jointly developed technology by Lucasfilm THX and Dolby Laboratories and is a trade name specifically marketed for home theatre entertainment products. Its actual origin derives from a technology named �Digital Surround EX��, which is commonly used by state-of-the-art movie theatres. DTS uses much higher data rates (1.5 Mbit/sec or 754 kbit/sec) over Dolby Digital (448 kbit/sec or 384 kbit/sec) which can be up to four times higher, this significant gap in encoding rates prompts many home theatre enthusiasts and industry experts to claim that DTS is superior to the Dolby Digital format. Because of the high capacity consumption of DTS soundtracks many film companies were deterred from using the technology on DVD releases. Those companies who did had to face sacrificing additional DVD features, such as Bonus footage and audio tracks, all in the effort to save space. Thanks to the lower DTS data rate of 754 kbit/sec certain film companies were able to add both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks to their DVD�s, as seen in today�s DVD releases. Needless to say the fact that the Audigy 2 ZS can support these technologies is an excellent addition to home PC entertainment.
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Gaming and Music
In addition to catering for the consumer DVD market Creative have also ensured that the Audigy ZS delivers for music and gaming fanatics. Similarly to the Audigy 2 the ZS is able to provide high quality audio output of 24-bit-Digital-to-Analog conversion during playback with sampling rates of 96 KHz in 7.1 mode and an unprecedented 192kHz in stereo mode. This is more than enough for the DVD market as most DVD�s play back at 96 kHz, which makes the 192 kHz format more of a luxury for music and gaming enthusiasts. Having said that most, if not all games developers are yet to adopt the 192 kHz format making it a technology essentially to be used by music listeners. Furthermore the Audigy 2 ZS manages to provide a SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) of 108dB�s whilst the Audigy 2 managed 106dB�s. Although the improvement gap might not be one of fundamental significance it still builds upon the existing achievement that Creative have managed to do with the sound quality of this product.
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Creative Sound Blaster products, particularly the Audigy series, have been well known in the past for its high performance values whilst running demanding 3D games. With the release of titles, such as Raven Shield (full game packaged with product), Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Far Cry and the forth coming release of Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 (We hope!) gamers are required to go even further in terms of preparing their system to handle such performance hogging releases. The Audigy 2 has shown some pretty impressive results when running CPU utilisation tests and the ZS manages to continue with the tradition, if not slightly exceed. Creative in the past has made pretty clear that their support for gamers is one of their top priorities. The imminent plans to change the name of their Audigy 2 ZS product to the Audigy 2 ZS Gamer only shows us how serious Creative has become about gaming. With the incorporation of EAX ADVANCED HD (seen also in the Audigy 2) and the new arrival of EAX 4.0 gamers now have even more to revel in whilst playing their favourite games. Creative say that �EAX� 4.0 ADVANCED HD� is the greatest leap forward for EAX since its inception� and with the incorporation of its multi-environment engine it certainly looks impressive! Previous versions of EAX focused on reverberation effects, and now with EAX 4.0 ADVANCED HD Creative have added in support for 11 new effects: Autowah, Chorus, Distortion, EAX Automatic Gain Control Compressor, EAX EQ, Echo, Flanger, Frequency Shifter, Pitch Shifter, Ring Modulator and Vocal Morpher. The multi-environment engine moves the reverberation effects away from just being the listener's reverb to being able to tie reverberation effects directly to the sounds themselves, which in practice allows a sound source to carry a reverb with it into the next environment of the game. This technology is highly useful for creating seamless transitions of environmental effects whilst moving from one environment to another, therefore greatly enhancing upon realism. Until now this has been something which has not been possible. With current games that do not support the EAX 4.0 technology the player would encounter a type of cut off effect when moving between environments. Creative say that �Multi-Environment� support is going to change the way that EAX is implemented in games�. At present EAX 4.0 is still a technology to be adopted by a majority of games developers so it will be really interesting to see what EAX 4.0 will bring to future games releases.
Firewire Support
Since the first Audigy card Creative has continued to release its sound card products with 1394 (Firewire) connectivity support enabling PC users to seamlessly transfer data from a 1394 supported device or compatible computer at significantly higher transfer rates (up to 400Mbps) than standard LAN connection speeds (10/100Mbps). More specifically the incorporation of 1394 technology in Creative�s products gave gamers a performance boost whilst playing in LAN games. However, the lack of ability to connect multiple machines to the connection caused gamers to favour the more traditional LAN connection. With the recent release of 1000Mbps LAN Firewire has somewhat lost its appeal to LAN gamers but still remains one of the fastest connection types for transferring data to other PC peripherals, although USB 2.0 manages to outperform Firewire by 80Mbps at a transfer rate of 480Mbps.
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Features continued & Conclusion...
Board Design
The design of the Audigy 2 ZS closely matches that of the Audigy 2 but with the exception of the Audigy 2 ZS logo in place of the older product name. The main on board chip has also had the Audigy 2 logo affixed to it but rather bizarrely without the ZS name. Maybe they ran out of letters?
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The colour of the board has been designed with a dark brown tint in place of the Audigy 2�s black effect. Apart from that nothing much else has changed, all the connections are in the same place and aside from a few extra capacitors the design of the board remains very similar.
The connections available on board consist of CD IN (for analogue CD audio input), CD SPDIF (for digital CD audio input), AUX IN (for auxiliary input devices), TAD (used in coincidence with internal modems for audio input and output), and the required connections for adding Creative�s Drive Bay accessory (�49.98 INC VAT), which is commonly found bundled with Platinum versions of Creative�s Sound Card products.
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Software
The Audigy 2 ZS comes with a series of new software additions and updates, including a new THX console for optimization of 7.1 surround and audio enhancement features that include:
- Audio Cleanup: for removal of annoying pops and background hiss.
- SVM�: Used for equalising the playback volume across different tracks in albums or playlists.
- Time Scaling�: Enables users to speed-up or slow-down audio without altering its pitch.
- Creative Karaoke Tool: Enables users to remove the main vocal line from common music formats.
- EAX� Effects: enables real-time ambience effects to be added during playback.
- CMSS 3D: Allows users to up-mix stereo content to up to 7.1 channels.
Conclusion
The Creative Audigy 2 ZS is essentially a tweaked version of the Audigy 2. Feature wise there is very little in difference in terms of mass updates, although the updates which have been implemented have been somewhat revolutionary in context. With the addition of 7.1 surround and DTS technology�s the ZS will bring PC users a step closer to cinema entertainment in the home, whilst the latest in environmental technology, EAX 4.0 will hugely benefit gamers and will most likely continue to for some time to come. Creative�s assortment of aesthetically pleasing to look at software programs and bundled games make the ZS more of a complete product to buy. However, Creative�s range of bundled media playing applications are not always the consumer choice for playing music or DVD�s and many consumers opt for specialist software applications, such as Power DVD and Winamp. There have been some bugs known with Creative�s applications in the past and some may say that was an understatement! So is the Audigy 2 ZS a worthy upgrade from the Audigy 2? The answer to that is no! There are simply too few improvements between the two products to make it worth the cost upgrading. If you�re upgrading from the Audigy or older Sound Blaster product we would have to recommend it! Looking at the Audigy 2 ZS from a stand-alone product point of view we are going to award Creative�s latest achievement a 5 Star Rating.
Look out for Hardware Fusion�s Creative 7.1 Surround Sound feature later next week, which will include an in-depth look at 7.1 surround, an interview with Creative and an Audigy 2 ZS giveaway! Aren�t they nice people! :)
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