[SOLVED] Sounds Blaster Audigy 2 ZS in 2021?

[darezi]

Is the Audigy 2 ZS card worth using instead of onboard chip today for watching TV, music, and games on the newer boards and the ones made in the last 10 years? I was given two cards for free and thought of putting them in my two PC. One is from 2010 and one from 2016. Also, I have two sets of Logitech X-230 2.1 speakers that are being used on those PCs.

 

[delaro]

They "were" pretty good but now Driver support is iffy 🤷‍♂️ Microsoft stopped support but Windows 10 20H1 update (using the Audigy RX patch) seems to have got most of those cards working. You might find that basic card use will probably be fine and be equivalent to onboard of today but things like DTS, EAX, THX, and the SPDIF output which were selling points of that hardware will all need proper driver support which is where the problem comes into play.

 

[Rogue Leader]

If you want to get this working google Daniel K drivers for Sound Blaster. He is this Sound Blaster Guru who provides support for old Sound Blaster cards on new platforms.

That said I still recommend against it. I've used his drivers to try and get my Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD (which is newer than your card) working properly in Win 10 and it was nothing but problems. I finally gave up. The support is just janky and if you want a seamless experience you're not going to get it you're going to spend time screwing with drivers all the time.

I've owned a LOT of Sound Blaster cards over the years, their driver support is always crap as they want to force you to upgrade a product you should not need to upgrade. I have this super fancy X-Fi which was nearly $300 and is essentially a brick. I swore off them, only to buy a SB X G5 as i needed a headphone amp/external sound card for my Sim system and it was the best deal. I'm an idiot.

Its just not worth it.

 

[delaro]

If you want to get this working google Daniel K drivers for Sound Blaster. He is this Sound Blaster Guru who provides support for old Sound Blaster cards on new platforms.

I tried a ZS Platinum Pro in my Ryzen based HTPC....that was a pain even with Daniels drivers and I never could get the random distortion and static issues to stop. I know the card was good, I pulled it off a win 7 system that was used for the same thing. 😕