SUMMARY: Creative Labs has dominated the PC sound card market for as long as we can remember. Probably the most feature-packed SoundBlaster was the original Audigy sound card, bringing a ground-breaking amount of new features to PC audio enthusiasts. About four weeks ago Creative announced its new Audigy 2 sound card. Today Asher “Acid” Moses takes us on a journey documenting its new features including DVD audio and Dolby Digital EX 6.1 playback. Are these features alone worth your hard earned dollars? Read on and find out!
There are three basic flavors of Audigy 2: the vanilla card for budget conscious users; the Audigy 2 Platinum for mid-range users; and the Audigy 2 Platinum eX for the high-end. These are all very similar to each other; however, the Platinum version comes with a 5 1/4" internal breakout box, while the Platinum eX includes an external breakout box.
These breakout boxes include an infrared port for the bundled remote, MIDI-in/out, microphone and line-in jacks, optical and coaxial SPDIF in/out, two RCA inputs and a second SB1394 port.
Aside from the bundled breakout boxes, all three versions are identical; however, there is one slight difference with the Platinum eX. This version supports the ASIO 2.0 standard, whereas the Platinum and regular Audigy 2 only provide support for the ASIO 1.0 standard. The difference between ASIO 1 and ASIO 2 is that ASIO 2 supports 24-bit/96kHz recording and processing, whereas ASIO 1 can only record/process at 16-bit/48kHz.
The regular Audigy 2 will retail for around $129 US (about $260 AU), while the Audigy Platinum will retail for $199 US (about $400 AU). Due to the fact that the Platinum eX is not due for release until early 2003, there is no pricing information available for it as yet.
