I have over 20 years experience with PCs and I have been a studious learner during that time. I have installed many peripherals and add-ons in my own and machines belonging to others. But I have never had as many problems installing any of them as with this sound card, even in the days before plug and play!

I have installed the programs and drivers along with updates from your web site three times now because of various problems. The last installation changed my nVidia display card settings which caused a greenish monochrome color in DVD movies, but I reset them back. After much work I now have the most trouble free installation so far. The following problems remain however.

1. Opening THX Console resets the speaker level settings under the advanced tab of Surround Mixer and opening other settings programs causes those in THX Console to change. Prior installations also caused settings in EAX Console to change. Apparently one can use either THX Console and not the others, or the others can be used but not THX Console. Seems to me your documentation needs a better explanation of the interactions between these three programs and Speaker Settings and how to use them together.

2. When using SPDIF output from my DVD player application, some sounds aren't played during initial screens, menus and credits and there are occasional skips and faltering as some movies start playing. But playback of the same DVD is perfect when I set the application to decode sound rather than send it to the card to decode.

3. Volume of CD and DVD playback is controlled by the Wave slider in Surround Mixer instead of the CD Audio slider when digital output is enabled for the DVD player in Device Manager (the digital cable isn't connected between the card and the player). So my DVD player resets the wave playback volume high when it is started, and I then get blasted when a true wave file is played, if Synchronize with Control Panel is checked in Speaker Settings and I forget to lower wave volume after a DVD. Your documentation may also need more explanation of this to prevent confusion and endless experimenting.

Any help you can give will be appreciated. I am about ready to pull the card, revert back to the onboard sound, and start writing some bad reviews on web sites, which I have done only once before.

I frankly don't see how an average user could be satisfied with this card unless they are oblivious to its problems.

P.S. The card is installed in a Dell Dimension 8300 with plenty of resources, and I could find no info on your site that recommends a bios update as for some earlier Dell units. I have tried installing the card in two different slots in the computer. The card shares an IRQ with a USB Universal Host Controller. No other resources are shared.

Basically, I will have to run a bunch of (looong) analog connecting RCA cables to my receiver, instead of 1 digital coax - what a pain! Not to mention the headphone BS also mentioned.

Seems like they overlooked some very basic things with this card and focused on the the processing...

And now the performance. If this is your first plunge into the whole THX/true Dolby surround sound experience on your computer you won't regret buying this card. Since installing this card I have replayed Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, URU and other games and it's a whole new experience. With my 5.1 surround sound speakers the sound was crisp, clear and definately worth the $85.00. I am not a hardcore "tech guru" so I can't get into the serious stuff that some of the other people here have: They seem to have done a good job with those reviews, so I'll leave it at that. But if you are looking for great surround sound and don't want to spend loads of money this card is for you.

I was upgrading from a Fortissimo 1 sound card. I understand that this is not a great card, however I was using the optical out to connect to a DTS receiver. Essentially the sound card was doing nothing but transferring data and my nice receiver was doing all of the work. This made me apprehensive about upgrading to the Audigy 2 because I wasn't sure if I would notice a difference from my optical card. (pause for a quick side note) You can NOT hook this card up digitally to a receiver. I LOVE this card, but I feel this is important for customers to understand this fact, and very deceiving from Creative. The digital output on the card uses a proprietary digital signal. For the techs out there, a normal (electrical not optical) digital signal is a sine wave. The crest of the wave registers as "on" and the bottom of the wave registers as "off". The creative digital-out uses 8 points on the sine wave to create the signal. 1 point for each audio channel. This will only work with computer speaker sets designed for this type of proprietary signal. It will not work with home theatre receivers because it is not a standard digital signal. (now back to my review) With the Audigy 2 ZS I would need to hook everything up using analog THX certified monster cables. Essentially it boils down to weather my receiver will sound better decoding the digital signal (old card), or if the Audigy 2 ZS will sound better decoding the signal and then passing it to the receiver for amplification. I honestly could not be happier with the results. The Audigy 2 ZS sounds 10 times better than my old setup. Everything is MUCH more crisp and well defined, and the low end sounds AMAZING. I'm not talking loud bass, I'm just talking really really tight and smooth. I could not recommend this card more. It is THE BEST upgrade I have made to my PC in years.

I also wanted to touch a bit on the setup, because I couldn't find any reviews anywhere that explained how to hook up the analog outs to a home theatre receiver, and Creative made it a little tricky. First, the 8 channels use only 3 mini plugs as connectors. How you ask? The first connector is an easy to find cable. It's a mini -> 2 RCA. This is the same cable you use to hook a Discman up to your receiver. The other 2 are weird. They are mini -> 3 RCA. The only use I've ever seen for a cable like this is hooking up a DV camcorder to a TV. If you are using monster it is called a CAMAV cable. The first plug feeds your front right and front left speakers. The second plug feeds you rear left, rear right, and side left speakers. The third plug feeds your side right, center, and sub speakers. I could not find that info anywhere before buying and experimenting. I use a double receiver setup with two 5.1 receivers. The second receiver has some unused channels, so later I can expand as far as 10.2. I highly recommend this setup.

I also HIGHLY recommend this card. Like I said before, I am blown away by the sound quality. I've never heard a computer sound so good.

Installation was a breeze - like always just follow the instructions carefully and make sure everything is connected before you close the case - this model comes with a separate cable to link the sound card to the digital port on the CD drive. My XP system detected everything right away, and the software installed without a hitch. There's a few different programs bundled with the card, including EAX, THX and speaker configuration support, all of which is nicely presented and was helpful when setting up my speakers. The 5.1 surround support is just as groovy as I'd hoped, and the card software made it a breeze to adjust the levels, configure Winamp 5 to play through all the channels, and add funky effects. I don't really have much use for all the software included, but I can imagine if you were starting from scratch, or, conversely, quite an advanced user, you might enjoy the various different functions included here. I'm a bit middle-of-the-road to need all the bells and whistles, but I appreciate them being there.

So, easy to setup, easy to use, simmering with latent power and nicely priced. I admit that I was also persuaded to get this card for secret reason D) It came bundled with Raven Shield (and Angel of Darkness, but I'm treating that as a fancy test for my speakers rather than a `real' game...I'm such a snob) which sounds awesome through this card. A great buy for a lower end user who wants to ramp-up their audio experience without breaking the bank (or an eardrum). Recommended.

I have a Athlon XP Asus Motherboard that runs at 2GHZ. 256mb or ram, ATI video card, etc. I have heard numeral issues regarding buggy software drivers with ASUS and ATI...

From the start it was hell. Installation was a breeze, but soon it began to stress harm on my computer, constantly freezing it up. I had to uninstall the drivers in safe mode and all was fine.

Not giving up, I installed the drivers again, same results.

If the third time is suppose to be the charm, remind me that 2 strikes and your out. Third time, The sound blaster 2 zs slammed my computer, and to this day it will not finish it's post test.

Creative Labs tech support is merely a copy and paste to our webpage link solution. Although they were prompt.

If in the end I can't get my computer back, I'll rebuild WITHOUT Creative Labs. Only if you have the latest top of the line system or just looking for a guniea pig of a sound card, then by all means go with this one, else stay far away.