 | Manufacturer : Creative Labs
In Stock : 2
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- Audio card for notebook computers
- 24-bit audio
- EAX ADVANCED HD Music Tools
- Built-in Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES decoding
- Easy to install and use
The PCMCIA Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook opens a new era of possibilities for the notebook user. It delivers features previously only available to PC users but now available to notebook users (even those that are highly mobile). This is achieved by combining ultra-high quality audio with advanced, hardware-accelerated features all in a tiny PCMCIA format card! For instance it delivers THX certified 24-bit ADVANCED HD audio quality playback with incredible 104dB SNR, allowing the highest resolution audio playback with support for DVD-Audio at up to 24-bit/192kHz and Windows Media 9: 24-bit multi-channel audio format.The Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook also provides encompassing 7.1 surround sound for Dolby Digital EX as well as DTS-ES supported DVD movies; any DirectSound3D games and CMSS 3D virtualized 7.1 stereo music. Gamers will love the hardware accelerated EAX 4.0 ADVANCED HD that not only brings games to life, but delivers maximum performance! Musicians will also enjoy true 24-bit recording and low latency ASIO support for the ultimate audio recording platform. Notebook audio just got very, very interesting! Average Rating of 4.00 out of 15 reviews
Rating :  
$380? - Khalel Mohammed, Jul 16, 2009
$380 for this card? LOL. You guys are flat out, out of your minds. Bought this new when it came out for $100. Can find it now on eBay new for $50.
$380, HAHAHAahahah. Oh man, never laughed so hard in my life.
This is an awesome card though. Better than Creative's new X-Fi notebook offering.
Rating :
Some minor issues - R. Knight, Aug 01, 2007
This card has some problems with certain chipsets, but updated drivers fix them, and Creative has good solutions in their knowledge base for most of them.
That aside, this card is the best investment I have made for my laptop computer. Mp3 playback for instance, now takes almost no cpu. I can run 3d games, with the creative audio playback, which uses the chip on the card, rather than the system cpu to play audio, and it only takes about 1%.
The jacks are sturdy, even though the attachment feels a bit cheap, it is sturdy because I have had full size logitech gaming headset fall off, with the cord wrapped around it, and it didn't bend the connector.
The card is dead silent, which means there is no whisper when recording "what you hear", or directly from the card.
The MIC however, is crappy. Even at full boost there is an annoying buzz underneath your voice, to the point people on Ventrilo complained while I was gaming. I simply started using the mic input on the laptop instead, and it worked.
Don't buy this card for the microphone input. Otherwise it absolutely rocks, and If anything happens to it, I am buying another one.
This card DOES NOT WORK in an express card slot.
Rating :
compact, yet super efficient. - Eric Vlach, Mar 09, 2007
Prior to having this sound card, I had the comparably quite huge sound blaster extigy, which is an external USB sound card, about the size of a hard cover book. This tiny card is barely noticeable coming out of my laptop, sticking out barely an inch.
The main reason I wanted this card was to have my computer send out an optical audio signal which could be plugged into my external 5.1 speakers.
The three slots in the card are audio out, some kind of composite audio out (with front LR, rear LR, and Center/Sub woofer jacks, and audio in/mic. Both audio out and in accept optical as well as regular 'metal' cables.
The sound it delivers to my 5.1 speakers is pristine, a lot better than what my internal sound card could ever produce.
This hardware comes with a LOT of additional software. Even the basic software is pretty complex, with widgets like Audio Console, Diagnostics, EAX console, Graphics Equalizer, DVD Player, Smart Recorder, SoundFont Bank Manager, Speaker Calibrator, Speaker Settings, Surround Mixer, THX Setup Console, Wave Studio, ..... and more. Anything you can think of doing, you can probably do with this software/hardware combination.
Things to be wary about:
1)like many PCMCIA cards that perform a lot (such as USB 2.0 adapters and wireless cards,) if you have two slots in your computer, this card will BLOCK access to the second one. Thus if you were planning on using another one along with this card, you have to make a choice which one is more important.
2)If you have an external dolby digital or THX decoder, and you want the optical signal to go to your decoder straight through without being interpreted by this card, good luck. It is possible, but I remember spending many hours searching through all the possible configurations. Finally what I found out works for my computer, is in my DVD player, I chose to send the sound through SPDIF and have some kind of 'pass through.'
Rating :
great soundcard - K. Kong, Mar 08, 2007
I bought this for my laptop because I listen to music a lot at home and while traveling. It really provides a much higher quality sound out from your computer even with headphone. I wouldn't say it is at audiophile level but great for MP3. I'm using Sennheiser HD580 which is a high impedance headphone and this soundcard has no problem driving it while providing enough "juice" to the can. However, be careful with its software. My computer crashed when I installed the softwares provided. Hence, I just install the driver.
Rating :
Awesome Sound Card - J. Park, Jan 02, 2007
I mostly use this for First Person Shooter gaming and sometimes for music. For me it's an awesome sound card for both purposes.
Games:
1) much better directional indication in games...even forward and backward indication using normal headphones.
2) echo effects
3) sound clarity
Music:
1) sound clarity. I can hear stuff in music that I couldn't before and string instruments come through with a lot more detail.
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| List Price: |
$279.99 |
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