Latest windows driver dropped support for the sound blaster x-fi sound cards, drivers no longer work :(

use modded drivers

Yeah, you have to use Creative software updater. Not sure what op is talking about

Get them from Creative directly? Disable driver signature.

Should probably work.

Lose weight

What do you mean "cope" you fucking retard, what do you think that word means? You're the one with heavy paperweight thanks to your broken OS, how is he the one coping?

cope is just the new "u mad?"

>nobody cares about Microsoft's Windows anymore
>80% MARKET SHARE

it's ok little guy, I'll pay for your Windows license

Why not just keep the old driver suite. It's not as though it's somehow obsolete. Or are you using Win10?

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I don't understand, just download an old driver?

Can I use my Audigy 2 zs with windows 10?

yes

Sorry, I meant that 1903 version of win10 broke the Creative driver. Either way, I found a beta that they put out that fixed the issue.

> somehow a sound card is inferior to a DAC
zoomer cancers, everyone. they both perform the exact same function, you useless fucking idiot.

>latest windows driver dropped support for (hardware)

Linux and BSD doesn't have this kind of problem.

exactly this. op is king of the morons.

nigger, the creative drivers (all old creative drivers) do not work on Windows 1903.
And creatives own update software does not recognize or find the latest beta put out for 1903 that fixed the issue.

Can hardly blame me for this.

>Phone DACs
Is there software to use a phone as a PC DAC or am I missing something here?

it's a measurement of distortion, you can measure distortion on any device that produces audio

It is, there is more interference inside PC case than outside of it.
Pcie sound cards are useful where latency matters, and inferior oitside of that.

if you're actually wondering cope is a term frequently used on incel looks maxxing forums so feel free to disregard anyone who says cope

>$10 apple USB adapter is better than high end first gen schiit
Warned y'all

Holy shit are you kidding me ? Do you need drivers aniway autist ?

external dacs have more features and things like volume knobs. they also support audio in and other things like that without needing to go through an OS. they also aren't stuck to one device or one desktop and can be used anywhere with anything.

What in the fuck is looks maxxing?

That's basically a myth at this point. You're more likely to get interference from the power or from the main components (CPU, GPU, etc) running their software (eg ryzen running windows) than you are from any kind of emitted interference

its when incels take steroids and get plastic surgery in an effort to have sex, no im not kidding

Damn thanks, I have an old PCI X-Fi and was just about to roll into 1903, guess I'm not going there for now.

Decen't sound cards will always be better.
Second are Thunderbold external DACs.
Everything else is just a casual pseudo intellectual falling for a meme.

This is relevant, how? At all.
Nobody who gives a fuck about sound quality uses a PCIe sound card inside their comptuer case, external PCIe boxes are perfect for it and have been in use since the mid 2000's for audio, far before they became popular with GPUs.

Yes, with kX Project

Illiterate bastards. Try having a gpu new to you fucking sound card and tell me how good it sounds. Power delivery is also unsuited for audio and performance suffers greatly.
>Hurr Durr how does it matter
Fucking noise floor nigger ever heard of it ?
>Muh olden ways of external pcie
People who actually cared had true external (professional) solutions. External pcie was for hack jobs. It doesn't solve the power delivery issues too.
Also why the fuck would you purchase this when there's a gorrilion DACs that not only are cheaper perform better but also come with a fucking case ? Ah and have fun with your shit drivers faggot.

>PS Audio Sprout at 83
How will Paul recover from this?

Arnt sound cards a meme

High end motherboard generally have sufficient on-board audio but anywhere lower they simplify the audio circuit to the point it affects the audio quality to the point that even old sound cards like Audigy 2 or X-Fi make sense.

Not a single argument except "I say so".
Classic, enjoy your chink USB DAC.

noob question, but does this matter if using the digital out of a PCI card?

I have a Fio e10k and I'm pretty happy with it. I don't have the most highest end of headphones, but it makes a very noticeable improvement over onboard audio. I think I got it on sale for around $50.

FiiO E10K
sounds way better than my old Audigy 2 ZS and probably any Soundblaster card.

Anybody has an idea why my PC freezes with an Audigy 2? It worked fine for 3 days then PC started to freeze randomly even at POST.
Could it be a capacitor or something like that malfunctioning and causing freeze?

Same happened with mine which is why I switched to an external DAC.
now it won't even POST anymore
my friend has the same exact issue with his Audigy 2 non-ZS
The caps around the buck converters seem like the most logical cause, but I couldn't be fucked to actually replace them.

god damn it, it was a bad purchase then(even though it was 10$) as i was heavily thinking about buying an external DAC but decided to buy the sound card

The OG Audigy 2 came out around 2003 iirc. It's impressive it managed to stay relevant for this long.
>10$
eh, at least you didn't loose much

Yes. A bad sound card can have jitter on the optical out and noise + jitter on coax. I wouldn't worry too much about it.
>No arguments
What did I expect ? Niggers can't read after all.

I have an ASUS Xonar Essence STX (PCI-E) with KRK Rokit 6s and Sennheiser HD 650. It sounds like absolute perfection. Have had them for many years now. But the Mic In is not shielded and it is indeed trash, since it captures a low volume brrraaaaappping noise from the GPU when it's running a high load game.

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Redpill me on DACs/audio cards, Jow Forums. Are they a meme or do they legit massively improve audio quality? Would I even notice the difference if I'm not a FLAC-listening hipster faggot with $1000 speakers/headphones?

They improve a bit for amplified audio monitors and can improve very significantly for headphones, especially high impedance headphones (hard to drive that require high output power).

I had this happen on the integrated Soundblaster my motherboard has. I just turned off updates (Windows 8.1).

>Can hardly blame me for this.
I can totally blame you for this. It's called stop being a stupid retard who uses Windows 10.

So they're a meme, after all. Thanks.

Lel just user your phone for music like everyone else does.

Install Linux Mint Cinnamon

This, Windows is for Pajeets and cucks. If you still use it you’re a tard.

Not they're not. You just don't need it.

Time to upgrade to the audigy 2 zs and kx drivers

Get a rolling release OS, they've said. It'll make life much easier, they've said.

Holy shit, an ancient audigy beats most of these.

I have one too. I like it.

it doesn't no.

Sounds cards are dacs. External solutions have their own power supply and less interference.

Definitely a meme, but I had a free slot and they are so damn cheap so I bought a SoundBlasterZ anyway. I use it to clear up the background on my mic and quickly toggle between headphones and speakers. No idea if the actual audio itself is any higher quality - I probably couldn't tell anyway.

Seconding this. This claim of interference is false with good quality sound cards like Essence STX. Have been using mine for years and will continue to do so.

So Asus STX 2 beats an Audio engine D3 yet you say pcie is bad. Fact is pcie sound cards of good quality are the same as most dacs and as relevant as they've ever been.

what? the pcie card you listed did terribly and underperforms dramatically compared to a topping d30 which is less than half the price

Didn't do too bad according to that list though, considering it's very similar to the STX 1 and that's been out for nearly 10 years.

Point is there's no worthwhile reason to switch from a pcie to a desk solution taking up space.

These "bad performing" DACs on that graphic are already very good sounding.

>grading literal snake oil
holy shit I wonder how much these companies pay this man

he's an ex-microsoft executive, he's got fuck you money and does requests from forum readers exclusively
this is an area that's fundamentally not snake oil and is pretty hard science that's directly measurable and verifiable. this isn't cables, this is something very tangible. the snake oil like schiit and audio gd are at the bottom of the list despite costing enormous amounts.
what is arguable is whether or not it's noticeable and also if you do notice it do you actually prefer it. the differences are at such a slight level that not only can almost nobody tell the difference, but when you do notice the difference it's not clear which is preferred. DACS have been blind tested many times and in general the result has been that there is essentially no difference in preference whatsoever.

that's why most people recommend getting a cheap external dac that has some nice features like passthrough, volume knobs, multiple outs, parametric EQ, etc, and focusing on that while getting a decent audio quality at the same time. more than $100 on a DAC is a waste of money, and for many people getting one at all isn't worth it. the same is true for sound cards.

That's a whole lot of words to agree with my sentiment

I only 50% agree with you, because that's not really snake oil it's just overkill and grading on a scale that most people won't notice
there are real snake oil products that do nothing or actually sound worse and that chart isn't that kind of chart

I think you misunderstand what the term means.

Based and redpilled.

That would be relevant if the topping wasn't cheaper.

install gentoo faggot

No. You do. Snake oil is placebo. This is not. It just doesn't have a perceivable effects even though there is demonstrable effects.

You're on the wrong side of arguing semantics, bud.

I use an Xonar DGX card and it blows the onboard realtec chip away. Said realtec chip is supposedly the higher end line to. Used an Audigy 2 ZS and Audigy 1 way back. Both were great cards. Still got them somewhere.

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>my phone is top of the green
breddy gud

Don't tell me you use motherboard sound, yikes.

Yes goyim, you need our top of the line DAC in order to make your music listenable! Oi vey, you wouldn't want tinnitus from that onboard sound! Yuck!

Who /z/head's here???

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recently got a new motherboard, and it doesn't have any PCI slots
feels bad, man

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lol cope. Enjoy your muddled bullshit that's "good enough"...

Guess this is why my windows hasn't updated yet.
>Sound Blaster Z

Oh god, I'm absolutely seething that I don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on a placebo effect that gets me past an imaginary threshold of music quality that was instilled by literal jews trying to get money out of me LMAO

How will I ever cope with this fact ROFL

Still going fine.

I have a Z and it updated a few weeks ago.

Welp. It doesn't even show up for me yet. Did you have to reinstall your (old)drivers again? I always have to every time there's one of these types of updates.

they make adapter brackets. Can't speak to their quality though

Is that pronounced zed or zee?

Only sound autists like you give a shit about bigger bars when it comes to something you need to HEAR in order to determine if something is good or not. I swear to fucking god, everyone who suggests a DAC is just a closet audiophile that hasn't moved onto anaconda-sized cables yet