CreativeSound Blaster Audigy PCIe RX 7.1 Sound Card with High Performance Headphone Amp

Upgraded my computer, but my old sound blaster pci card wouldn't fit in the new mother board pcie slots. So I bought this.I thought I would just use the onboard audio on my new motherboard. But the quality wasn't anywhere near my old sound blaster card. Don't let these online YouTube comparisons fool you. They say you won't notice much of a difference between the onboard audio and a dedicated sound card. They are wrong. There is a very noticeable difference. Especially if you have somewhat decent speakers.This definitely worth it. Sounds so much better than the onboard motherboard audio.

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The Audigy Rx changed the way I think about Creative audio products, somewhat, well...at least *some of them* anyway seem to be developing to be different products than those I'd been used to in the 2006-2012 time frame anyway. Although still somewhat burdened by massive software packages that goes with the hardware they sell (to wit, when I was using the Creative Fatality Titanium sound card prior to 2010 when I discovered Asus and other brands of audio cards, that card was blessed/cursed with almost 1GB of software panels, sound packages, and peripheral enhancements to the card, so much so that the card was virtually useless if one actually tried to *use* several of the sound panels at once!So I leaned toward castigation when it came time to review/analyze and/or use Creative products prior to this sound card I'm reviewing tonight. The Audigy Rx is a much simpler system of performance and enhancements it seems, with a virtual array of control panels to the card that begs the imagination, however, these sound panels are much less intrusive and actually help the card perform vs previous experiences I've had with this company. or example, there's the EAX Studio, with multiple effect groups to use, of which I found the most helpful and defined was the simple graphic equalizer, itself with an array of effects and special tonal additions to the card's output.Still, I found that I got the most out of the Audigy Rx by simply leaving the controls set to "Living Room", and having just a simple special effect or two going on, a slight reverb or vocal effect perhaps, in order to derive the best sound possible out of a plethora of choices. I tried out most of the complex control panels that are offered in the software package but discarded them all for the purity of the sound card itself, and left the enhancements to simple balancing of my speaker system (5.1/7.1 Logitech Z906 Computer Speaker System, with five satellites pumping out some 50+Watts of power each, a midrange for clear voice and high-instruments like guitar or upper register horns and strings, and a thunderous sub-woofer that can crank out wall-bending thumps and low register bangs with some 220W of power behind it (all RMS readings).With those types of adjustments in mind, I was able to achieve fantastic effects and increases in the level of sound per musical component group in a recording, tape, or TV offering/BluRay movie rather than letting a crazy control panel take over and literally ruin the sound experience. If I indulged my constant fiddling with the system controls and actually *used* the Creative control panels that were available to try and balance or improve the music or sounds, I found myself fighting clipping and distortion of the worst order, just like with the Fatality sound card. Memories like that are not easily forgotten!But the Audigy Rx has many great qualities going for it, and I count among them a finely honed treble and high note group of sounds, while the bass is strong, but somewhat subdued vs the previous cards I used from Creative, a very nice balance of effects! For those reasons I rated the Audigy Rx 4-Stars, and it deserves all of that and then some. Were it not for the inclusion of unnecessary control panels which could potentially damage one's aural experience with this audio card, I'd have rated the card 5 Stars, but still...it's a VAST improvement over the other Creative offerings that I have used prior to this card.Much to my pleasure this card also embodies a very nice faculty for being able to push the sound up, up and away in the listener's experiential framework, and play music and live shows at much louder levels than one would normally associate with such things, and still maintain a very nice balance, ambience and verve. I might go so far as to say I think that this audio card is the creme de la creme of the lot of inexpensive audio cards from Creative, Asus, and others, and that it gets my "Kick arse" award for an inexpensive audio card being sold today! After all the price point of the Audigy Rx is somewhere around $60-$80, while the card actually costs just more than $65 shipped, a cool bargain in my book of tricks for audio cards. You might say that this card is Creative's turn toward more realistic and specifically less-enhanced audio cards, at least I can hope so, can't I?They mean well, they just don't know how to straddle the balance between "great sound" and "excessive sound" it seems. Well, maybe with the tendency of this audio card to minimize the audio experience and let the music do the talking, such as a great audio card generally does, it signals that Creative has been listening to people's comments about their products after all...again, I can hope right?I really do enjoy my bargain basement cost Creatvie Audigy Rx audio card over all others in this price range of say $60 to $110 or so, and I'm convinced that if you just simple do NOT indulge Creative's tendency to utility over-dramatic effects into music and other sounds that a computer can generate or enhance, and just simply take the sound and its message to a new and pure, easy listening sound effect device like other cards tend to do, and adjust accordingly!Suffice to say I really *like* this card a lot, or I wouldn't have given it such a great write up and wasted my time, you dig? Creative really could use more lessons in humble-pie sounds and simplistic tonalities such as other great audio card manufacturers have and use. The alternative is to go back to where they were 4-5 years ago with their products just filled to the brim with special effects and tedious attempts at trendy and cool control panels, panels which did nothing but help ruin a great listening experience in my view.I like what this audio card signifies for me with respect to Creative's contributions in the future of audio cards and sound...they can choose to make sounds better for the listener rather than bombard us with special effects, and ruin the output that their audio cards are capable of delivering, just like the Audigy Rx does WITHOUT indulging its control panels and special effects to the maximum levels. Take it easy, Creative, and continue to concentrate on improving sound rather than defining it in terms of all the special effects that you are capable of giving the listener. That is my advice to the company, and I hope that they take it and run with it.Wavey Davey - 9-10-2014

If you buy a PC or a laptop these days, it almost certainly comes with a sound chipset that implements a standard called HD Audio. "HD, high definition, sounds good, right?" Well, no. All that really means is the chipset knows how to talk to a HDMI interface, like your TV. But HD Audio chipsets are actually terrible.Now, if you want to ADD a soundcard into a PC? You want the same thing, right?Well, no, you probably don't. Because why would you add in HD Audio to a PC that already has it?Creative's Audigy brand USED to mean high quality sound cards. But now, many Audigy models (like the Audigy Fx) are just cheap HD audio chipsets no better than what's already in your computer.The Audigy Rx is one of the exceptions. It is NOT a junk HD Audio chipset. It is built around an EMU10K1 digital sound processor, and it is capable of PHENOMENALLY good sound. You'll need good speakers, and possibly even an external amplifier, to let it really strut its stuff, but connect it to sound hardware capable of matching what it can put out and it will SHINE. If you're putting a sound card into a PC running Linux, this is the only one you will need. (You only need to enable one driver in the kernel, snd_emu10k1 along with its snd_emu10k1_synth module.)There's one "Gotcha!" to be aware of. This card has TWO sets of audio connections — a set of six 1/8" audio jacks, and an optical S/PDIF digital output. It DEFAULTS to using the S/PDIF, even if you have nothing connected to it. If you want to use the analog jacks, you will have to set the mixer control 'Audigy Analog/Digital Output Jack' to ON. ON is analog; OFF is digital. If it's set wrong you will have no sound out.Bottom line: A great price for a really good sound card that can do far more than other cards in its price range.