Creative Sound Blaster Z Series

That link just says what formats bluray can support.

Why would creative or any other sound card manufacturer waste money implementing the extra two channels when there are only a handful of games that use 7.1?

And there aren't that many movies that use 7.1 either. Go here

http://www.blu-raystats.com/Stats/Stats.php?OrderBy=Title&Audio=7.1

There are only 347 movies listed as having a 7.1 sound track, and even if you look through that list you will see there are lots of films listed 3 or 4 times as it includes collector editions and 3d versions of the same movie. So that means there are roughly about 120 movies with 7.1 sound track. That's out of about 6000 listed on that site.

Also 7.1 setups are really for large sitting rooms/movie rooms/ home cinemas. Generally, if you are using a PC with these setups then you are running HDMI into a receiver, you aren't going to be using a discrete soundcard.

 

Hi guys, what do you think? should i go to the z series or hold on to my x-fi ti pro for awhile longer, pc is for gaming only, tried a recon3d card last week but was a little disappointed with the sound quality returned it to the shop and now back to my X-fi ti fatal1ty pro which sounds so much better...

 

I seen a few people that had Recon's that went to the Z and liked it much better. The only reason the Recon not bothering me because I simply using it as a Digital transport card. To send the Digital signal to my external dac amp. My onboard drivers being glitched to hell and via doesn't seem to care to fix it. Is why I had to get a cheap used recon3D my self to do it.

 

I had previously xfi extreme gamer and i just bought the Sound Blaster Z, after i uninstalled the driver and the software for the extreme gamer and did clean the residue with driver sweeper for the creative driver then i installed the driver for the new card after i installed it in the pc i dont get the options in the control center for anything other than the dts and digital Dolby no other options and when i try to launch the diagnostics it crashes too any idea what could cause this or is it a knowing issue? :bang:

 

Sometimes driver sweeper sweeps a bit too much, try uninstalling the Z's driver, reboot then install it again.

 

Yea, I had that happen to me a couple times with driver sweeper, it goes over board with the broom.

 

I did reinstall and i did a restore in a driver sweeper and still no go:bang:
I'm going to try to move it to another slot and see if this help:micro:

 

Uninstall the drivers, Delete the install folder (Creative) in Program Files/x86.
Run regedit and delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Creative Tech, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Creative Labs, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Creative Tech

See if that helps.

 

Amazon.jp have a projected release date for the ZXR as the 19/1/13

http://www.amazon.co.jp/Creative-サウ..._m=AN1VRQENFRJN5&pf_rd_r=1CNSEH4EA6JYB4P90C1S

 

Eh, 5.1 is plenty good enough. Many games are using things like Wwise that limit them to 5.1 anyway. Or just flatout only do 5.1.

Wait for 7.1 to become the standard for the next consoles, only then will people start using 7.1 more probably.

Anywho, I got my Z today. Not gonna be able to install it for a while. But I just now realized it requires Windows 7, so if you are on Vista and XP I guess you are SOL.

I'm on 7, which means i'm fine. But I also have a dual boot with XP for certain games, and older games. Though to be honest i'm pretty sure most games that I would play on Xp probably don't have surround sound support. So my onboard should be ok I suppose.

 

wich one would be best for music/games: Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional v Sound Blaster Z.

 

As far as I know the Recon3d is very poor. Get the Z, so far I have only read good things about it.

 

ok. thanks for your reply will get one on monday the z from aria as i live not far from them

 

The only way that i got it to work is clean install of the windows sys.. now it sounds good and i can hear the deference from my old card and i can hear sounds that was missing with the extreme gamer card so its worth the upgrade

 

Holy smokes!!! $349 in Singapore
http://sg.store.creative.com/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-zxr/1-21383.aspx

/edit

... actually that converts to $285 USD.

 

Wow... It is about $100 more than I'm willing to pay. Zx would be side step at best, doesn't it have same DAC as in my Forte? I'll probably just wait for the proper drivers.

 

Creative UK have listed a price for the ZxR, a slightly obscene £200! (approx. €245) http://uk.store.creative.com/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-zxr/1-21383.aspx

I've a vague recollection that the Titanium HD originally listed for £170-£180 and now it's £150 direct from Creative, but has been as low as £100-£120 in the UK and EU. Also the Zx is currently £25 more direct from Creative vs other retailers, and none of the typically more competitive retailers have it listed yet. So maybe it's realistic to expect an initial street price for the UK and EU in the £175 (€215) range for the ZxR?

 

I just got a Sound Blaster ZXR to replace my Asus Xonar Phobeus. This card sounds fantastic. More when I get some time to run it through its paces.

 

You must be real picky about sound if you swap cards that fast! The Phobeus hasn't even been out for a year!

And welcome to the forums and congrats on your first post

 

Where did you purchase it, i've been searching for AGES!