New Audigy Drivers

[CWB]

Anybody else downloaded the new Audigy/Audigy2 drivers for XP yet? If so, did it remove the mixer & speaker options from your AudioHQ? How stupid is that?

Looks like they removed the only useful controls...

[StealthHawk]

What new Audigy2 drivers? There were new Audigy1 drivers released last week or something, but I saw the same old drivers for Audigy2.

[Matthyahuw]

speakers are now controlled in the control panel in the generic Windows sound management

[-=DVS=-]

I downloaded the BETA ones who increase speed from 30 to 50% in EAX HD games , and i must say they are awesome :D big improvement in Raven Shield ;)

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by -=DVS=-
I downloaded the BETA ones who increase speed from 30 to 50% in EAX HD games , and i must say they are awesome :D big improvement in Raven Shield ;)

Do those beta drivers degrade music quality though? I am leary of the disclaimer that says the driver was only tested in gaming environments. I don't really want to sarcrifice sound quality when playing music just to speed up games that run fast enough already for my tastes.

[DivotMaker]

Originally posted by StealthHawk
Do those beta drivers degrade music quality though? I am leary of the disclaimer that says the driver was only tested in gaming environments. I don't really want to sarcrifice sound quality when playing music just to speed up games that run fast enough already for my tastes.

I have noticed no difference in sound using the beta drivers for WinXP. I have noticed an improvement in framerates in games though...

[EciDemon]

Its important to understand that this is drivers for a sound card. So the quallity of your music will not be degraded by using the beta drivers. The aduigy 2 has hardware to deliver you very clear and high quallity sound ... as long as your music is saved in such a way.

Personally I didnt like the beta drivers. It might be that they are very good in games but the removal of all the creative controll panels for eax, speakers and so on really suxx I think. So I dont use them cos of that.

Asio and all of that still works if you produce music or use such apps that uses or needs it.

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by EciDemon
Its important to understand that this is drivers for a sound card. So the quallity of your music will not be degraded by using the beta drivers. The aduigy 2 has hardware to deliver you very clear and high quallity sound ... as long as your music is saved in such a way.

I have actually heard people report differently. I have seen people in audio forums say that certain new drivers provided increased audio quality compared to old drivers, so it seems that drivers can indeed impact sound. Also, I have heard people say that using Audigy/2 drivers on SBLive/Audigy1 improved sound quality. Maybe it was a placebo effect, and maybe it was not. Next time I do a driver install, I will just use the beta drivers though :cool:

[CWB]

Ok, in case the disappearing Mixer/Speaker from AudioHQ bothered anybody else, here's the fix:

Copy file "CtSSpkU.ahq" from Creative\SBAudigy\AudioHQ\Ahq\
to
Creative\AudioHQ\Ahq

Mixer/Speaker Controls now reappear on AudioHQ.