Entered CNET Catalog: 10/11/2003
SKU: 0054651060265
Manufacturer: Creative Labs
Manufacturer description
The Sound Blaster Audigy LS delivers high fidelity 24-bit/96kHz 5.1 surround for amazing results with PC-based entertainment. Compatible with both digital and analogue speaker systems, it offers Dolby Digital and EAX 3.0 Advanced HD support for high-quality surround in movies and games. It supports recording and playback up to 24-bit/96kHz, with EAX Audio effects and CMSS 3D up-mix of stereo audio to 5.1. The fully featured Creative Media Source Software allows for easy music playback, library creation, management and CD burning. This is the ideal card for desktop PC users seeking an excellent value upgrade to 24 bit Advanced HD audio.Product summary
The good: Inexpensive; 5.1-channel output; 24-bit/96KHz output; supports Dolby Digital 5.1; supports EAX and Direct3D audio for gaming.
The bad: No EAX hardware acceleration; no DVD-Audio support; no front-mounted audio jacks; doesn't support the latest EAX enhancements.
The bottom line: The Creative Sound Blaster Audigy LS offers enough features to please casual and midrange gamers and media enthusiasts at an extremely low price.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 05/03/2004
The Audigy LS has only basic input and output jacks: three analog outputs--one of which doubles as an S/PDIF digital jack--and microphone and line-in ports. There's also an old-style analog joystick/MIDI port and two internal audio inputs for connecting your modem and your CD-ROM drive. Because of the spare design, installation is a breeze. Simply insert the card in an open PCI slot, connect your speakers, and you're set. While the Audigy LS lacks the gold contacts that improve the clarity of the speaker-to-sound-card connection on the Audigy 2-series cards, the LS's color-coded input/output jacks do make it easier to connect correctly a set of 5.1 speakers and a microphone.
Our software installation test went without a hitch, and we had no trouble using Creative's Web-based auto-update feature to upgrade to the latest driver revision. Creative bundles some useful software with the card, including the MediaSource music organizer and player, the WaveStudio sound editor, and a MiniDisc creator. The Audigy LS's settings software could be better organized, as it makes you jump between too many screens to reach the graphic equalizer or the surround-sound mixer. At least the settings tools make sense and let you intuitively refine your listening experience.
One of the features Creative touts most about its EAX Advanced HD standard is its ability to produce special reverb effects. These effects simulate the acoustic warping that occurs in certain environments, such as a stadium or a concert hall. The effects are generally gimmicky, but if you've ever wondered what Abba would sound like singing "Dancing Queen" at half speed in a bathroom, the Audigy LS can deliver. More useful is CMSS (Creative Multi-Speaker Surround), Creative's upmixing/downmixing/headphone-spatialization technology, which takes your stereo audio files and creates a simulated 5.1-channel effect over standard stereo speakers or a set of headphones. The results aren't dramatic, but the surround effect does add a level of immersion that stereo speakers don't normally achieve. We tested CMSS with an eclectic mix of tunes, including Mozart, Torme, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, and Tenacious D, and we were impressed with the clarity of the music both through speakers and headphones.
The Audigy LS's 3D-sound support really shines in DVD playback and gaming. The action and music sequences in The Fifth Element sounded top-notch, thanks to the card's Dolby Digital 5.1 support. The Audigy LS also supports EAX Advanced HD 3.0 and DirectSound 3D, effectively covering almost all games that support 3D audio. Despite supporting 5.1 channels rather than the 7.1 of the newest cards, the Audigy LS nevertheless manages to create a convincing audio environment. While playing Ubisoft's Far Cry, we found that the combination of the Audigy LS and our Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 speakers provided excellent positional audio feedback--and plenty of warning when the bad guys approached from the sides and the rear.
Note that the Audigy LS supports only EAX 3.0, not the latest 4.0 release, so you'll miss some of the more elaborate effects available on high-end cards, such as those we heard using the Audigy 2 ZS. The Audigy LS also lacks hardware EAX acceleration, relying instead on your PC's processor to generate advanced 3D effects. Playing games on a reasonably fast system, you shouldn't lose more than a few frames per second compared to the results you'd get from a hardware-accelerated Audigy 2 card, but hard-core gamers looking for PC-performance bragging rights will want one of Creative's higher-end options. The ability to play music discs that use the new DVD-Audio standard is also absent from the Audigy LS, but this format has not yet been widely adopted, so this is not a terribly painful omission.
Documentation for the Audigy LS is on the light side, with a foldout installation poster and an information-light Windows help file that explains how to use the various utilities and settings screens. Creative provides more help via the knowledge base on its Web site and through online or phone-based customer support, which is available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT. The Audigy LS comes with a one-year limited warranty.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7out of 7 user reviews
Don't waste your money.
Pros: None, its a waste of money.
Cons: To call Creative's driver support poor would be kind, it doesn't qualify as poor, its simply a disgrace.
out of 7 user reviews
Ideal for the average user
Pros: Affordable, easy to install and exceptional sound
Cons: none so far
out of 7 user reviews
Has all the features a budget gamer needs
Pros: Easy install good sound for a beginner can't beat the value more options than I expected
Cons: no where near creatives top line cards features corruption problems with some games
out of 7 user reviews
You can't beat the price to performance ratio.
Pros: The sound quality is exceptional. Highly recommended for someone on a budget.
Cons: Lacking the more expensive features, but hey, you get what you pay for.
out of 7 user reviews
Sound like the wealthy have !
Pros: The price is just enough for anyone to afford. Comes with a good amount of bells and whistles. Sounds loud and crisp and blows away any other card in this price range!
Cons: You have to purchase digital speakers to unleash the full capability. No firewire port like the other audigy cards.
out of 7 user reviews
WAS WELL WORTH THE 49.99
Pros: I have absolutely nothing but good things to say. Installed easy and drastically improved the quality of the phillips card that I had prior.
Cons:
out of 7 user reviews
This sound card is recommened for people who only need good audio quality without all the extra cost
Pros: good sound quality, low cost, nice game bundle.
Cons: some applications have conflicts with this sound card. (example: Halo, Call of Duty, Unreal Tournament 2003/2004)
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