Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

Question

First of all, Hi this is my first post here. I own an Audigy ZS Platinum Pro, an SB Li've, and have been a loyal Creative customer since the Soundblaster 2.0 6bit I fitted to my 386SX. I've been working in I. T. for 3 years in various roles, from C++ programming to IT Management. I'm currently certified as an eMCPA, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCSA&MCSE+Messaging, and am about to complete a VCP and soon?a Cisco Unified Messaging cert. I'm far from uninformed, I guess that's what I'm trying to get across. Now some other facts:- Windows Vista has been available to corporate customers since November 2006.- Windows Vista has been available to retail customers since January 2007- Windows Vista SDK including Driver SDKs have been readily available since early 2006. Yes you read that right.
Now, I like most people downloaded the Audigy 2 ZS Plat Pro drivers for XP and found they didnt work under Vista. Things like the scale of the volume controls was way off - but Surround sound was strangely enough working. I have a full surround sound system with either SPDIF or just RCA inputs. I use either, I'm not that fussed. I could not use these drivers as there were so many bugs under Vista (the XP drivers) that it wasnt workable. I then waited for well over a month. Eventually, Creative release the first beta drivers for the Audigy 2 ZS Plat Pro under Vista 32bit. I install these drivers, and find to my dismay, everything sounds absolutely terrible (I'm not sure how the quality can be so bad?) and also the rear channels won't work. No SoundBlaster applications are installed. It's like I'm using the worst onboard sound ever invented with the world's worst driver and application support. At this point I'll remind you?I paid over $450 for this card and external box. That is a massi've expense and one I only outlayed due to my previous faith in Creative. I already had my suspicions about the quality of the drivers due to the way the previous XP drivers had been bundled into 3 files then a patch and then that was changed, and it was all very seemingly mismanaged. Anyway the drivers bomb out without warning on January 2th, which I was very much less than impressed with.When I first hit the Creative site that morning, the updated drivers were NOT available. That is absolutely unacceptable. Later that day, the current drivers were posted. With massi've warning labels like "THESE ARE AN UNSUPPORTED BETA DRIVER. DO NOT USE THESE....<continues like this>" I download these and install them, and find to my dismay CMSS might be present but it's implementation is very very poor and I'm getting truly abysmal quality through the rear channel. It's like somebody ripped the DAC out and replaced it with one they bought from a 25cent bargain warehouse. I then change volume settings and attempt to use some of the features of the card and find that practically nothing that is present in the XP drivers is actually working in these drivers. There is no point using these drivers other than to hear Windows sounds. They are buggy, suffer from massi've quality problems, and do not include any of the features that I bought the card FOR and also cripple my home stereo/theater sound reproduction to the point it's not worth bothering with. So thanks, Creative, for because of your drivers alone, I'm now dual booting to XP and having to wait to actually begin using a new operating system, for absolutely no reason other than the incompetence displayed by Creative. Not anyone elses, the Video card has been working fine since Vista Beta , and every single other device in my system including USB sticks and third party disk controllers, all work great under Vista. Every single, and I mean every single, one of these other manufacturers had a software team that was worthy of the hardware. I'm afraid that I can't say the same for Creative Labs. The software is truly terrible now, you need to fix this situation. In closing, let me also remind you that it is now the 2st of February, 2007. These unsupported beta drivers have been my only option for well over a month. Prior to this drivers that were barely alpha release drivers were my only option, and prior to that - I had no option. This is completely unacceptable. Microsoft did not just spring Vista on the market; SDKs were made available 2 months in advance and even futher in advance for hardware vendors. Please stop blaming Microsoft or implying it is their fault for implementing DRM. This was documented, published, warned about in advance, and any software or hardware manufacturers caught behind the 8 ball like this should be truly ashamed, and fully expect to lose the vast majority of their Enterprise level customers, which filters down to the IT Media, which filters very quickly down tos Consumers. Once your products are recommended AGAINST, on major websites and in major IT publications, the retail customer will no longer select Creative. Do not be complacent, it will happen if nothing changes and extremely rapidly. This will take a long time for the user base to forget too, we will be suspicious and never trust Creative for many years. Neither I, nor my businesses, will ever buy a PC with a Creative component in it again, and I have written to local Computer publications stating the same. I am removing my Creative hardware from the systems, and will move to another high end manufacturer that does have current Vista drivers. Believe me people there are cards out there with better SNR and all of the features and more, with driver support. This shows a real lack of commitment to the customer base on behalf of Creative. This post is not intended to start a debate. It is a letter from myself, and my?local I. T. community, to Creative, for comment on by the community. Everyone should realise that the software development lifecycle for a modern I. T. hardware vendor needs to be tracked closely to the operating system vendors' releases and patch levels. Creative, are not behaving with any professionalism. This is not an operating system being delayed, this is a driver, the tools for which have been made readily available to Creative by Microsoft directly for over 2 months, Creative manufacture the hardware, and to add insult to injury Microsoft worked with hundreds of hardware vendors to ensure Vista compatibility. For the Creative Vista drivers to be in this state of disarray on February 2st 2007 is a terrible reflection on Creative, showing a massi've lack of planning. Pardon me for asking, but is everyone at Creative asleep?On behalf of the I. T. Community at large, I hope Creative acknowledges our disgust.?Travis RoeMessage Edited by troe on 02-20-200709:52 PM

Answer 1

Well so far this only Issue Im having with my my Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro drivers , it's the sound is Crappy, but to be honest, it look like a performance Issue , cause if im not in a game the sound is quite better, but as soon I've let my music play during a game, the Sound Goes to So So to BullS**T. Im in IT since a long time, I won't tell all my degree and so but..! Im a pro..!?While Running Game my Sound card decrease my performance. And sometime I need to restart cause Cracking noise get over the game. I can be 2 Weeks without restart Needed...!If there any Beta Drivers Available I would like to be on trials...!BTW IM not just blaming Creative for Drivers and Issues, developing Drivers under Vista is Really new,Hardware layer are really not the same as all windows OS..! So keep up the good Work Guys..!We can blame Bill and is friend to have create a New Layer :P but I won't cause in year, everything will be Perfect..! now it's just too new ?Thanks,?here is my Spec. AM2?DualCore 4800 +4 gig Ram DDR2 800 Mhz OCzAsus CrossHair MotherBoard.5Tera in SATA RAID WDAsus 7800 GTX GeforceAudigy 2 ZS Platinum ProRunning under Vista Ultimate ( Registered with Real Info, Im a MSDN Subscriber + MCP )??