Last week we reviewed Creative’s latest external USB solution - the Audigy 2 NX.  This week it is the turn of their flagship audio product - the Audigy? 2 ZS Platinum Pro - to come under our spotlight.  As with Creative’s previous soundcard lines, the Audigy? 2 ZS family actually comprises three products - the basic Audigy? 2 ZS (comprising just the PCI soundcard), the Audigy? 2 ZS Platinum (which adds additional I/O options via a front-panel module) and the top-of-the-range Audigy? 2 ZS Platinum (which adds additional I/O options with an external I/O module).  Although we are looking at the Platinum Pro, the basic soundcard functionality is identical for all three models - the only difference is in the I/O options and the bundled software.  You can check out the Creative’s comparison chart here.

The Audigy? 2 ZS family was launched in September of 2003 and represented an evolutionary upgrade to their existing Audigy 2 line.  The new ZS features a number of improvements over the original Audigy 2 family, including a slightly higher signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 108dB(A), 7.1 surround sound (instead of 5.1), THX-certification and support for Creative’s latest and greatest environmental audio effects standard, EAX 4.0 Advanced HD.

In terms of specifications, Creative claims the following:

Audio Performance

• SNR of 108 dBA on all eight channels
• Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (AES17) = 0.004% (1V, 2V Rated Output)
• Frequency Response (?3dB, 24-bit/96kHz input ) = <10Hz to 46kHz (1V, 2V Rated Output)

High Definition Audio Quality for Playback and Recording

• 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion during playback with sampling rates of 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz in 7.1 mode and up to 192kHz in stereo mode
• 24-bit Analog to Digital conversion during recording in 8, 16 or 24-bit at sampling rates of 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz
• S/PDIF input at up to 24-bit/ 96kHz quality
• S/PDIF output up to 24-bit at 48 or 96kHz
• ASIO 2.0 drivers for low latency (as low as 2ms) multi-track playback and recording at 16-bit/48kHz or 24-bit/96kHz

Wave-Table Synthesis and Midi Features

• Creative Hardware synthesizer (2x16 Channels) with 64-voice polyphony featuring E-MU?’s patented 8-point interpolation technology for accurate sample reproduction
• Creative Software synthesizer - multi timbral wave-table (16 Channels)
• 2 MIDI I/O ports (2x16 channels) (gameport adapter required for MIDI I/O 2)

FireWire? (IEEE?1394) Connectivity

• FireWire? (IEEE?1394) / i-Link? compatible interface with up to 400Mbps transfer rate

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro On-Board Connectors

• Line level out (Front/Side/Rear/Center/Subwoofer)
• Digital CD Audio in
• Aux Audio in
• AD_LINK 1 and AD_LINK 2 Connectors
• Power Connector
• 15-pin MIDI/Joystick port extension header

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro External I/O Hub Front/Rear Panel Connectors

• Headphone Out (1/4" Stereo Jack)
• Line In 1 (1/4" Stereo Jack , shared with Microphone In with Gain Control)
• Line In 2 (1/4" Stereo Jack)
• Line In 3 (2x RCA Jack)
• Optical S/PDIF In/Out
• Coaxial S/PDIF In/Out
• Digital Out for 5.1 support (6-channel S/PDIF Output to Creative digital speakers)
• 2x FireWire? (IEEE?1394) ports
• MIDI In / Out
• Infra-red Receiver
• AD_LINK 1 and AD_LINK 2 connectors

You certainly cannot fault the Audigy? 2 ZS Platinum Pro in terms of features!

Musicians and recording enthusiasts should note that one key difference between the Audigy? 2 ZS Platinum Pro and it’s cheaper Platinum and normal siblings is that the Pro supports ASIO 2.0 drivers - which means low-latency recording at up to 24-bit/96kHz.  The other versions only support the original ASIO driverss, limiting them to 16-bit/48kHz low-latency recording.

Compared with the basic Audigy? 2 ZS, the Platinum Pro adds significant additional connectivity - headphone socket, two extra line-in connectors, optical and coaxial S/PDIF in/out, MIDI in/out, an extra Firewire connector and an infra-red receiver. 

Compared with the Audigy? 2 ZS Platinum, the only real difference (besides ASIO 2.0 support) is an extra 1/4" line-in, plus the fact that the connectors are in an external breakout box connected to the soundcard via a 1.8m cable.  The significance of this is that the input circuitry and analog-to-digital converters are away from all the electrical noise inside the computer, allowing (in theory at least) a much higher quality of recording.

Of course, the other significant difference between these cards is price.  The basic Audigy? 2 ZS can be found for around $80, the Platinum version for $160 and the Pro version for $200.  Clearly, if you’re not into home recording the basic Audigy 2 ZS represents by far the best value.

The Package

The Package

Creative provide a generous bundle of goodies with the Audigy? 2 ZS Platinum Pro, comprising just about everything you need - apart from a DVD video player.

In terms of hardware the package includes:

• Audigy? 2 ZS Platinum Pro sound card
• External connectors box
• Cable for linking soundcard to external box
• Remote control
• Separate joystick/MIDI rear-panel header
• Power converter cable (missing in my review sample!)
• Digital CD audio cable
• 3.5mm to 1/4? jack adapter (missing in my review sample!)

The software bundle is very impressive, including:

• Creative driver and applications disk, which includes:
• Drivers for Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 SP2 and XP
• Creative MediaSource? 2
• Creative DVD-Audio player
• Creative Device Control
• Creative Speaker Settings
• Creative EAX Console
• Creative THX setup console
• Creative Graphic Equalizer
• Creative Surround Mixer
• Creative WaveStudio
• Creative MiniDisc Center
• Creative SoundFont Manager
• Creative Diagnostics
• Third-party music creation software, including:
• Fruity Loops Studio 4 Creative Edition (for creating music from sound samples)
• Steinberg's Cubasis VST 4.0 CE (virtual studio software for mixing and recording music, adding effects, etc)
• Steinberg Wavelab Lite 2.0 (audio editing and mastering software)
• Vienna Soundfont Studio 2.3 (sampler for creating and editing soundfonts
• EAX Enhanced HD games:
• Tomb Raider - the angle of darkness
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3 Raven Shield
• Creative DVD-Audio sampler disk
• Creative feature showcase demonstration CD

(1 of 7) - next >

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• The Package (1 of 7)
• Connectors and external I/O hub (2 of 7)
• Circuitry (3 of 7)
• Remote control (4 of 7)
• Bundled software (5 of 7)
• Music playback software (6 of 7)
• Audio tests and conclusions (7 of 7)