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Medio, I hate to ask it and try not to take this personally, but how much do you really know about sound? Looks of a speaker do not equal good sound. In fact, often PC speaker makers put too much emphasis on visual apeal. This no sound thing as a speaker design for a PC. Its either designed to be used with a computer/anything using 1/8 in/RCA or not. The best speakers I've had the pleasure of reviewing are the ugliest, hands down.

The coolest looking speakers I've reviewed tend to be the on the opposite end of the spectrum. I didn't get the review for the JBL Creatures since they were assigned to an editor before I signed on at IMG so I can't comment on them.

Medio, I hate to ask it and try not to take this personally, but how much do you really know about sound? Looks of a speaker do not equal good sound. In fact, often PC speaker makers put too much emphasis on visual apeal. This no sound thing as a speaker design for a PC. Its either designed to be used with a computer/anything using 1/8 in/RCA or not. The best speakers I've had the pleasure of reviewing are the ugliest, hands down.

The coolest looking speakers I've reviewed tend to be the on the opposite end of the spectrum. I didn't get the review for the JBL Creatures since they were assigned to an editor before I signed on at IMG so I can't comment on them.

sorry.   

Don't get those.  Get these instead:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.a … escription

About twice as much, and 4.1 instead of 5.1 but they are 400W instead of 70W.  Driving 6 speakers with only 70 watts is going to put a strain on the audio quality as you turn up the volume which is a very bad thing.

I can personally attest to their quality since I own them.   I've heard others go even further claiming they are better than the Klipsch 4.1 system which is twice as much again.  (The Z560s have 5 out of 5 stars with 206 voters on NewEgg!)

If you want a serious 5.1 system you are going to have to spend a lot of money, springing for the Z680s or the Klipsch 5.1s (both are more than 300 dollars.)  It might be worth it if you are really serious about your sound or really think you need a center channel, but I don't know if it justifies that extra 200 bucks.

I got the Z-560's last weekend and I am amazed how good they sound...

The woofer is huge and it is a cannon at higher volumes. The addition of the moveable jack with volume/bass/fader control on it is great, plus it has a headphone jack and fits under my monitor.

I don't have a sound card for my G4 , so I can't really use the full surround sound anyway ( I don't know too many people that have Macs with sound cards)...But the "fake" surround works pretty darn well...

All and all it is an almost unreal system for the price..

And hopefully in the next couple of months, a few new good sound cards will be coming out.

And hopefully in the next couple of months, a few new good sound cards will be coming out.

why dont you just get the m-audio revolution.  that looks like a great card.  its 100 dollars at newegg.com

I'm strongly considering the Revolution for my PC... M-Audio/Midiman's drivers are almost sure to be tight, the Revo seems at first and second glances to be competitive if not superior to the Audigy 2, ATi discloses in materials included with the AIW 9700 that the Audigy series has "issues" with the AIW 9700 due to the Audigy's new[er than SBLive] architecture and should be run only with drivers above a certain version, without saying those issues are fully solved... Creative has gotten lazy without Aureal's competition (after driving Aureal out of business with a lawsuit they lost, but ran the smaller company out of money defending), unsurprisingly, taking a year to come out with XP drivers, and I'm seeing little reason so far to stay with Creative if/when I can get a buyer for my Audigy, which (undisclosed, read only recently) has 24-bit DACs, but not a full 24 bit signal path (the reason it can't do 24 bit/96khz recording). For that matter, the Audigy can't record with ASIO drivers... the Revo 7.1 is even a bit cheaper. I doubt anyone's likely to be dissatisfied putting one in his/her Mac for whatever consumer-level purpose.

Actually I have to say, my experience with the Audigy has been alright, I've never had any real driver errors to speak of. EAX HD is a wonderful thing but puts a huge load on the system.

Bat: Its been known since the product release that the Audigy could only output 96 Khz, 24 bit sound in stereo via SPDIF out with no post processing. It doesn't have the ability to output 96 Khz analog thus it doesn't have a 96 Khz capable DAC.

The Audigy 2 does offer ASIO compliant drivers (although only for 24 bit / 48 Khz) and full 24 Bit/96 Khz Digital to Analog support for 5.1 and stereo 192 Khz, 24 bit sound.  As I recall, EAX 3 (HD) doesn't offer 6.1 support nor 96 Khz support so unfortunantly this is limited to movies, just like the Revo. The Audigy 2 (and Audigy) does have an edge with midi support and optional Coax/Optical in/Out on the break out box.

Any how, the Revolution should be a true revolution for us Mac users, and actually put the heat on Creative for the first competition its had in some while. As for Drivers, I've said my share against M-Audio with the Audiophile 2496's current support. As I reported to XLR8yourmac, the carbon sound update broke my Coax out, not to mention my rather lengthy comparision of the SB Live for Mac and M-Audiophile 2496 article. I do have love for M-Audio seeing unwittingly the Audiphile 2496 article landed me a part job.

I'm hoping the drivers will be more complete and less glitchy than my Audiophile 2496.

When it's time for sound from this machine, it's almost always analog-out from the soundcard to an old NAD integrated amp, driving old but serviceable Stax SRX-III electrostatic Hphones. It works, and then some.

Obviously I need to bone up more on modern digital sound standards and coast less on 30 years background- lost track of the field awhile back, for reasons known to perhaps one other person hereabouts- but I have to think perfidious Albion (or Creative marketing) is at work on some of this; my Audigy box says, in fine print yet, under Core Technologies,

"Audigy Output Module uses high quality, multi-channel 24-bit/96kHz DACs and ensures 100dB SNR audio quality playback while the 32-bit effects engine provides crystal-clear audio resolution."

The 100dB s/n I believe (altho I seem to have a ground loop and some audible hum), but still, it says '24-bit/96kHz DACs,' so I expected 24-bit/96kHz analog out. How deep does one have to dig to find these things out?

I can't say I've had driver issues since the August update, but doggone it, XP went gold to OEMs a year earlier. They sure took their sweet time with fully XP-compliant drivers for the best-selling card on the market. UT locked up on occasion before that. (EAX HD is sweet; and I remember when AU8830-based cards like my old MX300 had up to 12+% CPU utilization on A3D 2.0- but that's part of what 1.6GHz Athlons are good for).

One good thing not mentioned, the Audigy does include a Firewire port and software (Firenet) for LAN gaming, large scale MP3 transfers, DV editing etc. Nice touch- supports up to 63 machines together if each has 2 ports.

Disappointed to hear about M-Audio's driver problems- can't anyone write good soundcard drivers? (Fortunately, reviews are almost certain to be out by the time I'm in a position to make any move).

When it's time for sound from this machine, it's almost always analog-out from the soundcard to an old NAD integrated amp, driving old but serviceable Stax SRX-III electrostatic Hphones. It works, and then some.

Mark of the audiophile there, throwing out random info about one's sound setup. I'm more of a fan of Grado myself although lately I've been using my (now discontinued) Beyerdynamics DT-990s. Each to his own.

- but I have to think perfidious Albion (or Creative marketing) is at work on some of this; my Audigy box says, in fine print yet, under Core Technologies, "Audigy Output Module uses high quality, multi-channel 24-bit/96kHz DACs and ensures 100dB SNR audio quality playback while the 32-bit effects engine provides crystal-clear audio resolution."

Now I'm quite curious to dig up my box except for the fact its a three hour drive away, boxes take up up too much room and seeing I'm in college, room is a commodity not to be wasted. I forgot about the crackling audio of yesteryear in XP. It did take Creative their damn sweet time update them now that I think about it (and the fact you reminded me).

One good thing not mentioned, the Audigy does include a Firewire port and software (Firenet) for LAN gaming, large scale MP3 transfers, DV editing etc. Nice touch- supports up to 63 machines together if each has 2 ports.

Disappointed to hear about M-Audio's driver problems- can't anyone write good soundcard drivers? (Fortunately, reviews are almost certain to be out by the time I'm in a position to make any move).

Actually the Firewire port is a SB-1394, it isn't 100% firewire compatible. I've heard of issues with some CD-RWs and other Firewire devices when using it.

As for drivers, we'll see when they're released. M-Audio is putting all forces on the Revolution / Sonica Theatre.

I'm not much of a senni fan up until about the HD-590s. Then on its all good, the HD-600s are quality.