[Bubba]

Well I will certainly check again in next week and report back because I MISS my good sound. It drives me crazy in games, especially COD4 where directional sound is so important. I don't even play my CD's much anymore as well because the on board sound of my 790i isn't up to what I like to hear for music lol. Creative took a HUGE hit in both the public relations department as well as the pocketbook department. It WOULD be in their best interests for them to fix a relatively simple problem and i think that they didn't (at my last checking) is what caused consumers so much dismay. If I find they DID fix the problem I'm off to Frye's to get a new Soundblaster just as fast as I can go lol. ESPECIALLY since last time I saw they were half the price of what I paid in March, and I wasn't unhappy with what i paid in March lol.

On another note, I was told of another brand of card from a West Coast company that supposedly is good. I can't think of their name right now but I heard good things about them. I didn't buy one lol just because I've always been so pleased with Creative's products. LOL How old is the Soundblaster LIVE, or the Audigy? They STILL works great (in XP systems).

The only good I can see from this fiasco is what you stated, it loosened the strangle hold Creative has had on the market and they are going to actually have to develop some NEW stuff and be stellar in doing so to regain consumer trust.

I'll do my homework assignment next week and report back lol. i may even go so far as to just go buy one and try it again, I can always return it to Fry's lol.

[Razer]

I am by no means a audiophile, I can't play musical instruments and can't really tell one note from another but I find that expensive cards are only good up to a point. I mean I personally have onboard sound (AC 97, C-Media) with an £18 set of 5.1 PC Line speakers. The only problem I ever have is that stupid buzz when a phone goes off. The sound quality is fine, it is great surround and the quality can be changed to as good as anything you could really want using the mixer in the C-Media audio shop. My friend spent something daft like £325 on massive speakers and an overpriced sound card, special audio cables and the like and when i get home and put my sound on the profile I made, I can hardly tell the difference (Until my phone goes off..) I really have no desire for very expensive cards, I play games and have some general direction of where a sound is coming from which is great for me considering I spent £18. If you are a musician, a DJ or something where sound quality is vastly important then go for an expensive setup, otherwise an affordable brand will do just fine.

[Carbon]

I get a lot of usage out of the Crystallizer on the X-Fis as well as CMSS (which you would have no use for). Of course, "special cabling" is a ripoff (digital signals can't be distorted in this way), but I maintain that if you're at a 2.1 or below setup it's definitely the way to go.

EAX also works wonders in games such as BF2.