Home entertainment for the computer!
Written: Jan 14 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good sound. Great features. Ability to connect other electronic gear to your computer.
Cons: Software could be better.
The Bottom Line: All in all this is an excellent card that has some pretty good features, but the software could use a little more polish.
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| jacksonsdad627's Full Review: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 Sou... |
I've used several sound cards in my career as a Network Administrator and no one, absolutely no one, makes better sound cards than Creative Labs. The Soundblaster Live! 5.1 Platinum is no exception.
This sound card comes with a PCI mounted sound card that has the usual number of inputs and outputs. It also comes with a front panel that attaches to the sound card and is mounted in the 5.25" slots in the front of your computer. This "remote panel" has inputs for optical as well as coaxial digital cables, MIDI, RCA type inputs (for connecting an external CD player or tape player), microphone and headphone inputs. It also has volume adjustment for the last two.
Installation: This card installed like a dream, very easy to physically install in the computer as well installing the front panel. The software installation could've been a little easier. I used the "custom" installation to take out the programs that I would never use. It's not very clear on the installation screen that there are other pieces of software to be installed. As an example, I really wanted to install the WAV editor from Soundblaster. It never installed. After a couple of discussions with Creative's excellent customer service (via webpage), I found out the problem, there is a little arrow next to the bottom of the screen that directs you to the additional software to install. Since the install screen has a storm graphic on it, it was difficult to see this option.
Software: The software could be a little more feature rich. As an example, the MP3 player that is included with the card is very good for connecting to Creative MP3 players and for ripping MP3s. What it's not good at is playlists. Unlike other MP3 players that allow you to add items to the playlist by a simple double-click, this software requires you to save the playlist, right click a song you want to add to the playlist individually (you can't add multiple songs at one time) and then add it to the playlist. Basically it could be easier to use.
Sound Quality: Great sound quality from all internal sources as well as the external hookups on the front panel. The headphone quality is excellent as well and the unit will not send output to the speakers while you are connected with the headphones, this helps a lot to keep the sound down without having to turn off my speakers.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 167.00
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Epinions.com ID:
jacksonsdad627
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Member: Marcus Waddell
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
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