And when I played some music with Audacious, it sounded wonderful. So, my Mint 18.3 already has the Audigy 2 drivers in the distribution. To my utter surprise, it not only detected it, it even installed it. When Mint came on, I checked whether it could detect the Audigy 2. There were no complaints during the boot up process. I mounted the Audigy 2 into one of the PCI slots on the motherboard and booted up Mint. This Mint is the latest 18.3 and fully updated. I found one of my pcs that’s loaded with Linux Mint. This is just a guess but I think running the Audigy 2 in a 64 bit OS is the key to unlocking it’s true potential.Įncouraged by this development, the next step is to see whether Linux will accept this sound card. The only difference is this Windows 7 is a 64 bit version. I am aware that with computers, the drivers play a role in the sound quality but this is the first time I am witnessing it. Overall clarity has taken a quantum leap. It didn’t sound great with the XP, why would it sound better in Windows 7. Out of curiosity, I decided to try out the Audigy 2 on Windows 7. The problem with the Xonar DG is that there are no drivers for Linux. When pitted against my Ausus Xonar DG, the Audigy 2 is not even close. I would definitely choose this over those nasty audio chips on the motherboards. I thought to myself, “It ain’t too bad for a 17 year old sound card”. On top of that, the vocals are recessed in the sound stage. Because of that, the vocals are not clear enough. The upper bass was intruding into the midrange. The only issue I have is it sounds mid-fi. The treble doesn’t grate me and there’s more bass. Well, it’s a huge improvement over the built-in audio on the motherboards. Now to play some music and see how the Audigy 2 sounds like. After much frustrations, I found a driver that accepted the Audigy 2. I naturally went to Creative’s website and downloaded the latest drivers but they just wouldn’t accept this card, even though it’s clearly stated Windows XP. I was hoping that perhaps it’s possible to install this older card in one of the Linux distributions.Īnyway, I started with Windows XP, just to see what kind of problems I’m going to have with the drivers. There are not many sound cards that are supported by Linux. The reason I bought this Audigy 2 is mainly due to Linux. By all accounts, this is considered a vintage in the computer world. The Audigy 2 is a 2nd generation Audigy that was introduced in September 2002. I’ve never heard this card before and with all the complaints in cyberspace, I was prepared to write it off if it doesn’t work. Since I don’t have many sound cards, I went on ebay and got myself a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2. Listening through my headphones (a Grado SR80) is quite unbearable. Most sound too bright and are short on bass. I know, all motherboards have built-in audio but I’ve never liked them. Lately, I was going through my computers to see which ones are suitable for a music server.

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