Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE

I decided it was time to upgrade the sound capability that had been built into my computer mother board. I have used Sound Blaster sound cards for any years, off and on, so I decided to see what the newest technology they had was. I found the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy at Best Buy for $29.99.

I listen to a lot of music on my computer, and watch DVD's and stream audio and video as well. I wanted the best sound I could get without spending a ton of money.

Sound Blaster cards have always been the best for my money, and the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE is no exception.

The installation could not be easier. You just find an open slot, and plug it in. The drivers are on the CD, but I discovered one little problem. If you have XP, you are good to go. Unfortunately I have Vista on my system, and had to go to the Creative website for the drivers.

I went online to Creative, and searched for the drivers. It took a bit of rooting around on the site to find the drivers for the Sound Blaster Audigy SE that would support Vista. I was completely flabbergasted that this thing supports XP, and XP Pro, but does not come with Vista support. Finally after a while I found and downloaded the drivers, and ran the installation. Restarted my computer, and voila. No sound.

This was a first. Back in the day I used to have to go in and tweak the sound settings to get a new sound card to work, abut I would have thought with a brand new Sound Blaster Audigy SE I would not have to mess with this.

I got on the Creative website and had again had to search the site to find any information about Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE and Windows Vista. I was led to a page that gave me information about changing the IRQ setting. Shades of days gone by. This was what I had to mess with years ago when I had Windows 3.1.

Creative has really gone downhill when they don't support the most recet Operating System with its Sound Blaster Audigy SE.

I realize that you get what you pay for and I had only paid $30.00 for the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE, but whatever happened to customer loyalty? I have been a fan of Creative for years, and this makes me rethink ever purchasing a sound card from them.

Bottom line: I finally got the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE working under Vista, but the sound was not what I expected.