TBH, you all have taken this a little too seriously.
So far I have owned a creative 6700 6.1 Surround Sound Speakers and right now, I have Creative's Flagship speakers, the S750's.
I have a Onboard Nvidia Soundstorm Solution (MSI K7N2G-ILSR MOBO) and a Creative Audigy 2 ZS.
The nvidia Soundstorm does use a Realtek codec, but a codec is only Digital to Analogue Convertor and Analogue to Digital Convertor (DAC & ADC) in one little pacakge.
What matters most is the sampling rate. The more samples, means clearer sounds. Although, there is one limitation. The recording must have been made utilising a high sample rate, otherwise all that power is useless.
Speaking only on Audio clarity, Creative Audigy 2 ZS wins hands down. There's none of that annoying hiss, and the sounds produced does seem more clear.
As to whether you hear more sounds, thats complete BS. With both the Audigy 2 ZS and the Nvidia Nforce Soundstorm, I hear the same sounds, both on the S750'S and 6700's.
About the Voices - Imgine you have a 7.1 system. Thats 8 channels. If you play music and use CMSS to upmix, that basically means you are using 8 Voices.
That means the X-fi can only play 15 different sounds accross all speakers at once. With Eax, if something happens right infront of you, the centre, left and right speaker is active, with centre speaker being the loudest. That means three voices are being used already.
So theoretcially you could hear 127 different sounds right? Nope, not even close. Game designers have space constraints, and development budgets. Its hard to fit thousands of sounds on, besides, someone has to record the sounds etc, so its very costly. For game developers, its pointless having 127 different sounds going at the same time, because there are only 8 channels, the sounds become merged. Think of 127 people firing an automatic rifle from different positions.... you will not be able to distinguish one from the other.
EAX is just an API. There are many others such as Microsoft DirectSound, Sensaura etc.
An API is just a way for software to re-configure programmable hardware.
CPU Utilisation. There is no accurate way to measure CPU Utilisation, even manufacturers claims should be taken with a pinch of salt. With different hardware and software configurations, there can be an endless range of values. Use what works best for you. My soundstorm had lower CPU utilisation than the Auidgy 2 ZS.
Creative Software is absolutely pants. It looks and feels like a college student coded it.....whilst drunk. There are literally a dozen different "programs" for all the settings, and tabs and pop-up boxes and this and that. Its just way too cluttered and over worked. When a new feature is added, a new program is added, rather than trying to combine into one powerful package. Loading up all these programs take some considerable time too.
On the other hand, Nvidia's software is top notch. One program that loads in no time. All the features are grouped together in a few simple Tabs. One of the main features missing in the Creative software, is Db Level Meter for all the channels. I would like to SEE which channel is the loudest.
Creative are in financial debt. So its quite obvious to start rumours and point out useless facts in the hope that they can persuade the public that creative soundcards are the best.
Creative have been cutting costs anywhere they could. My S750's, which are the flagship speakers from creative, do not even feature a digital input, whilst on two occasions, my Subwoofer/Amp has died for no apparent reason, and a warranty replacement taking place. My faith in Creative products has now dwindled. I will not be purchasing any more creative products, as I am now forced to use my 6700 system, as the subwoofer unit is now DEAD. RIP Creative, you will not be missed!
you make some solid points with proof to back it up and ill have to say i agree with it, its just further proof to what ive been saying all along.