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 PCMCIA Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS NotebookCreative's plug-in card pumps out crisp audio on the go and at home. Price:
$129
by John Biggs 
The PCMCIA Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook, despite its long, complicated name, is a decidedly uncomplicated piece of hardware. Pop it into your laptop's PC Card slot, plug in a pair of headphones or, say, a set of 7.1 speakers, and rock out.
Generally, the ZS' specs are standard: 104-db SNR, 24-bit high-definition sound, THX certification.
What is surprising is that Creative has been able to sandwich all of this functionality into something the size of a few playing cards. On the road, the card creates a 3D positional sound system for gaming and DVD and music playback, and at home turns your laptop into a full surround-sound system.
A notebook is a closed environment, clad on all sides by metal and full of magnetic waves, spinning motors, and Wi-Fi interference. Plug your system's power cord in, and you've got even more interference. The result: nasty audio playback and even nastier recording.
This card strips the noise, hum, and nastiness out of the normal laptop listening experience, which makes the Audigy 2 ZS Notebook a great traveling companion for listening to music and watching DVDs on your laptop.
Setup was a breeze. We just inserted the card, installed the drivers and Creative MediaSource for playback, and plugged in a pair of earbuds. The difference was immediately apparent. After we installed the ZS, all we heard was blessed silence. Even with the laptop plugged in, there was a surprisingly low noise floor.
Now for playback. We ran a surround-sound demo and played a bass-heavy CD. With our notebook's built-in sound card, the demo and the music were both hollow, with a definite peaking point that turned cymbal crashes and bass blasts into noise at higher volumes.
The ZS card, however, created an excellent stereo sound field with rich bass and excellent depth. The music came through perfectly, and there were no dials or EQs to twiddle with. The sound was excellent at any volume.
We then plugged in a set of surround-sound speakers, and the results were almost as impressive. The bass was solid, and there was no distortion at high volume. Unfortunately, the total power output was low so we had to turn the laptop volume up higher to get the full effect.
The surround-sound demo we tested supplied a great depth of field. We were able to simulate the rotation of a sound source around the room, something that's difficult to do with standard stereo outputs.
Recording with the ZS also showed a marked improvement over your standard line-in setup. Most recordings made with a laptop using either Windows Sound Recorder or Adobe Audition were scratchy and weak. The volume was low and the overall quality was marred by the noise generated by the peripherals.
There was almost no noise in our ZS recordings. While you won't be able to capture Britney's every warble with this card, you will be able to make some decent 24-bit/96-kHz recordings of meetings, or even some demos for your garage band.
We've used many external sound cards, but none of them have been priced as nicely or have packed so much power in such a small package. Compare Prices | PCMCIA Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook Specifications
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