Creative Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1

It was a landmark birthday for me recently (I’m not telling you which landmark though) and some of my friends clubbed together and bought me this soundcard, mainly because it allows optical recording to minidisc (but more on that later). I’ve already used Creative soundcards – in fact I replaced one (a Live! 1024 Value 1024) with this new card. They’re very good pieces of computer equipment indeed, and if you’re thinking about replacing your own soundcard, I recommend Creative as a brand name to consider. OK, the Platinum 5.1 card is a serious piece of kit aimed at musicians and people who want their computers to be their ...  Read the complete review

I recently purchased a Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 in an auction from the States and shipped it over to the UK where I live. This worked out cheaper after paying the import duty I found, as long as you can pick up the item at a good price. I paid £129 including import duty. On getting the product I installed it straight away, after I had repaired my power pack after a recent lightening strike. Installation was easy, you just plug in the card and fit the front panel and that’s it. Software for it, like the drivers, installed no problems and it all worked first time, a rare event indeed, once I got the outputs the right way round. The only ...  Read the complete review

I recently bought this card as i was looking for a good PC speaker system for playing games. This was my first choice as it had real 5.1 sound and it had eax extensions which make games much better. One of the main features was the price of what you get in the package which was extermly good value. You get a good high quality surround sound card for a desktop PC user which isnt industry standard but isnt a normal standard sound card. This is the middle ground i was looking for as i didnt want to pay too much but didnt want to get a cheap card either. Creative was the first place to look as they have been a standard in sound card technology for years ...  Read the complete review

The Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1 is the newest and greatest edition to the excellent line of sound cards Creative Labs produces. The SB Live! Platinum 5.1 has all the features you could ever need. Whether you download and listen to music, play games, make midis, or plug in keyboards and microphones to sing this sound card has it all. Sound Blaster Live! Platinum provides the combination of digital-quality audio, a full-featured software bundle, and connectivity to external devices from the front of your PC instead of the back! The featured Live! Drive offers front panel connection to home stereo receivers, MIDI instruments, digital devices, ...  Read the complete review

Having recently had my stereo blow up I decided to invest in a SBLive Platinum instead of forking out for a new stereo. It has by far exceeded my expectations. The LiveDrive is by far the most multifunctional piece of hardware on my system. It allows me to record to my portable MiniDisc player with optical output (Even supplying a new digital optical cable, £20 new). The software for doing so is very useful; freezing the system while it’s recording to prevent jumps. It also has high quality phono input for hooking up the MD player. The SPDIF output allows me to connect my Boston Acoustics Digital Media Theater that gives me spectacular sound, even through 2.1 ...  Read the complete review