Not had a lot of experience reviewing soundcards from notebook PCs, but for the most part I have heard the ones that come onboard from the factory are often not all that hot. Well, this review from PC Mag should help to shed some light on one alternative that could help to make the sounds coming from your notebook a little more pleasant.

Just when it seemed like Creative couldn’t possibly shoehorn any more functionality into its Sound Blaster product line, the company surprised us once more by reinventing its state-of-the-art Audigy 2 ZS sound board as a credit-card sized model designed for notebook computers. It’s a boon not just for gamers, but also for music hobbyists and pros who want to use a notebook as a mobile audio lab.

This feat seems even more incredible when you realize just how much the company has packed into the miniscule PCMCIA Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook. This PC Card device can record high-definition 24-bit/96-kHz stereo audio from any unprotected analog or digital source, play 6.1-channel Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES DVDs, and render 3D game soundtracks as immersive 7.1-channel audio. It ships with low-latency ASIO 2.0 drivers that deliver real-time performance when using a compatible music-creation application to record and edit multichannel mixes. It can play DVD-Audio discs inserted into any late-model DVD drive, and its integrated MLP decoder handles both stereo 24/192 and 5.1-channel 24/96 DVD-Audio content. THX certification and a new THX calibration and setup console help ensure a theater-like experience when playing DVD-Video movies through THX-certified speakers.

The card ships with the latest version of Creative’s Audigy 2 ZS software bundle, which lets you quickly access applications, diagnostics, and calibration utilities by clicking on an intuitive toolbar. Most modules provide good functionality, although they aren’t always a match for dedicated applications. For example, Creative’s wave editing program includes many of the tools offered by packages like Sony Sound Forge, but lacks the crucial ability to preview most types of edits. And the DVD-Audio player module is as simple to use as any CD-playback applet, but can’t display menus or video content. The latest iteration of Creative’s MediaSource music-organizer/ripper/player boasts a terrific ad-free interface, but lacks more exotic features like an online music store or video playback capabilities..