Creative Clearance Sale. GigaWorks T3 €99.99

Edit/ If you’re not a recipient of the Creatives newsletter this is just a heads up on what I think is a really good deal.
Not spam and I havent been hacked./EndEdit

One of the best 2.1 systems there is unless you go high-end. Almost half the retail price.
I’ve owned these for a long time and bought anoher system to keep as a spare.

Please confirm you haven’t been hacked. Etc.

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No, I havent been hacked. But I can see now that you might think so. :slight_smile:
It looks pretty much like all those spam posts. My bad.

I don’t much like Creatives soundcards, but I really like their GigaWorks speakers and Aurvana headphones.
My post was for this forums benefit since it really is a good deal.
I power my T3 system with a Xonar Essence STX wich is far superior to any soundcard Creative have ever made.

Edit/
I can also tell you that this newer T3 system has an auto-power-off-to-save-the-world feature after a few minutes. Not sure I like that…

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I have those exact speakers. They are extremely good. The only gripe i have is that the volume knob has rubberised coating and has gone sticky :frowning:

The top is glued on and I’ve removed mine a few times to let it soak in soapwater. The bottom comes of after removing three small screws.
If you do that it’s on you though, I take no responsibility if you break anything. :wink:

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Interesting timing this comes up. Yesterday I spend several hours getting a new audio Setup for my Computer desk, my first proper mid priced one.
When it comes to audio you can pours a lot of hours into it, looking for the best experience that might fit your preferences. I’m a guy that likes relatively flat, analytical sound and these two choices aren’t studio grade reference but alright.


For the Desk speakers I usually use for watching youtube and a little bit of gaming I got these ones:

http://www.music-group.com/Categories/Behringer/Loudspeaker-Systems/Multimedia-Speakers/MS16/p/P0222

This doesn’t have a sub woofer witch it probably would benefit from it but I currently have a 2.1 system and I always have the sub power nearly turned down to zero most of the times. The MS16s might have enough bass power to give me what little I want.


When it comes to headphones you get a lot more bang for your buck then with speakers. My new computer setup is virtually silent and thus I went with open back headphones that should feel much more ‘airy’ (soundscape) and bring out positional audio better, witch is helpful in gaming. I chose this pair:

This are worse when it comes to frequency response (flatness/reference) then their predecessors AD900. But 16 pages of audiphiles over at Head-Fi.org (forum link) really liked them nevertheless. If you prefer big “Bass” though, these are not for you.

These don’t hinder sound from the outside entering and escaping, so keep that in mind also.

Upside is that they are right at the edge of Headphones that are easy to drive. Meaning you don’t really need an amplifier to power them, they seem to benefit from it but not really needed. Most Headphones that are a notch better than the AD900x have high internal impedance that will make most soundcards/integrated sound and other typical audio outputs not deliver enough power and thus bee to silent, requiring you to pair them with an Amplifier or Analog Digital Converter Amplifer combo.


As well as an attachable mic:

http://www.modmic.com/collections/modmic/products/modmic-4-0-omni-directional

This is their Omni-Directional Version, witch has really exceptional sound but no noise canceling is is quite harder to set up correctly so it doesn’t spike or pick up breath.

They also have a Uni-Directional Version with Noise canceling witch is comparable to the audio quality of headset mics.


There are quite a lot of videos about the above products, while they are useful to see how these work, I didn’t find them particularly helpful when trying to compare them to others in that price range, that takes a lot more work.

Gaming headsets are really overprice for what they deliver. The solution above saves you about 50 to 100 Euros while allowing you to go even higher when it comes to “quality”, diminishing returns and everything though.

The thing I like with the T3 system is the lack of overpowering bass. The sub is very small and produces tight, fast bass.
For headphones I’m using Sennheiser G4ME One. The Xonar card has a really good amp and seems to get along particularly well with them.

I’ve spent a lot of money over the years trying to find that perfect linear sound. Now I’m a bit older and my ears are losing it’s sharpness. I still hear the harshness in the new T3 system before the play-in is done though.