Live!Drive
 Taking a hand from E-MU's E-Drive for their Audio Production Studio card (also uses the EMU10K1 DSP), Creative created their own rendition for SBLive! users.
The Live!Drive has most of the connections found in the digital I/O cards that were available for some time. The only difference is that the Live!Drive appears in the front of the PC's casing, and is mounted in a 5.25" drive bay.
These connections are available on the Live!Drive:
- S/PDIF Coaxial Input
- S/PDIF Coaxial Output (outputs PCM/wave signals, as well as Dolby Digital)
- 1/4" Headphone Output (with volume control)
- 1/4" Shared Microphone & Line-In (with gain control for the microphone)
- MIDI Input
- MIDI Output
Live!Drive II
Instead of the Live!Drive, European versions come bundled with the Live!Drive II. In addition to the connectors available on the Live!Drive, it adds:
- Optical Input
- Optical Output
- RCA Line-Input (those with the red and white plugs)
Now let's all give Creative a big BOO for not including the Live!Drive II for many non-European countries. I was disappointed that the digital I/O card that came with the original SBLive! didn't have optical connectors, and now I'm disappointed yet again. I own a MiniDisc deck and I would really like to have optical connectors. Most of the MiniDisc equipment out there use optical rather than coaxial.
Is there some kind of standard that European countries use optical, while the rest of the world uses coaxial? Or that there is less need for optical in some countries? I really don't know. Now if someone would kindly enlighten me before my speculations run wild!
Convenient or Messy?
The Live!Drive is very convenient if you frequently use connections like the headphones. Just reach to the front of the casing and slot in the jack! This is much better than having to crawl behind the casing, especially if its in a dusty corner with cobwebs all over! <g>
On the other hand, many people have actually voiced dislike over the messy cables that dangle out from the front of the casing. This ultimately boils down to how often you need to use the connections to warrant it being in front of the casing, instead of behind like other digital I/O cards.
If you value convenience over aesthetics, and you frequently need to connect and disconnect cables from the SBLive!, the Live!Drive is definitely for you.
The Cool Headphone Output
I couldn't resist the handy headphone output, which I think will be the most often used feature of the Live!Drive for most of the consumers out there. Previous SBLive! cards didn't have headphone outputs, and people had to connect their headphones to the lower-powered line-outs. Huge headphones won't sound good because they can't get sufficient power from the line-outs.
With the Live!Drive, you can conveniently switch from speakers to headphones when its getting late, and you are still in the middle of a noisy game. The headphone is also important when voice chatting to prevent the sound from the speakers from being transmitted back to the other party, causing feedback. You can set the speakers to automatically mute when a headphone is connected, which is really handy!
Good news for those of us who already own Sound Blaster Live! cards. The Live!Drive is being sold as an upgrade.
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