One thing I have to say is, what I'm about to type will be really long! You can
either have two options: read it yourself or tell your PC to read it to you.
For IE users, well your out of luck, let's just hope someday IE will also have
this function.
But for you FireFox users you can install a extension called FoxyVoice.
After the installation and restarting FireFox, all you have to do is highlight
the text you want foxyvoice to read. Right click and click "read
aloud". After that just sit back and listen.
If you think the speech is a little to slow, just head to the control panel,
click on the speech icon, and adjust the settings.
*Default voice will be Microsoft Sam, but if you have Microsoft Office XP or
2003 there
is a speech recognition feature you can install, that will give you two
additional voices: LH Michael and LH Michelle.*
Okay, here goes!
This is not just for technophilies. All of you can read it also and it might
help you someday when you go out and shop for a soundcard. And I'm
not trying to sell a product!
Most PCs these days come with onboard sound and some are even in HD (High
Definition)
such as the ALC882.
For some users onboard soundcard is good enough, but for some others they want
to hear something better (like me )! Good
soundcards are not cheap! And cheap soundcards are just as or almost the same as
onboard sound, so there is no point in spending the money, when you can save and
use if for something else or during a emergency situation. There is however, a
cheap soundcard that supports 24bit and 7.1 channel support. (SB
Live! 24-bit)
What I'm going to talk about right now is the X-Fi Xtreme Music because this is
the one that I've just bought. One thing you have to know is, this is based on
personal experience on how good and bad this sound card really is. There will be
no audio specs e.g. 44KHz, 9.6dB, blah, blah, blah becauseI have no idea what
these terms stands for .
Except I do know that dB stands for decible, but I don't reallycare about these
technical stuffs. If you want to read detail reviews just visit the Creative's,
SoundBlaster site or Google search: X-Fi.
The reason I'm typing this is from most of the reviews I read online, they all
say how good the soundcard really is, but to me, it seems that most sites are
writing reviews just for marketing cr*p! And almost most of them just talks
about the Fatal1ty FPS or Elite Pro editon which kind of stinks because these
two model are definately not cheap! there is however a site that did write a
review about the Xtreme Music.
Oh yeah, one more thing, this is not to boost my
ego. It's just for users who wants to know if it's worth spending the
money on getting a soundcard or is the onboard one good enough? This also
includes for those of you who has a old soundcard, but you are having difficulty
deciding if you also should get a new soundcard too.
Creative's X-Fi comes in 4 series. The cheapest: X-Fi Xtreme Music and the most
expensive:
X-Fi Elite Pro. And the other 2 X-Fi cards are price in between these two X-Fi
cards.
The X-Fi Xtreme Music package is pretty basic nothing fancy, just a installation
CD, quick start guide, AOL CD , and of
course the X-Fi Xtreme Music card. But according to a review site I read, you
are also suppose to get a warning page, but my package never came with it! Oh
well I think (hopefully) that warning page has nothing important because so far
my card works fine and I did not void my warranty.
When examining the card, I've notice there is a 4-pin connector like the one you
would see on a internal floppy drive. So to confirm this, I went to the
Creative's site and checked out their X-Fi soundcard diagram. And yes, that is
the same 4-pin connector like the one you would see on a internal floppy drive.
That 4-pin connector is for powering the Creative's I/O console which can only
be found on the X-Fi Elite Pro version. What that mean is if you have the X-Fi
Elite Pro version and want to power the Creative'
s I/O console, you need to connect a mini-plug* from your PSU** to the soundcard
4-pin connector. As for the other X-Fi series: it's an optional upgrade
accessory which is available in some regions.
**PSU- PowerSupply unit
*A PSU's common two types of plugs are called molex, this are used for harddrives, optical drives, and some
mid-range/high-end AGP graphic cards. The other one which is small and it
it's mostly used for floppy drives as well as a adapter converter for some AGP
graphic cards is simply called a mini-plug.
Another thing I've notice with the card is that it is smaller than the Creative
Audigy2 ZS. But one thing I don't like about the X-Fi is the absense of
FireWire. Although there is no use for having a firewire in a soundcard, but
personally I think it's good to have a extra one around because so far I already
have 2 firewire devices and I'm running out of available firewire#
ports!
#Firewire or some called it IEEE 1394 has two versions: "A" or
"B"
The "A" version also know as IEEE 1394a runs at 400MB/s
The "B" version (IEEE 1394b) runs at 800MB/s
The "B" version is not popular as of yet and not that much PCs or
devices uses the IEEE 1394b specs.
Sony calls the firewire port i.Link.
The installation CD comes with 3 types of modes: full install, custom install,
and minimal install which Creative's has called it "Max Performance".
Full install, installs everything the CD has to offer. Custom install lets you
customize the installation, letting you install the features you want and leave
out the features you do not want. The new type of install: "Max
Performance" just installs the necessary features to use the card which
also includes the X-Fi audio drivers.
One problem I had with the installation CD is on the first PC I've tried the
soundcard with the setup meun run perfectly fine, but on the 2nd PC which where
the soundcard will permantely be, the setup menu opens up fine, but after
selecting a language it just disappears. To get the installation running, I had
to manually open up the "CTrun" folder within the CD and after that
click on the "CTrun" icon to begin the installation. I'm not sure what
might have cause it. Maybe it's my firewall or antivirus application that may
have cause this on the 2nd PC. I hope that you will not have the same problem as
me. Well if you do, then you'll know what folder/icon to click on to begin your
installation.
After windows installation/restarting and Windows has reload itself. I
immediatly start to hear this "hissing" noise! At first I though could
my X-Fi card be defective ?! So I
immediatly went to the Creative's support page to see if ther is a update
driver. And viola, there is a update driver. After installing the update driver,
the hissing went away! Yay! Oh yeah
that "hissing" noise was really freakin annoying, it was not constant.
It would hiss for about 6 second and before it stops it will would give a loud
shriek. Wait for 2 seconds and this process will repeat itself. so if I were you
turn down your speakers and gradually turn it back up slowly and see if you have
that hissing noise problem. Let's just hope Creative will supply the new driver
into their installation package.
The Creative audio consloe come in 3 modes: Gameing, Entertainment and Audio
Creation.
Each mode helps the user gets the best out of their X-Fi soundcard. So if you
are playing a game set it to gaming mode, listening to music or watching a
movie-set it to Entertainment mode, and if you like to create personal music,
set it to Audio creation mode.
Now according to a review site, it says:
After looking at all 3 modes, I have to agree with the website I quoted above to
use the Entertainment mode because it is cleaner than the other two modes. Also
the "Audio creation" mode is really confusing to me who is not a
audiophile, especially with all that knobs and other what' not stuffs .
At first I open up a mp3 music file without any fancy effects enabled. And I
though this sound card is really good, the singer's voice is clear and the
instruments playing in the background sounds perfect, but I was wrong! When I
enabled the Creative's 24bit Crystalizer, the music does sound sharper and
punchier, making the mp3 music that I was playing before sound a lot better. Now
I have the 24 bit Crystalizer enabled all the time. Another thing was the X-Fi's
CMSS-3D feature, when that feature was enabled and I slided the slider to
surround, it's really like removing a set of ear
plugs that was causing me to not hear properly. I've used headphones and that
thing really does make a ordinary headphone sound like as if I was hearing to
surround sound! It's so good that sometimes I really do forget I was using
headphones! I also have a CamBridge Soundworks 2.1 speaker set with a
subwoofer, but I don't use it that much.
The X-Fi also features something called "SuperRip" this let's you rip
your audio CDs* into Xtreme Fidility quality. Well I did try it out and I have
to say: Creative really needs to get back to the drawing board or provide a
update ASAP because this so call "SuperRip" just does not work! It
sounds more worst than if I was just to rip a music file by using the standard
ripping method. The SuperRip music sound like if the singer is singing to you in
a whispering tone at 100feet away. I've turned up my headphone volume to about
60% and I still have to concentrate really hard just to hear what the singer is
singing.
*Audio CD that have DRM technolgy may not allow you to rip. The ripping was done
for testing purposes only on a Music CD that I rightfully own. Please support
the music artist by buying the audio CDs. Thank you!
One other thing is there is something called the Audio converter (I think that
was the name of the program). It helps you convert your music file into higher
quality. But with almost all of the MP3 files I've tried to convert to a higher
quality sound e.g. 320KB/s 44khz and 5.1channel support. It will say: failed,
files not supported or something like that. When I convert the mp3 file into a
lower quality sound format it works. I guess that by conveting standard audio
into mp3 you really do loss a great amout of quality over the original one from
the audio CD.
Well this is what I've been exprienceing so far, and that is only the surface of
what this card has to offer. Until I learned more about audio stuffs then I
might start using the "Audio creation" mode which let's me fine tune
my mp3 files into a finer quaiilty by adjusting the set of knobs as well as ASIO
support and other goodies the "Audio creation" mode has to
offer.
The Audio clean up feature look pretty neat as it cleans out the hisses and
other clicks on a audio track, the sad thing is I have no idea how to use it.
But according to another reviewer he somehow know how to and this is what he
says about it.
Quote by reviewerThen I found how to get
into the controls through the MediaSource mixer, and discovered that the
Crystalizer wasn't on. I switched it on, and also enabled the Audio Clean-up
option (hiss REMOVAL!), and voila, music that made me smile like a kid with a
new toy! I heard sounds, in well-loved songs, that I had never heard before!
Clean, clean, clean. Even crappy 64khps mp3s sound great with the Crystalizer
on. This card has transformed the tracks I play. Also, I don't get any
interference. When a song comes to a full rest the speaker issue complete
silence until the music comes back in. It is very satisfying!
Okay now for the pricing like I say before the X-Fi comes in 4 series, the
Xtreme Music is the cheapest and the Elite Pro is the most expensive, but you do
get a sleek cool-looking console!
For some users the Xtreme Music can stll be pretty expensive, but it is the
cheapest out of the other 3 X-Fi cards.
The X-Fi Xtreme Music is priced at $129.99 you will not get any fancy
stuffs.
The 2nd one is also known as the X-Fi Platinum, which comes with a remote, I/O
drive, and of couse the X-Fi card. And it's priced at $199.99
Now for the expensive models...
The third one called The Fatal1ty FPS edition is named for the world famous
gamer:
Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel (is that
how you spell his name?) What this card has is 64mb of X-RAM, leds that makes
your card go bling bling! Well it's nice if you have a clear side-view panel, if
not then it's just waste of money. It's price at a whopping $279.99! I guess
steep price tag is for the naming or something else. It comes with a X-Fi card
w/64mb of X-RAM, Fatal1ty FPS edition I/O drive, and a remote control!
And finally the 4th X-Fi series card: The X-Fi Elite Pro editon. This card also
houses 64mb of X-RAM. Out of the other 3 this one goes to up 116dB while the
others uses up to 109dB. It's price at a Earth Shattering $399.99! For some including me it's way to
steep for my price range, but for others it might be a good deal. Well it's up
to you to decide, but you do get a sleek cool-looking I/O console that Creative
has not made with it predecessor cards.
Well, if you even think the Xtreme Music is a bit over your budget, then just
continue using your onboard or your old soundcard and wait until the price
drops.
For those who are looking for a new soundcard the X-Fi series is the one to get.
Oh and dont' bother getting the Audigy 2 ZS series because accoring to this site
it says:
Quote by Steve
Erickson (Vice-President and general manager for Creative Audio) So
what we are going to do is to replace the entire Audigy 2 ZS and Audigy 4 Pro
line with the X-Fi series. So those will be EOL and be replaced. But we'll be
taking our mid-range products to about S$99 range that is of an Audigy 4 Pro
caliber, but without the break out box and all the other stuff you see in the
higher end product.
For those of you who are using the Audigy 2 ZS is not really worth upgrading,
but if you just want to hear a better sound quality, well then be my guest, go
ahead and take a look into the X-Fi series soundcards.
Well that's it. I thank you for reading it and my hands are really tired!
*Wow I never knew it would be this loonnnggg! *
Edit: For those who have read it before you might have notice a change, well
there is when I was trying to change some spelling errors, I accidentally
deleted half of what I posted! Now it has been retyped, but in a different
style.
Oh, geez. This is certainly an exhaustive little review. Thanks much!
Quote: One other thing is there is
something called the Audio converter (I think that was the name of the program).
It helps you convert your music file into higher quality. But with almost all of
the MP3 files I've tried to convert to a higher quality sound e.g. 320KB/s 44khz
and 5.1channel support. It will say: failed, files not supported or something
like that. When I convert the mp3 file into a lower quality sound format it
works. I guess that by conveting standard audio into mp3 you really do loss a
great amout of quality over the original one from the audio
CD.
MP3 is by definition a lossy audio format. When you rip
a CD into MP3, you're essentially trimming off data to make the file size
smaller. Because of this, I highly doubt that it is possible to bump an MP3 to
a higher quality. 320 kb/s CBR is a higher quality than, say 192, but the
problem is that if you're starting with a 192 kb/s CBR file, converting it into
a 5.1 stream at 320 kb/s CBR isn't going to improve its quality, because your
source material sets an inherent cap on quality. Essentially what you'll have
if your conversion is successful is a larger file (at 320 kb/s) of the same or
lesser quality than the 192 kb/s file.
That said, I really wonder what the audio converter program is all about. I
guess I'll look into it and see what it does and such.
Either way, the bottom line in my experience is that there is no hard and fast
rule about buying a standalone soundcard or not. I have an Audigy 2ZS that I
connect to my Logitech Z5500s via coax for digital 5.1 goodness, but I know that
there are integrated sound cards that could give the Audigy 2ZS a run for its
money in various input modes. It really depends on the specifics of the card
and what you're looking for. Personally, I think 7.1 is a little excessive, but
perhaps that's just me.
Laptop users may be out of luck... This includes older legacy systems (P3 or
earlier) and currently all Mac Notebooks... However,
you failed to mention theres a soundcard for laptop users by SoundBlaster... the
Audigy 2 pcmcia card.
I have the Extigy too, (a USB sound card) but it sucks if you have a USB 1.1
connection... This newer pcmcia card doesn't have the latency issue of the
Extigy. The Extigy is currently being used as a sound amplifier for my Game
Cube set up with a legacy monitor and 2.1 speaker system.
It also has the MIDI Soundfonts (that I was happy with in the Soundblaster 64
ISA card and SoundBlaster Live!). and this PC card also supports up to 7.1
surround.
It has a feature to use your laptop's speakers... but I personally am finding a
lag time issue... However, when connected to the headphone port... there is no
lag.
they need to work on the laptop speaker issue... but overall it seems to get
more audio bang out of the speakers before shell resonance starts to interfere
with the audio produced by the speakers.
Quote by sillymoogleLaptop users may
be out of luck... This includes older legacy systems
(P3 or earlier) and currently all Mac Notebooks... However,
you
failed to mention theres a soundcard for laptop users by
SoundBlaster... the Audigy 2 pcmcia card.
Ahh yes, how can I ever forget about notebook users.
I am so sorry!
Whatever sends out a clear audio signal works for me. I'm not big into the 5.1
crap (i set up home theatre systems for a job, go figure). I'll stick with my
comp speakers and two towers behind me with 10" woofers.
According to numerious sites and forums, there has a been issue with
the X-Fi Xtreme Music and Platinum cards running on a nForce4 chipset.
The issue somehow the affects X-Fi Xtereme Music and Platinum, due to the
absense of X-RAM that is found on the Fata1ty and Eltie Pro cards.
And while the X-Fi Xtreme Music and Platinum are affected, several users who
got the Platinum and/or Eltie Pro has the same issue also.
The issues are system will get multiple "unknown PCI devices", BSODs,
constant restart, and system freezes.
An update on the motherboard's BIOS should fix this problem.
If the most update bios did not fix this problem, then you have to send the card
back to Creative to get the firmware updated.
Newer X-Fi cards should have the latest firmware installed.
Also while numerous PC users who have these issue(s) with their X-Fi cards.
Their system configurations are mostly running on a AMD platform that uses
the
nForce4 chipset.
According to one poster in Creative Forums, his mainboard is also running on a
nForce4 chipset, but instead of running on a AMD platform, he is running on a
Intel platform and somehow does not have any these problems.
The motherboard, this lucky user is using is a Asus P5ND2-SLI which uses a
a Intel Edition nForce4 chipset.
Quote by luckyuserI just bought an
Alienware system with a Asus P5ND2-Sli Intel Edition motherboard and the
ExtremeMusic edition. THANK GOODNESS.....no problems...The card is
AWESOME....
Since it's only one lucky user, this info cannot be solid, therefore I'll look
deeper into this issue and see if any other users who are using a nForce4 Intel
Editon motherboard does not have the problem also.
Im ok with my onboard sound card atm... I usually don't spend or pay attention
much to sound cards... but hey who doesnt want crisper sounds and amazing
surround sound?
I don't really think i need a seperate one.
I have a quite good onboard chip that has enough connectors for a 5.1 surround
system
And digital 7.1
But now its simple down here.
1 headset
1 microphone
1 cable to amplifier that is connected to the speakers in my room.
They are cheap, even reasonable quality ones are no more than $100. Add in the
fact that you get 7.1 surround support and superior sound quality, then it
sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Keep in mind you'll probably need an amp though, and nice speakers which will
end up being expensive.
Quote by TSPhoenixThey are cheap, even
reasonable quality ones are no more than $100. Add in the fact that you get 7.1
surround support and superior sound quality, then it sounds like a pretty good
deal to me.
Keep in mind you'll probably need an amp though, and nice speakers which will
end up being expensive.
The amps is the most expensive part if you want something really decend.
(Unless you get Bose speakers...)
Get an amp that can atleast can be used with 7.1 surround or more.
Eventough it sounds strange older amps do seem to have support for this.
The one that is intigrated into your hifi chain is crap btw.
The real things at the other side can give good sound effects.
Hmmm but its a too much "Creative" review, as I have and had several
souncards, and Creative only beats the rest on gaming, a Creative it's a must
have for any FPS hardcore gamer, but if you're a casual player and a steady
music listener like me, there are much better options than Creative at same or
less price, like Terratec, Audiotrak, M-Audio or ESI.
Choosing right models of those brands put Creative into a shame in terms of
audio quality...
Quote by Samurai-JinHmmm but its a
too much "Creative" review, as I have and had several souncards, and
Creative only beats the rest on gaming, a Creative it's a must have for any FPS
hardcore gamer, but if you're a casual player and a steady music listener like
me, there are much better options than Creative at same or less price, like
Terratec, Audiotrak, M-Audio or ESI.
Choosing right models of those brands put Creative into a shame in terms of
audio quality...
And I had a lot of Creative stuff...
Well yes, if you are a casual listener than any soundcard even onboard is good
enough, but
once you hear your music coming out from a X-Fi soundcard. It's a totally
different experience.
Try listening to a X-Fi for yourself and you might have second thoughts.
......you are all rich guys .
Yes , the X-Fi is good , but it's expensive now . Not for poor people like me
.
Though i can't buy any sound card what you have mentioned , i have a suggestion
only .
Don't forget buy a pair of good sound box .
And i think , onboard sound card is good for most people , but the real sound
chip is still better , because it's can process sound data itselt , not by CPU
!
In older computer , it's very important !
Quote by tiki223Well yes, if you are a
casual listener than any soundcard even onboard is good enough, but
once you hear your music coming out from a X-Fi soundcard. It's a totally
different experience.
Try listening to a X-Fi for yourself and you might have second thoughts.
Not really...
I'm a casual PC player and an audiophile.
And well I had the luck to listen an X-FI Elite Pro editon, and the sound was
nice... but not so much, it couldn't match my ESI Juli@ professional reference
sound card rated at $150 (even with crystalizer on).
For a gamer that spend his time playing FPS, space combat simulators or other
games that 3d sound makes a difference on playability Creative is the best
option by far, but only in these kind of games, on other type of games that's
debatable.
But if you're like me that plays PC FPS three weeks a year and your main usage
is watch DVDs, listen music or video edition, its pointless spending three times
more money for a lower sound quality.
Because there are lots of cards that provides crystal clear sound (far better
that creative sound), without any kind of distorsion, and without be so
overpriced as creative (for $400 you can get a production class soundcard that
wipe creative out from competition).
So if you're thinking about true sound quality why dont check one of
these?
Final words:
For price quality I will choose Terratec or M-Audio, they beats creative
soundcards, probably the only Creative one that can have a hand to these is
Audigy 2 ZS in ASIO mode, but as far I remember those were espensive
too!
It comes down to the quality and isolation of the device being used. There are
some very good on board sound setups available. Unless you are an uber
audiophile or want to mix music or create music, or you have a crappy on-board
solution there is really no point in getting a sound card.
Hello everyone!
One thing I have to say is, what I'm about to type will be really long! You can either have two options: read it yourself or tell your PC to read it to you.
For IE users, well your out of luck, let's just hope someday IE will also have this function.
But for you FireFox users you can install a extension called FoxyVoice. After the installation and restarting FireFox, all you have to do is highlight the text you want foxyvoice to read. Right click and click "read aloud". After that just sit back and listen.
If you think the speech is a little to slow, just head to the control panel, click on the speech icon, and adjust the settings.
*Default voice will be Microsoft Sam, but if you have Microsoft Office XP or 2003 there
is a speech recognition feature you can install, that will give you two additional voices: LH Michael and LH Michelle.*
Okay, here goes!
This is not just for technophilies. All of you can read it also and it might help you someday when you go out and shop for a soundcard.
And I'm
not trying to sell a product!
Most PCs these days come with onboard sound and some are even in HD (High Definition)
)! Good
soundcards are not cheap! And cheap soundcards are just as or almost the same as
onboard sound, so there is no point in spending the money, when you can save and
use if for something else or during a emergency situation. There is however, a
cheap soundcard that supports 24bit and 7.1 channel support. (SB
Live! 24-bit)
such as the ALC882. For some users onboard soundcard is good enough, but for some others they want to hear something better (like me
What I'm going to talk about right now is the X-Fi Xtreme Music because this is the one that I've just bought. One thing you have to know is, this is based on personal experience on how good and bad this sound card really is. There will be no audio specs e.g. 44KHz, 9.6dB, blah, blah, blah becauseI have no idea what these terms stands for
.
Except I do know that dB stands for decible, but I don't reallycare about these
technical stuffs. If you want to read detail reviews just visit the Creative's,
SoundBlaster site or Google search: X-Fi.
The reason I'm typing this is from most of the reviews I read online, they all say how good the soundcard really is, but to me, it seems that most sites are writing reviews just for marketing cr*p! And almost most of them just talks about the Fatal1ty FPS or Elite Pro editon which kind of stinks because these two model are definately not cheap! there is however a site that did write a review about the Xtreme Music.
Oh yeah, one more thing, this is not to boost my ego. It's just for users who wants to know if it's worth spending the money on getting a soundcard or is the onboard one good enough? This also includes for those of you who has a old soundcard, but you are having difficulty deciding if you also should get a new soundcard too.
Creative's X-Fi comes in 4 series. The cheapest: X-Fi Xtreme Music and the most expensive:
X-Fi Elite Pro. And the other 2 X-Fi cards are price in between these two X-Fi cards.
The X-Fi Xtreme Music package is pretty basic nothing fancy, just a installation CD, quick start guide, AOL CD
, and of
course the X-Fi Xtreme Music card. But according to a review site I read, you
are also suppose to get a warning page, but my package never came with it! Oh
well I think (hopefully) that warning page has nothing important because so far
my card works fine and I did not void my warranty.
When examining the card, I've notice there is a 4-pin connector like the one you would see on a internal floppy drive. So to confirm this, I went to the Creative's site and checked out their X-Fi soundcard diagram. And yes, that is the same 4-pin connector like the one you would see on a internal floppy drive. That 4-pin connector is for powering the Creative's I/O console which can only be found on the X-Fi Elite Pro version. What that mean is if you have the X-Fi Elite Pro version and want to power the Creative'
s I/O console, you need to connect a mini-plug* from your PSU** to the soundcard 4-pin connector. As for the other X-Fi series: it's an optional upgrade accessory which is available in some regions.
**PSU- PowerSupply unit
*A PSU's common two types of plugs are called molex, this are used for harddrives, optical drives, and some mid-range/high-end AGP graphic cards. The other one which is small and it
it's mostly used for floppy drives as well as a adapter converter for some AGP graphic cards is simply called a mini-plug.
Another thing I've notice with the card is that it is smaller than the Creative Audigy2 ZS. But one thing I don't like about the X-Fi is the absense of FireWire. Although there is no use for having a firewire in a soundcard, but personally I think it's good to have a extra one around because so far I already have 2 firewire devices and I'm running out of available firewire# ports!
#Firewire or some called it IEEE 1394 has two versions: "A" or "B"
The "A" version also know as IEEE 1394a runs at 400MB/s
The "B" version (IEEE 1394b) runs at 800MB/s
The "B" version is not popular as of yet and not that much PCs or devices uses the IEEE 1394b specs.
Sony calls the firewire port i.Link.
The installation CD comes with 3 types of modes: full install, custom install, and minimal install which Creative's has called it "Max Performance". Full install, installs everything the CD has to offer. Custom install lets you customize the installation, letting you install the features you want and leave out the features you do not want. The new type of install: "Max Performance" just installs the necessary features to use the card which also includes the X-Fi audio drivers.
One problem I had with the installation CD is on the first PC I've tried the soundcard with the setup meun run perfectly fine, but on the 2nd PC which where the soundcard will permantely be, the setup menu opens up fine, but after selecting a language it just disappears. To get the installation running, I had to manually open up the "CTrun" folder within the CD and after that click on the "CTrun" icon to begin the installation. I'm not sure what might have cause it. Maybe it's my firewall or antivirus application that may have cause this on the 2nd PC. I hope that you will not have the same problem as me. Well if you do, then you'll know what folder/icon to click on to begin your installation.
After windows installation/restarting and Windows has reload itself. I immediatly start to hear this "hissing" noise! At first I though could my X-Fi card be defective
?! So I
immediatly went to the Creative's support page to see if ther is a update
driver. And viola, there is a update driver. After installing the update driver,
the hissing went away! Yay! 
Oh yeah
that "hissing" noise was really freakin annoying, it was not constant.
It would hiss for about 6 second and before it stops it will would give a loud
shriek. Wait for 2 seconds and this process will repeat itself. so if I were you
turn down your speakers and gradually turn it back up slowly and see if you have
that hissing noise problem. Let's just hope Creative will supply the new driver
into their installation package.
The Creative audio consloe come in 3 modes: Gameing, Entertainment and Audio Creation.
Each mode helps the user gets the best out of their X-Fi soundcard. So if you are playing a game set it to gaming mode, listening to music or watching a movie-set it to Entertainment mode, and if you like to create personal music, set it to Audio creation mode.
Now according to a review site, it says:
After looking at all 3 modes, I have to agree with the website I quoted above to use the Entertainment mode because it is cleaner than the other two modes. Also the "Audio creation" mode is really confusing to me who is not a audiophile, especially with all that knobs and other what' not stuffs
.
At first I open up a mp3 music file without any fancy effects enabled. And I though this sound card is really good, the singer's voice is clear and the instruments playing in the background sounds perfect, but I was wrong! When I enabled the Creative's 24bit Crystalizer, the music does sound sharper and punchier, making the mp3 music that I was playing before sound a lot better. Now I have the 24 bit Crystalizer enabled all the time. Another thing was the X-Fi's CMSS-3D feature, when that feature was enabled and I slided the slider to surround, it's really like removing a set of ear plugs that was causing me to not hear properly. I've used headphones and that thing really does make a ordinary headphone sound like as if I was hearing to surround sound! It's so good that sometimes I really do forget I was using headphones! I also have a CamBridge Soundworks 2.1 speaker set with a subwoofer, but I don't use it that much.
The X-Fi also features something called "SuperRip" this let's you rip your audio CDs* into Xtreme Fidility quality. Well I did try it out and I have to say: Creative really needs to get back to the drawing board or provide a update ASAP because this so call "SuperRip" just does not work! It sounds more worst than if I was just to rip a music file by using the standard ripping method. The SuperRip music sound like if the singer is singing to you in a whispering tone at 100feet away. I've turned up my headphone volume to about 60% and I still have to concentrate really hard just to hear what the singer is singing.
*Audio CD that have DRM technolgy may not allow you to rip. The ripping was done
for testing purposes only on a Music CD that I rightfully own. Please support the music artist by buying the audio CDs. Thank you!
One other thing is there is something called the Audio converter (I think that was the name of the program). It helps you convert your music file into higher quality. But with almost all of the MP3 files I've tried to convert to a higher quality sound e.g. 320KB/s 44khz and 5.1channel support. It will say: failed, files not supported or something like that. When I convert the mp3 file into a lower quality sound format it works. I guess that by conveting standard audio into mp3 you really do loss a great amout of quality over the original one from the audio CD.
Well this is what I've been exprienceing so far, and that is only the surface of what this card has to offer. Until I learned more about audio stuffs then I might start using the "Audio creation" mode which let's me fine tune my mp3 files into a finer quaiilty by adjusting the set of knobs as well as ASIO support and other goodies the "Audio creation" mode has to offer.
The Audio clean up feature look pretty neat as it cleans out the hisses and
other clicks on a audio track, the sad thing is I have no idea how to use it.
But according to another reviewer he somehow know how to and this is what he says about it.
link
Okay now for the pricing like I say before the X-Fi comes in 4 series, the Xtreme Music is the cheapest and the Elite Pro is the most expensive, but you do get a sleek cool-looking console!
For some users the Xtreme Music can stll be pretty expensive, but it is the cheapest out of the other 3 X-Fi cards.
The X-Fi Xtreme Music is priced at $129.99 you will not get any fancy stuffs.
The 2nd one is also known as the X-Fi Platinum, which comes with a remote, I/O drive, and of couse the X-Fi card. And it's priced at $199.99
Now for the expensive models...
The third one called The Fatal1ty FPS edition is named for the world famous gamer:
(is that
how you spell his name?) What this card has is 64mb of X-RAM, leds that makes
your card go bling bling! Well it's nice if you have a clear side-view panel, if
not then it's just waste of money. It's price at a whopping $279.99! I guess
steep price tag is for the naming or something else. It comes with a X-Fi card
w/64mb of X-RAM, Fatal1ty FPS edition I/O drive, and a remote control!
Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel
And finally the 4th X-Fi series card: The X-Fi Elite Pro editon. This card also houses 64mb of X-RAM. Out of the other 3 this one goes to up 116dB while the others uses up to 109dB. It's price at a Earth Shattering $399.99! For some including me it's way to steep for my price range, but for others it might be a good deal. Well it's up to you to decide, but you do get a sleek cool-looking I/O console that Creative has not made with it predecessor cards.
Well, if you even think the Xtreme Music is a bit over your budget, then just continue using your onboard or your old soundcard and wait until the price drops.
For those who are looking for a new soundcard the X-Fi series is the one to get. Oh and dont' bother getting the Audigy 2 ZS series because accoring to this site it says:
This is the link to that article I have quote on what Steve Erickson said.
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=1699&cid=30&pg=4
For those of you who are using the Audigy 2 ZS is not really worth upgrading, but if you just want to hear a better sound quality, well then be my guest, go ahead and take a look into the X-Fi series soundcards.
Well that's it. I thank you for reading it and my hands are really tired!
*Wow I never knew it would be this loonnnggg!
*
Edit: For those who have read it before you might have notice a change, well there is when I was trying to change some spelling errors, I accidentally deleted half of what I posted! Now it has been retyped, but in a different style.
All prices/specs can be found at www.creative.com
Here is a magazine article about the X-Fi card. Mag article
Oh, geez. This is certainly an exhaustive little review. Thanks much!
MP3 is by definition a lossy audio format. When you rip a CD into MP3, you're essentially trimming off data to make the file size smaller. Because of this, I highly doubt that it is possible to bump an MP3 to a higher quality. 320 kb/s CBR is a higher quality than, say 192, but the problem is that if you're starting with a 192 kb/s CBR file, converting it into a 5.1 stream at 320 kb/s CBR isn't going to improve its quality, because your source material sets an inherent cap on quality. Essentially what you'll have if your conversion is successful is a larger file (at 320 kb/s) of the same or lesser quality than the 192 kb/s file.
That said, I really wonder what the audio converter program is all about. I guess I'll look into it and see what it does and such.
Either way, the bottom line in my experience is that there is no hard and fast rule about buying a standalone soundcard or not. I have an Audigy 2ZS that I connect to my Logitech Z5500s via coax for digital 5.1 goodness, but I know that there are integrated sound cards that could give the Audigy 2ZS a run for its money in various input modes. It really depends on the specifics of the card and what you're looking for. Personally, I think 7.1 is a little excessive, but perhaps that's just me.
Very interesting post nonetheless. Thanks again!
wow you are a fast reader!
Wow...
This was a big text....
Dunno, I'm wordless for some reason...
hmmmmm onboard will work for me until I get a 5.1 system....I might try upgrading xD
Laptop users may be out of luck... This includes older legacy systems (P3 or earlier) and currently all Mac Notebooks...
However,
you failed to mention theres a soundcard for laptop users by SoundBlaster... the
Audigy 2 pcmcia card.
I have the Extigy too, (a USB sound card) but it sucks if you have a USB 1.1 connection... This newer pcmcia card doesn't have the latency issue of the Extigy. The Extigy is currently being used as a sound amplifier for my Game Cube set up with a legacy monitor and 2.1 speaker system.
It also has the MIDI Soundfonts (that I was happy with in the Soundblaster 64 ISA card and SoundBlaster Live!). and this PC card also supports up to 7.1 surround.
It has a feature to use your laptop's speakers... but I personally am finding a lag time issue... However, when connected to the headphone port... there is no lag.
they need to work on the laptop speaker issue... but overall it seems to get more audio bang out of the speakers before shell resonance starts to interfere with the audio produced by the speakers.
I've always preferred an additional sound card. The built-in one that comes along with the motherboard doesn't produce the "effects" that I want. = )
Ahh yes, how can I ever forget about notebook users.
I am so sorry!
Whatever sends out a clear audio signal works for me. I'm not big into the 5.1 crap (i set up home theatre systems for a job, go figure). I'll stick with my comp speakers and two towers behind me with 10" woofers.
To hear the difference between cmss-3d enabled and disabled as
well as the 24bit crystalizer, click here.
Before executing any file, make sure to scan for viruese first.
*create a restore point, before you install the require media player*
ah, i dont need 5.1 since i am deaf, i just use 4.1 but i tear off the speaker and use only the subwoofer. just go any creative soundblaster 5.1 live
Lingshen
Time for a update...
According to numerious sites and forums, there has a been issue with
the X-Fi Xtreme Music and Platinum cards running on a nForce4 chipset.
The issue somehow the affects X-Fi Xtereme Music and Platinum, due to the absense of X-RAM that is found on the Fata1ty and Eltie Pro cards.
And while the X-Fi Xtreme Music and Platinum are affected, several users who
got the Platinum and/or Eltie Pro has the same issue also.
The issues are system will get multiple "unknown PCI devices", BSODs, constant restart, and system freezes.
An update on the motherboard's BIOS should fix this problem.
If the most update bios did not fix this problem, then you have to send the card back to Creative to get the firmware updated.
Newer X-Fi cards should have the latest firmware installed.
Also while numerous PC users who have these issue(s) with their X-Fi cards.
Their system configurations are mostly running on a AMD platform that uses the
nForce4 chipset.
According to one poster in Creative Forums, his mainboard is also running on a nForce4 chipset, but instead of running on a AMD platform, he is running on a Intel platform and somehow does not have any these problems.
The motherboard, this lucky user is using is a Asus P5ND2-SLI which uses a
a Intel Edition nForce4 chipset.
Since it's only one lucky user, this info cannot be solid, therefore I'll look deeper into this issue and see if any other users who are using a nForce4 Intel Editon motherboard does not have the problem also.
link
Creative Forums
Im ok with my onboard sound card atm... I usually don't spend or pay attention much to sound cards... but hey who doesnt want crisper sounds and amazing surround sound?
I don't really think i need a seperate one.
I have a quite good onboard chip that has enough connectors for a 5.1 surround system
And digital 7.1
But now its simple down here.
1 headset
1 microphone
1 cable to amplifier that is connected to the speakers in my room.
I don't really need more
They are cheap, even reasonable quality ones are no more than $100. Add in the fact that you get 7.1 surround support and superior sound quality, then it sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Keep in mind you'll probably need an amp though, and nice speakers which will end up being expensive.
The amps is the most expensive part if you want something really decend.
(Unless you get Bose speakers...)
Get an amp that can atleast can be used with 7.1 surround or more.
Eventough it sounds strange older amps do seem to have support for this.
The one that is intigrated into your hifi chain is crap btw.
The real things at the other side can give good sound effects.
Hmmm but its a too much "Creative" review, as I have and had several souncards, and Creative only beats the rest on gaming, a Creative it's a must have for any FPS hardcore gamer, but if you're a casual player and a steady music listener like me, there are much better options than Creative at same or less price, like Terratec, Audiotrak, M-Audio or ESI.
Choosing right models of those brands put Creative into a shame in terms of audio quality...
And I had a lot of Creative stuff...
Well yes, if you are a casual listener than any soundcard even onboard is good enough, but
once you hear your music coming out from a X-Fi soundcard. It's a totally different experience.
Try listening to a X-Fi for yourself and you might have second thoughts.
Wow... that's long....
I wonder will it improve the sound if I change to X-Fi... currently on Audigy 2 ZS... VS4121 and Philips SHP895.
I am happy with my Audigy 2 ZS. my speakers is off all the time, so why bother to spend another hundreds of dollar for a new one.
......you are all rich guys .
Yes , the X-Fi is good , but it's expensive now . Not for poor people like me .
Though i can't buy any sound card what you have mentioned , i have a suggestion only .
Don't forget buy a pair of good sound box .
And i think , onboard sound card is good for most people , but the real sound chip is still better , because it's can process sound data itselt , not by CPU !
In older computer , it's very important !
Not really...
I'm a casual PC player and an audiophile.
And well I had the luck to listen an X-FI Elite Pro editon, and the sound was nice... but not so much, it couldn't match my ESI Juli@ professional reference sound card rated at $150 (even with crystalizer on).
For a gamer that spend his time playing FPS, space combat simulators or other games that 3d sound makes a difference on playability Creative is the best option by far, but only in these kind of games, on other type of games that's debatable.
But if you're like me that plays PC FPS three weeks a year and your main usage is watch DVDs, listen music or video edition, its pointless spending three times more money for a lower sound quality.
Because there are lots of cards that provides crystal clear sound (far better that creative sound), without any kind of distorsion, and without be so overpriced as creative (for $400 you can get a production class soundcard that wipe creative out from competition).
So if you're thinking about true sound quality why dont check one of these?
ESI Juli@ - price 150$*
Terratec Aureon Space - Price 90$*
M-Audio Revolution - Price 100$*
Audiotrak Revolution 7.1 - Price 120$*
* Those prices are estimated.
And anyone who wants info about X-Fi should read this ones:
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/multimedia/creative-x-fi.html
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/multimedia/creative-x-fi-part2.html <- specially this one.
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/multimedia/creative-x-fi-part3.html
And reviews from the other ones here are:
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/esi-julia/index.html
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/terratec-aureon71/index.html
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/m-audio-revolution71/index.html
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/audiotrak-prodigy71/
Final words:
For price quality I will choose Terratec or M-Audio, they beats creative soundcards, probably the only Creative one that can have a hand to these is Audigy 2 ZS in ASIO mode, but as far I remember those were espensive too!
...someday I should do a review too...
It comes down to the quality and isolation of the device being used. There are some very good on board sound setups available. Unless you are an uber audiophile or want to mix music or create music, or you have a crappy on-board solution there is really no point in getting a sound card.