Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 7.1 Sound Card

Abarbarian

Abarbarian

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Is this a good card to get for the money . I know nowt about pc sound stuff so any input would be muchly appreciated .

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-052-CL

:D

Yes I know its for a PCI-E slot
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Not bad, I think Flops has one of the PCI version?
 
Thanks V_R was having a bit of trouble finding reviews on this card . Most of them are for different versions .
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Technically it isn't a 'true' X-FI for reasons i cant remember atm, but that dont mean they are bad, i have the Xtreme Music and its great, miles above the on board audio.
 
Well, yes, I do have this card.

And I've read (on this Forum) that it isn't a true 'X-Fi' card though all the vendors say it is.

If somebody could give me links to these disclaimers I'd be very grateful. I want to see technical proof.

I have a feeling that it may be just sour grapes from the X-Fi Music and X-Fi Gamer card owners cos they are more expensive, for some reason, possibly because those versions don't do OEM but I ain't sure.

But what you want to hear is what it sounds like - correct?

It sounds good :)

Very very good indeed. And I'm fussy.

I have a 5.1 set of Hercules loudspeakers that I was never that impressed with, tbh, but the X-Fi Audio brought them alive.

They sound great - games, movies and especially music - WAV , mp4a and mp3 files - all sound so much better.

For the money best upgrade I've ever done, would wholeheartedly recommend it :thumb:

The way Creative update your software is auto but if you search you can actually download the new drivers and software updates.

On a personal note, I may still upgrade my speakers cos if the X-Fi Audio made these fairly medium quality speakers sound good, I want to hear what they'll do to a nice set of Logi 5.1's :)

Hey, whatever the technical ins and outs of it - this card sounds great and is good value for money.
 
It was somewhere on the creative forums i read it, but cant find or remember the details, it may or may not have been true of course.

My Xtreme Music was OEM. This one

:)
 
Cheers guys . I eventualy found a write up on Creatives site and a review . Your input was very helpful .
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I did search around for info on the X-Fi Audio and it was actually quite hard to find.

But I did find what could be the post V_R was referring to and if these allegations are true it would appear yes, the X-Fi Extreme Audio card uses an inferior chipset to the Gamer and Music cards. This would probably explain the lower price.

Which makes me more than a little cheesed off, tbh, cos I spotted 'X-Fi' liked the price and bought it, confident I was getting an X-Fi chipset.

However, if I am purely to let my ears decide then I'm more than happy. This card brought my system - and particularly my games - alive. It's good, very good but of course now I'm wondering whether the Gamer or Music cards sound better.....

Ok, here's the post on the Creative Forum: El Posto

And here's the article it links to:Jimmy Jimmy

Interesting to note that Creative haven't removed it.

Now, I'm not going to defend my Creative Audio card simply because I've bought one, if I've bought a turkey I'll be the first to admit it. However, I will say that the transformation to this card from the onboard Asus motherboard sound was quite phenomenal.

And there, my gathered throng, we have it... ;)
 
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Well flopps I would be pretty p****d off if I bought X-FI to find out it isn't X-FI

I buy most my stuff from Amazon, if I had bought this then it would definitely go back for a refund...

I know you say it sounds great but the principal of the thing would grind in me..

How long you had it and where'd you buy it...

Like you say, you will always be wondering now...
 
I was ecstatic - and still am - with my £40 investment of the X-Fi Gamer.

Music sounds quality, games sound brilliant, and though my speakers are alright I think it would sound amazing through real quality speakers. Many toggles to fiddle with and sliders to use, which is always good.

I think the 'not a real X-Fi' is due to differences in the RAM specs of the cards?

I recall that the more expensive cards had dedicated RAM on board, whereas the cheaper ones didn't and scrounged off your system.

Thats very hazy, but I think it was something along those lines.

Either way it made sod all difference to me and it is a brilliant piece of kit, especially compared to on board sound.
 
The X-Fi Audio isn't actually listed at the Creative site if you search for driver downloads.

You can do an auto update, and it's detected as an X-Fi Audio, but the drivers aren't listed for seperate download.

However, Everest Home Edition lists the card as 'Audigy LS' and there on the Creative site are drivers that can be downloaded for the Audigy LS.

I wonder.

Still, I have two Audigy 2's on two other machines and they're not a great improvement on the onboard sound at all. They're a slight improvement and worth having but not as startling an improvement as this X-Fi Audio Extreme is.

My conclusion would be this then, that The X-Fi Audio card is not a true member of the X-Fi family but still a significant improvement over, say, an Audigy 2. Kind of a 'go-between' I guess which once again proves true that old maxim 'You only get what you pay for'

I will say though that this is a bad show on Creative's part, to my mind it's bordering on deception. Another nail in the Creative coffin as far as I'm concerned, my next sound card will NOT be a Creative one, but more likely an Asus, Auzentech or maybe even that Razer Barracuda gamer's card.

Creative's support for Vista has been dismal, other sound card manufacturers have managed to get their act together so tis ironic then that Creative, with the lion's share of the market, drag their heels with support.

And one last thing, was noticing Pot Guy's comments above about lots of toggles and sliders being good with a sound card whereas I've always had it drummed into me when talking audiophile that less is more and the less eq a sound signal travels through, the cleaner and purer the sound.

Which is true but whether it applies to computers or not, I dunno - but it should do though shouldn't it?

And on that note I think I'll shut up ;)
 
Dear friends, has anyone get the card Xtreme Audio X-Fi PCI-Express 1x to play in Windows XP SP2? I have bought the card on eBay without drivers. Those from Creative site doesn't recognise the card (it remains "Unknown device" in XP Device manager). I've also pulled off AverTV tuner as I heard somewhere they may conflict. Nothing helped.
I suppose that's because of the PCI-E 1x interface.
 
Inca Atahuallpa said:
Dear friends, has anyone get the card Xtreme Audio X-Fi PCI-Express 1x to play in Windows XP SP2? I have bought the card on eBay without drivers. Those from Creative site doesn't recognise the card (it remains "Unknown device" in XP Device manager). I've also pulled off AverTV tuner as I heard somewhere they may conflict. Nothing helped.
I suppose that's because of the PCI-E 1x interface.
Click to expand...

It sounds to me as if either you have a faulty card or you've downloaded the wrong drivers.

As I mentioned above, the 'X-Fi' Audio card drivers aren't listed at the Creative site as they very likely don't exist.

Try downloading and using the drivers for the Creative Audigy LS card. And perhaps you could come back here and let us know how you get on.
 
Inca Atahuallpa said:
Dear friends, has anyone get the card Xtreme Audio X-Fi PCI-Express 1x to play in Windows XP SP2? I have bought the card on eBay without drivers. Those from Creative site doesn't recognise the card (it remains "Unknown device" in XP Device manager). I've also pulled off AverTV tuner as I heard somewhere they may conflict. Nothing helped.
I suppose that's because of the PCI-E 1x interface.
Click to expand...

This might be worth a try ,

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/SO...ster-X-Fi-Xtreme-Audio-Driver-5-10-0-33.shtml

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I dug this out flopp's, thought you might be interested in this article..



X-Fi Xtreme Audio
The entry-level model of the X-Fi series, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio, does not actually have the EMU20K1 chip but is a re-branded Audigy SE, using the same family of chips (CA0106-WBTLF), and even the same drivers[2]. Thus, not only is all of the X-Fi–related processing performed in software, but it also lacks basic hardware acceleration just the like SB Live! 24 bit, the Audigy SE and other budget Soundblaster models. The X-Fi Xtreme Audio does not use the same drivers as the rest of the X-Fi family, some games do not recognize it as being "X-Fi capable hardware", and the device's hardware profile resembles that of older Live! and Audigy cards. Furthermore, users have reported that it slows down some applications and games [11][12][13]. Thus, even if the card is marketed as part of the X-Fi line, it does not belong to it technically, just like the Audigy SE doesn't technically belong to the Sound Blaster Audigy series. The card is not marketed as supporting the "X-Fi Gaming Mode" (but is still marketed as "X-Fi"), and there are no official implicit or explicit statements regarding its having hardware acceleration or not.



Current X-Fi Extreme Audio

<109dbCA0106--optionalLow profile card (half height), does not contain the EMU20K1 chipset used by the rest of the series. Is based on the same chipset as the Audigy 2 SE and SB Live! 24-bit. [3]



Very naughty on Creatives part I would say...:mad:
 
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I was just readingthat on wiki, from AB's link above. Sucks
 
I think myself and Creative have just parted company :mad:

I'll put this card in my media machine, it only has onboard sound atm and the card is half height so should fit well in the Desktop case.

Auzentech & Asus are now going to get some serious scrutiny from me.

Whoever has the best reports and reviews and can offer decent driver support (we're talking Vista & Linux), will get my cash.
 
I'm not surprised your angry Flopp's, I would be bloody seething..


The Auzentech cards look good been reading a few reviews on them and they make some good cards...
 
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