Auzentech Prelude Vs Creative X-Fi Titanium

[TuXeD]

Hey Guys,

Well i'm looking to upgrade from my onboard sound card but right now i don't know which one should i get.

I'm Using the Z-2300 logitech Speaker and i listen a lot of music and play some games like COD4 CSS and crysis.

So, what you guys think about this??
Thanks
Jo

 

[finbarqs]

x-fi titanium. I have both, And the Titanium has better drivers. Prelude has "crippled" drivers.

 

[teatime0315]

I"m in the same boat as the OP.
Which one is better in Vista 64bit?
@finbarqs - Was that on Vista?
Sorry about the thread jacking TuXeD

 

[Ghouler]

Keep in mind you are choosing between PCI and a PCI Express card. Make sure you have that slot free if you go for Titatnium.
Which is probably your best option. I mean it is the real PCI Express card.

 

[Oyeve]

Sorry for the hijack, I have an X-Fi Xtrememusic (original one) and was thinking about getting the titanium. Is there any benefit in doing so other than the DD HW decoding? Also, does the older X-fi 5 1/4 IO drive work with the titanium?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Sorry for the hijack, I have an X-Fi Xtrememusic (original one) and was thinking about getting the titanium. Is there any benefit in doing so other than the DD HW decoding? Also, does the older X-fi 5 1/4 IO drive work with the titanium?

You mean DD encoding.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Sorry for the hijack, I have an X-Fi Xtrememusic (original one) and was thinking about getting the titanium. Is there any benefit in doing so other than the DD HW decoding? Also, does the older X-fi 5 1/4 IO drive work with the titanium?

You mean DD encoding.

Yea.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Sorry for the hijack, I have an X-Fi Xtrememusic (original one) and was thinking about getting the titanium. Is there any benefit in doing so other than the DD HW decoding? Also, does the older X-fi 5 1/4 IO drive work with the titanium?

You mean DD encoding.

Yea.

IIRC there was a slight increase in Sound quality...but I doubt it would be perceiveable. I would stick with the Xtrememusic, especially if its working correctly.

There is no reason to pay for DD encoding if you can use analog connections.

 

[Auric]

All X-Fi DSPs can utilize Creative's Dolby encoder anyway. It's a simple hack. Alternatively, there is the amateur redocneXk.

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Sorry for the hijack, I have an X-Fi Xtrememusic (original one) and was thinking about getting the titanium. Is there any benefit in doing so other than the DD HW decoding? Also, does the older X-fi 5 1/4 IO drive work with the titanium?

Not sure if the IO drive will work, the Titanium does have a version of its own drive bay but it looks to be heavily crippled in terms of functionality compared to the original X-Fi version.

X-Fi Titanium Champion

As noted, DD Live/DTS Connect real-time encoding is supported by all X-Fi with the 20k1 DSP, it just needs to be enabled in the driver. Creative has promised this functionality in a driver update this month, but I wouldn't be shocked if it slipped into Aug/Sep.

If you're interested in a newer X-Fi and want PCI-E, DD Live encoding and HD sound formats you may want to wait for the Auzentech Prelude 1.3 which is set to launch in September I believe. It really should be the ultimate PC game/theater sound card as it will support EAX 5.0, DD Live/DTS connect encoding of everything including EAX 5.0, and all of the uncompressed/lossless HD sound formats all over a single HDMI connection.

Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater 7.1 PCI-E with HDMI 1.3

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Sorry for the hijack, I have an X-Fi Xtrememusic (original one) and was thinking about getting the titanium. Is there any benefit in doing so other than the DD HW decoding? Also, does the older X-fi 5 1/4 IO drive work with the titanium?

Not sure if the IO drive will work, the Titanium does have a version of its own drive bay but it looks to be heavily crippled in terms of functionality compared to the original X-Fi version.

X-Fi Titanium Champion

If you're interested in a newer X-Fi and want PCI-E, DD Live encoding and HD sound formats you may want to wait for the Auzentech Prelude 1.3 which is set to launch in September I believe. It really should be the ultimate PC game/theater sound card as it will support EAX 5.0, DD Live/DTS connect encoding of everything including EAX 5.0, and all of the uncompressed/lossless HD sound formats all over a single HDMI connection.

Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater 7.1 PCI-E with HDMI 1.3

Oh yea, thats looks to be sweet!

 

[43st]

I've been going over this, and it's a tough call. I've ordered the Prelude to test, mostly because I don't trust the quality of the Titanium. I currently have the original X-fi fatality, which is darn expensive at the time, for sub par construction.

Original X-fi:
- Poor op-amp, and other hardware. Signal clips in certain situations (snap, crackle, pop).
- Installation is a pain.

Prelude:
- Great hardware, replaceable op-amps.
- Poor drivers from what I've seen, even though I think Creative provides them.
- Need to register card to install drivers.

Titanium:
- Expected below average hardware. Drivers work most likely.
- Pci-E seems interesting.

I'd love to see some more comparisons with the Titanium, especially against the Prelude and the original X-fi.