Creative Xmod, any good?

[SpeedZealot369]

I have a e1505 and this seems to be the only option for a sound upgrade. I can't stand the crappy sound quality and hissing from the onboard sound.

Anyone know anything about this:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=203138675&loc=101&sp=1

Does that enhance the sound through hardware or software (crystilizer) Like if I don't use the crystilizer will it do any good?

Basically I'm asking if this is like a x-fi pci card that just goes through usb.

Thanks!!

 

[OSUCowboy]

Why?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I think you're mainly getting the fluff marketing of the X-Fi features and not getting the stuff that really matters (like hardware EAX, great analog output quality, etc.)

https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/spmclaughlin/web/Random/lol-xfi_graph2.JPG

There are some good USB soundcard options from other manufacturers though that aren't centered on this X-Fi technology.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

what are some other good usb sound cards? also, isnt it impossible to have the audio sound better than the source?

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
what are some other good usb sound cards? also, isnt it impossible to have the audio sound better than the source?

1. Besides the Creative USB solutions, a card I would recommend is the M-Audio Revolution USB sound card. Honestly, though, I'm not an expert on sound cards, so maybe jello can offer some better recommendations.

2. Yes, you're right. If you're referring to the graph that jello provided, that's a spoof of the graph that Creative provided when marketing the X-Mod. Whatever you do, DON'T GET IT. It's not an external sound card, it's total BS.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Aflac

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
what are some other good usb sound cards? also, isnt it impossible to have the audio sound better than the source?

1. Besides the Creative USB solutions, a card I would recommend is the M-Audio Revolution USB sound card. Honestly, though, I'm not an expert on sound cards, so maybe jello can offer some better recommendations.

2. Yes, you're right. If you're referring to the graph that jello provided, that's a spoof of the graph that Creative provided when marketing the X-Mod. Whatever you do, DON'T GET IT. It's not an external sound card, it's total BS.

I'm not really up on laptop solutions having never really researched it for myself.