Circuit City is selling the full retail X-Fi XTremeMusic for $99.99, and they print a rebate for $20 at the register.
The rebate offer ends on 12/31/06.
So this ends up being $79.99 AR plus applicable tax.
I picked mine up in-store, don't know if you can get this shipped and if any extra charges apply to that.
The card is a full X-Fi, meaning it is not an Audigy sound core rebadged, like some of the low-end X-Fi cards. It does NOT have the additional 64MB RAM, then again who cares since only very few games utilize it, and then with questionable benefit. It also does not have a drive bay with the extra connectors, but I believe that can be retrofitted via a seperate purchase.
I bought this to replace an Audigy 1 card, and the difference is very audible. I have Sennheiser HD580's and a headphone amp hooked up to the PC, and the detail and clarity over the entire sound spectrum is enhanced very nicely (and no, I am not using the "Crystallizer" or any EQ that the X-Fi offers, everything's disabled) over my Audigy.
So, for ~$80 AR I think it's at least a warm deal, maybe even slightly hot to the touch.
I know this has been mentioned in one or two other threads, but they were under different headings so you really had to dig for it. Since the rebate offer is expiring soon, I thought a dedicated thread would be beneficial to some folks.
The card I purchased is a newer revision (on the box I see what I believe to mean Revision 4, where the serial number is), it has a heatsink on the sound core which is something Creative started after apparently getting too many complaints about overheating. It's nice to know they're not just dumping old stock.
The rebate offer ends on 12/31/06.
So this ends up being $79.99 AR plus applicable tax.
I picked mine up in-store, don't know if you can get this shipped and if any extra charges apply to that.
The card is a full X-Fi, meaning it is not an Audigy sound core rebadged, like some of the low-end X-Fi cards. It does NOT have the additional 64MB RAM, then again who cares since only very few games utilize it, and then with questionable benefit. It also does not have a drive bay with the extra connectors, but I believe that can be retrofitted via a seperate purchase.
I bought this to replace an Audigy 1 card, and the difference is very audible. I have Sennheiser HD580's and a headphone amp hooked up to the PC, and the detail and clarity over the entire sound spectrum is enhanced very nicely (and no, I am not using the "Crystallizer" or any EQ that the X-Fi offers, everything's disabled) over my Audigy.
So, for ~$80 AR I think it's at least a warm deal, maybe even slightly hot to the touch.
I know this has been mentioned in one or two other threads, but they were under different headings so you really had to dig for it. Since the rebate offer is expiring soon, I thought a dedicated thread would be beneficial to some folks.
The card I purchased is a newer revision (on the box I see what I believe to mean Revision 4, where the serial number is), it has a heatsink on the sound core which is something Creative started after apparently getting too many complaints about overheating. It's nice to know they're not just dumping old stock.
