What is the X-Fi sound card that's not made by Creative Labs

[hypeMarked]

I want a sound card that is good for Vista because the ones from CL just sucked.

 

[shortylickens]

Thats like asking "What is the Corvette car not made by Chevorlet?"
No such thing.

However, we do have several threads here in Peripherals with folks recommending hi-end sound cards not from Creative.
You can get excellent quality from other places, Creative Labs just has the biggest name.

 

[hypeMarked]

I remembered there's a card made by a 3rd party that uses the x-fi. But I just can't remember what it is.

 

[ivan2]

I use the emu, they are pretty good. (still from creative, but the better line LOL)

 

[hypeMarked]

Oh yeah, this is it: http://www.auzentech.com/site/...ude.php#specifications

I was just wondering about best sound card for vista (gaming/movie/etc...) Please give me your inputs. Thanks

 

[tigersty1e]

That's interesting.

Could Creative go the route of Nvidia and ATI?

 

[Ichigo]

What's your motherboard? More likely than not your motherboard will serve you better without issues.

 

[xenophile]

The last Auzentech card was a great card for vista. Hopefully this one wont disappoint. I think it's smart for creative to license out the x-fi since they obviously dropped the ball big time when vista arrived.

 

[PurdueRy]

The deal that kills it for me is the use of Creative's drivers....

I stopped buying Creative due to the hassle of their drives. I won't go back to them. "Entertainment" mode and "gaming" mode...why?

 

[xenophile]

You know, in case you want your room to sound like a "Royal Hall" when you're listening to music.. :roll:

 

[shortylickens]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
What's your motherboard? More likely than not your motherboard will serve you better without issues.

I dunno about the OP, but both my machines have high-end enthusiast boards from DFI.
I dont think the audio in either one is as good as my Audigy 1.

Some folks can tell the difference between really good and really bad sound cards, like me for example.

BUT......

I really dont hear any difference between medium and super-duper-high-grade speakers.
I like my Logitech Z-5300's just fine.
I've had friends show me their five thousand dollar home theater systems hooked up to a computer.
Aside from pure volume I cant find anything distinctive in the sound.

 

[Ghouler]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy
"Entertainment" mode and "gaming" mode...why?

Creative explained that modes are there cus games use different processing then e.g. movies. You do not need EAX for movies and you do not need dolby decoding for games.
So that what is not needed is removed. Sure it should have been automated and save us a few more clicks. That would be better. But overall X-Fi performs well, also on Vista (using 32 bit Vista and XP)