X-Fi sound card worth it?

jjj807

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Jun 20, 2004
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YBS1

Golden Member
May 14, 2000
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IMO they do still sound better than onboard audio or ATI's HDMI audio. I'm no audiophile though so other peoples mileage may vary.
 

Ayah

Platinum Member
Jan 1, 2006
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Speaker choice may or may not be hurting your audio quality more than the via audio.
Audio quality is only as good as the weakest link in the chain. Be it audio source, audio chip or speakers.
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
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Mar 4, 2000
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Being an audiophile, I would have to say, it really depends on the quality of your speakers. With top quality speakers, the X-Fi would sound better. But, with average computer speakers, your ears won't notice the difference.
 

VashHT

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Feb 1, 2007
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I got tired of Creative's awful drivers and got rid of my X-Fi card a while ago and switched to a HT Omega. Far superior sound quality compared to the X-Fi and the drivers they put out are really great.

Anyway I doubt you'll see any frame-rate jump with a card like the X-Fi anyway. Most games are GPU constrained nowadays anyway so freeing up a couple % of your cpu isn't going to help very much.

I can't really really speak for movies because I don't watch them on my PC, but in games and music I've found the HT Omega card I have to be far better than my X-Fi I used to use.
 

Varsh

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Jan 30, 2003
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After switching to Vista (and subsequently Win 7 now) I've found that all Creative sound cards have problems with that awful snap/crackle/pop, even with the latest drivers. On the rare occassion that I test it to see if it doesn't do that I switch back to my X-Fi knowing that the sound is much better than onboard, but when that snap returns I switch back to my onboard. I can't stand it.

If you're still on XP then I would only recommend an X-Fi based sound card as Creative have failed to add any of the true updates that came for the XP version.
 

mmntech

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Sep 20, 2007
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I got tired of Creative's awful drivers and got rid of my X-Fi card a while ago and switched to a HT Omega. Far superior sound quality compared to the X-Fi and the drivers they put out are really great.

Anyway I doubt you'll see any frame-rate jump with a card like the X-Fi anyway. Most games are GPU constrained nowadays anyway so freeing up a couple % of your cpu isn't going to help very much.

I can't really really speak for movies because I don't watch them on my PC, but in games and music I've found the HT Omega card I have to be far better than my X-Fi I used to use.

The C-Media 8700 chipsets are far better. Creative was so popular because most games in the mid-2000s used EAX for surround sound. Nobody use it now so there's really no point in using Creative anymore. That said, I like my XtremeMusic. If you have audiophile grade headphones or an analogue receiver with good speakers, you'll notice a difference.
 

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
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After switching to Vista (and subsequently Win 7 now) I've found that all Creative sound cards have problems with that awful snap/crackle/pop, even with the latest drivers. On the rare occassion that I test it to see if it doesn't do that I switch back to my X-Fi knowing that the sound is much better than onboard, but when that snap returns I switch back to my onboard. I can't stand it.

If you're still on XP then I would only recommend an X-Fi based sound card as Creative have failed to add any of the true updates that came for the XP version.

Are you talking about the crackle that seems to occur when more than two sounds try to play at once? I had that issue when I used to play counter-strike, or listen to music and do something else. I vaguely recall changing a Windows Sound setting that lets the application take exclusive control of the sound card, and unchecking that box... anyway, I had the issue when I first got my X-Fi a couple years ago and haven't had it since I fixed it.
 

YBS1

Golden Member
May 14, 2000
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After switching to Vista (and subsequently Win 7 now) I've found that all Creative sound cards have problems with that awful snap/crackle/pop, even with the latest drivers. On the rare occassion that I test it to see if it doesn't do that I switch back to my X-Fi knowing that the sound is much better than onboard, but when that snap returns I switch back to my onboard. I can't stand it.

If you're still on XP then I would only recommend an X-Fi based sound card as Creative have failed to add any of the true updates that came for the XP version.

I've not experienced any of that, though I had heard the Vista/Win7 stories before starting to use my X-Fi again in Windows 7 (I had been using ATI HDMI and/or onboard for a while). In fact I've not had any issue related to the X-Fi hardware or software at all thus far.
 

WildW

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Oct 3, 2008
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The real benefit of a good sound card that lead me to pick up an X-Fi over using the on-board sound is positional audio in games. Using the on-board sound I found that I was having trouble pinpointing where sounds were coming from in games - a beastie would roar behind me in Borderlands and I had to look around to find it.

Plug in an X-Fi and you have positional audio over regular 2-channel headphones. You know exactly where everything is around you without thinking. It's a serious edge in first person shooters, especially when playing online.

I've had no issues with my X-FI and Windows 7 64bit either, it's just been basically perfect.
 

RallyMaster

Diamond Member
Dec 28, 2004
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I own two X-Fi XtremeMusics and I can attest that none of them have issues with the Vista operating system now. There was an initial pile of poo that ruined Creative's reputation to write a proper driver but ever since Vista SP1, the drivers have been pretty stable. With decent headphones or speakers, most will notice an immediate improvement in sound quality.
 

nerp

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
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If you are simply interested in listening to music, get an m-audio audiophile 2496 or something and connect them to a good pair of studio monitors.
 

hclarkjr

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Oct 9, 1999
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i have a X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 7.1 and love it, if you are going to use it please get nice set of speakers for it. to install that and use a cheap pair of speakers would be a waste of your time. i have mine hooked to a set of logitech 5500's and will never use onboard sound again. i have had 0 problems with it in vista 64 bit.
 

rgallant

Golden Member
Apr 14, 2007
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-this is the first thread all week I've seen that has not warned people about creative's so called ripoff of selling crap sound cards
I have been looking at all the pc\audio forums to find out why z5500 seem to be out of stock till feb. most walkin sellers in can. ,and if their being replaced ,any ways it still a shock to read how many so called audio guru's still bad mouthing creative x-fi hardware\software when people are asking what cards to buy, then said they got rid of them years ago or couldn't get them to work. yet a 12 year noob has no problems[-buddy's kid.]
-using the same extreme music x-fi from xp- vista 64-win7-64 always been plug and play for me using the downloaded creatives drivers. no problem at any time- any game
great sound ,eg you can follow a crow in stalker and the call-call follows it from speaker to speaker around the room -great effects.
-so what are these guru's basing their hate on ?
-is it they run other mixing\recording software that conflicts with the native creative software
-they want to look like king s**ts because they have a so called informed opinion.
-one guy at guru3d went on and on at how crappy x-fi is and how many unhappy people were on the creative forums ,yet had he clicked on his own nvidia driver section 99% of the post are neg.towards nvidia cards or drivers or something.
-so a $120.00 x-fi card does not sound up to his standards -so don't buy creative ,
-but $900.00 dollars of video cards in a $2000.00 computer , that can't play a given game for more than a hour before it crashes[per posts] and no comments\no problem ,
-so did creative piss on their first born or something ?
breaks me up
 

TheInternal

Senior member
Jul 7, 2006
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The majority of smack talk I've heard surrounding Creative is due to their shady business practice of not supporting some of their products that have large install bases (such as the Audigy 2 lineup).

They have demonstrated and admitted to limiting product functionality in the drivers for new operating systems, forcing consumers to buy newer products or look to third party drivers to re-enable functionality they were accustomed to in previous operating systems (such as the now "dated" Windows XP). Some fairly good third party drivers WERE made, and then creative threatened a law suit (claiming infringement of intellectual property) since they re-enabled functionality that the hardware was capable of, but which could impact their sales (since users might not buy new hardware since their existing hardware now worked again).

For this reason alone, I wouldn't suggest Creative Labs products. As a an owner of (what used to be) their high-end Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro sound card (which had an original MSRP of around $200), I find it unacceptable that they've failed to support their products or allow third party drivers to be openly distributed. The fairly popular/talked about "Daniel K" Audigy support pack works a little better (according to some) than the Creative Labs driver in Windows 7 64-bit with 4 GB of RAM, but I've yet to find a solid fix to issues with 5.1 playback while retaining proper mic functionality. This is apparently a matter of 64-bit addressing that could only be fixed by a "real" 64-bit driver by Creative.

I've had fewer problems with my X-Fi Titanium PCI-E, but I'm guessing that's because the system it's in has less than 4GB of RAM and I haven't tried any games or VoIP on it. I recently seemed to solve it's sound "cracking" problems with a reinstall of the creative drivers. My original Audigy Platinum card (precursor to the Audigy 2) was always a little glitchy / seemed to have conflicts.

If you're running 4GB of memory or more, a 64-bit Windows OS, and don't want to have to upgrade your sound card the next time a major OS is released, I would SERIOUSLY advise against Creative Labs products. Otherwise, they are an option that is at least worth considering. After all the shenanigans I've read and seen on Creative's forums, I plan to avoid doing further business with them due to what I feel are unethical business practices.

If you keep your X-Fi card, I'm guessing you will hear a difference over integrated audio (though integrated solutions have gotten much better over the last 10 years)... especially if you have some worthy speakers.

Sound cards share at least one thing in common with video cards:

You can have the best darn video card on the planet, but if you hook it up to a 16-bit 14" monitor with a max resolution of 800x600, it's a total waste. The same thing is true with a good sound card. If you spend much more than $50 on a sound card, I suggest investing at least twice as much on a worthy pair of speakers.

Whatever you decide, I hope your audio solution matches your budget and standards :)
 
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mebiuspower

Member
Sep 5, 2006
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I'm glad that I didn't stuff my Audigy 2ZS to my new Win7 64bit PC...

Creative used to be the ONLY dominating sound card maker (Goes all the way back to Sound Blaster 16-bit, remember?) but now you have so many options to choose from.

Man those were the days... SB AWE64 that was the shiznit!!! LOL.
 

TheInternal

Senior member
Jul 7, 2006
447
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76
true that, mebius. Creative built their name on the Sound Blaster and AWE labels. I'm personally thinking of giving up on my Audigy and trying to find a different brand for Win 7 64-bit, since I just can't seem to get the damn thing to work 100%... but that's a different thread ;P
 

CurseTheSky

Diamond Member
Oct 21, 2006
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When I put in my latest motherboard / CPU / memory, I left out the X-Fi to try out the onboard audio. I put the X-Fi back in within an hour.

The only problem I've had is their control panel switching between Entertainment and Gaming modes randomly in the middle of an application or game (which cuts out sound) sometimes a restart is needed. Sometimes it happens twice in a week, sometimes once in 6 months. Other than that, it's been rock solid on Vista Ultimate x64 and now Windows 7 Professional x64.
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
81
X-fi? Pah get a xonar dx or d2x instead. Better quality soundcard overall, less problems in vista/7 it can emulate EAX 1.0-5.0 (if you still care about EAX since it is a dead tech) and asus probably wont leave you dead in the water with a crippled card, theyve added functionality over time, the ability to emulate EAX 3.0-5.0 is actually a recent addition.
 

mrblotto

Golden Member
Jul 7, 2007
1,639
117
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I've had The Creative X-Fi extreme something-or-another, the HT Omega Striker, and the Auzentech Prelude. I'd have to say the Azuntech was the best of the bunch (still going strong with it on Win7), yes I realize it's X-Fi based, but the drivers are much better. The HT is a close second. The creative was dead list because of their sh!tty driver support and 'squeal of death' issues which were rampant a few years ago with certain boards, and their refusal to address/remedy this (well, that's what it was like last time I checked a couple years ago...lol)

My .02