Creative X-Fi

by **Major SONAR** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 7:52 am

Anyone going to get this sound card?

http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20050818/index.html

On the other hand, if you use headphones, the difference is like night and day. In fact, you may even want to consider always using headphones from now on.

My sound card is decent (Not Creative), but I'm always looking for improved sound for my music. I've sworn off Creative due to their lousy customer service. (Don't bother looking for a phone number on their website. There is none!). However, I might get this card.

Any thoughts? Anyone else getting it?

by **Buliwyf** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 3:15 pm

I will be getting it

by **JimmyTango** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 4:37 pm

Creative = crap.

Not to mention bullshit specs and features. What do I mean by bullshit? How about 24/96 cards that can not do 24/96?

by **Major SONAR** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 7:53 pm

I agree Creative definately had some false advertising on the Audigy.

Creative pissed me off several years ago when I bought a new DVD player and paid an extra $100 for a hardware decoder (about $300 total). After about 6 months of ownership, Windows XP comes out and the DVD w/decoder does not function (no driver support for Windows XP) I waited and waited, but the drivers for Windows XP never came out. Creative has NO PHONE NUMBERS on their website and they never responded to a number of emails I sent. That's not even mentioning the BLOATWARE they include with the sound card.

After that I said screw Creative. They don't care about their customers... and I haven't purchased another product from them since. I don't know how long ago that was, but it was before Windows XP came out.

That being said, I am now considering the X-Fi card.. DOH! Call me an idiot and LOSER.

by **Ldsmith104** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:59 am

Always liked creative, never had a problem that I needed to find a phone number, or support. Looks great I think I will be getting one.

by **tek** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:12 am

Those cards will do 24/96

Its simply a matter of getting the DRIVERS to allow you.. Hence the creation of 3rd party drivers, which work GREAT for non-gaming applications, as they do not support EAX which some games will choke on that fact..

But the Audigy/Audigy2 cards are AWSOME cards, IMHO

Edit:
The Fatal1ty @ $280 is pretty steep, but just because that external rack is so f'ng cool, and I don't want another "thing" taking up a 5.25 drive bay.. I'll wait a lil longer to save up for the Elite Pro.

by **deathBOB** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 9:15 am

I will be getting the bare minimum a couple of months after release. (christmas?)

by **JimmyTango** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 10:47 am

Creative does not make audiophile grade sound cards, it is that simple. For the same amount of money, there are MUCH better options.

Sonar, while I hate to see your computer seems to be your main source of music(as an anal audiophile it makes me sick), I still want you to get the best you can.

What are you looking for? I see you mention music, how important is gamign sound? Do you need 5.1 or just 2 channel?

by **amnion** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 11:11 am

In this note, I'm looking for speakers. I'm considering either the Logitech 5500's or the Creative Gigaworks 7.1 system. The thing is that if I get a creative sound card, I hope to be able to use thier "digital out" (1/8" connector) like I currently do. This lets me switch between headphones and speakers fast. Plus creative sound cards work in FreeBSD and Linux....

by **Major SONAR** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 11:32 am

Jimmy,

I'm not sure what I'm looking for just yet. I play a lot of games, but with a family, I primarily use my headphones. I have a cheap Creative 5.1 setup that came with my computer. The speakers are not very good IMHO, but then I again I'm particular about my music.

I want to eventually connect my computer to my home stereo setup. I haven't decided on the right hardware yet to send my MP3's to the stereo. I've been watching the industry for several years now and every generation of hardware gets better and better. I am almost ready to purchase something. I'm not sure whether I'll go with a wired or wireless system. The final unit I choose will need to handle video as well as audio and have a TOSlink.

So I'm looking at 2 separate things.
1) a great sound card for my PC and
2) a unit that allows me to send audio and video to my stereo (wired and wireless)

Any ideas?

by **JimmyTango** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:14 pm

Originally posted by amnion
In this note, I'm looking for speakers. I'm considering either the Logitech 5500's or the Creative Gigaworks 7.1 system. The thing is that if I get a creative sound card, I hope to be able to use thier "digital out" (1/8" connector) like I currently do. This lets me switch between headphones and speakers fast. Plus creative sound cards work in FreeBSD and Linux....

The vast majority of PC speakers flat out suck..this includes Klipsch. Swan makes some nice multimedia speakers, but they are $ and only 2 channel where it looks like you want surround sound. Here is a link, if anyone is interested: http://www.theaudioinsider.com/cgi-bin/theaudioinsider/SWM200.html

If you have $500, this is much better than any computer set up:

http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=42.1

Note that creative sound cards do not support Dolby Digital Live or the DTS equivalent, this means no real time decoding.

by **JimmyTango** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:23 pm

Originally posted by Major SONAR
Jimmy,

I'm not sure what I'm looking for just yet. I play a lot of games, but with a family, I primarily use my headphones. I have a cheap Creative 5.1 setup that came with my computer. The speakers are not very good IMHO, but then I again I'm particular about my music.

I want to eventually connect my computer to my home stereo setup. I haven't decided on the right hardware yet to send my MP3's to the stereo. I've been watching the industry for several years now and every generation of hardware gets better and better. I am almost ready to purchase something. I'm not sure whether I'll go with a wired or wireless system. The final unit I choose will need to handle video as well as audio and have a TOSlink.

So I'm looking at 2 separate things.
1) a great sound card for my PC and
2) a unit that allows me to send audio and video to my stereo (wired and wireless)

Any ideas?

Sound card: M-Audio revolution 7.1, better than creative hands down for anyone looking at listing to music and still gives you multichannel.

As for your other need, the Squeezebox is a good option. BTW, MP3's suck, they are compressed. If you are burning your own from a CD, do it with Apple Lossless or another similar lossless format. The squeezebox is here: http://www.slimdevices.com/

by **Davis** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:37 pm

I will be picking up this card for a second Pc i will be getting.

Have the audigy 2 platinum right now, is good, does everything it should do.

Just my system overheats ever since i got my ati wonder elite, so i will be getting a secong system for media/ storage. Most likly 500+, not a terabyte, i just dont have that much crap to store.

Would like to get the The X-Fi Elite Pro, But that kinda pricey.

We'll see.

Creative X-Fi

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