Creative X-Fi thoughts?

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Nov 24, 2005, 12:17 AM

this card hasn't been that popular compared to the Live! series. its huge upgrade from what I read. I saw some reviews also.

So tell me, how is the card really? With analog 5.1 systems like mine listed below, and how is the x-fi fatal1ty. I'm really interested in the X-Ram since it gives you perfromance benefits

**dj_stick** · Nov 24, 2005, 12:20 AM

i'd be more interested if the x-ram were on all models of the card, however even for simply the extreme music card it's extremely expensive

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Nov 24, 2005, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_stick

i'd be more interested if the x-ram were on all models of the card, however even for simply the extreme music card it's extremely expensive

i am sure they will release a version without the platinum drive. that would be useful not everyone needs the drive. but if i get a good deal on it in the future like 200 cdn ill pick it up definitely.

Judas · Nov 24, 2005, 12:31 AM

imo... it's still creative... hopefully at some point i can expect a creative card to work out of the box with no crashes... until then, i ain't touching a single thing even if it has some preformance increases over what i've got...

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Nov 24, 2005, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

imo... it's still creative... hopefully at some point i can expect a creative card to work out of the box with no crashes... until then, i ain't touching a single thing even if it has some preformance increases over what i've got...

ive never had a problem with any creative cards. nvidia video cards yes, but my live, audigy 1 and audigy 2 have worked fine. drivers are stable but extremely bloated. the driver size needs to be cut down and interface should be more centralized with profiles available

Necrosis · Nov 24, 2005, 12:48 AM

I love my Extreme Music, I think Creative did a top job this go around. The software is smooth, of course there is a bit of bloat but top notch.

Very impressed going from an A2 ZS, the only card that made me smile this much was my Revolution.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Nov 24, 2005, 01:38 AM

my audigy 2 has made me smile

Shakey_Jake33 · Nov 24, 2005, 07:11 AM

Is the 24bit Crystalizer as good as the hype claims it to be? Is sounds like reason enough for me to ditch my Audigy2 ZS, but it all depends on how much better it sounds in real time.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Nov 24, 2005, 08:01 AM

my main concern is will i get 24bit sound by playing my MP3's in WMP or winamp and stuff? I mean if stuff is being upstreamed to that all the time its definitely worth it. I saw some new utilities also in the driver pack.

**temeteus82** · Nov 24, 2005, 03:23 PM

I have extreme music, and I have enabled 24-bit Crystaizer from the SB's controll panel and it works, I mean in all multimedia apps

it was nice to watch Pim my ride when crystalizer is enabled

3DWizard · Nov 24, 2005, 04:39 PM

Well, i had doubts myself. I bought a xtrememusic then and thought that I probably might give it back to the reseller. But the 24 bit crystalizer is really great. The sound is much more richer. Once a test said it would sound to you as if you would have been behind a wall before, when listening to your 16bit music. And I would say it's true. I have a 5.1 system, too, and the crystalizer is definitely the feature that made me stay with the new x-fi. Hope this helps.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Nov 24, 2005, 05:27 PM

interesting hmmm... and is the fatal1ty really worth it? on a review i read upto 20% performance gains, or are they just plain gains that a catalyst driver update would do?
and what other features does it have over the xtreme music

Shakey_Jake33 · Nov 24, 2005, 05:31 PM

Interesting. I'm anticipating my Logitech Z-5500 Digital speakers at Xmas, so I'm trying to get my hardware up to scratch. I can't justify paying the price of the Fatal1ty or Elite Pro, but the XtremeMusic seems a reasonable price. If I read more reports that the Crystaliser sounds *that* much better that it's worth ditchin the Audigy2 ZS for the XtremeMusic, I may go for it.

Floruro · Nov 24, 2005, 06:09 PM

I have gone from audigy1-audigy2-audigy2zs-now x-fi fatal1ty.
Its pretty much the first time i feel the creative soundcard is REALLY justified.
The sound is way more crisp and clear (i only use the 24 bit crystalizer for games/some movies). There is a much bigger fuller soundstage.
Basically going from audigy2zs to this was a big improvement on both performance in games and general soundquality.
I also dont get the weird squeal my a2zs was getting with the latest betadrivers.

Also got z5500 on, and i can assure you you wont be disappointed. Its more like you get addicted to listening to ANYTHING as long as there something coming out of the speakers

(i was on a2zs on the z5500 first, then got x-fi. BIG difference. Bass is much more distinct now and everything sounds cleared up).

(dont know why some are having so many problems. I pretty much never have any issues)

dipstick · Nov 24, 2005, 06:38 PM

Right now there is no performance difference between the 64mb and regular X-Fi's or Audigy 2 for that matter. But you should be able to hear the difference with a nice set of speakers and you definitely will with headphones. I think its a worthy upgrade over an A2 but the expensive models are overkill for the time being

mike2h · Nov 24, 2005, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

imo... it's still creative... hopefully at some point i can expect a creative card to work out of the box with no crashes... until then, i ain't touching a single thing even if it has some preformance increases over what i've got...

never had a problem with any of creative cards i have had. & i have been using creative since original blaster days.

Judas · Nov 24, 2005, 07:02 PM

creative should be shot for trying to sell them cards at those prices..... it's total "rape"

mike2h · Nov 24, 2005, 07:10 PM

that i will agree with. of course if people are willing to pay it....

until they drop down into the low $100 range i am quite happy with our audigy2s.

Judas · Nov 24, 2005, 07:34 PM

I bought a Hercules fortissimo 3 for 45 bucks... blows the doors of the Audigy 2 ZS easily in all areas...... a Digifire for 72 bucks, and it's go some many damn options it's crazy (5 1/2 drive bay addition similare to that of the platium addition)... and then there the Game Theater XP 7.1 setup, 12 bucks more.. (84) which includes everything and more then what creative hands out for there top platium eddition. (These are all local prices, CANADIAN on top of that)..

today, if i were to purchase a platnium eddition of the audigy 2 ZS.. it would put me at over 450 bucks!

Floruro · Nov 24, 2005, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dipstick

Right now there is no performance difference between the 64mb and regular X-Fi's or Audigy 2 for that matter. But you should be able to hear the difference with a nice set of speakers and you definitely will with headphones. I think its a worthy upgrade over an A2 but the expensive models are overkill for the time being

BF2 supposedly utilizes the 64mb xram. (which means it uses uncompressed sounds).
Here are some benchies showing that the more you increase voices, the more cpu usage the audigys have over x-fi.
http://www.behardware.com/articles/5...labs-x-fi.html

The latest x-fi driver also made it even smoother.

thewall · Nov 29, 2005, 01:27 PM

I picked up a Fatal1ty card yesterday. the thing that really stands out after just using the card for about 24 hours is the cmss surround effect with headphones. It is absolutely way cool. I have a pair of crappy logitech headphones that came with BF2 and they have never been used before last night. I just wanted to see that the jacks on frontpanel worked. So I fire up BF2 and start playing with the headphones and the result is that now I don't wanna play without them. Of course sound with speakers is great too but I kind of expected that.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Nov 29, 2005, 07:46 PM

so this is one overpriced/overlooked product from creative, finally a decent sound card

svthomp · Dec 21, 2005, 08:29 PM

X-FI FataLity
I recently upgraded from an Audigy 2 to X-FI FAtALiTY and the difference is stunning.
I read many reviews and visited many different forums before I decided to make the upgrade. I mainly play COD2 and BF2. Does it make a difference in game play?
Yes it certainly does. I have a 5.1 system connected to it and I can tell a big difference between the X-FI and the Audigy 2. I hear the enemies as they try and sneak up on me now.
Everything is crisper and clearer. Music is fantastic. Games are as close to life like as I have ever experienced them.

I haven't had any difficulty with installation or use from the X-FI as of yet. I have had the card for almost two months now.

Downside is that the X-FI FAtaLiTY is a bit on the expensive side. Why did I purchase the
X-FI instead of a less expensive model? The 64 mb's of memory on the card is perfect for gaming. No hesitation.

I currently run a P4 3.4 Gz HT with 2 GiG's of Corsair CMXCMX512-3200XLPRO,
Radeon X850XT PE 256 Mb, Two Western Digital 250 Gb 16mb cache in a SATA Raid,
X-FI FaTaLiTy Sound Card, Soundblaster 5.1 speaker system.

Good luck on whatever you decide to do. See you in the killin fields.

RCOrdorica · Dec 21, 2005, 09:45 PM

the X-Fi is definately worth it. It sounds way better than my Audigy 2ZS. I no longer need any equalizer because the sound is so good coming straight out of the source. I also like the Crystalizer. I leave it on all the time @ 26%. It really does add fuller bass and better clarity, it's not just a simple equalizer or volume trick as some people would have you believe. And yes, when you use the crystalizer everything gets turned into 24bit sound, but the conversion is such high quality that you can't hear any distortion.

The biggest advantage for me is that the X-Fi natively supports 16bit 44.1K files (mp3's, most sources) without any conversion. With the Audigy 2 it was always a struggle with poor quality upconversion.

The headphone EAX is also really amazing. With newer versions of EAX you can hear exactly where the sound is coming from, like if you had 5.1 speakers. With EAX 1 the difference isn't as great, but there is no more distortion of the sound (Audigy 2 has a poor quality eax for headphone support with a lot of distortion).

It's worth it.

rico01 · Jan 23, 2006, 03:59 AM

I would say it is highly debatable if the X-Fi is worth it compared with the SB Audigy 2ZS at the prices they are offered. If you buy a fatality card just for the hype of X-RAM I'd say stay away. The X-RAM isn't commonly used in today's games to warrant the price difference between the fatality and the lower range cards.

I agree that the sound is better and I will be the first to say how much I enjoy my Elite Pro, but with common PC speaker systems (incl S750 and Logitech's offerings) there is not such a drastic change as to warrant an upgrade. I had to switch the S750 speakers with Cerwin-Vega's V-series speakers to really hear and appreciate the change.

It is a better card, the X-Fi, but to most people (who thinks onboard audio is awesome) the differences in audio quality is such that I doubt they would be able to hear the difference.

So if you have money to spend, by all means do the upgrade... but don't expect miracles (they are costly!). Also, do not get sold by the hype of the crystalizer. Yes, it is nice to have but the same results would be possible with a good EQ as well.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Jan 25, 2006, 03:33 AM

i was going to buy it for the x-ram, but after what rico has said maybe ill stay away from the fatal1ty till i really need the drive. i think the crystalizer really will help if it works at ALL times

ViP3RH3LL · Jan 25, 2006, 08:32 AM

I read some reviews of the card and it seems impressive, but the price is to high, 130 dollar for the xtreme music *WOW*. My eyes almost popped out of my head, I could get a decent video card for that. The audigy 2 ZS does a good job with sound, I'm happy with it. I think ill stay with it awhile, and look at other brands for my future sound cards. I could see 95 dollars for the creative xtrememusic sound card but 130$ no thanks. It's not like im trying to hear a cricket fart 30 feet away. I had a phillips sound card before my creative card, and there control panel sucks and you have to pay for upgrades. So I got a creative card a couple days later.

BiGBrOwNPimpsta · Jan 25, 2006, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ViP3RH3LL

I read some reviews of the card and it seems impressive, but the price is to high, 130 dollar for the xtreme music *WOW*. My eyes almost popped out of my head, I could get a decent video card for that. The audigy 2 ZS does a good job with sound, I'm happy with it. I think ill stay with it awhile, and look at other brands for my future sound cards. I could see 95 dollars for the creative xtrememusic sound card but 130$ no thanks. It's not like im trying to hear a cricket fart 30 feet away. I had a phillips sound card before my creative card, and there control panel sucks and you have to pay for upgrades. So I got a creative card a couple days later.

pretty funny if you can find a decent graphics card brand new for 130 to be honest.... x300/x600's are not decent IMO if you plan to use them for another 2 yrs. my 9700 pro was faster than that

rico01 · Jan 25, 2006, 06:45 PM

Let me be more specific concerning the X-Ram. Today, the only title I know using this feature is Battlefield 2. And the reports I've seen are divided as to the performance benefits from it. The test made by Creative before the X-Fi launch was a bit skrewed iirc as well. The CPU usage has also been reported as increasing with the X-Fi cards in some reviews.

Unless there are other titles (very) soon using the X-Ram I wouldn't buy the new soundcard for that feature. Buy it for the sound instead.

Raptor · Jan 25, 2006, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Judas

imo... it's still creative... hopefully at some point i can expect a creative card to work out of the box with no crashes... until then, i ain't touching a single thing even if it has some preformance increases over what i've got...

I've had 4 Creative sound cards and *never* had a single problem with them. The latest addition is a XFI extrememusic and it *is* an improvement over the ZS2 in every way. A real solid audio product. Expensive as hell though but worth every penny IMO

Nov 24, 2005, 12:17 AM	#1
BiGBrOwNPimpsta HH's #1 Hustla and Pimp Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: The Dirty Dot Posts: 7,717 Rep Power: 107 System Specs	Creative X-Fi thoughts? this card hasn't been that popular compared to the Live! series. its huge upgrade from what I read. I saw some reviews also. So tell me, how is the card really? With analog 5.1 systems like mine listed below, and how is the x-fi fatal1ty. I'm really interested in the X-Ram since it gives you perfromance benefits __________________ Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music \| Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers \| 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners \| Logitech G700 Mouse \| Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

Nov 24, 2005, 01:38 AM	Thread Starter #7
BiGBrOwNPimpsta HH's #1 Hustla and Pimp Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: The Dirty Dot Posts: 7,717 Rep Power: 107 System Specs	my audigy 2 has made me smile __________________ Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music \| Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers \| 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners \| Logitech G700 Mouse \| Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

Nov 24, 2005, 07:11 AM	#8
Shakey_Jake33 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Bristol, UK Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	Is the 24bit Crystalizer as good as the hype claims it to be? Is sounds like reason enough for me to ditch my Audigy2 ZS, but it all depends on how much better it sounds in real time. __________________ CPU: Intel Core2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz RAM: 2GB (2X1) GEiL DDR2 800MHz CAS4 GPU: OCUK GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512Meg Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe Sound Card: Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Case: Antec P180 Black PSU: Seasonic S12 600W

Nov 24, 2005, 08:01 AM	Thread Starter #9
BiGBrOwNPimpsta HH's #1 Hustla and Pimp Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: The Dirty Dot Posts: 7,717 Rep Power: 107 System Specs	my main concern is will i get 24bit sound by playing my MP3's in WMP or winamp and stuff? I mean if stuff is being upstreamed to that all the time its definitely worth it. I saw some new utilities also in the driver pack. __________________ Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music \| Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers \| 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners \| Logitech G700 Mouse \| Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

Nov 24, 2005, 04:39 PM	#11
3DWizard DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Bayreuth, Germany Posts: 21 Rep Power: 0	24 bit crystalizer Well, i had doubts myself. I bought a xtrememusic then and thought that I probably might give it back to the reseller. But the 24 bit crystalizer is really great. The sound is much more richer. Once a test said it would sound to you as if you would have been behind a wall before, when listening to your 16bit music. And I would say it's true. I have a 5.1 system, too, and the crystalizer is definitely the feature that made me stay with the new x-fi. Hope this helps.

Nov 24, 2005, 12:48 AM	#6
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	I love my Extreme Music, I think Creative did a top job this go around. The software is smooth, of course there is a bit of bloat but top notch. Very impressed going from an A2 ZS, the only card that made me smile this much was my Revolution.

Nov 24, 2005, 05:27 PM	Thread Starter #12
BiGBrOwNPimpsta HH's #1 Hustla and Pimp Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: The Dirty Dot Posts: 7,717 Rep Power: 107 System Specs	interesting hmmm... and is the fatal1ty really worth it? on a review i read upto 20% performance gains, or are they just plain gains that a catalyst driver update would do? and what other features does it have over the xtreme music __________________ Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music \| Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers \| 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners \| Logitech G700 Mouse \| Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

Nov 24, 2005, 05:31 PM	#13
Shakey_Jake33 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Bristol, UK Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	Interesting. I'm anticipating my Logitech Z-5500 Digital speakers at Xmas, so I'm trying to get my hardware up to scratch. I can't justify paying the price of the Fatal1ty or Elite Pro, but the XtremeMusic seems a reasonable price. If I read more reports that the Crystaliser sounds that much better that it's worth ditchin the Audigy2 ZS for the XtremeMusic, I may go for it. __________________ CPU: Intel Core2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz RAM: 2GB (2X1) GEiL DDR2 800MHz CAS4 GPU: OCUK GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512Meg Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe Sound Card: Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic Speakers: Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Case: Antec P180 Black PSU: Seasonic S12 600W

Nov 24, 2005, 06:09 PM	#14
Floruro DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Gangstas Paradise, South Africa Posts: 87 Rep Power: 0	I have gone from audigy1-audigy2-audigy2zs-now x-fi fatal1ty. Its pretty much the first time i feel the creative soundcard is REALLY justified. The sound is way more crisp and clear (i only use the 24 bit crystalizer for games/some movies). There is a much bigger fuller soundstage. Basically going from audigy2zs to this was a big improvement on both performance in games and general soundquality. I also dont get the weird squeal my a2zs was getting with the latest betadrivers. Also got z5500 on, and i can assure you you wont be disappointed. Its more like you get addicted to listening to ANYTHING as long as there something coming out of the speakers (i was on a2zs on the z5500 first, then got x-fi. BIG difference. Bass is much more distinct now and everything sounds cleared up). (dont know why some are having so many problems. I pretty much never have any issues) __________________ AMD64 3500+\| Abit AV8 3rd Eye \| 2x 1024 OCZ Gold pc4000@500mhz \| HIS x800 XT PE IceQII \| X-Fi Fatal1ty \| Logitech z5500 \| Antec Trueblue v2.0 480

Nov 24, 2005, 06:38 PM	#15
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	Right now there is no performance difference between the 64mb and regular X-Fi's or Audigy 2 for that matter. But you should be able to hear the difference with a nice set of speakers and you definitely will with headphones. I think its a worthy upgrade over an A2 but the expensive models are overkill for the time being

Nov 24, 2005, 07:10 PM	#18
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 91 System Specs	that i will agree with. of course if people are willing to pay it.... until they drop down into the low $100 range i am quite happy with our audigy2s. __________________

Nov 29, 2005, 01:27 PM	#21
thewall DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 100 Rep Power: 0	I picked up a Fatal1ty card yesterday. the thing that really stands out after just using the card for about 24 hours is the cmss surround effect with headphones. It is absolutely way cool. I have a pair of crappy logitech headphones that came with BF2 and they have never been used before last night. I just wanted to see that the jacks on frontpanel worked. So I fire up BF2 and start playing with the headphones and the result is that now I don't wanna play without them. Of course sound with speakers is great too but I kind of expected that.

Nov 29, 2005, 07:46 PM	Thread Starter #22
BiGBrOwNPimpsta HH's #1 Hustla and Pimp Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: The Dirty Dot Posts: 7,717 Rep Power: 107 System Specs	so this is one overpriced/overlooked product from creative, finally a decent sound card __________________ Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music \| Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers \| 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners \| Logitech G700 Mouse \| Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

Dec 21, 2005, 08:29 PM	#23
svthomp DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	X-FI FataLity X-FI FataLity I recently upgraded from an Audigy 2 to X-FI FAtALiTY and the difference is stunning. I read many reviews and visited many different forums before I decided to make the upgrade. I mainly play COD2 and BF2. Does it make a difference in game play? Yes it certainly does. I have a 5.1 system connected to it and I can tell a big difference between the X-FI and the Audigy 2. I hear the enemies as they try and sneak up on me now. Everything is crisper and clearer. Music is fantastic. Games are as close to life like as I have ever experienced them. I haven't had any difficulty with installation or use from the X-FI as of yet. I have had the card for almost two months now. Downside is that the X-FI FAtaLiTY is a bit on the expensive side. Why did I purchase the X-FI instead of a less expensive model? The 64 mb's of memory on the card is perfect for gaming. No hesitation. I currently run a P4 3.4 Gz HT with 2 GiG's of Corsair CMXCMX512-3200XLPRO, Radeon X850XT PE 256 Mb, Two Western Digital 250 Gb 16mb cache in a SATA Raid, X-FI FaTaLiTy Sound Card, Soundblaster 5.1 speaker system. Good luck on whatever you decide to do. See you in the killin fields.

Dec 21, 2005, 09:45 PM	#24
RCOrdorica Windows Hacker Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: UCSD Posts: 56 Rep Power: 0	the X-Fi is definately worth it. It sounds way better than my Audigy 2ZS. I no longer need any equalizer because the sound is so good coming straight out of the source. I also like the Crystalizer. I leave it on all the time @ 26%. It really does add fuller bass and better clarity, it's not just a simple equalizer or volume trick as some people would have you believe. And yes, when you use the crystalizer everything gets turned into 24bit sound, but the conversion is such high quality that you can't hear any distortion. The biggest advantage for me is that the X-Fi natively supports 16bit 44.1K files (mp3's, most sources) without any conversion. With the Audigy 2 it was always a struggle with poor quality upconversion. The headphone EAX is also really amazing. With newer versions of EAX you can hear exactly where the sound is coming from, like if you had 5.1 speakers. With EAX 1 the difference isn't as great, but there is no more distortion of the sound (Audigy 2 has a poor quality eax for headphone support with a lot of distortion). It's worth it. __________________ [color=white]http://ordorica.org[/color]

Jan 23, 2006, 03:59 AM	#25
rico01 Audio Junkie Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 126 Rep Power: 0	I would say it is highly debatable if the X-Fi is worth it compared with the SB Audigy 2ZS at the prices they are offered. If you buy a fatality card just for the hype of X-RAM I'd say stay away. The X-RAM isn't commonly used in today's games to warrant the price difference between the fatality and the lower range cards. I agree that the sound is better and I will be the first to say how much I enjoy my Elite Pro, but with common PC speaker systems (incl S750 and Logitech's offerings) there is not such a drastic change as to warrant an upgrade. I had to switch the S750 speakers with Cerwin-Vega's V-series speakers to really hear and appreciate the change. It is a better card, the X-Fi, but to most people (who thinks onboard audio is awesome) the differences in audio quality is such that I doubt they would be able to hear the difference. So if you have money to spend, by all means do the upgrade... but don't expect miracles (they are costly!). Also, do not get sold by the hype of the crystalizer. Yes, it is nice to have but the same results would be possible with a good EQ as well. __________________ My middle-name is Audiophile.

Jan 25, 2006, 03:33 AM	Thread Starter #26
BiGBrOwNPimpsta HH's #1 Hustla and Pimp Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: The Dirty Dot Posts: 7,717 Rep Power: 107 System Specs	i was going to buy it for the x-ram, but after what rico has said maybe ill stay away from the fatal1ty till i really need the drive. i think the crystalizer really will help if it works at ALL times __________________ Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music \| Logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 Surround Sound Speakers \| 2 Lite-On 20x S-ATA Burners \| Logitech G700 Mouse \| Logitech MX5500 Bluetooth Keyboard

Jan 25, 2006, 08:32 AM	#27
ViP3RH3LL DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: BF2142 Posts: 265 Rep Power: 0	I read some reviews of the card and it seems impressive, but the price is to high, 130 dollar for the xtreme music WOW. My eyes almost popped out of my head, I could get a decent video card for that. The audigy 2 ZS does a good job with sound, I'm happy with it. I think ill stay with it awhile, and look at other brands for my future sound cards. I could see 95 dollars for the creative xtrememusic sound card but 130$ no thanks. It's not like im trying to hear a cricket fart 30 feet away. I had a phillips sound card before my creative card, and there control panel sucks and you have to pay for upgrades. So I got a creative card a couple days later. Last edited by ViP3RH3LL; Jan 25, 2006 at 08:43 AM.

Jan 25, 2006, 06:45 PM	#29
rico01 Audio Junkie Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 126 Rep Power: 0	Let me be more specific concerning the X-Ram. Today, the only title I know using this feature is Battlefield 2. And the reports I've seen are divided as to the performance benefits from it. The test made by Creative before the X-Fi launch was a bit skrewed iirc as well. The CPU usage has also been reported as increasing with the X-Fi cards in some reviews. Unless there are other titles (very) soon using the X-Ram I wouldn't buy the new soundcard for that feature. Buy it for the sound instead. __________________ My middle-name is Audiophile.