X-Fi XtremeMusic & windows 7

Secret_Window

Secret_Window

Secret_Window

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Joined
10 Aug 2006
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Hi guys,

I'm using Windows 7 Pro 64bit and I've downloaded the latest drivers from the creative site for my sound card but the sound sucks big time.

Previously I was using Windows XP and the sound was fine there but in Windows 7 it seems like the sound isn't as dynamic and kinda even sounds slightly compressed. This problem is in pretty much everything from music to movies and games.

Is this a known issue with this card in Windows 7 or is there a fix I can do?

I'm already aware in Vista this card sucks for some people.

thanks
 
For older DirectSound3d games you want to make sure you're using Alchemy. You need to run the program and add individual games. It's required to get hardware sound support working properly.

Not sure about the more general sound issues though.
 
One other thing to check. Do you have SVM turned on? That would reduce apparrent dynamic range.
 
If you've set it to use your speaker config as headphones turn off CMSS 3D as i noticed that makes it sound a lot different.

if your using 2.1 ive no clue as my sound seems fine.
 
C64 said:
is crystalizer on ? sound seemed fine to me when i tried win 7 + xtreme music
Click to expand...

Off currently, but only turned on for MP3's (not that I listen to many MP3's).

Rambo89 said:
If you've set it to use your speaker config as headphones turn off CMSS 3D as i noticed that makes it sound a lot different.

if your using 2.1 ive no clue as my sound seems fine.
Click to expand...

I'm using the same settings as I used in Win XP, and I always have CMSS 3D turned off (don't like artificial 3D surround).

Toastor said:
X-fi drivers have been poor since Windows Vista as the was the OS deals with audio was totally changed. Creative don't seem to have been able to get things working right ever since. It might be worth trying Daniel K's driver pack. Most people find it an improvement: http://forums.creative.com/t5/Sound-Blaster/SB-X-Fi-Series-Support-Pack-2-0-05-15-2009/td-p/527485
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give them a try.

The difference to me with the current Win 7 drivers from creative's site and the Win XP drivers (in terms of sound) is night and day different. Maybe I have a borked card, who knows. But the question is, if I can't resolve this problem, would getting a Xonar card be worth it? Or are they really no different?
 
From somebody that's just gone from a X-FI music on Windows 7 x64 to a Xonar DX7.1 on the same O/S the difference really is night and day - the X-Fi lost a lot of the sound detail and just sounded muddy whereas the Xonar it clear and I'm picking up stuff on music CDs that before I only used to pick up on my HiFi system ( £4K) and never on the X-Fi even on XP

So to answer if the xonar's worth - from my point of View - very much so
 
Wow, so a basic Xonar DX is much better than a X-Fi XtremeMusic? When I was reading the reviews a while back, a few of them said it didn't offer that much more or that difference was small. But I guess, we're talking Windows 7 performance here.. I know that the Xonar D2 series is really good but the Xonax D1/Dx, wow. :eek:
 
Yep I only really bought the card as I knew I wouldn't have available PCI slots on my Mb (x58-UD5) if i decided to go crossfire. If I'd known how much of a difference it made I probably would have gone for the D2X as they have had good reviews.

Mind you though atm I believe the D2X win 7 drivers have yet to be released (my using latest dx win 7 drivers
 
I have the same problem - X-FI music. Was fine on Windows 7 x86 release candidate but have now moved to x64 RTM.

Sound is awful and dull. I get occasional pops too.

I have all the worthless rubbish like crystaliser turned off - basically running on audio creation mode with bitmatched playback on, 3d virtualisation stuff off.
 
I'd like to add I had the same problem on Vista Ultimate Edition as well, I just used my onboard sound while I was using that OS.. But with Windows 7 being the next best thing, I assumed Creative might have got their act together and made a decent driver for that particular OS. Turns out I was wrong.. Gonna be purchasing myself a Xonar in the next few weeks as I can't stand how muddy/compressed the sound is. How Creative deem this acceptable I really don't know. Or perhaps it's just our cards in particular that are a bad batch? :p
 
I'm also getting Windows 7, and was thinking of getting the X-fi, but thanks to this post ill go for the Xonar, presumably the DS will work as well as the D1 just slighlty cheaper ?

Thanks
 
Theres a huge difference in quality of sound from XP to Win7. If you ever read the creative forums which I do regularly you will notice that this was a deliberate attempt by creative to force people to upgrade hardware to new 'win7 compatible' ones. They used all sorts of excuses including things like technical impossibilities.

Then Came Daniel K who made his own driver pack which enabled everything that was in XP (including some extras which were not like DDLIVE! which has been removed for licensing purposes now). And now you can use all features that came originally with the card!
 
It seems that the issue for the X-Fi with Windows 7 is evident with machines that have more than 4Gb of addressable memory. Can't find the link about it right now, but I installed Win 7 yesterday with 2Gb ram, and it worked fine. Added two new 2Gb sticks today to take it to 6gb, and all I get is pops and crackles. It would be interesting to know if those who have the X-fi working in Win 7 have less than 4Gb memory installed?
 
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