Is Creative being swept under the carpet?

DrPeirson · 10 Dec 2012 at 13:34

Hey,
Just wanted your opinions on the subject as I can see that Creative haven't been really innovating since their X-fi range and with Asus breathing down their neck I think they are in a tricky spot. Also, from a peek at Wikipedia etc they appear to be losing a lot of cash.

MumboJumbo · 10 Dec 2012 at 13:57

I'm still running a rather old creative card now but I would never recommend them to anyone any more. The only reason they held out for so long was because there wasn't much competition, in my opinion.

PiKe · 10 Dec 2012 at 13:59

Haven't used a creative sound card since their Soundblaster Live, they always had ropey drivers.

Bacon? · 10 Dec 2012 at 14:01

I use a lot of their software and prefer it to a lot of the competition but their drivers are always...

richthomuk · 10 Dec 2012 at 14:05

Don't think so, they sill make a fair bit of Tech, "Zen" is Creative right?

Woden · 10 Dec 2012 at 14:08

I honestly thought Creative had already gone. I am not much of an audiophile though to be fair, the sound chip on my motherboard is easily good enough for me.

ps3ud0 · 10 Dec 2012 at 14:49

Gawd you could consider Creative been sitting on their laurels since they invented the SoundBlaster brand, that and massively bloated driver/software...

ps3ud0 :cool:

DrPeirson · 10 Dec 2012 at 15:35

I own a pretty damn nice X-fi soundcard but by the looks of it the ASUS ones are taking over. It seems like creative only have Zen and X-fi to their name and both are disappearing due to competitors with solid hardware AND SOFTWARE. Also, the mobile market is absolutely destroying dedicated mp3/mp4 players.

They should have made a push to get their name on mobile phones.. Just like Dr ****ing Dre and his ****ing terrible ****ing beats ****ing audio.

I'm sorry for swearing.. I think..

ShakeNBake · 10 Dec 2012 at 15:46

I have an X-Fi Titanium, sound quality is miles better than on-board.

It was kinda expensive I guess.

I've never tried an Asus sound card.

Creative bought out the Re-Con 3D cards not too long ago, and the brand new Sound Blaster Z cards seem to be a refinement on the Recon-3D cards. Doesn't look they are dead quite yet.

Drivers for my card were pretty trash for Windows 7 64-bit

Took a lot of workarounds and non-official patches to get them working with my old 5.1 setup. Using good quality 2.0 speakers now though, and haven't had any issues with Windows 7 drivers for the last year or so...

DrPeirson · 10 Dec 2012 at 15:57

ShakeNBake said:
I have an X-Fi Titanium, sound quality is miles better than on-board.

It was kinda expensive I guess.

I've never tried an Asus sound card.

Creative bought out the Re-Con 3D cards not too long ago, and the brand new Sound Blaster Z cards seem to be a refinement on the Recon-3D cards. Doesn't look they are dead quite yet.

Drivers for my card were pretty trash for Windows 7 64-bit Took a lot of workarounds and non-official patches to get them working with my old 5.1 setup. Using good quality 2.0 speakers now though, and haven't had any issues with Windows 7 drivers for the last year or so...

What speakers were you using and why did you move onto a 2.0 set? If you don't mind me asking =)

ShakeNBake · 10 Dec 2012 at 16:59

DrPeirson said:
What speakers were you using and why did you move onto a 2.0 set? If you don't mind me asking =)

I own a set of Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-116-CL&groupid=702&catid=22&subcat=719

I also have a Logitech 5.1 system, Z506 I think. Sitting in the loft atm

I switched from 5.1 to 2.0 because the bass was too loud/piercing. My PC is not placed on the ground floor, and cos it's a downfiring sub-woofer it was really annoying for anyone downstairs, or for the neighbours... If you turn the bass down or off on a 5.1 system, the sound quality coming out of the satellites is whack unless you have a really expensive system.

For desktop gaming for me, a decent 2.0 setup is best. Mid-range is excellent. Bass is good too, without going straight through the floor/walls, and can easily be turned up/down as needed without having to get under the desk. Sound quality is amazing for gaming and films, everything is crystal clear. I like listening to electro/dance music, and it's great for that. Not as good as the 5.1 for dubstep, but still not bad either.

Got a headset for after midnight hours too

Saving the 5.1 system for when I move out and can set it up on the ground floor

DrPeirson · 10 Dec 2012 at 17:41

ShakeNBake said:
I own a set of Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-116-CL&groupid=702&catid=22&subcat=719

I also have a Logitech 5.1 system, Z506 I think. Sitting in the loft atm

I switched from 5.1 to 2.0 because the bass was too loud/piercing. My PC is not placed on the ground floor, and cos it's a downfiring sub-woofer it was really annoying for anyone downstairs, or for the neighbours... If you turn the bass down or off on a 5.1 system, the sound quality coming out of the satellites is whack unless you have a really expensive system.

For desktop gaming for me, a decent 2.0 setup is best. Mid-range is excellent. Bass is good too, without going straight through the floor/walls, and can easily be turned up/down as needed without having to get under the desk. Sound quality is amazing for gaming and films, everything is crystal clear. I like listening to electro/dance music, and it's great for that. Not as good as the 5.1 for dubstep, but still not bad either.

Got a headset for after midnight hours too

Saving the 5.1 system for when I move out and can set it up on the ground floor

Pretty much in the same boat... Although I don't care much for my poor neighbours. I own z-5500`s but have a decent headset for most of my gaming. I would go for a smaller set but those z5500`s rock my world :-)