Creative X-Fi Crystallizer equivalent in newer cards?

[Vexr]

I use a SoundBlaster X-Fi GO USB dongle for my audio, which is now getting extremely old and is having occasional problems. The X-Fi crystallizer is the only feature I'm actually interested in, especially as I only have a stereo speaker setup.

Am I right in assuming the 24 bit crystallizer is still present in all Creative's newer cards? Do their rivals have an equivalent feature? Can onboard sound / low budget cards even have something like it?

I once read that the USB X-Fi dongles actually don't really have any hardware, it's essentially just running software and using your CPU to increase audio fidelity - can anyone confirm this? Is there even a way just to have a crystallizer as an app or something and use onboard audio?

 

[Vexr]

Ah ha, this seems like it:

https://www.soundblaster.com/technology/sbx-pro-studio?crystalizer

Maybe what I read all that time back was about CPU load being increased using USB X-Fi over the PCI cards, can't quite remember and don't know much about audio other than the fact I've become dependent on the X-Fi's crystallizer.

SBX pro studio sounds like a very promising lead to start with, cheers for the heads up.

 

[Vexr]

Here's a link for the software that you can download. https://uk.creative.com/p/accessories/sound-blasteraxx-control-panel

You might have seen something about load being taken off the CPU, which was one of the bonuses of a sound card many years ago. That was the days of single core though, when it was a much more noticeable impact than it is today. The extra processing a modern CPU does when using onboard audio is negligible.

That makes sense. Clicking through that link though, it seems the most relevant download is a Creative Media Toolbox 6 trial. It doesn't list SBX pro studio...

When I had that feature it made it sound worse. I'd buy better speaker.

Definitely sounds better to me. My setup is a basic old hi-fi stereo one with 2x Mission 700 speakers and a Kenwood A-62 amp (50 w per channel I think). It certainly couldn't compete with the Logitech THX 5.1 system I once had for my living room TV, but I've been happy with this setup for music and gaming on my PC.

Unfortunately my X-Fi sometimes cuts out and then all audio immediately goes through my PC's monitor, which burns my ears by comparison. The X-Fi also seems to react badly to certain video file types, going in to slow motion + ~0.1 fps, which is then immediately fixed on unplugging the X-Fi and plugging it back in again (for a while). Updating codecs hasn't helped.

Googling SBX Pro studio, it leads to listings like the Audigy FX or just 'Creative Blaster Sound Card' that includes the software. Only about £25-£30 some of them. Should I just go with one of those? Windows 10 compatibility is a must, I think that's where my X-Fi Go USB is lacking as drivers haven't been updated by Creative since way before Windows 10 came out.

 

[Vexr]

Sounds promising, but I generally find headphones uncomfortable after a while. There's also the fact I've found the sound quality to be poorer when using them in the past, but then the only 'real' headphones I've owned are as retro nineties as my amp and speakers, so I can imagine they've come a long way. Would be nice to have a decent idea of where enemies are whacking me from by sound alone, but I think that's a ways off until I'm using my PC in a room suitable for a 5.1+ setup.

I don't mind losing a PCI slot. My SLI days are probably over and I can't see myself ever using PhysX, so I should have a couple of slots free no matter what.

Good to know there's a card that fits the bill for replacing my X-Fi without being expensive. Thanks for the advice.