Having real problems picking a Sound Card

mrk said:
The gamer has the exact same 3 modes too... I don't quite understand what you mean by stating this because both suit both gaming and audio listening + creation audiences the same.
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Go and Google and learn then, the 3 modes again are cause the software is same, the Gamer card is not aimed at Music lovers, it is a stupid move by Creative throwing out all these extra cards that were not needed apart from to get some failing sales back up.

There is normally (note normally) only 3 Cards per series and has been that way since Live 5.1's

You think Creative build 2 cards the same functions and output quality and give different names (just look at the PCB's above).

I believe (and will try find it again) a Geek Audiophile site moded the card with better Caps and DAC's then covered in special Mineral Paper (something to do with EMI) to get sound quality up to better spec.
 
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[TW]Fox;10700179 said:
Whare are the '4gb of ram issues'?

What 4GB related problems will installing an XFi cause me?
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I dont know how you aint heard of this infamous issue and Google would have gotten you info.

The issue with X-FI cards esp the ones with 2MB of Memory (all them apart from 64MB X-RAM models) gave issues in Vista with 4GB of Memory, the cards made funny noises and could lock up PC.

I never got the issue anyhow and now its fixed for all with new drivers.
 
yantorsen said:
if the soundcard has 2mb memory then it will reduce the system memory visable to xp32 by 2mb, hardly something to worry about.
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If thats the only problem then I don't care, thats not a big deal.

I could ask Google but like this forum, every link contradicts the one I've read before...
 
[TW]Fox;10700275 said:
If thats the only problem then I don't care, thats not a big deal.

I could ask Google but like this forum, every link contradicts the one I've read before...
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well what I said will happen, it's just the way it works, its not really as problem.

But there maybe other problems that shouldnt happen that do with the soundcard so i do not know. What I said would apply to any pci device.
 
Because people get up in arms over the most trivial of things, you alone should know this *points at the DSC thread*

helmutcheese said:
Go and Google and learn then, the 3 modes again are cause the software is same, the Gamer card is not aimed at Music lovers, it is a stupid move by Creative throwing out all these extra cards that were not needed apart from to get some failing sales back up.

There is normally (note normally) only 3 Cards per series and has been that way since Live 5.1's

You think Creative build 2 cards the same functions and output quality and give different names (just look at the PCB's above).

I believe (and will try find it again) a Geek Audiophile site moded the card with better Caps and DAC's then covered in special Mineral Paper (something to do with EMI) to get sound quality up to better spec.
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I am a music listener and have the gamer with 4GB RAM and on Vista and it's a superior card in terms of performance in games and the output audio quality of movies and music. I don't need to Google anything because I went out of my own way to buy the card and test it for myself against a well established music sound card and found the Gamer to be much better and it's not like I'm using standard PC speakers either, I'm using equipment and cables where the difference can be heard.

I also had the Auzentech HDA X-Plosion and upgraded the OpAMPs on it to the Burr Brown set as recommended not only by Auzentech but by many folks over at HeadFi.

I found music to be more deeper in tone, more warm but the higher frequencies were not as alive as they were on the XFi Gamer. Where the Gamer had more neutral bass and richer treble the Auzentech was the opposite so I'm just sticking with the XFi until something that is a newer revolution comes along.
 
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[TW]Fox;10703592 said:
So if all that happens is you lose 2mb of memory, why are people so up in arms over it all?
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dunno, maybe if you had a 1gb gpu, and a load of other pci devices and stuff (but then you obviously wouldn't buy 4gb system memory) it might be more critical, still seems trivial to me though.
 
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It's not better no (and nowhere did anyone say it was), but it's not worse either.
 
helmutcheese said:
Thats weird, on XP-32 i had 3.25GB showing with 4GB and 768MB Video Memory and 64MB X RAM on Soundcard.
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I had 3.25Gb showing with a 320mb video card only. I upgraded to a 512Mb video card and still have 3.25gb.

As for the Xfi - ordered. But I've been told I must wait until I see her after Christmas to get it :o
 
get the prelude, they fixed the 4gb issue in a flash, just the DD stuff has been a while coming and its a bit pricey.
 
M-Audio cards are really good and well made, the creative card's are fine too, you'd have to have great speakers to show the flaws in the creative card's. Pick either, try listening to the card's first if you can. That way you can pick the one that you like he sound of. Don't know if the EAX5 makes too much diffrence.
 
EAXHD makes a vast difference in games like BF2142, games where the sounds make a big impact in atmosphere. I tested the Santa Cruz, Onboard P35 HD sound and the XFI gamer and the Gamer trumped them all in gaming. Performance difference was negligible but the sound quality was vast.
 
mrk said:
I am a music listener and have the gamer with 4GB RAM and on Vista and it's a superior card in terms of performance in games and the output audio quality of movies and music. I don't need to Google anything because I went out of my own way to buy the card and test it for myself against a well established music sound card and found the Gamer to be much better and it's not like I'm using standard PC speakers either, I'm using equipment and cables where the difference can be heard.
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what on earth? the gamer is no audiophile sound card, thats for sure. ive had a handful of cards myself - an x-mistique, x-fi gamer, xonar d2...the gamer is the least capable of the three by a noticeable margin. that really an absurd claim, mrk. the analogue outputs of the gamer are poor.


i had zero issues with 4gb on vista 32bit and a x-fi gamer:)
 
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It's not an absurd claim at all, and indeed, you're right the gamer isn't an audiophile card and nobody claimed it was.

I said the difference between them is small whilst I did admit the Auzentech with burr brown opamps was better for music (more warm) but nothing beats the xfi in games which is the whole point in this thread as the OP will be playing games too not /just/ music, this is also the reason for my replies as I too am a similar minded PC user who plays games and wanted the best of both worlds without having to break into a bank to buy the Xfi-Prelude.

My equipment includes (in connected order):

> xfi gamer (cmss3d/crystaliser etc disabled, full range speakers enabled)
>> qed qunex interconnect
>>> nad c320bee
<> sennheiser hd555 cans
>>>> nva ls2 speaker cables
>>>>> tannoy m3 speakers

Not the top end no but certainly not anywhere near the low end scale either.
 
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well, wether being warmer or not is a personal thing really. i would prefer the source to be totally neutral but thats something which the x-fi's, particularly the gamer, arent very good at. the way i see it, if it isnt faithful to the original recording then it isnt up to the job of preproduction which clearly, the gamer isnt as good at as other higher end cards. i found my d2 to be very neutral - the outputs are very good. using the same dac's as my onkyo 805, it should be. the gamers are great little gaming cards, thats why i still have mine. but for music yeah, you can do a fair bit better:)
 
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