Looking to upgrade from X-Fi?

Kaiju · 15 Mar 2009 at 14:24

I have an X-Fi card (Xtremesound) but I mangled the gold plating trying to fit it into a cheap case and now want to invest some cash in another sound card which I can bolt down.

What would you guys advise I should get, or perhaps just get another X-Fi? I'm looking at £100 max.

Greenlizard0 · 15 Mar 2009 at 14:53

What speakers/headphones do you have? That will play a large role in deciding what sound card you buy.

Check the Asus range out. There's a few in your budget.

Uriel · 15 Mar 2009 at 16:14

How fussy are you about EAX? The X-Fi series is compatible with higher EAX levels in more games than the Asus Xonar cards.

By Xtreme Sound, I assume you mean Xtreme Audio? That should really be considered an Audigy rather than an X-Fi, as it doesn't use the full X-Fi chip. If so most of the 'full' X-Fi series will be quite an upgrade, especially if using headphones.

I'm a big fan of the Asus Xonar cards and decided to keep mine after trialling an X-Fi Prelude. Both the X-Fi and Xonar series do a decent job of simulating surround sound over headphones but I prefered the Xonar implementation.

Do you use XP or vista? If using speakers, will you be using a digital or analogue connection?

Kaiju · 16 Mar 2009 at 14:27

I'm running through some cheap speakers at the moment, but will be looking into an amplifier and speakers (2.0, analogue) once I get setup with a soundcard. I don't really intend on using headphones and i'm using XP.

Uriel · 17 Mar 2009 at 13:18

I vote for the cheapest 'full' X-Fi you can get your hands on. So not anything USB and no Xtreme Audio.

Xtreme Gamer, Xtreme Music or Titanium (all Creative) should do the job. The first two are PCI. The latter is PCI-e.

Only consider spending more on a soundcard if you think you'll be having a significant speaker upgrade in future. Higher end X-Fis and the Xonar series have better soundquality, but you'll need a very good amp and speakers to really hear it.

Kaiju · 17 Mar 2009 at 14:50

Oh oh, I have Xtreme Music actually, my bad!

I really shouldn't of mangled the plating. Still, nothing learned, nothing gained.