CD and MP3 playback
Naturally, the first thing I wanted to do with the X-Plosion was to enjoy some music, making use of the DTS Connect capability of the card to fill my room with musical goodness. Although the vast majority of music is not naturally designed for multi-channel playback, the added depth of being 'surrounded' by music really adds to the listening experience more often and not, and the X-Plosion does a good enough job of separating sounds and channels for you to easily believe in many cases that you were listening to audio that had been created for a multi-channel setup from the off. From the subtle, multi-layered and distorted soundscapes of Boards of Canada's The Campfire Headphase through to the orchestral power of The End of Evangelion move soundtrack, everything I put through the X-Plosion was a joy to listen to - Rich and precise down to the last note.
My only real gripes with listening to music in this mode were that firstly, the centre speaker isn't utilised at all, leaving you with 4.1 audio rather than 5.1 as you might hope. Secondly, things did get a little tinny at times at the high-end, although a little tweaking with the equaliser away from its default settings soon put paid to that. Somehow though, the lack of that centre speaker soon drifts out of your mind once you become immersed in your favourite tracks in and bombarded with sonic beauty from all sides.
DVD playback
There is always a joy to be had from enjoying multi-channel surround sound while watching DVD movies, and the X-Plosion doesn't disappoint in this field. Be it Dolby Digital or DTS, the X-Plosion offers good, crystal clear audio, with good separation of channels and a decent sonic range, leaving little to criticise at all. So, simply put, I won't. Particular highlights of my testing include The Matrix's lobby sequence, and the opening minutes of Star Wars: Episode III, both of which do a fine job of showing off the X-Plosion's prowess.
Gaming
I finished my subjective test with a look at how the X-Plosion does in your average gaming session, courtesy of a couple of games that make good use of positional audio as part of the gameplay experience - Doom 3 and F.E.A.R. Doom 3 in particular sounds fabulous in full-on 5.1 surround sound, giving you a great idea of when something is sneaking up behind you or on tis way around the corner, adding to the experience even without the EAX 4.0 support now inherent in the title. In a similar vein, F.E.A.R. is another scary battle of wits, which often relies on sound alone for you to figure whats around the next corner, as well as adding atmosphere to the whole experience. Thus, again having 5.1 audio is of great benefit here, adding that touch more tension to the gaming experience. In my entirely personal opinion, all in all the loss of advanced EAX effects is easily offset by the added multi-channel audio capabilities of the X-Plosion.
Conclusions
When we looked at HDA's first entrance into the discrete sound card market, the X-Mystique, we saw an excellent piece of hardware that introduced a much sought-after feature with it's Dolby Digital Live encoding abilities. Quite simply, the X-Plosion has topped that achievement, and by quite some margin. The addition of DTS Connect may not be a show-stopper for everyone, but it is bound to attract a fair amount of excitement and interest, and rightly so. From our testing however, the biggest news should perhaps be the improvements in overall audio quality that have been made with the X-Plosion, with it giving a substantially better showing than its predecessor, and more than giving the SoundBlaster Audigy a run for its money. Sure, it may not quite be an X-Fi (That may well be a comparison for another day), but everything it does do, it does exceptionally well.
As with the X-Mystique, the X-Plosion's biggest falling point is in its gaming performance and featureset - The lack of support for the latest, greatest EAX functionality may well put off gamers, and sadly is something we will most likely never see change with Creative Labs having the stranglehold on the discrete sound card market they currently do. This is a real shame, as a combination of Dolby Digital or DTS encoding alongside EAX would make for a gaming experience par excellence. As it is however, using Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect does add to the gaming experience, so if you can live without EAX 3.0 and upward support, and don't mind a heavier performance hit from using hardware 3D sound, then the X-Plosion may still be able to tempt even avid gamers.
However, the big draw of the X-Plosion is, in most cases I suspect, the ability to play back audio and video content in multi-channel surround sound regardless of source, and in this regard HDA's effort excels. If you aren't a hardcore audiophile, then you may well be tempted to save some money by going for the X-Mystique instead, but if you like the idea of DTS support and the higher quality output on offer here, then you can't go far wrong with the X-Plosion, and you're guaranteed a purchase that your ears will thank you for.
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