Undecided about X-FI

cleanbluesky said:
I don't mean to bash X-Fi guys but I don't think its worth the hype. For gaming it might be a suprerior card, yet a lot of people are upgrading from Audigies (which were contentious anyway) and if you want straight sound quality you might be better off going M-Audio...
Click to expand...

Have to agree, I don't like the idea of some Crystalizer gimic trying to make my music sound better, you might as well have a Awia X-Bass exteme Booster button on there as well for good measure, I personaly want my music to just be as clear and as hi-quality as it can be with no added affects or EQ's, I may stretch to change the bass and treble knobb and thats about its, I want higher grade componants, better caps, better power distrabuition etc it's these things that will help give you a better quality sound.
 
lowrider007 said:
Have to agree, I don't like the idea of some Crystalizer gimic trying to make my music sound better, you might as well have a Awia X-Bass exteme Booster button on there as well for good measure, I personaly want my music to just be as clear and as hi-quality as it can be with no added affects or EQ's, I may stretch to change the bass and treble knobb and thats about its, I want higher grade componants, better caps, better power distrabuition etc it's these things that will help give you a better quality sound.
Click to expand...

So have you actually tried Crystalizer? It works great. And trust me, I used to be an audiophile and total hi-fi snob :)

What you've got to remember is that the Crystalizer is designed to make MP3's sound better, and MP3's aren't perfect copies and therefor aren't "hi fi" by their very nature. Most people use average quality bit-rates as a compromise between audio quality and file size. The Crystalizer just brings them back to life a little bit (personally I wouldn't use the Crystalizer and EQ at the same time - use one or the other) and, in my experience, it does work. Creative boldly claim that the Crystalizer can make the audio sound better than the original source, which is a bit silly :p

Having said that, of course if you're after pure music quality above all else then there are better options. But if you want a soundcard that's good for music and games and movies then it's a great buy.
 
I noticed quite an improvement myself after upgrading from my Audigy 2 ZS to X-Fi FPS (Fatal1ty, I say FPS as I hate the Fatal1ty brand. The only reason I bought it was because it''s the cheapest model with the X-RAM).

Anyway, I haven't sampled the Audio Creation mode much as I'm not too savvy with Fruity Loops but it does sound mint on my S750 setup.
 
I got my X-Fi Extreme Music Card in November and it's great. Music sounds clearer and more defined on my 5.1 speakers, and then when gaming it just sounds even better! I don't use the Audio Create mode, so can't comment. But I can't complain about the card, and I had no problems installing it, updating the software, or any crashes.

One happy owner, much better than my Audigy2 which decided half the time when and how it wanted to work. ;)
 
im mulling over the upgrade myself.

I currently have an m-audio revolution 5.1 which seems pretty good for music, but isnt great in games - all advanced effects, eax etc, are handed over to the CPU which is obviously isnt ideal.

however, as im only using some pretty old and crappy 5.1 speakers and only semi-decent headphones (sennheiser hd212pro, £30 or so) im not sure the upgrade would be worth it got me.
 
Yeah, the only real problem being there's 2 games that I'm aware of that make use of the extra features (over the Audigy 2) which is BF2 and Quake 4.

As yet I haven't seen any other games with support for EAX5 or XRAM

(that's not to say the card itself is bad though)
 
I wish companies would stop releasing things about 2-4 months after i buy the New(older version). I had just bought my audigy 2zs and then a few months later the x-fi came out, same thing happened with my mouse bought the diamondback and then the copperhead came out :-(
However from what ive read here i may just go and buy the xtreme music version if i can find it cheap.
 
Last Kronin said:
I wish companies would stop releasing things about 2-4 months after i buy the New(older version). I had just bought my audigy 2zs and then a few months later the x-fi came out, same thing happened with my mouse bought the diamondback and then the copperhead came out :-(
However from what ive read here i may just go and buy the xtreme music version if i can find it cheap.
Click to expand...

Basically, you are either waiting too long for the price to go down or are just very bad at timing your purchases. It takes experience and awareness on how the market works, but careful analyse of price fluctations across the board and previews/word of mouth on tech sites/forums should see you get the best bang for your buck. I am ALWAYS hesitant before a hardware purchase, be it £10 or £1000. Find out the latest technology in that product line, ask about and just use your common sense.

As a rule of thumb i wait two generations before an upgrade; for example:

1700+ (OC'ed from 1.4GHz to 2.5GHz) ~£40 (lasted me 3 years and still counting)
3700+ (OC'ed from 2.2GHz to 2.8GHz) ~£100 (just purchased, will last me a good 2 years)

My next purchase will be the 5700+ (not the FX-57! ;))


edit: Get a basic X-Fi NOW sub £80! They just went down in price a few weeks ago and there is no sign of any new technology for 6 months. :D
 
Last edited:
just bought mine yesterday from that big high street shop,

even though i paid 20 quid more than I could have got it online , i think its awesome.

it make my old 4.1 speakers sound great with the xfi
 
cleanbluesky said:
I don't mean to bash X-Fi guys but I don't think its worth the hype. For gaming it might be a suprerior card, yet a lot of people are upgrading from Audigies (which were contentious anyway) and if you want straight sound quality you might be better off going M-Audio...
Click to expand...

R B CUSTOMS said:
IMO : no
i think the elite and fatality models are frankly just for willy wavers. and the 64MB xram isnt fully used in games yet ( i think theres a patch for quake 4) but just a gimmick IMO ( the premium and extreme have 2MB of it anyway )
unless yuo have a need for the front pannel id say the extreme music edition is just what you need. the cards are all the same with the except some have the 64Mb, and some have the 2Mb
Click to expand...

I would like to comment about the above two quotes. IMO, the the most worthwhile X-Fi cards are the Xtreme Music and Elite Pro cards.

The Xtreme Music is a very good buy for someone looking for an all-round affordable sound card. It works well with multimedia speakers, and if you can always hook it to an external DAC and amp later on for pure music listenning since it support bit-perfect digital output. Used this way, it would be better than most stand alone soundcard (though very significantly more expensive).

The Platinum version is basically the Xtreme Music with a front bay. If you really think you need it, then by all mean.

The Fatal1ty version.. It's basically the Platinum version with an added 62MB of X-RAM. I queston it's value, and am even inclined to say that it is the worse buy of the lot (my opinion, I am sure a lot of gamers bought it, and if you are happy with it, stay happy with it).

The Elite Pro version? Not as often mentioned, it is not a Fatal1ty version with a break out box. The Elite Pro version is the only card which carries a different op-amp & DAC compared to the base card (Xtreme Music). This will have benefit for your speakers, but also for your headphones.. assuming, if they are not low end. The Elite Pro is really quite similar to the EMU 1212 line of card (those are generally classified a step up from the M-Audio/Envy24 based card), but with the benefit of gaming support. Still overpriced, but you probably won't be able to get something as versatile in one card. It won't be as good as an Xtreme Music + DAC + Amp combo, but then again... It is actually quite a bit cheaper (especially given the cost to get a good DAC in the UK) :)
 
Bought an xtreme-music from a competitor, arrived today, installed it this evening.

Already loving it compared to my old built in sound on my A7N8X Deluxe. Got a set of medusa 5.1s on the way as well, looking forward to hearing the combination.
 
Socaddict said:
Bought an xtreme-music from a competitor, arrived today, installed it this evening.

Already loving it compared to my old built in sound on my A7N8X Deluxe. Got a set of medusa 5.1s on the way as well, looking forward to hearing the combination.
Click to expand...

Tell us how it sounds, i use the medusa 5.1 as well and was wondering on how it will sound.
 
I finally took delivery of my X-Fi Elite Pro and installed it tonight. I figured it would be a good all purpose card for games, music and some audio production, and the external breakout box was particularly attractive for the Hi-Z input and pre-amp for my attempts at playing guitar.

I've only had chance to play with it a little, but I've just plugged my guitar in and had a jam with Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2, and I have to say the sound quality is awesome (even through my pants Creative speakers). I had the latency cranked right down to 4 ms with the ASIO drivers without any problems.

cheers
v.f.
 
Nice post TooNice :D , As there are still many peeps in the dark regarding the differences between the various models ( Myself included )
 
Thanks :)

I forgot to mention there is an OEM version which is the Extreme version without gold plated connectors. They go for about £20 less, so make a good buy or those on a budget.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom