X-Fi bought, now, what speakers?

Xon

Xon

Xon

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Hi all,

I just bought an X-Fi and am using P580 5.1 speakers.

Do you reckon I should change these speakers to do the card justice? And if so, can you recommend between the Z-5500 and the Gigaworks S750? 7.1 isn't important I don't have place to set it up so I'll end up converting to 5.1 anyways. How do the Z-5500 compare? I know they're digital but I have one of these http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=16&product=14191 to make up for that :)

EDIT: Nvm the digital part I'd be using the analogue passthrough.
 
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Be careful when getting speakers for the X-Fi, the digital outputs aren't as they used to be... Creative (as other manufacturers) are moving back away from digital sound - at least in some respects. My Creative Inspire 5.1 Digital 5700 speaker system no longer gets a 5.1 signal from the X-Fi card (it did the Audigy) unless I'm watching a DVD that has Dolby Digital outputs.

You'll want "analogue" speakers ... check the Creative forums for more on good speaker matches!
 
I've got a fatal1ty and have just ordered Z5500's..I'm not 100% up on audio standards and such, but given that the front bay has a SPDIF optical, and both the Z5500's and x-fi are capable of Dolby decoding, that's true digital isn't it?

In any case, my main tower will use the analogue connections, I can't deal with the cable trailing from the front, my shuttle will use the digital.
 
I'm not interested in digital tbh. I will connect the Z-5500 using analogue connections... reason: optical out on x-fi afaik will output a raw signal out... no proccessing on it is done. So to get 5.1 in games using eax the only way is analogue out - The decoder of z-5500 is going to waste in my case.
 
Valkyr said:
I'm not interested in digital tbh. I will connect the Z-5500 using analogue connections... reason: optical out on x-fi afaik will output a raw signal out... no proccessing on it is done. So to get 5.1 in games using eax the only way is analogue out - The decoder of z-5500 is going to waste in my case.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's my "problem" with the Inspire 5700 speakers I have (which I'd had for a couple years before getting th X-Fi. The two (card + speakers) together are great for films... the sound has never been better for me (I upgraded from an Audigy 1 to X-Fi). Games, however, and normal music files/CDs - I have to use the CMSS upmix functions of my speaker's decoder to get from stereo (2.1) to 5/1 sound, which isn't perfect!

I'd upgrade to a new set of speakers, but a really decent set would cost a fair bit (and I'm about to spend a lot on a more-or-less new machine for myself! Maybe more speakers in the future).
 
Mud said:
I've got a fatal1ty and have just ordered Z5500's..I'm not 100% up on audio standards and such, but given that the front bay has a SPDIF optical, and both the Z5500's and x-fi are capable of Dolby decoding, that's true digital isn't it?

In any case, my main tower will use the analogue connections, I can't deal with the cable trailing from the front, my shuttle will use the digital.
Click to expand...


X-fi doesnt do dolby digital afaik.
 
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