Creative X-Fi Sound cards

[Bass]

Have been looking at the specs / a few reviews of these & would like a bit of feedback if any of you has one in his rig. Apparently it makes a HUGE difference to the sound putting one of these in - any comments ??

Nerdboy - don't you have one in your PC ?

Thanks in advance :D

[Ruslan74]

Having read several reviews it seems these cards are good if you have the latest drivers and compliant mobo/gfx card combos.

I am just not sure if the price is fair unless you are a real music addict, any Audigy 2 ZS will do for gaming purists IMO.

[sss]

i will buy one of these cards soon.. just dunno which one...

[Bass]

It just seems like the X-Fi is orders of magnitude better (51 million transistors compared to the Audigy's 4 million)

One of the reviews I've seen:
http://www.custompc.co.uk/custompc/reviews/79312/creative-sound-blaster-xfi-xtreme-music.html

Edit: and another one ..
http://www.guru3d.com/article/sound/265/

[Scooby_Doo16]

I got the x-fi fatality... Just wow... so much better than my old audigy 1... Every thing this just sounds better (but i did get a set of logitech Z5500s at the same time as i got the card so didn't test the X-Fi on my old creative 5200 speakers so it could have been the speakers making the diff).



But am very happy with my set up :D

[Paragon]

i am not quite as lucky in having the fatality, but i do have the xtreme music. I must say that the diiference is very pronounced.

I am a big sound fanatic, so it was important to me, so i decided to go for it.

There really a massive difference, even with the crappy headphones i use :D

that is what i experienced

[Bass]

Great - thanks for the feedback .. Next question is the price you paid for it ..? :D

[Paragon]

my extreme music was just over the R1000 (between 1000-1100 for the least expensive 1). They r expensive, yes, but i believe worth it :p

[Scooby_Doo16]

got mine for R1899 (but am vat reg so didn't pay tax).

[Brawler]

Is it really worth it?
Would there be a huge difference between a audigy 2 value and a X-fi xtrememusic? I really need a soundcard this onboard one is killing me but i cant get myself to pay up :\

[Bass]

Ooohhh - Don't go for the Audigy 2 Value (or is it just the Audigy Value) - it is basically a rebranded Live with 24 bit support. (think it is just the Audigy Value)

Best would probably be to see if you could get someone to demo the difference for you.

[Brawler]

@bass - you got the XFi yet? you were speaking of it the other day over BF2 voip. After the chat i googled some reviews and now i want one, its your fault:p

[Scooby_Doo16]

Its just that the fatality is the one with the 64megs ram...

Don't really know if it will make a diff in future stuff but would hate to have got a card with out the ram and then hear how much it helps...

[Alluvium]

i produce music i need a card. i have on board, it sucks balls

[Bass]

@Brawler : Not yet - need to sell the old PC first to get some bucks before I can buy it ... all the reviews etc.. seem to indicate it is really worthwhile though ! :D

I don't think there is any difference ito sound processing between all the cards - the music version has got 2 MB RAM onboard (I think) - the others just have more ....

[Albereth]

Nerdboy has the Music Extreme or Extreme Music version

[doobiwan]

@Allu,

I suggest you get a USB/firewire breakout box for music production, any internal card even the good ones suck for production because of the inherent electrical noise inside the case.

Something like:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Transit-main.html
Or what I wanted for live bands:
http://www.bothner.co.za/products/studio/ua1000.shtml
http://www.bothner.co.za/products/studio/fw410.shtml

[NerdBoyZa]

Have been looking at the specs / a few reviews of these & would like a bit of feedback if any of you has one in his rig. Apparently it makes a HUGE difference to the sound putting one of these in - any comments ??

Nerdboy - don't you have one in your PC ?

Thanks in advance :D

Hey Bass.

Sorry been MIA for a bit.:(

Yes, I have the X-Fi Extreme Music:bow: , which is the entry level one if I'm not mistaken. I went to that from an onboard Realtek piece of carp.

The difference....well, would you eat a piece of cheese, or some chalk.:D

I'm not sure about the difference between the Audigy and the X-Fi.

The X-Fi set me back R1200 odd at Budget TEchnologies, which is where I could get it the soonest. When I decided to buy, no-one else had stock. Price was around R1000 if I wanted to wait.

Hope this helps.

;)

[Bass]

Great ! Thanks NB :D

[SlappY]

Got me a Fatal1ty. Kickas Ass. Good sound. Visible system performance increase... do it