Creative Technology Sound Blaster X-Fi

I upgraded to this X-Fi XtremeGamer card form Creative's Audigy sound card. Wow what a difference. I added this sound card at the same time that I started to use a Creative HS-900 headset. I also have a Logitech Z-2300 200 Watts RMS 2.1 THX Speaker System connected to it. Wow what a difference a good sound card makes with a good headset or speaker system.

Music on iTunes sounds great. I hear details in the music that I had never heard before. Bass is clear and solid. Mids and Highs are clear. There is a nice balance between the three. I listen to Peter Gabriel's Growing up Live Tour DVD, set the sound card to Amphitheater or Recital Hall and you almost forget you are sitting in front of you computer. Movies sound great too and you find yourself getting sucked into them.

Games are awesome. You hear the 3D effects all around you. I hear people walking all around me in different directions. You really get lost in the games with life like explosions and gun fire.

It did sound so much different from the other sound card that I had to get use to listening to music all over again. There are a lot of settings on the control panel to help you fine tune it to your own likes.

Control Panel Features 3 different modes of use:

Entertainment mode:

This control panel has the looks of a piece of stereo equipment. It offers users tabs to give you the ability to specify the speakers used on your system from 2/2.1 to 7.1 and includes a headphones choice. You can also choose to add special effects to your music to make it sound like you are listening in different environments (theater, amphitheater, recital hall, orchestra pit, jazz club, etc…). Another tab lets you add Surround Sound effects. This really makes music sound like it is all around you, even. It is really noticeable when you are using headphones or THX certified speakers. There are other tabs that let you add Crystization to your music, which really does make the music cleaner sounding, a feature to even out the volumes on different songs, EQ adjustment and finally a Mixer tab.

Game Mode:

This panel has many of the same features as the entertainment mode, but has a cooler look to it. You have the same general options as above, but this mode will give you EAX Advanced effects instead of the surround sound and environment tabs from above. This is where this card really shines in the video games. Sound is all around you. You can even identify where the sounds are coming from and how far away it is. It will turn a regular set of stereo headphones into surround sound headphones. (Games must support this EAX 3D effect in order to benefit from this.)

The remaining mode is for music creation and mixing, which I do not know much about so I'll leave the comments to others that have more experience with it.

You can have an Icon next to your clock on the taskbar that gives you easy access to these panels and allows you to change between them easily. It is recommended that you change the modes before you start up the games or music players. I have notices and occasional error in the control panel functions when I try to change it with games or music playing. Does not happen if I follow the directions.

Highlighted Advertised Features:

X-Fi 24-bit Crystalizer: This enhances MP3 and movie sound for cleaner, smoother and more audio that is even better than what you would expect from original CDs or DVDs! It even automatically upgrades existing games to Xtreme Fidelity quality

X-Fi CMSS-3D Intelligent Surround Sound Remixing: intelligently upgrades your MP3 music, movies and games to surround sound using your multi-channel speakers

EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0: delivers incredibly realistic gaming audio. Drench yourself in an exceptionally dynamic and sensational gaming world

Hardware DTS-ES and Dolby Digital EX Decoding: enjoy the latest cinematic technologies for the ultimate Home Theater PC experience!

Technical Specifications:

Audio core:
Audio Chipset: X-Fi
Channels: 7.1
Sample Rate: 96KHz
Digital Audio: 24-bit
SNR: Stereo Output 109dB, Front and Rear Channels 109dB, Center, Subwoofer and Side Channels 109dB

Ports
Line In: Yes
Line Out: Front/Rear/Center/Subwoofer/Rear Center
SPDIF In: Yes
SPDIF Out: Yes
MIC In: Yes

Interface: PCI


System Requirements:
Certified for Windows Vista
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)
Intel Pentium III 1 GHz, AMD 1 GHz processor or faster
Intel, AMD or 100% compatible motherboard chipset
Available PCI 2.1 slot
256MB RAM
600MB of free hard disk space
CD-ROM/CD-RW or CD/DVD-ROM for software installation

Package Contents:
Sound Blaster X-Fi PCI Card
Quick Start Leaflet
**Installation and Applications CD** (Be sure to uninstall any other sound card driver before you install this. I had a conflict with the motherboard trying to use the old on-board sound drivers with this card. Once I had uninstalled the old drivers, I installed the new ones on this disk and everything is working great.)