AuzenTech XPlosion 7.1 VS Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

[crspyjohn]

AuzenTech XPlosion 7.1 VS Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

I am getting a Z-5500 and currently I have a Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE. I was wondering which one would be better for music, movies and a little bit of gaming (DOTA!!!)

Thanks,

[NickS]

X-Fi for gaming and movies, flat out.

[crspyjohn]

Anyone esle got suggestions? I heard the Xplosion was better?

[big poppa pump]

Get the Bluegears B-enspirer instead. They use the C-Media Oxygen HD Chip which sounds much better than the one on the X-plosion. I currently own 2 of these cards, one paired with a Logitech Z-5450 5.1 THX speakers, and the other on my MCE setup paired with a Pioneer 1015 Elite THX certified receiver and Wharfdale speakers. The sound is just awesome with both these setups. The Creative doesn't even come close to this setup in terms of watching Movies or listening to Music!
BTW....Creative doesnt offer true DD5.1 or DTS encoding unless the source is 5.1, the c-media cards do!

[crspyjohn]

Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series is only $70
Bluegears B-enspirer is only $100
AuzenTEch XPlosion 7.1 is only $70

Which should I go with? I'm leaning towards the bluegears because of DD5.1. Anyone esle can help?

[ripken204]

thats why you go with the auzentech x-meridian, best card out there.

just dont go with creative. both the xplosions and the benspirer are good cards.

[crspyjohn]

thats why you go with the auzentech x-meridian, best card out there.

just dont go with creative. both the xplosions and the benspirer are good cards.

THe X-Meridian and Benspirer are the pretty much the same arn't they? And the X-Meridian is $170...

[oqvist]

they aren´t at all the same. The analogue out on the X-Meridian is much much better. and you can switch the OPAMPS on it. if you use digital out only that don´t matter much though then go by the cheaper one :)

X-Meridian totally blows the X-Fi out of the water in term of sound quality. It don´t have the hardware acceleration and EAX support but it does encode dolby digital, dts, dolby headphone and other stuff.

I think the Xplosion will surely give an X-Fi Xtrememusic (not this Xtremegamer junk it´s horrible for music) a match :)

[big poppa pump]

Since the OP mentioned that he is getting the Z-5500 in his first post it is more than likely that he will be using digital out from the soundcard. It would be grave injustice to both the speakers and the soundcard if he used analog output for this combination.
If the OP is indeed gonna use digital out, then b-enspirer should fit his requirements perfectly.

[crspyjohn]

I'm using digital out and waiting on my speakers before i order the card. Speakers got back ordered!

[s1rrah]

what's the difference between the x-meridian and x-plosion cards from auzentech?

thinking about one of these over a creative card ...

[big poppa pump]

The x-meridian uses the C-media Oxygen HD chip which is more feature rich, supports more channels and has samplig rates upto 192kHz.

[technodanvan]

The x-meridian uses the C-media Oxygen HD chip which is more feature rich, supports more channels and has samplig rates upto 192kHz.

Which is unnecessary on the Logitech speakers as the average person (hell, even most guys considering themselves 'audiophiles') would never be able to hear the difference. Not that the Logitechs aren't bad, but they are computer speakers.

For the price you can't go wrong with the XPlosion in my opinion.

[FragTek]

If your main concerns are movies and music then there is no better choice than the b-Enspirer or X-Meridian. Both cards handle gaming rather well but the sheer sound quality for music and movies is unrivaled.

If all you did was game all day and all night and never listened to music I might suggest a Creative card, but even then it would be hard for me to do so.

[RealTelstar]

If all you did was game all day and all night and never listened to music I might suggest a Creative card, but even then it would be hard for me to do so.

If u disable the software "enhancements" the quality of the x-fi isnt bad, unlike old creative cards which were total crap.

[Donnie27]

AuzenTech XPlosion 7.1 VS Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

I am getting a Z-5500 and currently I have a Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE. I was wondering which one would be better for music, movies and a little bit of gaming (DOTA!!!)

Thanks,

It just depends on who you trust:) My experince has been that the CMedia based cards are very good for Music Playback and Movies, while the Creative X-Fi based cards are (generally) better for Gaming. I'd also believe the Tech-Report's Excellent Sound card review over a Half-assed one like Guru3D and others did.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q1/oxygen-sound-cards/index.x?pg=1

[crspyjohn]

I bought the x-plosion since it was only 85 bucks and seemed like the best deal.

[OCme]

Since you are doing 5.1 you might want to look at M-Audio as well.