differences between all the x-fi cards?

[Daveb2012]

Im going to buy a new x-fi card off newegg here soon, im just trying to figure out what is the difference between all of them besides hundreds of dollars for example this one for $385.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102191

and this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16829102188
for $119.00

:confused:

[trakslacker]

I know the higher-end ones(the crappy Fatal1ty and the Elite or whatever) have 64MB of RAM onbaord, where as the base version has like 2MB, or whatever the minimum is for it to work. Beyond that, the 5.25" ports, the remote, and another $50 for the Fatal1ty name.

I believe there are also some software differences as well. There could be other unique hardware stuff, but I doubt it.

[mdzcpa]

I have the "cheap" XtremeMusic and my buddy has the Elite. They both sound exactly the same. He over paid for the bay ports and remote in my opinion. The 64MB of RAM is a waste IMO as well.

That's just my humble 2 cents:)

[Dissolved]

yea, the x-music is the best option, unless you want to waste money and brag about a 400dollar sound card.

[Adam217]

The 64mb versions of the card may show usefull in the future, no game have really made use of the technology yet. Aside from that, the bundle, hardware and software is what seperates them.

[Daveb2012]

what is so special about that 5"25" thing in the front? does it serve any special purpose? I just bougt a pair of some sennheiser HD-595's Im not sure if this x-fi would be enough to power them or if I need a head phone amp still.

[Adam217]

It's just easier access to some of the ports/connectors and provides a remote control.

[Axylone]

doesn't the front also have a true 7.1 optical and digital coaxial out? Or is it still 3 different SPDIF streams that only work with Creative speakers?

[Andrew LB]

what is so special about that 5"25" thing in the front? does it serve any special purpose? I just bougt a pair of some sennheiser HD-595's Im not sure if this x-fi would be enough to power them or if I need a head phone amp still.


I just picked up a Creative Labs X-FI Platinum and must say I am extremely impressed at not only the sound quality (over my previous Audigy 1 Plat.), but the amazing features like the crystalizer and CCMS options for headphones.

I'm an audio NUT. I not only own a pair of Sennheiser HD-580's but an Antique Sound Labs MG-Head OTL tube amplifier (see my avatar). NOTHING on the market whether it be a sound card, home theater receiver, or anything of the sort was able to power and make my HD-580's sound anything like they would through my $400 headphone amp and over $300 in vintage Sylvania gold pin tubes.

Now.... that being the background.... the X-FI Platinum which I installed yesterday.... i'd hate to say it.... actually rivals my very expensive headphone amplifier setup. The bass is rich (something the HD-580's is not incredibly known for), the mids are GLORIOUS (something my tube amp is a master at reproducing), and the high's are very sharp and crisp.

No longer do i have to turn my sound card all the way up to hear music or games. The EAX technology in the X-FI is beyond spectacular and the surround emulation used in the card for people who use headphones is far beyond my expectation. I've been playing music and games almost non-stop to see how big off a difference this card makes and its WELL worth the $200 i spent. The headphone pre-amp has much more power than anything i've seen this side of a dedicated headphone amplifier and even at 50% volume, its more than enough for my hearing considering i've been into bigtime stage/concert audio systems as well as audiophile audio for year.

That being said... if you use headphones, GET THIS CARD. I have yet to test the card out using my JBL Studio Series S310's, S-Center, and surround speakers with 10" Sub (neighbors get pissed on the weekends when they're home), but I'll bet it will sound incredible.

I've never been a creative labs fan for ANY music listening until this card. IMO, they've been complete garbage for that type of listening. The added features in games, incredible definition in the crystalizer and CCMS has definitely given Creative Labs a 10 out of 10 rating on this card.

Yeah.... i sound like a stupid fanboy. But wait till you plug in some quality headphones and tweak some settings and sit back and listen. You will LOVE this card also.... (if you can afford it) :toast:

[Andrew LB]

doesn't the front also have a true 7.1 optical and digital coaxial out? Or is it still 3 different SPDIF streams that only work with Creative speakers?


The front 5 1/2 bay has a true 7.1 optical imput and output as well as digital COAX imputs and outputs. The only thing i miss about my old Audigy1 Platinum was the Firewire ports on the card and on the front drive bay.

[ghidon]

The headphone pre-amp has much more power than anything i've seen this side of a dedicated headphone amplifier and even at 50% volume

is the headphone preamp placed on the X-Fi I/O Drive or on the card ?
actually what i wanna know is if i could get the same output directly from the normal $119.99 card or do i have to get the platinum.

[Daveb2012]

I am sold. so your saying the sound quality of this x-fi is as good as your headphone amp? do you still use both together?

[RootX]

The 64mb versions of the card may show usefull in the future, no game have really made use of the technology yet.

BF2 does :)

[JoeBar]

BF2 does :)
Not by a great margin though... ;)

[krille]

Just wanted to add, the Elite Pro actually has better DACs too. :)

[axion]

Andrew LB: Have you tried your Headphone amp with the X-fi? I'd be interested if that increased the sound quality at all.

[coolshot]

isnt the only diff from the XM and the plat the front panel?

[krille]

The Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro features professional-quality digital-to-analog converters (DACs) with 116dB SNR
http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=14064

Those DACs are specifically four Cirrus Logic CS4398 Stereo DACs.

The high-end X-Fi Elite Pro uses four Cirrus Logic CS4398 stereo DACs. These are the same DACs used in the Audigy 4 board, and offer better signal-to-noise ratio than the 8-channel CS4382. Like the CS4382, the 4392's can handle both PCM and DSD digital streams. In addition, the board features a Xilinx XC9536XL, a programmable logic device that can be used in a variety of applications, but has been used in some devices to handle DRM wrappers for digital audio.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1850391,00.asp

[ABSiNTH]

I used to have an old sb live 5.1 until i built my new system recently and put in an xtreme music. and omg, the x-fi is far superior.

[ben805]

FYI, the X-Fi use the same ADC as the higher end Marantz receivers and the caps seems to be of very high quality as well ;)

[physics_geek]

FYI, the X-Fi use the same ADC as the higher end Marantz receivers and the caps seems to be of very high quality as well ;)
You mean all the versions of X-Fi ?

[Andrew LB]

Andrew LB: Have you tried your Headphone amp with the X-fi? I'd be interested if that increased the sound quality at all.

Yes, while they both drive my headphones at excellent levels, the only advantage (disadvantage do some of you) is that when i use my Antique Sound Labs MG Head OTL tube amp, it does definitely change the sound quality to that very warm and full sound you get from vacuum tubes. Prior to the X-FI, i would not be able to run my Sennheiser HD580's off the soundcard directly without having to have the volume cranked up to the max in both the soundcard settings and in games. Now i can just run the headphones off the X-FI Platinum for games, or when i listen to music, plug in the ASL MG-Head tube amp since i love the sound of tubes when listening to acoustic and other music with glorious midrange.

[irev210]

I am looking at a set of sennheiser HD555's paired with an X-FI platinum. I really want the front audio ports, otherwise I would probably just get the music.

The fatality seems like a joke, i would either get the Elite to atleast get the better DAC's or the platinum.

Though I dont feel like spending 280 on an elite though, screw that.

~150 for a platinum is a decent deal... just gotta save the cash!

[Fhqwhgads6680]

hello, I was just curious if someone could tell me their subjective listening differences of the x-fi's vs the Aud. 2 zs's. I AM an audiophile, so detail would be appreciated. Andrew I liked your explanation between the aud. vs the x-fi, but the Aud 2 zs had some MAJOR upgrades from that chipset, and I love my zs currently, and don't know how it could get much better. Thanks for any insights.

Brandon

[OmegaMerc]

I was under the impression the diffrence between aud 2 -> aud 2 ZS = 7.1 surround sound support :confused:

[Andrew LB]

hello, I was just curious if someone could tell me their subjective listening differences of the x-fi's vs the Aud. 2 zs's. I AM an audiophile, so detail would be appreciated. Andrew I liked your explanation between the aud. vs the x-fi, but the Aud 2 zs had some MAJOR upgrades from that chipset, and I love my zs currently, and don't know how it could get much better. Thanks for any insights.

Brandon


I think you'd really like the X-FI Platinum. The sound quality is much improved. And the processing power of the card is phenominal. It has separate modes for gaming, music, and entertainment (movies). I can listen to MP3's which were encoded using not the greatest settings and they sound sooooo much better with this card because of its diverse setttings, processing options, etc. Its not some cheezy DSP.... it really does work well.

I never listened to music through my sound card until i got this X-FI. Only games. Previously i'd only listen to music through my pretty high end sony DVD-SACD-CD player which is hooked up through my TV/entertainment center. Now i listen to everything through my computer.

[JoeBar]

hello, I was just curious if someone could tell me their subjective listening differences of the x-fi's vs the Aud. 2 zs's. I AM an audiophile, so detail would be appreciated. Andrew I liked your explanation between the aud. vs the x-fi, but the Aud 2 zs had some MAJOR upgrades from that chipset, and I love my zs currently, and don't know how it could get much better. Thanks for any insights.

Brandon
I just yesterday got my new x-fi to replace an audigy 2zs and all i can say is that it's and definately sounds like a next gen sound card. :up:
If u have good speakers u'll notice a huge difference. In my opinion the difference can be compared to the Live vs Audigy. :)

[Haltech]

Im thinking about picking one of these up. Currently, i have a HDA Mystique. Its been since 2000 Since i used a Soundblaster.

[Hicks]

I just picked up a Creative Labs X-FI Platinum and must say I am extremely impressed at not only the sound quality (over my previous Audigy 1 Plat.), but the amazing features like the crystalizer and CCMS options for headphones.

I'm an audio NUT. I not only own a pair of Sennheiser HD-580's but an Antique Sound Labs MG-Head OTL tube amplifier (see my avatar). NOTHING on the market whether it be a sound card, home theater receiver, or anything of the sort was able to power and make my HD-580's sound anything like they would through my $400 headphone amp and over $300 in vintage Sylvania gold pin tubes.

Now.... that being the background.... the X-FI Platinum which I installed yesterday.... i'd hate to say it.... actually rivals my very expensive headphone amplifier setup. The bass is rich (something the HD-580's is not incredibly known for), the mids are GLORIOUS (something my tube amp is a master at reproducing), and the high's are very sharp and crisp.

No longer do i have to turn my sound card all the way up to hear music or games. The EAX technology in the X-FI is beyond spectacular and the surround emulation used in the card for people who use headphones is far beyond my expectation. I've been playing music and games almost non-stop to see how big off a difference this card makes and its WELL worth the $200 i spent. The headphone pre-amp has much more power than anything i've seen this side of a dedicated headphone amplifier and even at 50% volume, its more than enough for my hearing considering i've been into bigtime stage/concert audio systems as well as audiophile audio for year.

That being said... if you use headphones, GET THIS CARD. I have yet to test the card out using my JBL Studio Series S310's, S-Center, and surround speakers with 10" Sub (neighbors get pissed on the weekends when they're home), but I'll bet it will sound incredible.

I've never been a creative labs fan for ANY music listening until this card. IMO, they've been complete garbage for that type of listening. The added features in games, incredible definition in the crystalizer and CCMS has definitely given Creative Labs a 10 out of 10 rating on this card.

Yeah.... i sound like a stupid fanboy. But wait till you plug in some quality headphones and tweak some settings and sit back and listen. You will LOVE this card also.... (if you can afford it) :toast:

Excellent. I play a lot of games, listen to music, and watch quite a lot of DvD's, so i think the Platinum is for me. The easy hedphone jack is cool, and id definatly use the remote.

I still have an audigy 1. if the difference is this big ill get one ASAP!:)

[bloodandsoil]

Anyone have an opinion on the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer? That's what I just bought for my new PC. Did I screw up?

[swaaye]

Audigy 2 ZS has the old resampling issue. All audio is resampled to 48 KHz 16-bit if you use the DSP at all. Which is almost full time. If you can actually hear the noise added to the audio by that, then that's one thing to note. I can't hear it honestly. (I have A2ZS)

X-Fi probably has better headphone 3D audio positioning. I know that is one of the things they focused on. Most gamers use headphones these days.

CPU usage between the two cards will be negligible in difference. Sure X-Fi is lower, but it's like only a couple of percent until you hit over 64 sounds continuous.

[NickS]

The XtremeMusic is an amazing card. Has 16MB of onboard ram IIRC, too. X-RAM or w/e.

I love it, drivers ain't bad either. Works great in 2142 @ "Creative X-Fi" mode, Ultra-High w/Altec Lansing ADA885 4.1's.

[RealTelstar]

The 64mb versions of the card may show usefull in the future, no game have really made use of the technology yet. Aside from that, the bundle, hardware and software is what seperates them.

Yes, cards are all the same (except the very basic "audio" version). I bought the extreme fatal1ty pro with the ram on board in case some game will use it later this year.
The xtreme music is a better deal, but I only paid 30 euros more.

[bithkits]

I'm also waiting for my xfi fatality to arrive. i need the front panel for optical and midi and what not, so im not getting the pro version... anyway, cant wait!

[.:\dGh/:.]

Here is a link to the main differences of all X-Fi

http://www.chilehardware.com/foro/showthread.php?t=64212&highlight=x-fi

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