X-Fi Xtreme Music + Stax = Happy Maxxx

[MaxxxRacer]

Well I went to Frys this morning at 8am and bought a X-Fi Xtreme Music. Now I know alot of ppl say that creative sucks butt, but I would have to disagree with them regarding the X-Fi.

Listening to MP3's at 320kbits with my Stax headphones provides an amazing musical experience. Absolutely perfect clarity. The difference between this card and the onboard from the Ultra-D is just stunning. Granted the x-fi card costs more than the Ultra-D, but being a moderate audiophile it was well worth the purchase.

So if your looking to buy a new soundcard and think the X-fi is just a gimic.. Dont be worried. It sounds amazing. I have yet to test out the features of it, which prolly are gimmics, but the unfeatured audio quality is outstanding.

Anyway, back to Sting and Foo Fighters.

[Mr. Tinker]

Don't mean to say I told you so, but...I told you so (http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1002129#post1002129).

[MaxxxRacer]

lol. ya ya ya..

I'm tempted to try the "features" they have on it, just to see how horrid they are. maybe i might be surprised and they will do ok. But one thing is for sure, the crystalizer processing wont do much good. Read about that and its something that needs alot of work. Cant really compare to pro tools :lol:

[mdzcpa]

The X-Fi is the only Creative soundcard I've had that I like. Its an awesome card.

[Mr. Tinker]

It sounds pretty good on paper, but for music listening, I think I'd rather go with a Squeezebox 3.

How do the stax sound? Can you compare them to say, Grado SR60's? I gotta get something better than my Sharp md33's...

[BrokenWall]

my x-fi plat sounds excellent, i use my Koss Studio Pro 3AAs (i know they arent that high end) even my Platronics .Audio 90s sound so much better, and i am about to buy a pair of Bose Triports.

[nn_step]

With all do respect I still say the AudioTrak Prodigy wipes the flor with Th X-Fi

[Sloppy]

I picked up the same card max a few days ago, along with a logitech 5.1 speaker set. It rocks my house crazy! I was so blown away, first time in my life I bought a decent sound card and some real speakers.

[KoHaN69]

"X-Fi Xtreme Music + Stax = Happy Maxxx"

:slap:

[zabomb4163]

With all do respect I still say the AudioTrak Prodigy wipes the flor with Th X-Fi

dont burst his buble. he doesnt go to audio forums.

mystique *COUGH*

[nn_step]

That might explain why he injoys that overpriced piece of Junk...

[mdzcpa]

With all do respect I still say the AudioTrak Prodigy wipes the flor with Th X-Fi

LOL...I hope you're not referring to that outdated Envy24 based card. No DSP engine and too many utilized CPU cycles wasted. Sensaura3 and EAX 2.0 support...ummm...yeah. Neither hold a candle to EAX 4.0. or EAX 5.0 HD.

I don't give a damn what audiophile forums anyone hangs at, or how elitist they think their eardrums are, but the AudioTrak Prodigy has been put to pasture. I dumped mine ages ago. It might still do well for audiophiles listening to music, but its out dated and a serious under achiever in a gaming rig.

[NickS]

My SB Live! 24-Bit r0x0rs you all ;).

It's fine for me. 24-Bit sounds great compared to my old Live! 16-Bit. :D

And it's only $29.99 @ EB Games. Plus, it kills the :banana::banana::banana::banana: out of ANY Integrated.

I listen to a lot of classical rock, weird for my age. Supertramp mainly. Some .38 Special, etc. Good stuff, sounds awesome w/my Logitech X-220's. :)

[mdzcpa]

Hehe....I was running on board sound for the longest time after I sold my Audigy 2 ZS. I hated that card. In fact, I think I've hated ALL my Creative cards except for this X-Fi.

My fav soundcard of all time was the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz based on the Crystal/Cirrus chip with SoundFusion DSP. Sweet card back in the day. I moved from that to the AudioTrak Prodigy which was a very nice replacement. I then made a big mistake and replaced the Prodigy with an Audigy 2. I wanted the EAX support. Bad move. I've been jamming away and gaming with on board sound almost a year now.

But, although I've always hated Creatives PCI bus hogging hardware, I love the X-FI. My buddy had one and I heard it. I ordered it the next day. Its great gaming with headphones and getting 128 voices with ZERO performance hit on BF2 with Ultra Quality sound settings. Simply amazing.

I sprung for Xtreme Music which cost me $105. Not bad.

[Tanktanium]

That might explain why he injoys that overpriced piece of Junk...

I take it you've never owned one?

[Jupiler]

I don't understand why lots of people seem to have problems with the Audigy ZS.
I've been using mine for a long time now (2 years I think), and I never, ever had any problems with it.
Installation is always smooth, software and updates might not be the best, or might be updated more frequently, but none the less, combined with my Creative 550 set, it produces an awesome sound in games and music.

I like the ZS way more than the older Audigy 5.1 (Live I think it was called), which was a piece of crap, and which I dumped pretty fast.

I might give the Xtreme Music a try. My son is using the onboard sound on his rig, which gives me a good excuse to upgrade mine and give the ZS to him. :D

[krille]

I must say I realloy ejoy my Elite Pro. Even the drivers I could cope with. Comes with a cute little heatsink too! :)

[zabomb4163]

I take it you've never owned one?

ive owned

Sound blaster live
Audigy 2
X-fi xtreme
m-audio revolution
and the mystiqe being the newest

i have a 2,000$ sound system connected directly to the computer. the X-fi is NOT in the same leage as the mystique. its a shame that massive amounts of advertising beats a better product.

reminds me of the bose brand name. most think its high quality yet have not compared it to any of its compeditors.

[mdzcpa]

Its far more than advertising. Its capability. The ONLY place for a mystique card is in a Home Theatre PC. For games and music there are much better choices.

For HTPC use, the Mystique's audio processor allows for Dolby Digital Live output which is awesome. The card can output a 5.1 audio stream to an external amplifier or Dolby Digital speaker system. That's great for playing DVDs with something like PowerDVD, but its also a BIG problem. In order to generate the Dolby Digital stream, the audio card takes the digital stream that was converted to an analog audio and encodes that to the Dolby Digital output. This extra layer of processing causes additional noise to be introduced into the audio stream. Most people may not notice this but under controlled conditions it is noticeable.

Another problem is that AC3 is a horrible compression algorithm and can result in game sound lag as reported in numerous reviews of the card. The only review I have seen recommending this card for gaming did so by qualifying the recommendation by saying "for users with external AC3 decoder".

I'm sorry, but the mystique is a one trick pony. BTW, I have one in my HTPC at home:)

[459]

For those who are planning to buy XtremeMusic: you might find out the amount of connectors prohibitive so think carefully before buying it!

Apart from the 7.1 analog outputs there is only ONE 1/8" jack which can function as mic in, line in or digital out. A separate adapter for coax/optical digital I/O can be purchased at around 30€ price - http://fi.europe.creative.com/shop/product.asp?prod=773 provides some information. I had X-Fi XtremeMusic for one week. Disappointed with lack of connectivity, I decided to return it to shop in favor of X-Fi Platinum. With the front panel you get digital I/O, MIDI I/O, headphone output, mic input, RCA line inputs and remote controller that I, for my surprise, actually found somewhat useful.

[krille]

There are 17 different connectors on the Elite Pro (including the ones on the humongous "front panel"), so it's definitely not the X-Fi per se that's limiting the capabilities. If you're indeed looking for all the goodies and features, you usually do have to pay premium for it, it shouldn't come as a news flash.

[MaxxxRacer]

Envy24HT... u have to be kidding me.. That A to D converter is a freeking joke. No contest there. M-audio uses the same gear and my father who works at a music studio tested the M-audio card and promptly threw it in the trash due to its horrible audio quality.

I do know of the best sound cards, but they cost 1000 dollars and, frankly I dont care that much.

Tinker, the Stax are simply the best headphones in existence. Nothing can even come close. Dont care what you come up with, Stax blows it out of the water. Its just a shame no one can afford them... 800 dollar minimum sticker price.

The lack of connectivity did surprise me at first when I opened the box, but to be honest I only need mini RCA out (I would have prefered dual RCA regulars as thats what my Stax uses, but I have a nice mini RCA to RCA L/R converter), and a mic jack for the rare occasions when I TS, CoutnerStrike or Vent.

[459]

There are 17 different connectors on the Elite Pro (including the ones on the humongous "front panel"), so it's definitely not the X-Fi per se that's limiting the capabilities. If you're indeed looking for all the goodies and features, you usually do have to pay premium for it, it shouldn't come as a news flash.

Well... considering the history of PC audio cards one might've expected better. One shared connector for those functions is just not enough, even the SBPro cards in 1991 had separate mic and line inputs. The Audigy 2 card I had before X-Fi had separate line in, mic in, digital out, firewire and MIDI/gameport connectivity. With a feature-laden card such as X-Fi I'm expecting at least that level of connectivity (apart from obsolete gameport and scarcely used Firewire).