X-Fi functionality on ANY Realtek HDA Codec!

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03-08-2009, 01:34 PM
Ket

1 Attachment(s)

X-Fi functionality on ANY Realtek HDA Codec!

Thats right, I've been up to my "old tricks" again ;) Original thread @ TPU

Quote:

I said I would, and here it is! Very nice little upgrade from standard crappy Realtek drivers ;) There is just one issue though, the Creative software is a 30 day trial. These drivers may miff Creative something fierce, do I care? Nah. I suggest Creative actually start making decent products with the right components (ie; use proper audio caps and the like not normal caps) instead of hyping their cards as this an that when in reality its 90% software driven.

Realtek XP X-Fi mod driver R2.16 15.6MB
X-Fi MB Software 138MB (recompressed for much smaller DL size)

Realtek Vista X-Fi mod driver R2.17 15MB
Realtek XP X-Fi mod driver R2.17 16MB

Realtek XP X-Fi mod R2.18 32/64bit 16MB
Realtek Vista X-Fi mod R2.18 32/64bit 15MB

As usual, let me know how it all works for you.
03-08-2009, 02:13 PM
YukonTrooper

So, what features are available and not available? Is EAX functional?

Nice :banana::banana::banana::banana:in' work, though, my friend.
03-08-2009, 02:38 PM
Ket

Lots of features work, the crystalizer, equalizer, SVM, CMSS-3D, and EAX should work too.
03-08-2009, 09:09 PM
GAR

nice job
03-09-2009, 12:40 AM
mugs

Amazing stuff. Well done.
03-09-2009, 03:39 AM
sabe

Vista driver mirrored, original link maxxed out: http://rapidshare.com/files/207115918/LinX.7z
03-09-2009, 03:48 AM
Jamesrt2004

which way round to install? software then driver? or driver then software?
03-09-2009, 03:50 AM
sabe

Driver first
03-09-2009, 04:12 AM
Jamesrt2004

ty!

driver installed Under Windows 7 X86, going to try software although doubt that will work, definatley noticed a difference :)

GJ KET your the man ;)
03-09-2009, 04:48 AM
Ket

Its my mission to make things work as they were intended to ;) :up: Any probs post here or at TPU, TPU is the thread I'm maintaining the most.
03-09-2009, 04:55 AM
msimax

im gonna try later if it work u da man
03-09-2009, 05:01 AM
Coldon

does it offer asio driver interfaces for the realtek codecs?
03-09-2009, 05:06 AM
Ket

You will have to check that, I haven't noticed any, but I've been messing with the equalizer mostly to get my music sounding right :p:
03-09-2009, 05:24 AM
Jamesrt2004

right mr Ket =]

Seems I can get the software to install.... WITH the crappy 30 day rubbish. So then I read the TPU thread.

So then I tried to do your fix of downloading a driver off their website etc..... Problem is when I do that it's obviously searching for a specific card i.e xtreme music etc.. So my luck it says it can't find it.

Just wondering which driver did you use for the install?
03-09-2009, 05:27 AM
Ket

you have to keep the 30day software installed, then run appsetup right on top.. lets just say something will happen to the creative audio control panel :cool:
03-09-2009, 05:28 AM
Jamesrt2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

you have to keep the 30day software installed, then run appsetup right on top.. lets just say something will happen to the creative audio control panel :cool:

oh good after i just deleted both :p:

Also, should I use a Setup from the Win7 Beta drivers :)? or just a standard vista?
03-09-2009, 05:36 AM
jasonelmore

Is this enabling EAX 5.0 or 4? Also, Is the crystilizer purely software? I was under the impression that it was a actual chip that had to be on the soundcard

Now lets see how long this thread last before Creative makes a threat

Download it quick guys!
03-09-2009, 05:38 AM
Jamesrt2004

hope they wont :)

+ Ket again, could it be that the actual driver install just installs the licence into the registry?
If so.. wouldnt it be easier to extract the regkey, if it just usess that to activate it?
03-09-2009, 05:45 AM
Ket

Dunno. Creative software is very different to what I do, which is mod drivers. Its actually harder and simpler at the same time. I'm still learning with the Creative software, works fine on XP / 64, Driver works in Vista and W7, but the creative software itself doesn't work on Vista. Driver alone gives people a real nice audio quality boost though :up:

As we discussed in the TPU thread, we would pay to use the creative software for such additional features, but you click to buy a key and it leads you to a blank page, sooo... I'm sure people can guess what users are forced to do :rolleyes:
03-09-2009, 05:50 AM
jasonelmore

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Dunno. Creative software is very different to what I do, which is mod drivers. Its actually harder and simpler at the same time. I'm still learning with the Creative software, works fine on XP / 64, Driver works in Vista and W7, but the creative software itself doesn't work on Vista. Driver alone gives people a real nice audio quality boost though :up:

I've got a Rampage II Extreme and the actual MB sound card. But, Ever since i reformated and i try to activate my creative software with the key they gave me it gives me a Internet Connection Error and says that the program can't find a connection to the internet to validate. BS if you ask me. So i've been doing without all of my x-fi features. i've tried everything to get it to work

I've uninstalled everything, Deleted every x-fi registry key, Turned off the firewall, opened ports, and it still gives me that error. I even added the launcher to the exception list on my firewall and then tried it. Still a no go. I'll see what your mod tells me when i enter my key to get past the 30 days.

I do have vista 64 tho.

It has worked in the past and even works on my windows 7 hard drive, but for some reason it's blocked out this time. i'm thinking i'm going to have to reformat to get it to finaly work properly.
03-09-2009, 05:51 AM
Jamesrt2004

yeah definatley, ahh well everything works asin no need for a trial etc... but It still says cant find supported Device etc.. which is a pain but nonetherless still better audio quality and can use the Realtek stuff :)

Thanks loads great work!
03-09-2009, 05:57 AM
Ket

Odd.. I dont get that unsupported device thing. Closest I had to it was when I cleared out all creative / realtek stuff with driver cleaner. All I had to do was reinstall the ATi HDMI R2.03 driver from realtek.
03-09-2009, 06:34 AM
jasonelmore

I get a error while installing the Creative Software "Error 610" "Product State Could not be Determined"

Anyone know what the deal is with that?
03-09-2009, 06:35 AM
Jowy Atreides

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Thats right, I've been up to my "old tricks" again ;) Original thread @ TPU

Thanks ket, it was kinda pointless of me to have high end alesis studio monitors with onboard sound.

Now with the new drivers some songs are very noticably better,
the no one knows remix now shakes my floor at half volume and clarity is up

Edit: win7 x64 btw fyi
03-09-2009, 07:29 AM
Ket

Glad their working good :up: and once again, the creative software does not work in Vista, but the modded Realtek driver does and that alone gives people much better sound quality.
03-09-2009, 08:17 AM
Jamesrt2004

Recommend this + SRS Audio Sandbox

Makes music sound WAY better even on these chepo Sweex 5.1 system

+ can I install this WITH the ATI HDMI Driver? as I didnt bite the bullet as I was worried it wouldnt work?
03-09-2009, 08:23 AM
Ket

The HDMI driver installed fine for me, so no reason to think it wont for you :up:
03-09-2009, 08:27 AM
Jamesrt2004

"Works" :) Will test tomorow on the Tele

Cheers :D
03-09-2009, 08:32 AM
Ket

All in my days work "fighting crime", as the saying goes :D :cool:
03-09-2009, 09:56 AM
Jamesrt2004

Can I ask how you started modding drivers etc... as i'm very much interested in getting into it myself :)
03-09-2009, 10:30 AM
Ket

I just started messing around with things really. My mind works in a very technical way, so hard stuff I find easier than simple stuff. I can literally open a file up, see whats in it and I just know what it does.
03-09-2009, 11:40 AM
ToTTenTranz

Only works with EAX 4.0.
EAX 5 has always been an EMU20Kx-only feature, since using this through software alone would probably cripple most mid-end CPUs.

Beware with emulating EAX 4.0 on non-Creative hardware though. It brings many ~2Ghz dualies to their knees.
03-09-2009, 02:08 PM
Ket

Theres no emulation taking place AFAIK, which means the Realtek chip can do it ;) AFAIK all the way up to EAX 4.0 anyway its all software doing the job, EAX 5 is hardware with a X-Fi.
03-09-2009, 03:49 PM
Ket

Vote with your feet, buy a Xonar :up:
03-09-2009, 05:58 PM
iandh

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaptCrunch

burns me that CT wants money for products with no digital signed drivers

with my x-fi and vista every time i play a game the sounds goes and have to remove and install again

I picked up an x-fi xtremegamer (only because it was CHEEAAAAP) and it works perfectly in Vista x64 :confused:

Nice work BTW OP
03-09-2009, 07:12 PM
VIctorj

Using them right now on vista 64. Noticeable difference. Not the same as the real thing tho...i miss my x-fi. Have to get another one now.
03-10-2009, 04:42 AM
Ket

Buy a Xonar :up: ZERO problems with drivers nomatter the OS your using :cool:
03-10-2009, 06:21 AM
Jamesrt2004

+ 1 on Xonar,

X-Fi sucks took mine out about a month ago had it for about 3 days and literally gave it away

silly thing
03-10-2009, 06:39 AM
Ket

Giving it away is too good for a X-Fi... should of smashed it into a million bits with a sledgehammer, then blowtorched it, then attached a post-it note to it reading "I sincerely hope the company go the way of this soundcard" and posted it to crapative :D
03-10-2009, 06:46 AM
karateo

Downloading now to use on Vista x64
so I only need:

X-Fi MB Software 138MB (recompressed for much smaller DL size)
and
Realtek Vista X-Fi mod driver R2.17 15MB

right?
Many many thanks Ket :)
03-10-2009, 06:59 AM
Ket

Don't use the X-Fi software, doesn't work on Vista. Driver does tho.
03-10-2009, 07:40 AM
ToTTenTranz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Theres no emulation taking place AFAIK, which means the Realtek chip can do it ;) AFAIK all the way up to EAX 4.0 anyway its all software doing the job, EAX 5 is hardware with a X-Fi.

EMU20K1 and EMU20K2 (X-Fi and X-Fi Titanium except for XtremeAudio, notebook and USB versions): Accelerates all EAX versions through hardware.
EMU10K2 (Audigy 1 and 2, except for SE, Value, LS and notebook/USB versions): Accelerates EAX 4.0 and inferior through hardware.
EMU10K1 (Live! except for "24 bit" version) and nVidia Soundstorm: Accelerates EAX 1.0 and 2.0 through hardware.

Everything else does any EAX version through the CPU. There's no DSP functionality in realtek's codecs or in (your beloved) Xonar's rebranded CMI8788 from C-Media, because they're just simple codecs.

Having the CPU to emulate EAX 4.0 is heavy. I know this because I'm using a X-Fi Surround 5.1 USB card (non-eax capable hardware), and turning on EAX 4.0 or emulating OpenAL hardware will give me better surround sound, but it will also lower my framerate in newer games, because my C2D T7200 2.0Ghz gets overloaded.
With a quad-core or a 3+Ghz dual-core I don't think this would happen, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Vote with your feet, buy a Xonar :up:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Buy a Xonar :up: ZERO problems with drivers nomatter the OS your using :cool:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Giving it away is too good for a X-Fi... should of smashed it into a million bits with a sledgehammer, then blowtorched it, then attached a post-it note to it reading "I sincerely hope the company go the way of this soundcard" and posted it to crapative :D

Blatant advertising and any anti-company cheap trolling is forbidden in this forum. Reported.
03-10-2009, 07:44 AM
karateo

Just tried your drivers and to be honest i found them to have lower quality than the original realtek drivers.
Just went back to latest realtek ones as i like the quality and i don't expect wonders from an onboard sound card :D

thank you though for your effort
03-10-2009, 08:20 AM
Ket

2 Attachment(s)

Here are some results a TPU user done with RMAA(LINK). Quality is CERTAINLY better. First SS are with 2.17 vanilla, 2nd SS are with 2.17 "X-Fi".
03-10-2009, 08:27 AM
Ket

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToTTenTranz

EMU20K1 and EMU20K2 (X-Fi and X-Fi Titanium except for XtremeAudio, notebook and USB versions): Accelerates all EAX versions through hardware.
EMU10K2 (Audigy 1 and 2, except for SE, Value, LS and notebook/USB versions): Accelerates EAX 4.0 and inferior through hardware.
EMU10K1 (Live! except for "24 bit" version) and nVidia Soundstorm: Accelerates EAX 1.0 and 2.0 through hardware.

Everything else does any EAX version through the CPU. There's no DSP functionality in realtek's codecs or in (your beloved) Xonar's rebranded CMI8788 from C-Media, because they're just simple codecs.

Having the CPU to emulate EAX 4.0 is heavy. I know this because I'm using a X-Fi Surround 5.1 USB card (non-eax capable hardware), and turning on EAX 4.0 or emulating OpenAL hardware will give me better surround sound, but it will also lower my framerate in newer games, because my C2D T7200 2.0Ghz gets overloaded.
With a quad-core or a 3+Ghz dual-core I don't think this would happen, though.

Blatant advertising and any anti-company cheap trolling is forbidden in this forum. Reported.

Your sounding very much like a troll. I'm recommending people buy a Xonar over a X-Fi for clear reasons - its a better card. Next you will be saying other members are "blatantly advertising" and being "anti-company" in the audio section where people recommend the Xonar, Auzentech prelude, X-Plosion, etc, over a X-Fi :ROTF: You will also notice I have recommended the Xonar when people have bought soundcards up, otherwise keeping to the point of this thread (and even the sidenotes are still relative). Idiot. For the sake of NOT taking this thread off topic I'll refrain from picking the rest of your post apart.

ED - Heres a review of the Xonar DX @ The Tech Report. Now, back to the topic in hand, peoples experiences with the driver.
03-10-2009, 08:55 AM
Movieman

These damned scratchy hats I have to put on;
Gentlemen;
Please refrain from attacking one another.
Keep a perspective please.
It's just parts..Good or bad it's just parts.
Not worth getting upset about.
Friends first and remember,the less I type the less I feel the effects of the carpal tunnel.. :D
Thanks for reading!
03-10-2009, 08:55 AM
B.E.E.F.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToTTenTranz

Having the CPU to emulate EAX 4.0 is heavy. I know this because I'm using a X-Fi Surround 5.1 USB card (non-eax capable hardware), and turning on EAX 4.0 or emulating OpenAL hardware will give me better surround sound, but it will also lower my framerate in newer games, because my C2D T7200 2.0Ghz gets overloaded.
With a quad-core or a 3+Ghz dual-core I don't think this would happen, though.

Well there's your problem. Why are you using the T7200? That's the part that's lowering your framerates.

BTW, there is no perceived difference between emulated and hardware unless you have ears like a bat.
03-10-2009, 09:13 AM
ToTTenTranz

Quote:

Originally Posted by B.E.E.F.

Well there's your problem. Why are you using the T7200? That's the part that's lowering your framerates.

BTW, there is no perceived difference between emulated and hardware unless you have ears like a bat.

I'm using a T7200 because it's the CPU that came with my laptop. And since it's a Merom, there's nothing really worth upgrading to :(

There's no difference at all between emulated and hardware in the way it sounds.
Just like comparing the difference in image quality between a 9500GT and a 9800GTX+... if you apply the same settings, they will render the exact same pixels in each frame. Performance, on the other hand, differs greatly.

I have no doubt a tri/quad-core or even a faster dual-core could handle EAX 4.0 with no problems (my T7200 only "complains" with last-gen games). But I'd advise the low-end CPU users to refrain from using this software, unless they upgrade the CPU or get an actual X-Fi.
03-10-2009, 10:14 AM
Jamesrt2004

Right I'll end it.... :)

If you have a lower specced computer i.e maybe a laptop or a lower-end dual/single core processor it might give you a bit of a performance hit :)

And People are entitled to their opinions on what hardware they like etc.... :)

end of :P:
03-10-2009, 10:34 AM
B.E.E.F.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToTTenTranz

I'm using a T7200 because it's the CPU that came with my laptop. And since it's a Merom, there's nothing really worth upgrading to :(

OK. try this: Change your power settings to throttle the CPU to 100%, then come back and say software emulation of sound makes your games lag. You do realize your cpu is being dynamically adjusted, even more aggressively then a desktop one. For battery life.

BTW, if you're using Vista you're getting software emulation anyways.
03-10-2009, 12:16 PM
ToTTenTranz

Ok, so I decided to do some homework on this subject.

Last month, Gigabyte launched something called X-Fi MB.
This is a software suite, developed by Creative, that enables software emulation of some of Creative's exclusive features in conjunction with a realtek codec.

This software suite isn't new. Creative has made EAX 4.0 and 2nd gen CMSS-3D available to non-EMUx0Kxx (the first being EMU10K1 from SB Live!) cards for quite a while now.
The first card to support it was the Audigy SE, a Creative card with a simple CA-0106 codec, but supported all the Audigy's features through software emulation.

My own laptop, Inspiron 9400, had the Audigy Advanced MB as a software upgrade option, and it has a Sigmatel STAC9200 stereo codec.
The only difference between Audigy Advanced MB and X-FI MB is the Crystalizer, which started as a hardware feature for EMU20K1 cards, but was later dumbed down to fit mp3 players and non-EMU20K1 cards.

The X-Fi MB in Gigabyte's website consists of:

- Altered realtek drivers, with the driver GUI changed so it looks like an X-Fi (for free, Vista-only), but they're still pretty much realtek's drivers;
- Creative's own X-Fi MB software suite (30-day trial).

What the modder did was to change the gigabyte/realtek driver to bypass the hardware ID verification and install in any Realtek Azalia codec in Vista/XP. Kudos for that, but its usefulness is quite questionable, as I'll explain later.

The problem is, while in Creative (EMUxKxx or not) cards the driver itself enables Crystalizer, Alchemy, CMSS and EAX4, in the "MB" versions it's the software suite that enables this feature.
So unless the software suite is installed, having this driver is as usefull as.. well as nothing, really..

Some people in the techpowerup forums (I counted 3) are claiming better analog quality.. This is either placebo or they were using old-as-hell and faulty realtek drivers to start with. It's like saying I modded my X1900XT driver to support shader model 4..
No software update provides better analog output. Anyone with a little knowledge on digital signal processing and D/A conversion knows this. After the sound stream has passed to the analog dimension, there's nothing the software can do.
If the codec, the DAC and the digital sound source is the same, the quality of the analog output is.. the same.
What they could have experienced was a different pre-equalization in the driver, something they could have tweaked from the start with their old driver. However if both drivers are in "flat" mode, the sound will be the same.

Judging from the techpowerup thread, not everyone has successfully installed this modded driver. Within those who did, not everyone could install the software suite, rendering the modded driver completely useless. Unless you like Creative's driver GUI, of course.

So this is just that, an interesting mod that works on some (very few, apparently) non-Gigabyte realtek codecs. However, its usability only works during the 30-day trial (assuming all the features work at all, which has not been proved so far), or more if you decide to pay $30 for it. But with $30 you can buy an XtremeAudio, which does exactly the same but should have better analog connections.

A techpowerup user tried to explain this in the original thread, but he was trolled to death (ironically being called a troll himself). I guess the techpowerup's "hive mind" is so eager to finding impossible modding miracles (like turning their crappy realtek onboard codec with 2 million transistors into a full-fledged X-Fi with 50 million transistors) that they chose to flame the first person with a reasonable opinion on the matter.
03-10-2009, 12:16 PM
DuduMan007

Hi Ket:) can you please modd the P5Q sound driver from Asus Website? cause the original realtek drivers

are not 100% compattible with the Asus P5Q MBs and becuase of that there is one issue

that bugs and is that the sound is not louder especially in headphones

Thanks in advance;)
03-10-2009, 12:34 PM
ToTTenTranz

Quote:

Originally Posted by B.E.E.F.

OK. try this: Change your power settings to throttle the CPU to 100%, then come back and say software emulation of sound makes your games lag. You do realize your cpu is being dynamically adjusted, even more aggressively then a desktop one. For battery life.

Been there, done that. This is a 17" laptop and it's always connected to the power plug. I have it constantly in High performance and the max and min processor state is 100%, just to make sure this doesn't happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by B.E.E.F.

BTW, if you're using Vista you're getting software emulation anyways.

Using Vista doesn't mean you'll only have software emulation. With OpenAL games the X-Fi accelerates just fine and for older games the Alchemy works flawlessly.
I am using software emulation because my soundcard, the USB X-Fi Surround 5.1 isn't a "real" (EMU20K1-equipped) X-Fi.
It's just a codec that uses software emulation for all X-Fi features, pretty much like the X-Fi XtremeAudio and these motherboard solutions.
That's why I know of these downsides with the performance.
03-10-2009, 03:51 PM
Ket

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToTTenTranz

What the modder did was to change the gigabyte/realtek driver to bypass the hardware ID verification and install in any Realtek Azalia codec in Vista/XP. Kudos for that, but its usefulness is quite questionable, as I'll explain later.

The problem is, while in Creative (EMUxKxx or not) cards the driver itself enables Crystalizer, Alchemy, CMSS and EAX4, in the "MB" versions it's the software suite that enables this feature.
So unless the software suite is installed, having this driver is as usefull as.. well as nothing, really..

Very wrong. Again I'll point you to THIS. Those results are with JUST my modded driver, not the crapative software suit. People also did not flame you, you flamed us.
03-10-2009, 03:54 PM
Ket

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuduMan007

Hi Ket:) can you please modd the P5Q sound driver from Asus Website? cause the original realtek drivers

are not 100% compattible with the Asus P5Q MBs and becuase of that there is one issue

that bugs and is that the sound is not louder especially in headphones

Thanks in advance;)

My modded driver should work on the ALC1200 codec. Generic Realtek drivers work fine on the codec, and my modded drivers are the generic Realtek release, only modded :D
03-10-2009, 04:23 PM
ToTTenTranz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Very wrong. Again I'll point you to THIS. Those results are with JUST my modded driver, not the crapative software suit. People also did not flame you, you flamed us.

All the distortion values are exactly the same between the drivers. There's no magic happening.

If you want to know what the rest means, read this and this. You'll know that noise level and dynamic range cannot be used as measuring means since they can be artificially altered.
03-10-2009, 05:15 PM
Ket

Distortion values are not everything. Other figures prove my point exactly, vanilla Realtek drivers are not very good and can be better. Both screenshots show that clearly between vanilla and modded drivers. You seem to ignore everything people say and put in front of your face. Have you even read the main thread on TPU? As far as I've read everybody has noticed a improvement in whatever area they use their sound in. I'm tempted to go into rediculous detail on everything to shut you up for good as all you are doing is trying to piss over what has been done and discredit regardless of what endless user responses say. For the sake of (again) not trawling this thread off topic (which just to remind you as I'm sure you have forgotten by now, is to record peoples experiences) I'll refrain from doing so.
03-11-2009, 12:36 AM
ToTTenTranz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Distortion values are not everything. Other figures prove my point exactly, vanilla Realtek drivers are not very good and can be better. Both screenshots show that clearly between vanilla and modded drivers. You seem to ignore everything people say and put in front of your face. Have you even read the main thread on TPU? As far as I've read everybody has noticed a improvement in whatever area they use their sound in. I'm tempted to go into rediculous detail on everything to shut you up for good as all you are doing is trying to piss over what has been done and discredit regardless of what endless user responses say. For the sake of (again) not trawling this thread off topic (which just to remind you as I'm sure you have forgotten by now, is to record peoples experiences) I'll refrain from doing so.

1 - Saying "the sound is better", "vanilla realtek drivers aren't good" and making circles around that won't make the sound better. There's no logic at all in a driver change making the sound better (unless it was to correct hiss and pop issues i.e.), so you would have to prove it. Since all the "hard proof" you have is a couple of screens that you, aparently, don't even understand, I have to conclude it's not making the sound better.

2 - I saw the thread from top to bottom and I only saw roughly 3 users who installed it successfully and claimed "better sound" (as in, they liked the different pre-equalization values). Most of them couldn't install either the driver or the software suite, rendering the mod useless.

3 - Please, do go into "rediculous" detail on everything and try to shut me up for good. As far as I can tell, it would be your first post with some factual information and not something superficial like "the new driver sounds better", "buy an asus xonar" and "creative suckz0rs" -> both here an in the techpowerup forums.

4 - I am respectfully making a point with hard facts and proof about the thread's subject. It's not offtopic and it's certainly not trolling.
03-11-2009, 02:28 AM
jasonelmore

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Don't use the X-Fi software, doesn't work on Vista. Driver does tho.

The X-Fi Software works on Vista X64. I used it fine for 3 months before I reformatted.

Do you mean that the software you have linked does'nt work or are you saying creative software in general does'nt work in vista?
03-11-2009, 02:46 AM
Coldon

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that the asus xonar cards, don't have hardware acceleration. If anything they are overpriced versions of recording studio sound cards just with added dts certification. All they've done is put higher quality components and a nice op amp on a software audio codec.
03-11-2009, 02:54 AM
zanzabar

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Odd.. I dont get that unsupported device thing. Closest I had to it was when I cleared out all creative / realtek stuff with driver cleaner. All I had to do was reinstall the ATi HDMI R2.03 driver from realtek.

dose it work with the HDMI on ati cards
03-11-2009, 02:58 AM
ToTTenTranz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coldon

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that the asus xonar cards, don't have hardware acceleration. If anything they are overpriced versions of recording studio sound cards just with added dts certification. All they've done is put higher quality components and a nice op amp on a software audio codec.

I did.. some 4 or 5 times in this thread already :P
03-11-2009, 04:47 AM
Jamesrt2004

Quote:

Originally Posted by zanzabar

dose it work with the HDMI on ati cards

yep, worked for me :)
03-11-2009, 04:48 AM
jasonelmore

yeah xonar sucks
03-12-2009, 04:47 PM
BababooeyHTJ

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Buy a Xonar :up: ZERO problems with drivers nomatter the OS your using :cool:

I don't know man my Xonar DX sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies. My XtremeAudio was an upgrade.

Im going to have to give this driver a shot. The creative softwre allways worked fine on Vista x64 for me. :shrug:
03-16-2009, 04:28 PM
Ket

I'm back guys, had some system downtime. I took my PSY apart to put a fan in (which anoyingly wont fit, than this PSU has isnt _quite_ 140mm so holes dont line up :cuss: ) and I noticed a capacitor was really squashed and leaking :eek: I deffinately didn't do it, so how it passed QC I don't know. All is now well though :D Also during my time away I worked on a new mod driver, this is for the R2.18 release, and for XP users at least fix the the following;

- Missing EQ in Realtek CP
- Missing 3D positional audio

Check first post for Vista and XP dl links :up:

BababooeyHTJ; Thats real unlucky man, I think you just got a bad card.
03-17-2009, 04:34 PM
ToTTenTranz

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaptCrunch

vista32
yeah i found i had to set all of creative apps to XPsp2 mode works fine now

I used Vista 64bit with a XtremeMusic for 2 years and never had to do that..

Right now, I'm using a X-Fi Surround 5.1 with a laptop with Vista 64bit, and I also don't have any of those problems..
03-18-2009, 11:04 AM
Donnie27

Quote:

Originally Posted by KaptCrunch

vista32
yeah i found i had to set all of creative apps to XPsp2 mode works fine now

Creative X-Fi Platinum in 32bit MCE and Vista, all drivers and apps work.
Auzentech Prelude using Creative Software Apps LOL! I left the YouP_Pax driver installed from the last Creative Card I had installed.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpo...&postcount=226

So we go from very bad to only bad?
03-18-2009, 03:49 PM
Ket

Its a noticable improvement for 99% of people, so its all good :up: Drivers can't fix bad hardware (Realtek) but when done properly they can at least get the best out of it.
03-18-2009, 06:25 PM
Donnie27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

Its a noticable improvement for 99% of people, so its all good :up: Drivers can't fix bad hardware (Realtek) but when done properly they can at least get the best out of it.

True, it was just a question and I didn't mean anything nasty:up:
03-19-2009, 11:04 AM
Jamesrt2004

slacking ;) R2.19 is out :P

haha
like the work your doing =]
03-19-2009, 12:59 PM
BababooeyHTJ

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ket

I'm back guys, had some system downtime. I took my PSY apart to put a fan in (which anoyingly wont fit, than this PSU has isnt _quite_ 140mm so holes dont line up :cuss: ) and I noticed a capacitor was really squashed and leaking :eek: I deffinately didn't do it, so how it passed QC I don't know. All is now well though :D Also during my time away I worked on a new mod driver, this is for the R2.18 release, and for XP users at least fix the the following;

- Missing EQ in Realtek CP
- Missing 3D positional audio

Check first post for Vista and XP dl links :up:

BababooeyHTJ; Thats real unlucky man, I think you just got a bad card.

I think that it was a compatibility issue on my 780i. Ive heard a few other nforce owners with the same complaints. Im not sure if it was due to software or hardware.
Ive been slacking on instaling this driver, so I havent gotten to try it out yet. I have been meaning to, but Im a procrastonator.
03-22-2009, 02:21 AM
Jamesrt2004

just wondering, if you can do this with the realtek chip then are you able to reproduce the same sort of thing on say the xonar?
03-24-2009, 06:33 AM
Jamesrt2004

also,.... Ket :) another request, are you able to do this for the ATI HDMI driver :P??? or no point?
01-13-2010, 06:36 AM
Demo

Does this work under Windows 7 ?
03-07-2010, 06:56 AM
[XC] Oj101

Ket I would just like to say there is NO placebo effect here. Last week I upgraded from 7057 to retail Windows 7 and since then my sound has been crap. I had no idea why but music sounded empty and I couldn't pinpoint exactly where gunfire originated in BF2. I just (as in an hour ago) realised what happened while going through Device Manager to remove my graphics drivers, including the ATI HD Audio driver and... Realtek XFi is now just Realtek HD. I downloaded your driver again and installed it and the effects are IMMEDIATELY noticable. My music seems to have more of a 'driving force' behind it - I have no idea how to explain it but that's how it sounds. BF2 is also sounding the way it was meant to be played once more :D Thank you very much for this driver, it DOES make a difference :)
03-07-2010, 01:52 PM
PaganII

Hi Ket. I'm sort of confused here about what's going on with people mentioning different cards that I'm not very familiar with. I am using Creative SB X-FIs both pci and Titanium on XP rigs and very familiar with the add on software, speaker calibration, THX etc as I often test sound before gaming.
My question is: Planning a new W7-64 rig (AMD AM3 > AMD 890GX/SB850 > M4A89GTD PRO/USB3) and using the new onboard ALC 892 HD CODEC at first. Will your driver be of any use for onboard audio?
Thanks
11-05-2010, 12:21 PM
[XC] Oj101

Ket, the download links are dead :(
11-06-2010, 07:58 PM
NEOAethyr

Is this even worth anything though?
Like can I use a few perameq's and a reverb for effects like I could with the original soundstorm drivers?

Currently, in win7, all I get is cheap bs effects.
I miss my peramic eq's lol.
And my realtime stereo/mono to dolby digital 5.1 encoding... miss that one alot too.
11-11-2010, 08:14 AM
Donnie27

Quote:

Originally Posted by NEOAethyr

Is this even worth anything though?
Like can I use a few perameq's and a reverb for effects like I could with the original soundstorm drivers?

Currently, in win7, all I get is cheap bs effects.
I miss my peramic eq's lol.
And my realtime stereo/mono to dolby digital 5.1 encoding... miss that one alot too.

Please note, I barely commented in this thread because of known bashers of anything Creative labs. I wasn't going to get anywhere. I've been accused of working for Intel, I don't, both ATI and nVidia and I work for Neither, and most of all, Creative Labs, I don't work for them, get free cards from them or etc..... I know folks who had problems with Creative and Asus sound cards. Only a fool thinks computer hardware is without faults, bugs and or errata.

What several posters here have said is true. They were quickly called Trolls by folks who trolling themselves. These Hacked Drivers showed up about the time Creative's X-Fi Xtreme Audio did. Software solution for something done in Hardware by the sound card.

I got most of the apps to work really well by simply fully installing and updating my X-Fi card. Then shutting down and removing the card. Booted up my Foxconn P45SA 775 and Q9550. There was one little problem, even Creative's "crap hardware as Ket called" sounds better than the on board stuff. Xonar's better hardware either "COLORS" the sound too much. I know the new X-Fi drivers were moded because old drivers would crash when I ran them on anything but a Creative card.
11-11-2010, 11:58 AM
NEOAethyr

With the new drivers, realtek, you can't adjust anything, you can only pick out of the handful of effect names, like hall, room, stadium, etc.
With the old school drivers you could make your own config.

Just a guess...
Perhaps the x-fi drivers have a better stock effect config.
Maybe that's the diffrence you guys are hearing.
That's what I'm thinking.

Not that it is a gimick or bs.
That would be a real inprovement actually.

I hate the new realtek drivers.
The control panel sucks and you can't change a darn thing, you can only pick form preset effect configs and they all suck.

I might try this x-fi driver for the realtek's out later on for my dfi 790fx.
Some time or another I'll try it out.
At the moment though, my current system uses a via chip, the asus crosshair 4.
Supposedly it can use the x-fi driver's or cpl, but I haven't beeen able to figuer that out yet.

Win7's built in effect config for the speaker out is slightly better then the default realtek cpl stuff.
Bass boost (lowers other freq db's though to make the boost).
Loudness eq, but that is only useful for crappy audio tracks that are pre-mixed to low.
Not much..., but better then nothing.
11-15-2010, 01:24 PM
Donnie27

Quote:

Originally Posted by NEOAethyr

With the new drivers, realtek, you can't adjust anything, you can only pick out of the handful of effect names, like hall, room, stadium, etc.
With the old school drivers you could make your own config.

Not much..., but better then nothing.

Because Vista and Windows 7 removed sound for System Mode or Hardware based to User or Software Mode. Each change of software can and does change the sound, sometimes for the better, other times for the worse.

All motherboards needs are better Opamps, ADC's and DACs. Old AOpen did it, it is time for someone to do it again.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha...aopenax4btube/

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