Choose the soundcard for me

[Frag Maniac]

Yes, of course it uses Creative components. Any sound card in fact is subject to the driver updates the main chip (DSP) the manufacturer issues (in this case it's the whole X-Fi chipset). The difference however is the details of the driver support. There's a lot more to drivers than their main components. Often times they need minor tweaks to resolve issues, doesn't mean the main components change. For instance the drivers Angel Trinidad ("Omegaman") made for ATI GPUs (and also Nvidia for a little while), commonly referred to as Omega drivers, were basically the drivers issued for those products that he streamlined, refined, and added fixes to, which often gave a bit of a performance boost and/or minimized or eliminated problems people were having.

[F@32]

Based on personal experience with Vista and 7 64 bit I swore to stay away from Creative and X-Fi. Go Asus.

[Source]

Have the Forte here on an Windows 7 machine, before Windows Vista.
No problems what so ever.

[Mescalamba]

Forte has own drivers and only connection with Creative is chip used, which is good. Never failed me and sound great. Tough, Ill get Prelude probably as I want switchable OPAMPs for headphone output.

[mattkosem]

Forte has own drivers and only connection with Creative is chip used, which is good.

I'm sorry, but that's really not true. Look at the driver files. They're all made by Creative. They even use the same installer.

--Matt

[Donnie27]

I'm sorry, but that's really not true. Look at the driver files. They're all made by Creative. They even use the same installer.

--Matt

I almost posted in this thread Matt but didn't until now. I'd tried to explain to at least 3 of the posters here but they didn't seem to be bothered with Facts, not my opinion. While the Prelude is a quite different from the older X-Fi with the same DSP, the Forte is closer to the Titanium.

Auzentech, Rocketfish, Asus, and MSI use Creative's drivers. They tweak and twist them, but they're still Creative's.

[YukonTrooper]

I almost posted in this thread Matt but didn't until now. I'd tried to explain to at least 3 of the posters here but they didn't seem to be bothered with Facts, not my opinion. While the Prelude is a quite different from the older X-Fi with the same DSP, the Forte is closer to the Titanium.

Auzentech, Rocketfish, Asus, and MSI use Creative's drivers. They tweak and twist them, but they're still Creative's.

But Creative's drivers are the essence of Satan and everyone knows they don't work, no matter what! Not a single X-Fi has ever worked properly! Lies, I say, lies!

[mattkosem]

But Creative's drivers are the essence of Satan and everyone knows they don't work, no matter what! Not a single X-Fi has ever worked properly! Lies, I say, lies!

TBQH, my only gripe with Creative's drivers is their crap ASIO support. I've been happy with my X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty so far otherwise.

--Matt

[Frag Maniac]

Whoa, we have a statement above that completely distorts the reality if you are unaware. A driver created by someone, then tweaked to make improvements by someone else, is often an entirely different thing from the original in how well it performs. So to say Auzentech just tweaks them but they're Creative drivers is quite misleading. That's like saying W7 is Vista because it's based on Vista.

The main thing I'm concerned about at this point, since the W7 issues seem to have been worked out, is how well the Forte fits on Giga X58 MBs. I am mainly concerned about whether it clears the south bridge HS (mounted in top Pci-Ex slot), and if there are any incompatibility issues at all. If anyone has used it on a Giga X58, please respond.

[Biker]

I use the Prelude in a high end Hi-Fi set up and I have to say it kicks righteous a$$

Especially when compared to a few Creative's and the odd Terratec card I have tried.

I will never upgrade this card as long as I have a PCI slot to run it in

I do not use headphones with it so I do not miss the lack of headphone amp....

Recommended (if you can find one and have a PCI slot free).

Prelude + Rotel + Acoustic Energy = B L I S S

[mattkosem]

I use the Prelude in a high end Hi-Fi set up and I have to say it kicks righteous a$$

Especially when compared to a few Creative's and the odd Terratec card I have tried.

I will never upgrade this card as long as I have a PCI slot to run it in

I do not use headphones with it so I do not miss the lack of headphone amp....

Recommended (if you can find one and have a PCI slot free).

Prelude + Rotel + Acoustic Energy = B L I S S

What kind of DAC are you using between the Prelude and that Rotel amp? It's likely to have a bigger improvement on the sound quality than the card itself.

--Matt

[EniGmA1987]

He could just be going analog into the Rotel. Thats what I would do with a nice card like the Prelude. No sense having that card if you dont use its onboard processing capabilities.

[zsamz_]

i wouldnt buy a creative card
creative drivers suk 99% of the time
i got a forte and love it

[mattkosem]

He could just be going analog into the Rotel. Thats what I would do with a nice card like the Prelude. No sense having that card if you dont use its onboard processing capabilities.

To each his own I guess. It's generally accepted that a quality DAC outperforms the dac on a consumer-grade sound card, and reasonable all the way around. The sound card is in a turbulent environment from an EMI standpoint, especially in higher end computers that consume more power. The power supply is also not dedicated to the device or isolated from other devices, and provides a much poorer source of power than a proper audiophile component has.

His Rotel amp is likely >$1000, who knows which speakers he is running and how much they cost. It seems silly and nonsensical to feed it with a $200 source. An audio system is no better than its weakest link. After hearing the difference between the output on my X-Fi (which is, admittedly, not as high quality as the Prelude) and my DAC, I definitely won't be going back to an internal solution for my D/A conversion anytime soon. I've got an M2Tech Hiface on the way to replace my X-Fi, since it's currently my weakest link and the crap Creative ASIO drivers are so problematic when changing bit and sample rates between 16/44.1 and 24/96 tracks. It's all about the last 5% when you're running high-end hi-fi equipment.

--Matt

[chispy]

Auzentech X-FI Forte 7.1 or Auzentech X-FI Prelude 7.1 the best choice for you. I have a Forte in my gaming rig with a 5.1 Surround speaker system and it blows my other card wich its an ASUS Xonar Essence STX. The sounds on the Forte are crisp and clear and have a thumping bass in games , in music and movies my Forte sounds better than my Asus. I actually got a great bargain for my Forte , i bought it refurb with 1 year warranty from Auzentech and i paid only $90US Dollars for it , all the Fortes refurb have bben sold at the Auzentech website but they still have a few Preludes if you want one hurry up they sale like hot cakes.


Here Auzentech X-FI Prelude only $104US Dollars - http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/refurbished.php
It comes with everything as a new card including the one year warranty from them , awsome deal for those cards.
Good Luck and enjoy it.

[Donnie27]

But Creative's drivers are the essence of Satan and everyone knows they don't work, no matter what! Not a single X-Fi has ever worked properly! Lies, I say, lies!

Hehehehe!

Whoa, we have a statement above that completely distorts the reality if you are unaware. A driver created by someone, then tweaked to make improvements by someone else, is often an entirely different thing from the original in how well it performs. So to say Auzentech just tweaks them but they're Creative drivers is quite misleading. That's like saying W7 is Vista because it's based on Vista.

The main thing I'm concerned about at this point, since the W7 issues seem to have been worked out, is how well the Forte fits on Giga X58 MBs. I am mainly concerned about whether it clears the south bridge HS (mounted in top Pci-Ex slot), and if there are any incompatibility issues at all. If anyone has used it on a Giga X58, please respond.

So says the expert who hasn't tested the card

There aren't any improvements, merely flags and apps removed to be sold separately, like Creative Tool Box LOL! I have both the Xtreme Music and Prelude, the drivers aren't much different at all. Posters have mentioned this TO YOU before, why do persist? The only thing misleading here is YOU! The tweaks are more for software, not the hardware. I'm using W7 (tri-booted in fact) and with an Xtreme Music. Moved the Prelude to the home theater PCI haven't had any problems other than DRM, that has nothing to do with Creative. The main reason I've not dumped WinXP yet.

My motherboards are Foxconn (2 Foxconns), Gigabyte and Asus in the 4 computers in my home. They all have or had X-fi's of one kind or another.

TBQH, my only gripe with Creative's drivers is their crap ASIO support. I've been happy with my X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty so far otherwise.

--Matt

That's because Creative ASIO was made for Hardware DSP running in system mode. Vista and Win7 uses user mode. Each OS see things like ASIO as anti-DRM and that causes problems. I have 5.1 Analog recordings to prove it! They'll eventually killed WinXP because it has not Hang-ups like this.

He could just be going analog into the Rotel. Thats what I would do with a nice card like the Prelude. No sense having that card if you dont use its onboard processing capabilities.

That's what I do and love it! Even with a lowly Pioneer VSX 819H because I don't have enough better than CD Quality Source material to justify anything else.

[Donnie27]

To each his own I guess. It's generally accepted that a quality DAC outperforms the dac on a consumer-grade sound card, and reasonable all the way around. The sound card is in a turbulent environment from an EMI standpoint, especially in higher end computers that consume more power. The power supply is also not dedicated to the device or isolated from other devices, and provides a much poorer source of power than a proper audiophile component has.

His Rotel amp is likely >$1000, who knows which speakers he is running and how much they cost. It seems silly and nonsensical to feed it with a $200 source. An audio system is no better than its weakest link. After hearing the difference between the output on my X-Fi (which is, admittedly, not as high quality as the Prelude) and my DAC, I definitely won't be going back to an internal solution for my D/A conversion anytime soon. I've got an M2Tech Hiface on the way to replace my X-Fi, since it's currently my weakest link and the crap Creative ASIO drivers are so problematic when changing bit and sample rates between 16/44.1 and 24/96 tracks. It's all about the last 5% when you're running high-end hi-fi equipment.

--Matt

Again, do like a friend of mine told me to do. Build an el-cheapo system with a big hard drive/s and Prelude that might be slightly better for analog ASIO recordings. With a lower power power-supply, NO OVERCLOCKING, consumer grade non-gaming Video Card or On board and install Windows XP-32bit.

Either way Matt, good luck with whatever you install, great sounds are more important than any kind of sound card. Getting there is more important than how you got there! MY HTPC gets Zero EMI interference with my Prelude.
Since I stopped overclocking I get Zero interference from my Main rig with the Xtreme Music.

I like My Harmon Kardons in multi-ch direct or Analog mode as well.

[dr.noob]

Hi, from my experience you should go with ASUS if you have vista or W7.If you still use xp as i do, get x-fi.