X-Fi Titanium Fatality or Asus Xonar D2X/XDT/A?

[XSAlliN]

When using an hd codec like the one in xonar I would lose all that realism.

Don't you mean special effects?

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Honestly I did tried it with a lot of games and fallowed a lot of guides based on each game, but doesn't give the same result as it those with XP automatically. I used it with "The Witcher" last time, and with it Enabled, I couldn't hear the rain drops or the footsteps. All this based on different settings (personal or used by other users from creative forum). Even with that minus I still tried it, expecting some difference - and it did give me that difference by crashing the game (fallowed the error report and lead back to alchemy). Most users are just happy if they can find a way to enable EAX with some games in Vista -and when they do their so excited that don't realize the lack off certain sounds. Only after mentioning about that, they came to realize that EAX doesn't give them a plus of sound but a minus. You might say Alchemy is a DS emulator for Vista and a resampler in the same time but not a capable one and I'm not the first one who said that and definitely won't be the last. Just try and make a comparison between all you games in XP with EAX enabled, compared to Vista by Alchemy. I did that after moving to Vista and that was a waste of time, by trying to accomplish the impossible from a "user" point of view. As mentioned before Vista killed EAX (DirectSound3D), or crippled it so badly that's not worth using with Vista. If I want EAX, I switch back to XP

[ToTTenTranz]

Don't you mean special effects?

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Honestly I did tried it with a lot of games and fallowed a lot of guides based on each game, but doesn't give the same result as it those with XP automatically. I used it with "The Witcher" last time, and with it Enabled, I couldn't hear the rain drops or the footsteps. All this based on different settings (personal or used by other users from creative forum). Even with that minus I still tried it, expecting some difference - and it did give me that difference by crashing the game (fallowed the error report and lead back to alchemy). Most users are just happy if they can find a way to enable EAX with some games in Vista -and when they do their so excited that don't realize the lack off certain sounds. Only after mentioning about that, they came to realize that EAX doesn't give them a plus of sound but a minus. You might say Alchemy is a DS emulator for Vista and a resampler in the same time but not a capable one and I'm not the first one who said that and definitely won't be the last. Just try and make a comparison between all you games in XP with EAX enabled, compared to Vista by Alchemy. I did that after moving to Vista and that was a waste of time, by trying to accomplish the impossible from a "user" point of view. As mentioned before Vista killed EAX (DirectSound3D), or crippled it so badly that's not worth using with Vista. If I want EAX, I switch back to XP

So besides The Witcher, what other games gave you problems in Vista using Alchemy?

[DukeDaal]

Don't you mean special effects?

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Honestly I did tried it with a lot of games and fallowed a lot of guides based on each game, but doesn't give the same result as it those with XP automatically. I used it with "The Witcher" last time, and with it Enabled, I couldn't hear the rain drops or the footsteps. All this based on different settings (personal or used by other users from creative forum). Even with that minus I still tried it, expecting some difference - and it did give me that difference by crashing the game (fallowed the error report and lead back to alchemy). Most users are just happy if they can find a way to enable EAX with some games in Vista -and when they do their so excited that don't realize the lack off certain sounds. Only after mentioning about that, they came to realize that EAX doesn't give them a plus of sound but a minus. You might say Alchemy is a DS emulator for Vista and a resampler in the same time but not a capable one and I'm not the first one who said that and definitely won't be the last. Just try and make a comparison between all you games in XP with EAX enabled, compared to Vista by Alchemy. I did that after moving to Vista and that was a waste of time, by trying to accomplish the impossible from a "user" point of view. As mentioned before Vista killed EAX (DirectSound3D), or crippled it so badly that's not worth using with Vista. If I want EAX, I switch back to XP

My god... can't they just make something work I mean jesus.... Just have 1 SOUND CARD THAT DOES IT ALLL!!!!

Now I am probably going to go with xonar but say... hmmm I am missing those game immersive sounds....

[ROBSCIX]

The Xonar has GX 2.0 which gives some effects in games. They are not quite the quality of hardware effects from a KX series DSP chip found in the X-fi's but the GX drivers will make you games sound much better then without it. That is if you decide to go with the Xonar card. I have used the Prelude for gaming in both XP and VIsta and had little to no issues you install ALchemy if your game needs it configure it and leave it alone...not as hard as some make it out to be. Mnay new games use Native OpenAL so they don't need ALchemy at all... they have hardware accelerated effects right out of the box in Vista.

[XSAlliN]

True, but it's good enough and works better (compatibility/stability related) and automatic you don't have to bother with special settings like you do with Alchemy. On the other hand it need's more CPU, like 6% - 8% compared to 2%-4% of X-FI (the hardware capable of acceleration - X-Fi XM and above). To bad most of us have Durons and Celerons and we have to save as much CPU as possible. How I wish I could afford a powerful CPU like the High-End E2160, but it's 67 $ - only millionaires could afford that.

If only somebody capable would fix EAX to work with Vista, so that Creative could buy it from them cause obviously they're not good at what their doing (OpenAl -was not developed by Creative, they just bough it from it).

Another reason why I would pick Xonar over Creative - COMPONENTS QUALITY!! As some smart user discovered Creative X-FI XtremeMusic could be much better if modded with quality components (the secret behind Prelude). Xonar already came with quality components, even cheap models use them (except DAC's).

Creative cards were never cheap for what they have to offer and always picked profit over Quality. If it works is good enough for them. They do have so capable engineers, that ones that developed their chips but it's not up to them regarding the quality of the components used and when it comes to software that's simply their worst domain, only with a miracle they have some success (or with external sources). On their defense, they're no the only ones with software problems and part of them is Microsoft's fault.

[ROBSCIX]

Creative Labs does not own OpenAL. It is a open standard and there have been many people working on it's development.

[XSAlliN]

OpenAL was originally developed by Loki Software in order to help them in their business of porting Windows games to Linux. After the demise of Loki, the project was maintained for a while by the free software/open source community — but it is now hosted (and largely developed) by Creative Technology with on-going support from Apple and free software/open source enthusiasts.

It' true others help to, but Creative gets the benefits.

[Quantum 9598]

True, but it's good enough and works better (compatibility/stability related) and automatic you don't have to bother with special settings like you do with Alchemy. On the other hand it need's more CPU, like 6% - 8% compared to 2%-4% of X-FI (the hardware capable of acceleration - X-Fi XM and above). To bad most of us have Durons and Celerons and we have to save as much CPU as possible. How I wish I could afford a powerful CPU like the High-End E2160, but it's 67 $ - only millionaires could afford that.

If only somebody capable would fix EAX to work with Vista, so that Creative could buy it from them cause obviously they're not good at what their doing (OpenAl -was not developed by Creative, they just bough it from it).

Another reason why I would pick Xonar over Creative - COMPONENTS QUALITY!! As some smart user discovered Creative X-FI XtremeMusic could be much better if modded with quality components (the secret behind Prelude). Xonar already came with quality components, even cheap models use them (except DAC's).

Creative cards were never cheap for what they have to offer and always picked profit over Quality. If it works is good enough for them. They do have so capable engineers, that ones that developed their chips but it's not up to them regarding the quality of the components used and when it comes to software that's simply their worst domain, only with a miracle they have some success (or with external sources). On their defense, they're no the only ones with software problems and part of them is Microsoft's fault.

Agree. Creative was selling their marketing program rather than a real quality "audio" product. My experience with Creative was quite bad with their bloated software and customer support. Moreover, after i tried Xonar, then I knew how significant audio quality difference it could be, especially for some music over headphones, and great speakers. You guys can try RightMark 3D Sound Analyzer demo sounds to test on onboard codec, Creative X-Fi, and Xonar with a pair of headphones and you will find the suprising differences. I guess it's mainly due to the much better THD+N/IMD performance (-108dB) on Xonar, which could be verified easily with the bundled RMAA program.

Prelude is better than Creative's cards with their DAC compoments but it's still not as good as Xonar's output quality according to the RMAA test results from many review sites.

[gxavier]

I'd go with the Xonar. When my X-Fi finally grows old or dies, I'll be switching to the Asus line of cards... unless creative whips something new out that can beat it.

I wouldn't worry about the lack of EAX 5

[tweaked]

X-Fi Titanium Fatality PCI-E


never a problem with it, Alchemy works fine, never had to muck about to get it to work.

Vista compatibility is a long dead issue.

[ShArKo]

so..I got a similary problem........need a new sound card. My Supreme FX II sucks, and I got a 5.1 in my room.

So I need to know wich one is better for music/games/HD-MOVIES....Xonar DX2 or X-FI Fatal1ty???? (PCI). My O.S Is Vista 64 Bits, but I can go back on XP SP3 :p

Thanks for the helps guys

[GAR]

I have the X-FI, i use it for everything, gaming, moves, music, and music creation through ASIO, works perfect!!! Xonas is a good card, but not for gamers, it is slower, and has crackling in some games. Plus you need another power connector, also uses a pci-e bridge, x-fi titanium is a native pci-e card.

[Jamesrt2004]

I have the X-FI, i use it for everything, gaming, moves, music, and music creation through ASIO, works perfect!!! Xonas is a good card, but not for gamers, it is slower, and has crackling in some games. Plus you need another power connector, also uses a pci-e bridge, x-fi titanium is a native pci-e card.

A frame or 2 doesn't matter here and there, I use my X-fi for everything but going to upgrade to Xonar.. all I get is fuzz fuzz crackle and things like CMS3d just not working.
but them I listen to music most anyway

[PRJ]

My experience with Creative's recent sound cards have been like many others: POP! POP! POP! POP! BLUE SCREEN!

I'd highly advise NOT buying anything from Creative because you never know if you will have some conflict or not, and they do not update their drivers. As it stands right now, the last update for the X-Fi drivers (not software) was when they made a Vista version of the driver. The last update for XP was when the card was relased in 2005, and back then, Nvidias forceware version 77.77 worked fine with the X-Fi, but later Nvidia graphics drivers did not.

I replaced my X-Fi with a Xonar D2 and did not look back. No pops or periodic blue screens and the sound quality is ten times better as well. I wouldn't be too concerned about hardware acceleration with a sound card - it's pretty much a myth as the benefits are so very minor anyway to be completely honest. And as for EAX effects, the Xonar will now play anything the X-Fi will while sounding a lot better doing it.

The PCI-E cards are just PCI cards with a PCI-E bridge crossover card installed, so get whatever is cheaper.

I have BSOD once every 10 or 15 boot and no more creative soundcards for me, nice to see that its not just my setup.

[MrHydes]

I have BSOD once every 10 or 15 boot and no more creative soundcards for me, nice to see that its not just my setup.

same with mine X-FI titanium and same with X-FI Xtremegamer Pro FPS

[Donnie27]

same with mine X-FI titanium and same with X-FI Xtremegamer Pro FPS

WOW! Holy late replies Batman! Auzentech X-Fi Prelude still kicks Asus' @$$!