Oh, and when using optical out, the drivers can be quite glitchy, especially when starting or switching between programs that want to use your audio configuration differenltly. Apparently DTS and DDL don't support 7.1 speaker systems? It only goes up to 5.1, and when I emailed creative about it, they simply said, "DDL and DTS support only 5.1 digital sound." I'm quite certain that means the sound card doesn't support 7.1 sound when using optical out. Pros: Let's see, pro's are, better quality sound than your average built in sound, optical out, and some hany sound features to do lots of fun things with.Ĭons: CONS. When listening to music (mp3's, etc) change it to "Audio Creation Mode", and enable Bit-Matching Playback.This basically uses hardware to upscale sound bitrate to max system rate. When gaming, set it to gaming mode (duh),when watching movies, set it to Entertainment Mode. With headphones on it sounds great, as long as you change the channel mode to "Headphones". To much can kill the bass in a song.ĬMSS-3D - Great in conjuction with headphones, for some reason, the settings page implies it upscales stereo to 5.1/7.1 surround sound, yet it literally doesn't have any effect with my speakers when playing an mp3 recorded in stearo format. Overall Review: This card shines when you activate and tweak the following settings:Ĭrystalizer - For most songs, turn this down to 10-20%, in songs like Poker Face, you may enjoy turning it up to 50%, but no more.
Farther than 1 inch away and you should be good. This vulnerability exists in any unshielded sound card and is not a problem inherent only to X-Fi's. No EMI shield like the Fatal1ty Pro, so if you have to get your card up close and personal with your video card (less than 1 inch away) than you may experience the infamous popping issue (little pops in sound playback, kind of like an old record) to due Electromagnetic-Interference. This isn't a huge problem, since very few games utilise this feature (it requires specific programming) and apparently it doesn't make a huge difference in performance, so I'm still happy. It's hard to notice before buying the card, but once you've heard it there's no going back.Ĭons: I was under the impression this had X-RAM (onboard RAM to enhance audio performance), but it turns out it doesn't. No more do I have to face crackleing in the heavy, rolling bass in songs like "Requiem for a tower" (Lord of the Rings remix of "Requiem of a Dream", high treble's aren't distorted either. Once tweaked, you'll be blown away (assuming you have decent speakers/headphones) by the quality of the audio. I'll describe the tweaks in the "Other Thoughts" section.
Pros: At default settings this card is good, but you won't hear a huge difference over onboard sound (in mp3's), since most motherboard integrated sound chips are capable of the same basic features as the X-Fi series (92 khz 24-bit playback).
Watch your DVDs in cinematic surround sound with PowerDVD software featuring DTS and Dolby Digital -EX decoding (free download with purchase).Īdditional Information Date First Available Make all of your music sound better with Xtremeįidelity audio technology that restores the detail and larity to compressed music files like MP3s. Plus, with Dolby Digital Live encoding, connect to your home theater system through a single digital cable for compelling 5.1 surround sound (optical cable available separately).
Plus X-Fi CMSS-3D ensures you'll get amazing surround sound even with normal stereo headphones.īoost performance in your favorite games with hardware audio acceleration that will blow your motherboard audio away.Ĭommunicate loud and clear in games with high quality inputs for your headset or microphone. Hear 3D positional audio so precise, you can locate enemies by sound. If you're using Windows Vista, Creative ALchemy restores EAX surround sound for the same great gaming experience. Hear crackling gunfire and earth-shattering explosions, EAX 5.0 delivers sound effects that pull you into the game.
PC Gamers and audio enthusiasts looking for faster performance and more realistic gaming sound as wellĪs the richest, most dynamic audio experience for music and movies. Internet connection to download PowerDVD software Intel Pentium 4, AMD Athlon or equivalent 1.6 GHz processorĪvailable PCI Express slot (x1, x4 or x16)
Microsoft Windows Vista (Service Pack 1) or Windows XP (圆4, Service Pack 2 or Media Center Edition) Learn more about the Creative Labs 70SB088000004 Model BrandĢ4-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96kHz sample rateĢ4-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96kHz to analog 7.1 speaker outputĢ4-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192kHz to stereo output