Xi Fi, audigy 2, xtremegamer, xtremeaudio, wtf, i just want decent sound

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Veedo

2[H]4U
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Mar 9, 2004
Messages
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hey guys. heres the deal. i dont have the time or patience to do research on the million different kinds of sound cards right now, so ill ask you what would be a decent card for me.

i am using a a8n32sli with the onboard sound, and im curious to try a new sound card just to see the difference. i have some older low wattage 5.1 logitechs hooked up right now, but might be upgrading those soon also.

i mostly listen to sirius, mp3's, and radio from my tv tuner card. watch movies also. just got some new NIN high-def material that sounds good now, so im wondering what a sound card will do. i also play the newer games, cod4, hl2, etc, etc.

would i notice a difference, even with these speakers?

again, sorry for a post like this, im sure someone puts one up every day, but damn, i just dont feel like researching all this info. also, im not looking to drop a bunch of dough, if i could keep it under 100 bucks or less that would be great. thanks guys.
 
holy crap man, yea thats great im sure its good, well it better be for almost 200 bones. little more than i want to spend!
 
Green Goose. You own this card? How is the software package? I MUST have some sort of EQ packaged.

You happen to have Vista 64?

I am done with Creative cards, and am now looking for an alternative.
 
I currently have the Xtreme Gamer. Was recently given Vista 64. The XGamer has tons of issues with the Vista64/4gigs ram etc.

Looking for anything with, EAX, good drivers and software, that works fins with Vista64.
 
Thats as good as you're going to get unless you get the Auzentech.
Only Creatives cards support EAX higher than 2.0 so theres no Advanced HD etc if you dont have a Creative card.
The Auzentech uses the X-Fi processor so is also compatible with higher EAX modes.

Maybe an Audigy 2 or 4 would suit you better for now?
 
The XtremeGamer/XtremeMusic 4gig ram in Vista thing has been fixed in the most recent beta drivers from Creative.
 
yea i guess i forgot to mention the os i was using. currently using vista x64, and i think i will not be switching back to xp this time. so xtreme gamer or xtreme music sounds ok? wtf is the difference between xtreme music and xtreme audio?
 
Xtreme Audio is a software solution, there is no processor on the card.
It only supports EAX 2.0 max.
 
i see i see. ok yea thats not something i would spend money on then. xtreme gamer or xtreme music sounds decent. now to find a deal on one. anyone selling? oh btw, whats the difference between the gamer and music? thanks for the help guys.
 
Are you gaming or are you looking for good sound quality? If both, then you really want then you really need the Auzen Prelude. If you want a cheap card with good sound, try looking for the Chaintech AV-710.
 
Fig345 said:
Are you gaming or are you looking for good sound quality? If both, then you really want then you really need the Auzen Prelude. If you want a cheap card with good sound, try looking for the Chaintech AV-710.
Click to expand...

I guess you missed the first post and the ones after :)
 
X-Fis are far more trouble than they're worth. The constant rage-fest that is Creative's forum is all the proof I need, here. Sold mine (glad the guy that bought it was happy) and never looked back.
 
Thanks to this thread its re-ignited my enthusiasm and am getting an Auzentech Prelude :)
My X-Fi doesnt give sound out anymore - it died in a slow weird way, so I'm on an old Audigy 4.
This is going to be Ace!

If you want to know what difference it makes, I can post about it?
I'm running a fairly decent full room home Cinema setup with Sub.
the card should be here mid week.


ps It seems Vista 64 users have a better experience with the Auzentech card, here are some user opinions:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-000-AZ&tool=3
a bit expensive from there though.
 
lol @ nenu, look what ive done! hell yea, post your results in this thread. i would like to know if there is a noticeable difference in performance and sound. now you guys got me thinking of picking that card up. thats just a hard pill to swallow though, dang ~200 bucks!
 
the chaintec av-710 is no longer supported and does NOT have an EQ- i just sold mine for 12.00 !
if u game- u want an x-fi. if not-another envy chipset card or high end c-media chip card will do u. i prefer envt chip cards for the money.
this cheap bestbuy card:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...+card&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1110267355627

uses an envy chipset -has an EQ, and has an amplified headphone jack. i use it alongside my x-fi extremegamer

one thing to keep in mind- an x-fi puts out a decent amount of power and will drive headphones up to 150 ohms well. used gamers or musics go for about 40.00 on the for sale forums!
 
Veedo said:
lol @ nenu, look what ive done! hell yea, post your results in this thread. i would like to know if there is a noticeable difference in performance and sound. now you guys got me thinking of picking that card up. thats just a hard pill to swallow though, dang ~200 bucks!
Click to expand...

Will do, soz if this makes you broke :D
With todays exchange rates, its costing me $220 + post which tbh isnt bad for Blighty. Its a lot for a soundcard but it does seem like the Holy Grail.
(Its cheaper than my first SBLive with breakout box though!!!)
I havent seen one bad review, even from those that have the cheapest hifi setups who theoretically cant perceive all the differences.
Roll on Tuesday!
 
silent-circuit said:
X-Fis are far more trouble than they're worth. The constant rage-fest that is Creative's forum is all the proof I need, here. Sold mine (glad the guy that bought it was happy) and never looked back.
Click to expand...

I have an X-Fi Platinum and I think it sounds great but the drivers are a joke, even for XP. I wish I had gotten the Auzentech Prelude instead.
 
So, what, I'm the only guy to get the Fata1ity and have zero issues with it with Vista?

Ah, Vista 64...nvm. Still, it's been great, and quite a bargain after rebate.
 
Hows Asus Xonar D2X compare with the prelude? What are the advantages of running vista with the Xonar?
 
I got the Prelude about a month ago, so add me to the "recommend highly" list. Hard to say it, but yes I noticed an improvement in sound quality above the Elite Pro (which I got a refund on). The Prelude drivers don't have all the bullcrap the Creative drivers have.

Running Vista x64 also. Only one minor issue. Twice I have had to exit out of Team Fortress 2 because of Dolby Digital Live encoding - it would start emitting a loud buzzing sound in the speakers. Quick fix was to disable then enable it, then switch right back into the game.

As an FYI the Prelude now has a $20 MIR, making it $170. I just knew there would be a price drop right after I bought it... :(
 
squares said:
Hows Asus Xonar D2X compare with the prelude? What are the advantages of running vista with the Xonar?
Click to expand...

It's based on the same chip as the Bluegears B.inspire. It's a very nice board with great SNR, but it's not ideal for gaming.
 
I own an extreme music and have had it for over a year now, and the thing is fantastic both with my old xp machine and my new vista 64-bit/4gb/quad core machine. Drivers are meh but for gaming nothing comes close....
 
ourfpshero said:
the chaintec av-710 is no longer supported and does NOT have an EQ- i just sold mine for 12.00 !
if u game- u want an x-fi. if not-another envy chipset card or high end c-media chip card will do u. i prefer envt chip cards for the money.
this cheap bestbuy card:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...+card&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1110267355627
uses an envy chipset -has an EQ, and has an amplified headphone jack. i use it alongside my x-fi extremegamer

one thing to keep in mind- an x-fi puts out a decent amount of power and will drive headphones up to 150 ohms well. used gamers or musics go for about 40.00 on the for sale forums!
Click to expand...

The AV-710 *IS* an Envy24HT based card.

You sold your AV-710 only to go and buy pretty much the exact same card again, lol. Only the Dynex is off brand junk that uses inferior components and is basically Best Buy's house brand el-cheapo knockoff. *shrug* Just seems awfully funny to me...
 
ShagnWagn said:
Only one minor issue. Twice I have had to exit out of Team Fortress 2 because of Dolby Digital Live encoding - it would start emitting a loud buzzing sound in the speakers. Quick fix was to disable then enable it, then switch right back into the game.
Click to expand...

is this problem still happening? do you know if this problem is persistent in xp? Is this a common problem with this card?
 
Its been a day since the card was installed, this is my experience so far.

I installed it as per the instructions on the CD and could not get it to work, the card always had an exclamation mark in Device Manager.
It refused all attempts to get going despite much effort.
After researching online, there are a lot of people with the same problem.
It turns out that the driver on the CD has a time bomb and doesnt work after a certain date and the solution is to download the latest driver so I happily trotted off to their website.

The driver etc installation file is 150MB but the average download speed was only around 2.5K/s.
This took around 15 hours to download!

I put in a support request for it and also asked why the download speed was around 2.5K and they told me they would put it up on another website for me.
They said that some older disks are still in circulation with the bad driver but didnt answer why the download was so slow.
They later sent me an email on how to get to the file from the other server but I had just finished downloading it lol.
I asked again why it downloads so slow and how long they think the bad disks will be in circulation.
They didnt respond, not sure what to make of that.


After the first working installation, the sound was clearer but I found the bass literally made the room jump at times and things vibrated in the room that hadnt ever done so before.
I found it to be the X-Fi Crystalizer set at 50% so turned it off. My hifi has already been optimised for the room so some of the sound changes werent helping.
After such a long hard time getting it running, it was getting late so I played some loud bassy music to satisfy my annoyance. I didnt find the Prelude to be a lot better and went to bed thinking there wasnt much benefit for £120.
It seems my judgement was a bit clouded!

Today I woke up and put on some mellower tunes and was very surprised at the increase in detail.
There is a lot more going on in the music and stereo effects are greatly enhanced.
Using the Stereo Surround mode, music comes out of the rear speakers as well and it sounds pretty damn good. The music feels much more involving than with the Audigy 4.
Bass is tighter and deeper, and the sound integrates much better while sounding clearer.
I like a lot!

For the next test we watched a couple of Episodes of Prison Break with 5.1 sound and it was truly excellent.
Surround effects are much more pronounced and the quality of the sound is better than I hoped for, its so clear and the bass is deep.
Much more involving than the Audigy 4.

After playing with the Crystalizer a bit more I have enabled it but on minimum and adjusted the hifi a little.
This makes the music more dynamic but can take a day or so to get used to, I had the same experience with my old X-Fi.
Once you are used to it though, its amazing just how much detail the whole package pulls from your music.
For those that want a little more bass that extends deeper, the Crystalizer on this card can add some real oomph!
It took 24hrs but I am now a convert. I cant spend £120 on anything else that will get near this improvement

If you want me to post what its like with games later, lemme know.

So despite the early teething problems, this card is way worth the money.
If you can scrape together the cash, you wont regret it.
 
soz for this extra post as well, I'm too tired or old to use a Forum lol.
My bad :)
 
cool, thanks nenu! so was the comparison between the new card and an audigy 4? i was a little confused because you were comparing it to the a4, then at the end the xi-fi. do you there was a big difference between the xi fi and the new card? and yes, post as much info as you can!
 
You're right, it was a bit of a mixed up comparison of both.
To try and put it in perspective, I would say that the difference between the Audigy 4 and the Prelude is about 3 to 5 times more impressive than the Audigy 4 to X-Fi.

The X-Fi was a bit better than the Audigy 4 but I found the Crystalizer to be overpowering on a lot of music as the card didnt sound as natural and made me cringe at times. While the X-Fi was clearer than the Audigy, it didnt have the impact on me the the Prelude has.
The Prelude is superb in many ways, there is a ton more detail in everything and despite this, it sounds more laid back and natural, there is a lot more detailed activity between the speakers giving a much enhanced stereo effect.
Its a lot easier to listen to and has made me go through my music collection again with glee and even listen to tracks that I previously wasnt bothered to listen to.
For example, Pink Floyds "The great gig in the Sky" has a female solo that you cant listen to too many times. With the Prelude, there is so much more to hear in the singers vocal expression that it draws you in. You really feel the the emotion in her singing as well as hearing it.
Stereo and surround effects stand out a lot more and sound great too.
There are sounds that I havent heard before or were too mixed up to hear clearly, the definition is amazing.
The more I listen to it the more I smile.

I have been into hifi for about 25 years and listened to/owned a lot of quality components/systems and stuck with a record player for as long as practical.
I'm not big on audio gadgets, it simply has to sound good.
I was never truly happy with PC sound until now.

Another great thing about the Prelude is that the output stage amplifier IC for the front 2 speakers is replaceable with a higher quality one.
This is very easy to do and not at all expensive.
Once I have used the card for a while I will be fitting a better IC to see the difference.

The more I listen to it, the more amazing it is.
My music collection has been given a new lease of life.
 
hey Nenu how is it with games . Do games play in 5.1 eax Digital. Or does the dolby live simply encode stereo gaming into 5 channels. In other words, is gaming in TRUE 5.1 Digital.
 
I'll get back to you on that as I havent hooked it up via optical/digital yet.
The reason I dont use digital is because the analogue out stage of the Prelude is going to be better quailty than my Amps DAC/pre-amp.
If you use digital, it wastes all the effort that Auzentech have put into the output stages.
The only time it will sound better is if you have a very very good quality Amp/DAC

I played a little Crysis last night on analogue sound connections and the surround is brilliant.
Previously, I wondered which direction some sounds were coming from but now, I know!
It feels like I have another sense.

I'll be playing more + will try the digital connection later today or over the weekend.
 
phide said:
Christ, that's inexcusable.
Click to expand...

It sure is.

I'm debating installing another X-Fi on my new rig or possibly going with the Auzentech Prelude. I've seen and heard mostly glowing on the Auzentech except for some occasional griping about subpar customer service and such.

I'd probably be sending the sound from my soundcard to my Apogee Mini-Dac and dedicated headphone amp.

Gaming is priority one with music behind it. All thoughs appreciated. Seems like the Prelude is the best of the bunch.
 
Adam Weishaupt said:
So, what, I'm the only guy to get the Fata1ity and have zero issues with it with Vista?

Ah, Vista 64...nvm. Still, it's been great, and quite a bargain after rebate.
Click to expand...


I have yet to have issues with my X-Fi Plat.I am using XP Pro + Vista Premium X64.
 
Gmok Bonecrusha said:
Green Goose. You own this card? How is the software package? I MUST have some sort of EQ packaged.

You happen to have Vista 64?

I am done with Creative cards, and am now looking for an alternative.
Click to expand...


I own an XFI Prelude and can confirm that it does have an EQ. Basically the driver portion of the sound card is mostly the same as you would have with a Creative card.

I'm also running this card under Vista x64 ultimate.
 
davez82 said:
is this problem still happening? do you know if this problem is persistent in xp? Is this a common problem with this card?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the belated response, been out of town. Like I said, the issue only happened 2-3 times, the last time being 2 weeks ago. I haven't run across any others with the same problem. It has only happened a couple times in 60+ hours of gaming, so not that big a deal just though I'd mention it.

davez82 said:
hey Nenu how is it with games . Do games play in 5.1 eax Digital. Or does the dolby live simply encode stereo gaming into 5 channels. In other words, is gaming in TRUE 5.1 Digital.
Click to expand...

I know you asked Nenu, but I have been playing several games in DDL 5.1 through optical out and it's superb - full 5.1 surround. I don't have a 7.1 system so I can't comment on that. I've read a few people saying they aren't getting 7.1 from games with the Prelude, but I'm thinking that is just most games only supporting 5.1. I can noticeably hear an increase in quality from my X-Fi Elite Pro (which I refunded to get the Prelude). No regrets on this purchase, although I wish the price was a bit lower. I don't want to see the audio card market exploding with $700+ cards like the video cards did.

For games and music I enable Game Mode with DDL Encoder on and enable the Crystalizer at 50%. The Crystalizer really helps those old MP3 rips in low quality sound a lot better. For movies (and hi-def ones) I switch my settings to entertainment mode (turning off all extras like CMSS3D and such) and change my output to SPDIF in Sound under Control Panel.
 
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