FPSLabs - FPSLabs Home News Story - X-Fi: Sound to the Xtreme

Creative Labs is the Google of sound cards, top of the game and paving the way for the future. While other companies have their niche, no one tops Creative when it comes to gaming sound quality. This latest offering from Creative is no exception. Known for their Sound Blaster and Audigy line, X-Fi is the�their next�evolution in sound cards. It has been 5 years since the debut of the Audigy cards. The X-Fi series consists of 4 cards, the Elite pro, the Fatal1ty FPS, the Platinum, and the XtremeMusic. I recently got my techie hands on a Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic, the lower of the 4 models and now the question to ask is was it worth the wait?

The question my fellow gamers are probably asking themselves is, "Is this card worth $100+ of�my hard earned money?" By the time this review is wrapped up we should be able to answer that question and give our readers a recommendation.

The overall packaging is is top notch. While the box is a bit big for such a small product, the card is secured well inside. The box contains the card, a quick start guide, and the cd featuring the drivers, applications and the Doom 3 EAX fix.

Here are the technical specifications provided by Creative�s website:

Technical specifications

24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96kHz sample rate
24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96kHz to analog 7.1 speaker output
24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192kHz to stereo output
16-bit to 24-bit recording sampling rates: 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz
ASIO 2.0 support at 16-bit/44.1kHz, 16-bit/48kHz, 24-bit/44.1kHz 24-bit/48kHz and 24-bit/96kHz with direct monitoring
Enhanced SoundFont support at up to 24-bit resolution

Audio Performance (Rated Output @ 2Vrms)

Signal-to-Noise Ratio (20kHz Low-pass filter, A-Weighted)

-Stereo Output: 109dB
-Front and Rear Channels: 109dB
-Center, Subwoofer and Side Channels: 109dB

Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (20kHz Low-pass filter) = 0.004%
Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/96kHz input ) = <10Hz to 46kHz
Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/192kHz input) = <10Hz to 88kHz (Stereo only)

Connectivity

FlexiJack (Performing a 3-in-1 function, Digital I/O1 / Line In / Microphone) via 3.50mm mini jack
Line level out (Front / Rear / Side / Center / Subwoofer) via 3.50mm mini jacks
AUX_IN line-level analog input via 4-pin Molex connector on card
One AD_Link (26 pin) connector for linking to the X-FI I/O Console (upgrade option)

User Comments

OMG I KNOW THIS GUY GO SLAP

I was contemplating buying myself the same exact card reviewed here as well. Although you could have tested the card in more games, for exampe Battlefield 2, good review.

ill probably buy it for cpl time.

slowly my ultimate rig takes form

I have the xfi-platinum and I love it but should I use the 24 bit crystilizer or SVM enable or not?

mmm this will be my next investment =)

if you're going for gaming just grab a creative card... they're awesome
if you listen to music 90% of the time like me then get a m-audio card...or any other professional sound interface out there, preferrably USB ones 'caz of the interference within the case. =)

This comment was edited at 03/20/2006 11:06 PM

Inactive.

cool review, but not for me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osru4ojkSw8

I have the card with HD555's and it sounds amazing...

#relentless reLgaming.net

Good to know I didn't waste my money. I was even tempted to throw it in my old system just to test it, but I restrained myself and am just waiting on my graphics card before blasting the music and games with it. Creative I-trigue 3400/Audio .110s + XtremeMusic should be lots of fun.

http://esports.divito.ca

Damn, thing's a beast.

sweet penance for the sound

Nice to know I didnt waste my money neither. Now all I need are some 5.1 or 7.1 speakers then play some scary game like Doom or Fear to scare the crap out of me!

COMBO KILL!!!

I have the platinum too. Loving it hardcore.

The tons of lossless music in my library sees a lot of added "dynamics" and "depth" with transient sounds and percussion. Even vocals a little bit. But it SHINES with lower bitrate MP3s. It can make them sound almost as good as lossless. It almost makes it pointless to rips or create audio files at such low compressions.

I'm playing Call of Duty 2 (1.0) right now with headphones and 2.1 speakers and both positional effects are VERY immersive. VERY. I played for 4 hours last night when I had to wake up 4 hours after I got my hands off the mouse and keyboard. I can't wait to patch Call of Duty all the way up. And not to mention I can't wait to install the EAX 5.0 patch for Doom 3--the only game I believe to take advantage of the card, fully--because that's going to own. And help my FPS a little.

Good stuff. Good stuff. I might even, down the road, buy the Fatality for the X-RAM. That is, once games are programmed to utilize it. That will be good stuff there.

I recommend a buy here too. The only question is: Platinum or XtremeMusic. The 5.25 drive-bay interface is VERY nice. Large-size headphone jack on the front (comes with a small-to-large adapter) with volume control for the headphones, large-size microphone jack with a volume control knob for it as well, are both cool beyond belief. You can even set it to use speakers and tweak them out, then, have it change the setting to headphone operation... just by plugging the headphones into the front jack. It's sweet.

That's all :)

Last Xmas i upgraded from a onboard sblive and creative inspire 5200 to... this X-Fixtreme music card and Logitech Z5500's. The 2 together produce far better sound then my previous setup and Improved framerate in my games.

BF2 on X-Fi setting at ultra quality is so nice.

F*ckin love it.

[b]Mixing up some Lmaonade![/b]

I didn't even know sound cards had anything to do with FPS.

I don't think I'll get a new soundcard unless I really have to. I have the SB Audigy 2Zs and it does its job.

this card has horrible problems, dont even buy it if you have nforce4 chipset. it wont work, at all.

AMD64 3500+ | 1GB Corsair XMS | MSI neo4-sli | MSI 6800GT ||| www.oXy-gaming.com

#15, most of the known issues with this card and the nForce4 chipset have been resolved with BIOS updates. Check MSI's (judging from your signature) website for an updated BIOS for your board.

FPSLabs - Managing Editor - http://www.fpslabs.com - #fpslabs @ gamesurge

This sound card seems incredible. I was considering the one a few steps down but this is for sure a nice one to pick up : )

www.myspace.com/everybreath - ex_interp 0.01 > 0.1

Wow looks really nice probably my next upgrade as i am running an Audigy 1 at the moment. Now if i can only find the money...

[b]GotFrag Features Writer[/b]

I have a MSI Neo4 Platinum MotherBoard and the card works fine. I love having 3D sound from 2 speaker headphones. I play alot of FEAR MP, sound means alot in the game so I always have an advantage in 1v1 matches. I get tired of people saying "How did you know I was there"

I have the SAME problem as #14. I first bought an Audigy 2ZS but everytime I played a game, my computer would crash (when the card was in my computer) so I had to return the card. I then upgraded to an X-Fi Xtreme hoping I wouldn't get any problems this time. Well, 2 days ago, when listening to music now, I get a cracking while I'm listening to music. I can't even go into entertainment mode anymore as it produces a LONG, LOUD cracking noise that doesn't go away and only gets worse when you start any type of music up. The Creative Labs support staff haven't been very helpful to say the least.... check out their forums, you'll see many people complaining about bad products as well.

If you're going to flame me, hold back, save it for someone else. Read their forums and think long and hard if you really want to pay out a lot of money and then have problems with your card. There are other solutions out there because I seem unable to receive any valuable support that will actually fix this problem.

EDIT: I take this ALL back. I just fixed it and boy am I ever happy. On that Windows XP thing on EXE, I did that tweak and it made the noises and stuff. I just turned the LargeSystemCache thing off and now the noise is gone and entertainment mode is back, therefore, I highly recommend you don't use it!

This comment was edited at 03/21/2006 6:37 AM

Shame they didn't show the huge gains in q4 this card gives when using Open AL. Slight fps increase but the soundquality was amazing.

Sounds like a good card but it seems huge. Does anyone know if it would fit in a shuttle? I already have a huge evga 6800gt.

Roger Dodger!

good to see that you (gotfrag writer) didn't think i wasted my money on this card. i love the card its really nice, and as many others of said, its well worth the $129.00 at bestbuy. i forget how much it is at newegg. anyway i will say that for cs 1.6 you can forget about the cmss3d, 24bit crystalizer, and the svc things. they make the sounds in cs echo and hard to figure out where they are coming from. with all these options off however cs 1.6 sounds very sweet. i have better positional audio and a clear sound spectrum. other games are great with the options on just not cs 1.6

My girlfriend thinks its funny when she farts on me

I absolutely love the card for CS running-man. Its neat how you can change the music setting so it sounds you're at a live concert and stuff :)

I still don't feel compelled to switch from my ZS2. Maybe if you could explain a little better what the difference is...

You know what I'd like to be? I mean if I had my choice, I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.

how does a sound card effect FPS?

thats awsome.

This comment was edited at 03/21/2006 3:36 PM

mmmm

I want one! I think the Xtreme will be plenty good for me.

#26 by doing more calculations so your CPU can spend more time/power processing graphics.

http://thejesuitreport.com/ my blog yadig

fatality fps edition > all

and that is a good place for a $100+ sound card - on a shag carpet :o

"[i]ok but I of ball testicles of your life especially[/i]" - YanN

i think it would be more accurate to say creative is the microsoft of sound cards.

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Sound-Card..

good review btw

This comment was edited at 03/21/2006 7:56 PM

Yay. More problems with my card. Entertainment mode now works but Game Mode does exactly what entertainment was doing (and I didn't change a single setting on my computer)

I've got the X-Fi its pretty amazing. good write up as well

Mike "Australia" Antebi � Former DPAD Editor in Chief �

oXy casts Flashing of the Bios
oXy restarts computer
Computer tells oXy that it cannot find NTRLD
oXy punches cat
oXy crys on cats shoulder
oXy inserts Windows XP cd
Windows reformats disk C
oXy is mad.........

oXy, you should have used the repair and recovery console on the xp cd, instead of just reformating. =]

Come ask us for help next time, thats what we are here for. Reformat should be your last course of action.

This comment was edited at 03/22/2006 1:39 AM

Senior Editor - http://www.fpslabs.com

it was time for a reformat anyways, and I did try the repair adn recovery it didnt work or i didnt do it right. Anyways I had a new HD laying around that I wanted to raid so i needed to reformat for that, I was just wating for the opertune time.

this card sounds amazing on my logitec 7.1 surround sound setup (sry i dont remember the actaul name = / ) You can hear everything. ever peice of glass fallin on the ground or gunshot or flash across the map. anyways i cant wait to get my icemat siberas on this card = D

*edited for grammer. very early in the mourning*

This comment was edited at 03/22/2006 1:02 PM

"this card has horrible problems, dont even buy it if you have nforce4 chipset. it wont work, at all."

I don't see how any of this statement is true considering I run nf4 and I have had 0 problems with it, so it is probably just a faulty card or mobo =\

IE 3.0 is the most stable mouse ever created......period

I know this guy... he stole that sound card from me.

I recently bought this card and I must say that it is really awesome!

Gotfrag's pick, nicenice.

But! How does it compare to Siberia/5H WITH USB Soundcard?

I'd like to know that.

Si Teh Bu0mb OLOLOL

usb sound cards have no audio hardware processing that means 1) CPU hit 2) no EAX above 32 simulatnous voices <X-Fi does 128 voices>

I had 5.1 medusa headphones but it they sounded awkward. Using PC150 Sennheiser with X-Fi and CMSS HEadphones option FTW ;)

"The only reason why God created man is because he was disappointed with the monkey." /Mark Twain

...probably not the best idea to lay the card down on carpet.

heh... i have the icemat usb sound card ^^

Pittsburgh Steelers 6 Times Superbowl Champions

That is a sound card to be proud to own, I was considerring buying one of these even though the price is high it is even more of an option now than before. Good read.

http://MEevent.com - Maine's Gaming Community

Ironically, there's also an X-Fi advertisement on the first page of the review. Please tell me its a coincidence it is now GotFrag's "Editor's Choice". Ethics here, anyone?

http://www.csevolution.com | A CS:S community

I have this card, but I wish I didn't. It sounds fine, but I had to RMA it once already because the first batch had hardware compatability problems and the drivers are as unstable as creative drivers have always been. I don't think I'm alone when I say I wish there were good alternatives to creative's crappy products. I bought an M-Audio card, but their drivers don't even support the APIs needed for ventrilo to work correctly, so now that's in my mother's computer. Razer's new sound card makes me sightly hopeful, but considering I often have to unplug and replug my razer mouse after rebooting, and the drivers sometimes crash when you do that, I'm not holding my breath.

#34 rofl.. are you sure you didnt have a disk in you're floppy drive? lolol, i get that call all the time at work, someone calls and says "My computer doesnt work it says NTLDR missing".. im like sigh.. is there a floppy in you're drive? "Hold on one sec.... AHHH yes there is" "Ok, can you take the floppy out and restart your computer" "OK Great its working now, you're awesome thanks a bunch"... haha

back in dallas to tear up 1.6 all over again.

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