Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music

[rspassey]

About a month ago I was back in the US and picked up the SoundBlaster X-FI Xtreme Music Sound Card at BestBuy for 99$. I was slightly disapointed because I had wanted the version one step up, but it was a whole 100$ more expensive, which I didn't have at the time. Deciding it better to get the Xtreme Music rather than not get a sound card at all, I also picked up Logitech x-530 speakers. Now, I have been wanting to a review on this magnificent product for a while, but haven gotten around to. So here it goes:

The Product

• Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
  
• Installation instructions
  
• Software / Driver CDs
  - Creative Media Player / Organizer
  - Creative Media Toolbar
  - Creative Volume Panel

I) First Impressions Before Installing

• Decent price for new / high end product
  
• Okay packaging which kept the card safe on multiple flights from Maine to Buenos Aires
  
• Easy to understand installation instructions

Installation

Installation when extremely easy. The card fit nicely into an open PCI slot on my motherboard and my brand new speakers attached smoothly. For more information on the actual process of installing the X-Fi, please conslut the instructions which come in the box.

Booting up, Windows XP Pro SP2 automatically took note of the new hardware. I was asked to search for drivers, where you are instructed (by Creative) to click Cancel. I then popped in the CD which came with the X-Fi. Taking a few seconds, it automatically started up (if you have autorun enabled) and asked me which software packages I would like to install. This is all personal preference, so I won't go into details.

Moments later, the driver installation was initiated. It took a few minutes to complete. At the end, I rebooted.

Configuration

*Now, this is where the steps get a little fuzzy, as I don't quite remember the order in which I did things, so I will try to make a list.

• Configuring Speakers for your set up...In my case it was 5.1
  
• Select which mode to start with
  - Entertainment for watching movies and listening to music
  - Gaming for playing games
  - Audio Creation for recording
  
• Tweak the settings of the Card
  - Enabling 24 Bit Crystalizer for 'punchier' sounds
  - Enabling CMSS-3D
  - Tuning frequencies with the Equalizer
  - Selecting EAX Effects
  - Additionally cool features

Importing Tracks and First Time Playing a Song

Within the Creative Media Organizer, I easily imported the music tracks which I wanted and they were automatically sorted by both album and artist.

The first time I played a song, I was blown away by the clarity of the sound. There was absolutely zero static and no traces of pops or cracks which are both common to onboard sound. Immediately impressed, I cranked up the volume and the same clarity and precision was maintained - I now could also hear sounds which I had never heard before. In misbelief at what I was hearing, I decided to change modes and load up FarCry.

Again, in Gaming Mode, I was hearing things which I had never heard before. Not only does this make the gaming experience more enjoyable, but it also gives the hardcore gamer the additionaly edge he/she was looking for with being able (provided the game has high quality audio abilites) hear what is going on all around the player.

I have yet to try out the Audio Creation Mode, but I would expect highly impressive results also.

PROS

• Much, Much (did I say 'much'? better sound quality over onboard sound
  
• Great price for the performance gains
  
• Increased Frames / Second in Gaming by removing the need of the CPU to process sounds
  
• Incredibly good sound quality
  
• Nice included software collection

CONS

There is only really one Con which I can think of, and that is that a multitude of applications are automatically configured to load on start up. This is kind of annoying considering the fact that most of those applications are not essential for using the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi.

Other Recommendations

If I could make one recommendation, it would be to visit Creatives site often for driver updates. I did my first update shortly after installing the X-Fi and I could notice an improvement in sound quality - especially while gaming.

I would also recommend that purchasers of the X-Fi also have a nice set of speakers. This card is incredible, but if you have poor quality speakers, there is a chance that you would be wasting your money buying the X-Fi. My Logitech X-530s do a decent job, but now, I wish I had purchased 5300e Speakers (as they are higher quality).

Conclusion

The Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music is most definately an awesome Sound Card. Not only did it up the bar for PC audio quality in Gaming and Entertainment, it also is relatively inexpensive when compared to the major increase in quality over onboard sound. I recommend this or any of the other X-Fi flavours to Gamers and Audio enthusiasts as it knocked my socks. The X-Fi experience is by-far unforgetable.

~~~~Ryan124712

[Retrac1324]

Good review, I am thinking about buying the card myself.

On the Sound Blaster site, it says it requires a PCI slot 2.1 slot. How do I find out if I have it?

[glc]

Any motherboard made in the past 7 years should have at least a 2.1 slot.

[rspassey]

Check to make sure though, that your PCI slots aren't already taken up but some sort of controler card or NIC. If so, then you have to decide which is more important and which card(s) you will keep and which will be removed. Chances are, however, that you can open PCI slots which will work with the X-Fi.

[rspassey]

Sorry, I just realized this little review fails without a link.

SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music

[Jthe7th]

I have this card in my system and I'm very happy with it. I am impressed at the clarity and precision from the card.

I concur with your point about having good speakers. It would be a waste of the card's potential to not have capable speakers. I'm only running a 2.1 system at the moment (Creative I-Trigue L3800) but they are pretty darned good.

[rspassey]

Yes, the good speaker part is a biggie, I hope ( I have the $ ) to be able to get a nice 7.1 speaker setup from Creative this summer when I am back in the US. Because now, the clarity to volume level is slightly low for my liking due to the low wattage-ness of my speakers.

[FLG]

Id just like to add to this review,

I recently did a build for a friend and put a X-Fi Platinum sound card in. Heres the link for it at newegg,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102190

The card as ryan stated is absolutely awesome. And i agree with him 100%. Though the platinum does come with the panel you put in an empty 5.25" bay, this makes it quite nice and adds some good features.

I plugged my guitar in and with a little fiddling around with settings it sounds quite nice, granted its not as good as a guitar amp but its pretty neat. The other ports also offer some extra functionality for those of us that need it.

The only bad thing, is the remote. Yes it works fine, but it is a little on the "cheap" side. It really dosent take away from the overall product but they could have done a better job with it, mainly the EAX, 3DMIDI, CMSS-3D, and 24-Bit Crystalizer scroll wheels.

[rspassey]

The Xtreme Music doesn't come with the remote option, unfortunetly. But, perhaps with time, other manufacturers will develope alternative remotes, just like there are other types of PlayStation controllers.

[MakeYourslf2012]

Good review Ryan, I was thinking of picking up one of these cards next month to go with the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 I just purchased.

Its should be a sweet combination.

[danky]

Can anyone tell me how this compares to the Audigy 2 ZS?

[trowand]

Originally Posted by danky Can anyone tell me how this compares to the Audigy 2 ZS?

Ditto. Same here. Does anyone know how this compares to the Audigy 2 ZS? The X-Fi card will rock way better than onboard sound and will free up the CPU for other things but is it worth upgrading from the 2 ZS? I have Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's and they rock. ALSO, I heard that the Fata1ty version (which is waaay expensive) has 64MB ram which allows it to work completely free of the CPU which helps performance. Does anyone know if the performance increase is actually true? THANKS!

[spartan015]

hmmm curious on this too since my friend jus gave me one of the audigy 2 ZS, lol he got the X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS 8 (7.1)... with the speakers i wanted, creative gigaworks 7.1...

[Potoroo]

Originally Posted by trowand ALSO, I heard that the Fata1ty version (which is waaay expensive) has 64MB ram which allows it to work completely free of the CPU which helps performance. Does anyone know if the performance increase is actually true? THANKS!

Not enough games make use of the 64MB XRAM on the Fatal1ty card or EAX 5 to warrant the outrageous price difference, IMO. I'm happy enough with the XFi-Platinum and EAX 4.

[Turbo91Bird]

I have this card too and I love it.

[IntegraGSR]

I have the Fatal1ty version (only because it was $120 after an $80 rebate) and not only is the music/sound of everything 100 times better, the 5.25" bay is awesome (no need for long headset/microphone plugs to the back of the chassis, just plug it in the front)

I would recommend it to anyone who likes listening to music or enjoying explosions in video games. MUST pair it up with a good speaker set though, as I use a Logitech X-530 and for the price I paid for all of this, I couldn't have made a better deal.