Creative Technology Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio

This is a very good desktop PC soundcard.It has recently been discontinued by Creative Labs at the end of 2007.If you buy an OEM version of this type of X-FI make sure you get the Drivers and Software disk with the soundcard.People have been having a lot of compatibility problems using this sound card with Vista,the only Vista drivers available are downloaded from the Creative website.Creative do have an auto drivers update system on their support web page but it does not yet work with Vista,so if you use this X-FI XtremeMusic with vista you have to manually download the drivers,as their are so many different variations of X-FI cards and operating systems it is easy for a new computer user to download the wrong drivers.The Vista drivers from the Creative website does not give you all the applications that you get on the retail drivers cd.There is no THX console in the Vista down-loadable drivers from the Creative website and you only really get the very basic options to play around with the X-FI features IE the Crystalizer which is the main selling point of these X-FI's.You do get a speaker set up options page if you use a surround sound 5.1 creative speaker set,but again it's a simplified version.For anyone using this XtremeMusic X-FI or any other X-FI sound card with Vista the best course of action is to buy the official Vista drivers disk from the online Creative Eshop which cost's about £2.00 so it is well worth buying as you get the full software suite and compatible Vista 32bit and 64bit drivers.If you do have any problems trying to get one of these XtremeMusic X-FI soundcards working or any type of X-FI soundcard,You can go to the Creative online Forums where there is a lot of info from fellow X-FI users.If you cannot find an answer to your problem,register on the site and make a post asking for help there are a lot of very helpful X-FI users who will help you.At the end of the day if you manage to get one of these XtremeMusic X-FI cards working ok you will be happy with the sound it produces in both movies and PC games.For the average PC user who just wants to plug in and forget it's a good first choice for a decent fairly priced soundcard.DONOT pay over £45 for one of the OEM versions.Try and buy a second hand used retail version with the retail creative box so you know it was originally bought as a retail version.As these are now discontinued you may get lucky and find an online PC parts shop selling off old or end of line stock for a fair price.I've seen brand new retail versions for £55 which is not bad but for an extra £30 you could buy the X-FI Fatal1ty Pro sound card with the 64mb of XRam on board,these are the higher spec X-FI cards,the XtremeMusic do not have the onboard 64mb XRam memory.Good luck and read the creative forums all your questions are already answered there.

I've used Creative's Sound Blaster range of cards from the year dot, way back in the days of the AWE32 and AWE64 gold. The reason I have stuck with the Sound Blaster range of cards is simple:- Sound Quality and Ease of Use.

The Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Platinum continues that heritage. Installation is simple, and you will soon be listening to very high quality sound. But please, if your going to buy one of these cards, dont use the cheap speakers that came with your system, As that will result in you wasting your money. A good set of speakers is a must if your buying this top quality sound card.

The X-Fi Xtreme Audio has one of the worlds fastest Audio processing units, so your movies and games will run smoother than ever, and with its 7.1 surround sound capabilities it will pull you in to the game/movie and make you feel like your actually there.

The X-Fi Xtreme Audio also has an excellent feature where it can bring the world of surround sound to your stereo headphones... Gaming at night will never be the same again!

A downside to this card is the connections for the surround sound speakers. While most surround sound cards use 4 3.5mm jack sockets, Creative in their infinite wisdom have used 3 3.5mm sockets in a multi I/O configuration.

This card also has full digital I/O capabilities on board, and when used in conjunction with an X-Fi I/O Drive Bay (highly recomended if your into music) gives you handy front panel access to connections such as Headphones, Line in , Mic in, MIDI I/O and Digital I/O.

I'm happy to report that the X-Fi Xtreme Audio continues Creative's reign over the the PC audio market. Oops! I nearly forgot to mention the MIDI Synth that is built onto this card, which sounds great as standard, but can also be fully customised as it uses .sf2 soundfont banks and Vienna Soundfont studio is included on the installation disc so tayloring the MIDI synth to your needs could not be easier.

I rate this card as sound quality is important to me, but hey, if your not bothered about sound quality you may as well just get a real cheap card and save your money!

Creative Labs have always been been the leaders in sound cards. Their Quality is simply unmatched.

The Creative X-FI extreme audio is the perfect card for any PC. As a Professional in Music manipulation this card is a cheap but very professional quality card.

This card has been discontinued, but worth every penny as a second ahrd purchase of music producers and audio editors.

The Creative Technology Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Xtreme Audio card is just perfect for better sound. Before I was using boring motherboard audio but as soon as I added this card I could hear the difference and now i play all my dvd and cd on computer as they sound a lot lot better than on a dull CD player. And is came with a load of software to expand the sound even further such as Bass boost, Crystaliser, 3D effects and so many more. Such a good sound card from the make 'Creative.'

Really good soundcard improved my sound on my pc greatly. Excellent for games, music etc.. I'm currently running 5.1 speakers with a mic in the other port and works great. These sound cards are not fortunes and yet make such a difference. Highly recommended.