I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

[colony]

Re: I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

Best to use EAX on or off? I notice some sounds from distance get dulled out with EAX.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

drivers installed fine and i can manipulate the settings somewhat through that, but i'm having severe difficulty getting the software package to install. no cd for it--i just downloaded mediasource from creative's website, and it tells me "no card detected" or some such b.s.

to answer your q though, w/out EAX sounds are flatter to me and don't have quite the...i don't know..."zip"?

[Maxor127]

Re: I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

I'm trying to decide if I want to waste the money on a X-Fi Xtremegamer. I think my onboard audio sounds good enough, and I only have headphones and cheap speakers. People actually think I hack in Counterstrike Source because I'm good at listening and telling where people are based on sound, so I can't imagine the X-FIs sounding any better. But I have Vista, so it's annoying how I get screwed out of sound features in older games... heck, even newer games so I'm basically thinking about getting it just for ALchemy support so I can get features like EAX back.

[TheButler208]

Re: I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

I went from an Audigy MP3+ which was a good card, one of the first audigies. I now have the X-Fi Extreme Audio. I noticed a massive difference, and frame rates were a teeny bit better. Of course you need to use GAME MODE in the control panel. And you need to use the X-FI feature in game along with high or ultra settings. If you leave it on software or hardware you probably won't notice a difference. If you leave it on Entertainment mode you won't even be able to use the x-fi feature in game.

[Stormy{CAN}]

Re: I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

I'm basically thinking about getting it just for ALchemy support so I can get features like EAX back.

Alchemy only works with DirectSound3D games, it isn't needed for OpenAL based games like BF2

I now have the X-Fi Extreme Audio. I noticed a massive difference, and frame rates were a teeny bit better. Of course you need to use GAME MODE in the control panel.

Cute trick seeing as the Xtreme Audio is a software based card and doesn't even have Game Mode (or the X-Fi chip on it), that and should have never been called X-Fi in the first place (nothing more than a renamed Audigy SE/SB Live 24 bit).

[megawhompertoo]

Re: I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

Alchemy only works with DirectSound3D games, it isn't needed for OpenAL based games like BF2



Cute trick seeing as the Xtreme Audio is a software based card and doesn't even have Game Mode (or the X-Fi chip on it), that and should have never been called X-Fi in the first place (nothing more than a renamed Audigy SE/SB Live 24 bit).

both.

true.

in the gp poster's defence, the xtreme audio has a refined chip/interface. just because it isn't x-fi doesn't mean it isn't "hear-ably" better.

[TheButler208]

Re: I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

Alchemy only works with DirectSound3D games, it isn't needed for OpenAL based games like BF2



Cute trick seeing as the Xtreme Audio is a software based card and doesn't even have Game Mode (or the X-Fi chip on it), that and should have never been called X-Fi in the first place (nothing more than a renamed Audigy SE/SB Live 24 bit).

ok i meant extreme music.

and, the extreme music most certainly does have an X-Fi chip. It lacks the quantity of memory the fatality has and the front case input thing. However if the game is not written for the fatality it will not benefit from the memory. The fatality was just a marketing thing that enabled creative to sell the card for 80 dollars more than the other x-fi cards. Was it worth it? no, they just slapped the "pro" gamer's name on it and made money from that angle.

I don't really know what you mean by cute trick, like I'm gonna say a piece of hardware is something that it isn't. Cuz I really give a #$%&.

http://creative.com/products/product...&product=14066 thats the extreme music. It has an exfi chip and its a hardware based card. And, its not a rip-off.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

ok i meant extreme music.

i think the responder was just going off your original post. extreme audio is utter dog-leavings, extreme music was the best of the x-fi's (from a value standpoint) for a long time.

back on topic, i'm having a problem with mine. i can only install the drivers and i only get the bare-bones driver software interface. i'm thinking it's probably an oem xtrememusic that came out of an hp (dell?), meaning i might need a different version of the software? when i try to install from the creative.com download, i get a "not detected" error.

anyone still checking this thread know where i could pick up a copy of the creative diagnostics/tweaking package?

http://forums.creative.com/rss/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=100400

^ looks like i'm going to have to tear apart the install package to get audio console up and running.

like i don't have anything better to do.

[TheButler208]

Re: I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

i think the responder was just going off your original post. extreme audio is utter dog-leavings, extreme music was the best of the x-fi's (from a value standpoint) for a long time.

back on topic, i'm having a problem with mine. i can only install the drivers and i only get the bare-bones driver software interface. i'm thinking it's probably an oem xtrememusic that came out of an hp (dell?), meaning i might need a different version of the software? when i try to install from the creative.com download, i get a "not detected" error.

anyone still checking this thread know where i could pick up a copy of the creative diagnostics/tweaking package?

i do believe they have an extreme music version of the drivers now. You got those I assume. It used to be they just had x-fi drivers that worked on all the versions.

[Stormy{CAN}]

Re: I need to stop reading tech reviews. Just bought into X-Fi...did I waste money?

i do believe they have an extreme music version of the drivers now. You got those I assume. It used to be they just had x-fi drivers that worked on all the versions.

An X-Fi driver is an X-Fi driver regardless of which one you have (except for the POS Audio which has its very own driver). Also you can install the X-Fi drivers on any Audigy 1, 2 or 4 (but not the SE/DE/LS/Value models) in both XP and Vista, and highly recommended to do so if you are running Vista.

P.S. I know all about the Xtreme Music, but you said Audio.