X-FI out at Quakecon! Unbeliveable sound!

[Coderedpl]

im getting the Elite Pro
400$

[Lith1um]

....;_;

150+ for something like that? JEEZ. Well, this kinda makes my next of upgrades kinda hit a crossroads...

I'll wait til the prices go down. Until then, i'll upgrade the rest of my system.

Fortunately Creative is selling xfi chipsets to 3d party hardware vendors this time.

We should see many permutations of xfi cards. Affordability with decent features will pop up sooner or later.

[locborg]

im also doing a lot of guitar / synthi recording so i will need a card with front board connection. anyone got an idea whether the fps got the frontboard connector?
400$ is a little much for my taste. moreover i "only" got a 5.1 sound system (logitech z-680) so im not sure how much the sound might improve with that..

[deathBOB]

How was the headphone sound? Could you hear things in distinctly in front of or behind you etc.?

The current CMSS makes my music sound like crap, I hope new version is better.

Will not be buying one of these until they come down to 100-125.

[NoSoup4You]

I am looking forward to getting one of these cards, I have yet to determine which I will be buying. Probably one of the lower end ones, and probably 1-2 months after it comes out (the price will drop). The processing power, and clarity that it brings to games and music is supposed to be a huge leap forward. I can't wait.

[NoSoup4You]

I just read this, and though I would share it with you guys. Anyone who doesn't think this will revolutionize online gaming, is nuts:

http://www.soundblaster.com/products...nfo/eax5_2.asp

[AssaultSqdLdr]

Hardware-accelerated audio is dead. Creative and some gamers haven't noticed yet. Single-core CPUs are powerful enough to handle the burden of software 3D audio in games without eating too many FPS. Dual-core CPUs on the other hand make hardware-accelerated audio completely obsolete.

Is there really a purpose in buying this card? I've been playing games for years on newer and newer Creative Labs cards and I haven't noticed any improvement in EAX effects since the technology debuted. My next sound board purchase will be based on sound quality, not vaporware gaming features.

The hardware is impressive, but the end result for a gamer is unjustified for the cost. $100 invested in either a faster cpu or graphics card will be far more worthwhile.

Coming from owning a Sound Blaster Pro, 16, Live, Audigy, and Audigy2 ZS I can say it's getting harder and harder to justify buying a soundcard considering the featureset and price of today's onboard solutions.

A tempting product for audio professionals, but that's about it.

[Merlin]

I dont really care how much it costs, if its good and your not paying well over the top, personally I would go for it. Sound cards last forever, I have had my current one for 5 years so 5 years on the next one wouldnt be too bad/.

[my2cents]

Also theirs tons of abient sound that I never heard in BF2 on my A2 system at home.For comparison sake, my A2 planium with 7.1 speakers is like AM station.The X-fi is like stereo FM. there is that much leap in sound .

You should try the 'high' options in sound at home. I think that u PC sux, that's why you haven't hear the ambien sounds in BF2.

I'm very happy with my Audigy 2 ZS, I can hear tons of ambients sound, birds, wind, bullets etc...etc..etc..

[Remy X.O.]

LOL.
No, I do not work for Creative.
To answered some questions about the sound and why it was so improved. I not a sound techie.I can only explain the best I can.
The BF2 they had running was on 3 computers on Lan.Here what I really noticed.When the other players talked to me I could tell if he was behind me,left, right, etc.I could tell from his voice if he was ontop the building in fact.The way the other players voice sounded it was like they were IN THE GAME.I don't know if that's good for BF2 but I am sure that it neat in other games.When you hear the other players talk.it like they are actually in the game.
I never EVER get imererced into a game that would make me jump or duck.But Many Times when playing BF2 on the X-FI/7.1 and the headphones I was ducking my head/dodging my body from fire/etc. I was being snipe at and I could hear the bullet just miss me going by my head.You have to hear for yourself. All the sound are so real like.Also theirs tons of abient sound that I never heard in BF2 on my A2 system at home.For comparison sake, my A2 planium with 7.1 speakers is like AM station.The X-fi is like stereo FM. there is that much leap in sound .

dude I experience the same kindve sound on my onboard nVidia Soundstorm. You can hear the emotes if the person is next to you. And it also echoes if you are in a building or room. Im sure you're not talkin about the sound effecting VOIP because that is just stupid. You sure you have a good soun card as of now and can handle the sound quality on high? I remember when i played the demo my sound quality was on low and didnt relize it. Then when i switched it to medium the difference was as big as you are mentioning right now. Im sure the new X-Fi cards will be better than my onboard but i dont htink that much of a difference.

[Snake101]

I just read this, and though I would share it with you guys. Anyone who doesn't think this will revolutionize online gaming, is nuts:

http://www.soundblaster.com/products...nfo/eax5_2.asp

Woah! That is F'ing sweet!

[Cotizi]

ya that 3d voice thing would be badass... speech actaully coming from the player....what a revolutionary idea.

[Prince]

No way am I paying that sort of money for a sound card.

Other people may want to...

[Remy X.O.]

"EAX® Voice works by feeding the microphone input into the EAX® hardware effects engine and at that point becomes another gaming sound element which you can hear. It is then transmitted along with the environment properties over the LAN (3D Voice Over IP not currently supported over internet connections) and when it reaches another players PC system their EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 compliant card translates the environment properties and adds them to your voice in real-time! In order for this feature to work the game must support the 3D voice transmission and EAX® ADVANCED HD™ 4.0 or above."

So Basically if you go to a LAN party or have multiple computers in your house this doesnt really work.

[toxik]

I'm sure the sound will be really nice and all. But soon after buying it we'll get used to it and that won't be anything special anymore. The features such as EAX and all will be more important for future games... Nothing special once we buy it now. The only thing is the X-Ram should help us right away with performance. Plus this is a BF2 forum and BF2 is one of the first games to use X-Fi so getting an X-Fi is probably a must for BF2 fans.