SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 & SPDIF - it's despairing

<SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5. & SPDIF - it's despairing? Hello together,
I'm using the Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5. with a Notebook (Vista; 32 Bit)
And now the Question: Is the soundcard only badly designed, or am I to stupid to get it work? ^^
I want only 2 easy things from the card:
) Using the optical SPDIF out for connection to my stereo unit, without any change (bitperfect)
2) Using the Headphone Out for my Headphone in Games with EAX; etc.
And now the problems:
) Vista shows me for playback 2 creative - interfaces: Speaker and SPDIF-out.
But if I deactivate SPDIF-Out I get still sound out of SPDIF.
And if I only want sound out of the SPDIF, I get still sound out of the speakers.
Isn't it possible to get sound either with the SPDIF-Out OR the Speaker/Headphone Out ?!
2) The sound of the SPDIF OUT delays a fews seconds?
3) I can't do any changes for SPDIF in the Creative drivers. And there is only the Entertainment Modus.
Thank you for help!
Message Edited by SPDIF-ERROR on 02-5-2009 04:56 [email protected]

@Re: SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5. & SPDIF - it's despairingA Ok - Problem fixed. Again I am using a XP 32bit, latest driver.
I have disabled all the features (cmss, 3d, etc) and used the provided creative player and powerdvd player. Both work FINALLY right. I can listen to .ac3 5. music track and the SPDIF as a pure passthrough is sending 5. output to my Bose receiver. Same for the DVD sound.
Note when I used the VLC player the SPDIF still did not work right ... but since it does with the creative player I am good with it.
Once you activate any of the feature then the sound if brought down to a 2.0 (stereo) sound.
In my driver I do not have an option to disable the analog output - I assume that is different then the Vista one.
One other question. I have tested the card with Shure SE530 headset and the output is TERRIBLE - does it work fine for you with headset? (I am planning to use it only as SPDIF so no biggy but I was surprised on the poor quality. Those headset are amplified and filtered so there could be some issue with that).

Similar Messages

SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 - Having Trouble Getting all of my 5.1 to work

MSoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5. - Having Trouble Getting all of my 5. to work?Hi Everyone,
This has been an on and off problem for me since I've purchased my X-Fi: I can only get certain speakers to work at a single time. As you know, in 5. there are the three /8 inch heads: green, black and orange. All of the heads, when plugged into the green slot (I am using the cable that converts the green head into the red and white inputs, not the green headphones input) on the X-Fi work. I take this to mean that all of the speakers do in fact work and that the problem lies within the device/drivers. I have looked high and low through windows and the creative control panels and changed all of the speaker settings to 5.. Maybe I am overlooking something.
I am using Windows 7 32-bit. I have tried both versions of the driver that are available via Creative's website.
Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Dave

@Re: SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5. & SPDIF - it's despairingA Ok - Problem fixed. Again I am using a XP 32bit, latest driver.
I have disabled all the features (cmss, 3d, etc) and used the provided creative player and powerdvd player. Both work FINALLY right. I can listen to .ac3 5. music track and the SPDIF as a pure passthrough is sending 5. output to my Bose receiver. Same for the DVD sound.
Note when I used the VLC player the SPDIF still did not work right ... but since it does with the creative player I am good with it.
Once you activate any of the feature then the sound if brought down to a 2.0 (stereo) sound.
In my driver I do not have an option to disable the analog output - I assume that is different then the Vista one.
One other question. I have tested the card with Shure SE530 headset and the output is TERRIBLE - does it work fine for you with headset? (I am planning to use it only as SPDIF so no biggy but I was surprised on the poor quality. Those headset are amplified and filtered so there could be some issue with that).

Is there any Sound card 5.1 include stereo mix that working with MacBook Air such as Creative Labs SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro Entertainment System ? and if there any another sound card can you tell me what is it please ? Thank you.

Is there any Sound card 5.1 include stereo mix that working with MacBook Air such as Creative Labs SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro Entertainment System ? and if there any another sound card can you tell me what is it please ? Thank you.

Okay, I did my best searching and I couldn't find anything that matched all your descriptors. I did do a search on both decoder numbers. SB0256 returned very little results, but with SB0466, I was able to find this ebay listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...6_fvi%3D&_rdc=
This card isn't a Champion like you suggested. And with my complete lack of knowledge, I don't know what I/O dri've bay means. But since it is PCI and the decoder matches the number you gave me, this card should be adequete, right?
Whether it works or not, my search indicated it might be very hard for me to find that card (or any PCI card for that matter). Everything I saw was out of stock. I know this is a forum for Creative, but are there any other manufacturers that will allow me to accomplish my goal, either with current cards, or discontinued cards? Thanks again
Oh, and I will vote on that thread. I probably won't wait for them to release the decoder since I need it now, but I still believe Creative should be giving the customer what they want

Problems with soundblaster x-fi surround 5.1

, Hello,
I have problems with my 'soundblaster x-fi surround 5.'.
-the speakers make 'plop' sounds
-the software 'startup centre', 'configuration' etc. give this message (translated from Dutch): "There are no compatible audiodevices found. Please close the program."
I have this poblems using a 64bit Vista, and not on a 32bit Vista (other machine).
Thanks,
Ivar

Hi Enk,
unfortunately a lot of people have the same problem.
There is another thread for this topic:
http://forums.creative.com/creativel...scending&page=
but for now there is no solution.
The only way to get the product working with "realtime" sound is to install the Vista driver from 2006, but with that one you have only stereo sound and the creative applications will not detect the product.
As I understand it, the delay can only be a driver issue.

OPTICAL SURROUND SOUND - Soundblaster Audigy2ZsPlatinum --- Sony Surround sou

Hey, I read that post on optical hardware on sticky, but wanted to clarify as I didn't understand, as it seemed pretty unreasonable. I have a soundblaster Audigy 2ZS platinum, and a Sony DAV 5. home cinema kit.Surely a 5. signal can be output through the soundcards front optical, through the optical cable, to go into my cinema kit optical?- Looking to use it for surround sound pc gaming on my pc, and for running stereo music into the 5 speakers. If this isn't possible, are their any cracks, patches, plugins or software available to help with either of these demands?
Thanks, Alex

pjc,
Why you think its only a decoder? AC3Filter is capable of real-time ac3 *encoding* and has had this capability for awhile now - or has this functionality been removed recently?
It is commonly used by folks in the htpc subforum at avsforum.com by those who only have a S/PDIF connection to their home theater system but want to get multichannel audio for their WMVHD discs (most WMVHD do not have DD, they are multichannel WMV audio). AC3Filter encodes and lossy-compresses multichannel audio that is not DD/DTS and outputs the audio as multichannel DD over S/PDIF.
-----------------------Features of AC3 Filter .02a :
- Decoding of AC3/DTS/MPEG/2 Audio Layer I/II formats- Support of DVD, AVI/AC3, AVI/DTS, WAV/AC3 and WAV/DTS- Audio processing for any source- 6-channel decomposition of any source- Full information about audio track format- Support of SPDIF passthrough mode- Multi-channel audio output from all sources on SPDIF (on-the-fly AC3 encoding)<etc... snip>-----------------------

Soundblaster X-Fi Surround sound not working!!!! HELP!!!!

9Soundblaster X-Fi Surround sound not working!!!! HELP!
!!! officially i hate creative to the what was supposed to be simple registration which in itself annoyed me to now the speakers i have been using for a longggg time for the past 4 days has been bothering me..
Using a Creative Soundblaster X-fi ?sound card with a 7. surround sound speaker set-up and windows vista ultimate (32bit) the sound refuses to come out of all the speakers during the channel test it sometimes picks up certain speakers but never all of them and the sound is pretty much coming out of the left speaker only i've tried uninstalling all the drivers installing every driver i can find together with the console launchers i've changed the config settings in windows itself which doesnt help uninstalled all codecs bought another x-fi card (i was getting frustrated) still nothing the only thing i havent done is re-install windows which i refuse to do because of some creative defect!
I hope someone has a solution or any advice would help i've also used dri've cleaner and sweeper to clear all data from the registry etc rebooted etc etc etc still no luck....
Sort it out creative!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!

**beep** !! a response would be GREAT............
Admin Notes: I understand that you are frustrated but cursing & swearing is not allowed here. If you need help from customer support, you can contact them through email. Please abide to the rules if you want to participate in this forum.
Message Edited by KokChoy-CL on <span class='local-date'> 02-7-2009<span class='local-time'> 09:50 [email protected]

Toshiba P505-S8980 Surround sound through spdif

Hello all
I've just bought a Toshiba P505-S8980 which has an spdif optical output shared with the headphone jack. I've tried connecting this to my receiver with an optical cable. I can get stereo sound, but not 5.1. If I go to: Control panel > Sound > Right click 'Spdif interface' and choose properties > Advanced tab, I have a drop down list of sound formats to choose from. They are all 2 channel stereo with different bitrates and frequencies (on my old x205 I would have the option of 'Dolby digital live (5.1 surround sound)', this option is not available on the P505.
The drivers I have installed are:
Conexant Pebble High Definition Smart Audio 4.98.6.63 and
Intel (R) High Definition Audio HDMI 6.10.1.2077
Does anybody have any ideas or suggestions on how I can get 5.1 surround sound?
Thanks

Hi,
I'm not having much luck, i'm thinking of buying a 3.5mm jack to optical TOSLINK apparently some HP laptops have a port within the stereo out, though the more i read the less likely i think it will be. Another option would be HDMI out although my receiver (Logitech Z5400) does not support this i hoped a converter might be available.
Can anyone provide comments on this?
Thanks again,
Matt

Soundblaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Beta Driver 1.02.0061 Problem

Plain and simple. The Driver does NOT detect my USB Card.

There are two models, X-Fi Surround 5.1 and X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro.
The beta driver for X-Fi Surround 5. is version 1.0.0098
The beta driver for X-Fi Surround 5. Pro is version 1.02.006 ?

K9N Platinum- Only 2 channel sound from SPDIF

Hi Guys,
I am struggling to get a 5.1 output on SPDIF in the Realtek Manager. If i run the 3d sound demo, all i can hear is sound from the front 2 channels, no centre or surrond speakers. This is extremely frustrating. Can someone help ??

Quote from: ivon on 09-August-06, 17:23:28
I am tempted to go and get the Creative card...However one of the reasons why i shelled out money for this Mobo was because of the SPDIF out put ...and i cant get even the Realtek sound manager to out put to the five speakers...
I could have gone in for a cheaper ASUS board and a creative card...however i cant afford another card at this stage mate. Need to figure out a way to get this working.
Where can i get the latest drivers for the 883 chipset.
Jal
STOP!!!!!
Don't just go and buy a Creative card, read these first:
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=12170
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=70769&query.id=157202#M70769
If you want surround sound using spdif (optical or coaxial) the cards from Auzentech is for you. I'm using the HDA Xplosion but I think they are going to release a new card called X-purity in September. Their card can ENCODE Dolby Digital and DTS so you can enjoy surround sound using spdif. To be honest, my card, the Xplosion is not that great for gaming as it uses software+hardware Dolby digital/DTS encoding so you will lose some CPU usage for the card. It'll also cause your system to lock-up sometimes if the driver is corrupted since the encoding relies heavily on the driver. Eventhough it has those problems, I would not trade this card for a Creative card, not until Creative makes a card that will encode either Dolby Digital or DTS. The advantage is you can connect your PC with a home theater system or if you are using a Logitech's digital speaker (Z5450,Z5500) you can use the 3 analog inputs for 3 other device rather than only from PC. Btw the analog output of my Xplosion is also good but not as good as X-Fi, but you can change the opamps to make it better, but it wouldn't change the digital output quality at all.
http://www.auzentech.com/products.html

I CANT GET 5.1 SOUND CONECTING A EXTERNAL DVD PLAYER TO SPDIF

I CANT GET 5. SOUND CONECTING A EXTERNAL DVD PLAYER TO SPDIF OF?MY?LIVE DRIVE SOUND BLASTER LIVE 5. PLATINUM, WHY NOT? IS THE SPDIF LIVE DRIVE IN STEREO ONLY?

?[b][url="http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=&subcategory=207&product=484& nav=0]Sound Blaster Li've 5. can't decode AC3/DTS via hardware only with software[/url][/b][b][/b]?[b]MOVIES[/b]
[b]Cinematic Surround Sound in Movies[/b]
[list][*]Enjoy captivating 5. multi-channel surround sound with CMSS. [color="#ff0000"]Works with any software DVD-Player that supports Dolby Digital or DTS decoding for cinema-like movie experience.<[/list]?[url="http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=270]Digital Connections, SPDIF and Dolby Digital Info[/url]?[b]Digital Connections[/b]Digital connections come in two standard forms, optical and coax. They both give you exactly the same result, the only difference is the medium (material)?through which the signal travels. [color="#ff0000"]The thing to remember about digital is that for ordinary, uncompressed?sound, it will only carry a stereo signal.
So, if you like to use CMSS with your music, or you try the speaker test function,?optical/coax is useless as you only hear the front left/right speakers.?Movies wth Dolby Digital (AC3) & DTSMovies on DVD often use encoded?audio in the form of Dolby Digital (AC3) or DTS. This means that all 6 channels are compressed into a single stream of digital data. A decoder is required to extract the channels and send the sound to the correct speakers. There are three ways to do this.
) Pass the AC3/DTS signal to a external decoder.?This is where your optical/coax connection is used. To?go down this route, you must first have a?set of speakers or a decoder that?supports Dolby Digital.
In your DVD software, select 'SPDIF' as the audio output method and 'SPDIF Pass-through' in?your?soundcard options. What this does is?tells both the software and soundcard to leave the audio from the DVD in compressed form and send it straight through the digital outputs. Your?digital speakers/receiver will do all the decoding to give you full surround sound.
Please note that this?is the only way to get 6 channels through an optical/coax cable.
2) Decode the AC3/DTS with your Sound Blaster ?You should choose this option if?you don't have an external decoder. In the DVD software, select 'SPDIF' as the audio output method and make sure that 'SPDIF Pass-through' in the souncard options is?off. The DVD software will now pass the compressed audio to your soundcard, which will then decode the data. The soundcard will output the 6 channels using the?analogue connections (or digital DIN, more on this later). If you try?to use a digital optical/coax connection to your speakers, you will only hear faint sounds from the front left/right speakers.
3) Decode the AC3/DTS with software.?If you have a soundcard that doesn't support Dolby Digital (like the SB Li've! 24-bit) and you don't have digital speakers, the only way for you to get surround sound in movies is to use software to decode the AC3/DTS. The free versions of DVD software you get with hardware often don't support this feature,? you will most likely need a full version. First select 'Dolby Digital' or 'DTS' decoding in the DVD software audio options (you must select the right?sound format for the movie you are watching). Then make sure that 'SPDIF Pass-through' in the soundcard options is off. As with method (2) you must connect your speakers with the 3 analogue cables, not optical/coax.

Several 5.1 Surround Issues

So I have a few issues here, and I only care about getting 1 answer. I'd like to point out that none of the issues I am getting exist in Windows. I guess pick whichever of the following you feel most comfortable with:
1. Games that are not playing in 5.1 analog surround
2. No surround playback in HDMI
3. No surround playback in SPDIF
1. Games that are not playing in 5.1 analog surround
Since ALSA is probably the most painful thing I've ever tried to configure, I installed pulseaudio to set up my analog surround setup. This has pretty much worked fine - I can use "speaker-test -c 6" and AC3 files in VLC, and I can hear all the channels play the audio they're supposed to. The game "Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs" also appears to get surround working, though I had to delete the libopenal.so.1 that it ships with (otherwise it's quadrophonic stereo).
However, I've noticed that's pretty much the only game I own that is playing in true 5.1 surround. From what I heard, Valve games on linux are known to not work in 5.1, and according to one of the developers of Witcher 2, it is a proven fact that they do not have surround working, but it is being looked into.
However, Borderlands 2 is the next priority on my list, and that appears to only have quadrophonic stereo. It played with full 5.1 surround in Windows. Surround sound is the ONLY thing preventing me from ditching this game on Windows.
There are other games that seem to have the same issue as BL2 but they are a lower priority to me.
2. No surround playback in HDMI
I am using the open source radeon drivers, but according to pulseaudio, I get ACT, DTS, EAC3, and MPEG support via HDMI audio. I can play stereo audio files just fine. However, if I try playing a .ac3 file in VLC, nothing happens. According to pavucontrol, there is no sound playing whatsoever. I can try selecting the device from the audio menu, and it just ignores this. I tried stopping PA and select ALSA HDMI0 from the audio source in VLC and still doesn't play anything (except stereo files).
I can't remember how I did it, but there was a way where I got my receiver to acknowledge the 5.1 surround channels, but, it still didn't play any audio.
But before I even attempt to fix this, does anybody know for a fact if you get TRUE (meaning, not quadrophonic stereo) surround with games via HDMI? I don't care about setting this up if only VLC is the only program I have that can take advantage of this.
3. No surround playback in SPDIF
Just to clarify, if PA is uninstalled, I can get surround playback, but only in VLC. With PA installed I can play stereo audio just fine but .ac3 files in VLC will not play, and much like my HDMI experience, pavucontrol says there is no sound playing.
I already know that in Linux there's basically no chance of getting SPDIF to work with most games, since there is no option for live DD/DTS encoding. But, there's a chance that some games do support this, yet I'll never know if PA keeps "muting" AC3 tracks. Also, my surround receiver supports Pro Logic, Dolby Digital, and other features that really help enhance stereo audio. You can't get these features in analog. That being said, I would like to be able to have SPDIF and 5.1 analog output simultaneously, and I can switch between the two based on my current needs.
Last edited by schmidtbag (2014-11-15 05:09:39)

schmidtbag wrote:quadrophonic stereo
See post and technical explanation:
One drawback of surround sound which can lead to problems is that the channel assignment is not standardised (except in the sense that the great thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from). Four channels can represent either 3.1 surround sound (left/right + centre + subwoofer) or 4.0 surround sound (front left/right + surround left/right). Similarly, there are two different conventions for 5.1 surround sound, one upward compatible to 3.1 and one to 4.0. In the first case, the channel order is front left, front right, centre, LFE (low frequency effects = subwoofer), surround left, surround right; in the latter case front left, front right, surround left, surround right, centre, LFE. The latter configuration is the standard under Linux, while the former is common on computer illiterate systems (guess which OS that is...). But reportedly some games assume M$ channel order even under Linux, with the effect that voices of characters behind the player come out of the centre speaker. I do not know about 7.1 channel assignment, but I expect there are the same two configurations, with rear left and right being the last two channels in either case.

Audigy 2 ZS Platinum + SPDIF out + GTA San Andr

Hi,
I've recently bought an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum and I must say I'm very pleased with it.
I'm using an external audio receiver on witch I can only connect coaxial or optical. I've read the thread about digital connections and I know that its impossible to get surround sound with SPDIF in a game because it doesn't use an audio player (I have an ac3 encoder).
The problem is that GTA San Andreas (witch worked perfectly with my older sound cart (stereo)) plays his sounds as surround sound EAX, witch you all know is useless with SPDIF. The result is surround sound out of my front speakers only. So I'm missing about 70% of all the sounds (No voices, engine sounds, etc)
When I looked in the audio settings in the game I noticed that its impossible to change any settings at all (stereo/surround, EAX, Dolby, etc)...
I've tried many things, like setting my computer to stereo (sound and audio devices). I have even tried to use the analogue socket (only the stereo connection) but nothing seems to work...
Btw, I noticed another weird thing, in the THX console I can't select what speaker settings I have witch I could on an previous install (I had some di'ver probs.) In the console for the speaker settings the same problem but there I can select the option: "synchronise with configuration screen". But when I change the speaker settings there it changes back to 5. at start up....
Who knows a solution to this problem?
Thanks in advance, Thomas Voortman (Netherlands)

You did not install yout drivers correctly.
. Download the latest drivers from the Audigy 4 Pro section.
2. Right click on the downloaded file and select to extract it somewhere.
3. Go within the Folder, and find Drivers subfolder.
4. There should be an executable there. Run it.
5. Select to uninstall your current drivers, and make sure the option "Remove Creative shared files ..." is selected.
6. Restart and install the new driver using the same executable, while also checking the "Overwrite shared files" is selected!
Now you shouldn't have problems with the THX Console. I also had the smae problems and the Enviroments were also missing form the EAX Console. It was because I didn't select that overwrite option.

Would like to know if these devices can be connected and used at the same t

Hi
I firstly need to apologise for being not that technically minded when it comes to soundcards and audio equipment. I have good ears and really appreciate high quality music. I have nearly $2000US of AV equipment that I want to connect to my sound card.
In the past I have been unable to use any of the Creative Labs products (looking back a few years) as they did not have an SPDIF inerface. My old motherboard did, but has now being retired.
) I need to be able to connect my AV amp via the SPDIF connection and also a microphone using a normal headphone plug (no idea what you call that connection), and be able to use both at the same time. My old motherboard allowed this with ease, but it would appear that not all of the creative labs sound cards will!
2) The SPDIF connection must be located at the back of the computer. Connecting it at the front of the machine will be unsightly and dangerous to have the lead lying around in my current situation
3) The mic connection can be located at the front or the back of the computer. A connection at the rear of the computer would be preferred.
May I ask what is the cheapest X-Fi soundcard in the range that will allow this. I don't believe that spending more money will by me better sound quality when it comes to playing movies and music over the SPDIF interface.
I am not interested in any fancy features, or special game acceleration modes or enhancments. Just good quality music through an SPDIF connection, and the ability to use a mic to talk to ppl online.
From my research it would appear the cheapest option is the (expensi've) Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum
Many thanks for any assitance you are able to offer.
3)

That's like the 00-th post that asks for the same thing: digital connection of the Creative soundcard to a receiver.
Yes, you can connect the card via a jack situated on the back of the card - you just need a cable with stereo minijack and RCA. All the older Creative cards (since Li've!) have that SPDIF output on the back, on the form of a mini-jack. It is labeled as "digital".
The ONLY problem is that you will be able to send surround sound via SPDIF only if it is encoded DD or DTS on a DVD-ROM. The card itself will not encode surround sound CREATED in the PC. So, games, mp3's, CD's all will be stereo PCM. I guess that your old MoBo SPDIF was in the same situation (except for a SoundStorm integrated from nVidia that does DD 5. encoding on the fly). If you don't care about gaming performance, Turtle Beach make a card that does DolbyDigital encoding on-the-fly - they are calling this Dolby Digital Li've.
About mikes: one mike input is existing on the back of the card, and another one on the expansion bay (if you have platinum version). both of them will take only a el-cheapo (electret/condenser mike), not a proffesional one.
Message Edited by SoNic2367 on 04-24-2006 2:47 PM

I would like to know if I can have FCP maker names be the same as what appears in field, master comment 1. I am importing these makers from a 3rd party system

Hello, I am importing logs from from a 3rd party system. They come in as markers into FCP. The log comments come in under master comment 1. Is there a way to re-map this so master comment 1 appears where the maker type is shown.

That's like the 00-th post that asks for the same thing: digital connection of the Creative soundcard to a receiver.
Yes, you can connect the card via a jack situated on the back of the card - you just need a cable with stereo minijack and RCA. All the older Creative cards (since Li've!) have that SPDIF output on the back, on the form of a mini-jack. It is labeled as "digital".
The ONLY problem is that you will be able to send surround sound via SPDIF only if it is encoded DD or DTS on a DVD-ROM. The card itself will not encode surround sound CREATED in the PC. So, games, mp3's, CD's all will be stereo PCM. I guess that your old MoBo SPDIF was in the same situation (except for a SoundStorm integrated from nVidia that does DD 5. encoding on the fly). If you don't care about gaming performance, Turtle Beach make a card that does DolbyDigital encoding on-the-fly - they are calling this Dolby Digital Li've.
About mikes: one mike input is existing on the back of the card, and another one on the expansion bay (if you have platinum version). both of them will take only a el-cheapo (electret/condenser mike), not a proffesional one.
Message Edited by SoNic2367 on 04-24-2006 2:47 PM

Which card should I buy if I like customizable EAX/DSP listening effects?

Hello all,
I'll first tell you, what audio system I currently use&know, then what I am looking for... and about the mispurchase I have unfortunately already made.
My current main audio system:
SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium PCI-E on Win7 x64
Samsung HW-C770 (includes 7.1 boxes and an AVR that supports distinct 8-channel connection to the PC)
my EAX/DSP listening profiles created in Creative Console Launcher / Audio Creation Mode (especially making use of custom Reverb and Chorus DSP effects for my/our music&film listening enhancement and pleasure...)
I am looking for:
a small version of the above for another room
must be compatible with my Laptop => USB connection!
(I already have 5.1 boxes with a built-in amplifier for this room)
My mispurchase: I already bought a SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro and am very disappointed with it, because:
only the Creative Console Launcher / Entertainment Console is available! (The few predefined EAX environment effects available in the entertainment console are not customizable. Also, they sound pretty bad in my ears compared to my hand-crafted ones...)
the Audio Creation Console is not available (not even the game console), so no customizable effects like Reverb/Chorus/AutoWah at all!
I already found the sad cause for this: this USB card does not have a real X-Fi chip built-in and is pretty much just a software solution (TruStudio...) without user-programmable DSP effects!
Question 1:
Does anyone know of any Creative USB sound card that allows me to create custom EAX/DSP listening profiles (i.e. customizing the Reverb, Chorus, Mixer settings like in audio creation mode...)?
What about the non-pro version of the X-Fi 5.1 Surround, maybe/hopefully, because it is from the pre-TruStudio generation? Can someone with this card please either confirm or deny, before I make my second mispurchase...?
Question 2:
Secondly, I already wonder what Sound Card I should buy, when I'll assemble my new main PC system sometime next year. As explained above, I need 7.1 for my boxes and a programmable DSP for listening pleasure.
I read daniel_k's post about the Recon3D generation cards and was appalled, because he says: "... X-Fi Titanium Features you'll be missing: ... Fully programmable DSP in Audio Creation mode.". So, this is a no-go for me!
What about the new ZxR, maybe? Does its hardware have the X-Fi features back or is it still weaker like the Recon3D?
Thanks for your input!

Many of the good effects and presets from the SoundBlaster Audigy (or even Live!) generation unfortunately did not make it into the X-Fi software generation, but you are lucky: the customizable Jazz Club preset did. To find it, enter audio creation mode and click on the "..."-button of the Reverb effect. Then open the drop-down box and choose "Jazz club". Click on the advanced button to see (and optionally change) all of its effect details (this screenshot is for the Royal Hall effect, but the Jazz Club is at the same place...)
It is not so easy with the X-Fi software to stack two EAX/DSP effects, but this is necessary for great-sounding custom audio profiles. However, it is possible to get back about 80% of the features you once had with the older Audigy software generation via a method that I have detailed in another thread.
So you see: even during the Audigy=>X-Fi transition there has already been some feature loss. Then the effect features were lost altogether on hardware level(!) in the transition from X-Fi=>Recon3D as Daniel K. pointed out. My hope was that Creative brings them back in the Z series, but I fear this company has shredded yet another one of its once great features/assets...
This is really a pity, because with proper marketing and just a few more software development days (like for an export&import option for sharing custom audio presets with friends) these features and listening effects could have made a big selling point in the entertainment market... Therefore I am also honestly worried about Creative's future as they continue to make severe marketing beginner's mistakes and don't use/advertise their strengths!
I also had the idea of looking for a good EAX-based audio player when I changed to the X-Fi generation, but found nothing that came remotely close to the EAX/DSP effects one could/can configure with the SB Audigy or X-Fi (with the help of my workaround). If someone knows of a good EAX software playback solution, please let us know as it might be the only viable way after the X-Fi generation to get these features back!
>>"You may have to do the same as what im going to do for my Z until Creative bring it back with a upgrade for us unhappy customers who thrive on this feature."
I have already waited years for them to bring back these basic Audigy features into the X-Fi software generation. I have long since lost this hope...
Thanks for the link to the X-Fi HD USB card, but it is not useful for my scenario as I have 5.1 speakers. Additionally, it is also based on this TruStudio software, i.e. I assume that it is not software-capable of configuring EAX/DSP listening profiles either. (Can someone confirm?)
>>"but i cant believe the X-Fi version doesn't even have the X-Fi Core it has to have a cut down version at least."
I have this info from a German forum, where they basically say that the 5.1 surround USB card does not have a real X-Fi chip, because it is built like the X-Fi Xtreme Audio (which doesn't have one either). I think this is plausible. In the same thread it is also confimed (by a cited eMail answer from Creative support) that the 5.1 surround only offers the entertainment mode (and thus loses out on all the entertainment/listening effects that you can only configure with "audio creation mode", which should simply be named "expert mode" in my opinion).

SoundBlaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 & SPDIF - it's despairing

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