Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum by Creative
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Digital camera reviews of Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum
Digital camera Review: Great sound card
Summary: 5 Stars
Everything I have tried to do with the sound card has been easy to do. Great sound, great hardware and good software.Digital camera Review: Great sound, bad design
Summary: 2 Stars
As far as audio quality goes, the card sounds great, but the design is terrible. Initially, I really liked the idea of the front breaker box and being able to use the remote control with it. That is pretty much why I bought it. Now I've realized it's basically useless. There is no reason to have audio outputs on the breaker box. You only need a headphone output and that's it. Inputs should be on the front box so you can plug in your digital camera, DVD player, etc, transfer your files, then remove it. The ONLY optical audio output is on the front breaker box. Since I have a case with a panel that closes, this means I cannot close the front panel. I actually had to take a drill, drill a hole in the case door in front of the optical connection, and then thread the optical input through it to use my case with the door closed. Anytime I want to open the case door, I have to remove the audio connection, open the door, then put it back in. I can't even begin to describe what a huge hassle this is.
Also, to use the remote you'll need line of sight instead of RF, so if you have a case with a front door on it t will need to remain open the entire time. The remote is awful anyway. It has a ton of controls on it, but only a few you'll actually need. I don't need 30 buttons on the AUDIO remote control for my computer. If I want to adjust the levels, I am going to do that from my computer, not from my couch where I can't see what I'm doing. The front breaker box also doesn't sit flush with your case, it sticks out a little bit and is bezeled. Not a big deal, but why not make it flush like the rest of 5.25" components? Lastly, the cable connecting the breaker box to the audio card is not a rounded cable, it looks like an old IDE cable. So it's going to take up space in your box and look bad.
If I didn't have speakers with an optical input and want to use that, I would just disconnect the breaker box completely, but at this price point, this card is designed for audio enthusiasts, and anyone spending that kind of money for the card is likely going to want to use the optical input.
Digital camera Review: Great upgrade over on-board sound
Summary: 5 Stars
The last soundblaster I had used was a soundblaster Live a couple of years ago. Since then, I've been relying on onboard sound on Nforce based motherboards. Sound quality was okay, but there always seemed to be issues with the drivers and a fair amount of background noise on the analog outputs. I decided to upgrade to the X-fi when I started to have sound dropouts while playing Oblivion.
Sound quality from the X-Fi is great, especially with headphones. I'm only using the Drive bay I/O panel for the headphone jack, but the price of the Platinum version wasn't much more than just the basic card, so it was money well spent. If I had this set up as a media center PC, the remote control functions would make this an even better deal.
A few notes:
-I had no problems installing this on an NForce4 based motherboard (Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe)
-The I/O drive bay only comes in black. If you still have a tan case you're out of luck
-There is a digital SPDIF output available on the back of the card. It's a mini 1/8" jack, and unfortunately no adapter to RCA jack is included.
Digital camera Review: I'm a recording engineer
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had the X-Fi Platinum for about one month. I upgraded from Soundblaster 5.1, a big upgrade. I have an Asus Motherboard, AMD processor and NVidia video and have not had any problems at all. I got the card to record vinyl to CD. I have about 500 albums. The advantage of the connections straight from the amp to the card were the selling point.
I have recorded some albums over 30 years old and they sound fine. The recording software that came with the card works just fine from simple record to three levels of effects. I have put recordings from the records on my mp3 and burned cd's. Better sound than a casette tape and I've just scratched the surface with the software features.
I have a great improvement in overall sound and there are many uses for the features on the card and the software applications that come with it. All I need is more knowledge on how to use all of the features. The card is expensive but worth it, particularly if you have a specific use for it. Take the plunge and enjoy the best sound available, you deserve it.
Digital camera Review: Just what I needed
Summary: 5 Stars
I like to do a lot of home video taping. Time my wife gave me another project to convert her cass.tape into cd. with what I had in my computer which was a sound blaster card that came with it, I knew that was a hard task to do. So I chose the reseach this project some more. I look at adding a dazzel gadet, and upgrading my sound card which would be a little more than I wanted to pay. I started looking The Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum and software that came with it. The Price I payed for it was a bargain. The setup was a snap If you know a little about hardware. I notice a big differance in the sound quailty the proformance in recording and gaming. I am looking adding a surround sound speakers anything less would be a waste of a excellent card.
deharris
NC