Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook is the only sound card with ExpressCard interface. Let's see how good it is compared to the integrated sound.
It's no secret that integrated sound cards are usually not of outstanding quality. Unfortunately, this is true not only for desktop computers, but also for laptops. In particular, in my personal Fujitsu Siemens ESPRIMO M9400 laptop, the headphone output is very noisy. In low-impedance and sensitive headphones (for example, such as the Creative EP630 and Philips SHE9500 we have already reviewed), interference caused by the hard drive and graphics adapter is perfectly heard.
At the same time, I quite often use a laptop to listen to music through headphones, and this situation, of course, did not suit me. Unlike desktops, where you can install any sound card from dozens of existing models, laptops have limited expansion options. Therefore, when choosing a sound card for use with a portable computer, you have to focus primarily on external solutions with a USB interface. However, they tend to be quite large, and many also require external power, making it difficult to carry around with you all the time.
Some professional audio manufacturers - like Echo or EMU - make PCMCIA sound cards, but my laptop (like most modern laptops) only has an ExpressCard slot. This is what led to the purchase of the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook sound card, which is the only sound card in the world designed to be installed in the ExpressCard slot. So, meet - Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook.
The card comes in a small box of traditional Creative design.
In addition to the sound card itself, the box contains a traditional set of waste paper in five languages, a terrible quality wired headset, a driver, and a very nice carrying case.
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook is almost completely hidden in the ExpessCard slot, only the “head” remains outside, on which there are three connectors: an output, an input and a connector for connecting the so-called Speaker Docking Module. This same module is required for analog connection of a sound card to 7.1 or 5.1 acoustics. It is not included in the delivery set, and the possibility of its acquisition in the territory of the CIS countries is questionable.
The card's stereo output is combined with a digital optical output, and the input (to which both a microphone and line sources can be connected) is combined with a digital optical input. Thus, the owner of a notebook X-Fi receives a complete set of digital audio interfaces. In my opinion, when watching movies with a multi-channel audio track in Dolby Digital and DTS formats, it makes sense to output sound to an external receiver through the optical output. With this task Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook copes brilliantly.
Despite the name, the X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook does not include the Creative X-Fi chip (EMU20K1). First of all, this means that the card is not well suited for recreating a three-dimensional sound environment in computer games, but it doesn’t really matter for a laptop, since mobile computers (even the most powerful ones) are not designed for games. More importantly, the X-Fi Xtreme Audio has higher quality digital-to-analog converters (DACs) than the built-in sound card. Creative does not say anything about the components used, but as far as I was able to understand while shoveling the Internet, the XFXA uses the CS4382A DAC from the highly respected company Crystal Semiconductor and the WM8775 ADC from Wolfson Microelectronics. If the DAC in terms of level is quite consistent with household Hi-Fi equipment, then the ADC is much inferior to it in quality (this theory will later be confirmed by measurements). The sound card supports two Creative technologies - CMSS-3D and X-Fi Crystalizer. The first of them makes the sound in the headphones pseudo-three-dimensional and is absolutely useless in real life. The second technology, in theory, is designed to significantly improve the quality of compressed audio (such as MP3), we will discuss it a little later.
The sound card was tested on a Fujitsu Siemens ESPRIMO M9400 laptop (Core 2 Duo T5250 processor, 3 GB RAM, Intel GM965 chipset) running Windows Vista Ultimate. I want to note right away that the drivers supplied on the bundled disk are simply terrible. Firstly, they are very outdated, and secondly, the procedure for installing them takes no less than 1 hour and 15 minutes. I recommend that you do not even unpack this disk, but immediately download the new version of the drivers from the Creative website. The only note is that the version of PowerDVD recorded on the bundled disc is not installed separately. If you need it, you will first have to install all the bundled software, and then update the driver to the latest version. In general, Creative is not very willing to write drivers for their devices, new versions are usually released every six months or less.
Update as of 01/16/2009: after installing Windows Vista SP1, the sound card began to experience problems - for example, periodic "sticking" of the sound. As of January 2009, Creative has not yet released a driver version that is fully compatible with Vista SP1. In addition to the drivers themselves, you will need the Creative Console Launcher utility, since some sound card settings (for example, the analog input mode) can only be changed using it. Unlike other sound cards in the X-Fi family, the Xtreme Audio Notebook is limited to Entertainment Mode only. Game (Game Mode) and "creative" (Audio Creation Mode) modes are absent. The card does not support the ASIO interface and therefore cannot be used for professional audio work.
It is worth noting that X-Fi Xtreme Audio gets along well with the sound card integrated into the laptop, which allows you to perform various interesting tricks, for example, listen to different music together on one laptop.
It so happened that just at the time of writing this material, a professional external audio interface EMU 0202 briefly fell into my hands. I took this opportunity to conduct some measurements of the analog path of the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook sound card using the well-known RightMark Audio Analyzer package.
Working mode: 16bit 44kHz
| Noise level, dB(A) | ||
| Dynamic range dB(A) | ||
| THD, % | ||
| THD+Noise dB(A) | ||
| IMD + Noise, % | ||
| Stereo crosstalk, dB | ||
| IMD at 10 kHz, % | ||
| general performance |
Excellent |
As you can see, X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook shows excellent playback quality even in 16-bit 44 kHz mode, which is traditionally the most difficult for non-professional Creative sound cards. Let's check if the sound card suffers from forced oversampling at 48 kHz:
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook Line-Out
Working mode: 16bit 48kHz
| Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB | ||
| Noise level, dB(A) | ||
| Dynamic range dB(A) | ||
| THD, % | ||
| THD+Noise dB(A) | ||
| IMD + Noise, % | ||
| Stereo crosstalk, dB | ||
| IMD at 10 kHz, % | ||
| general performance |
Excellent |
Judging by the fact that the values of intermodulation distortion have decreased by almost half, forced oversampling takes place. It is quite high quality, but in any case, when listening to music from a computer, it is better to use the SSRC plugin for your favorite player. Now let's check the quality in external loop mode by connecting the X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook's line output to its line input (16bit 48kHz):
| Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB | ||
| Noise level, dB(A) | ||
| Dynamic range dB(A) | ||
| THD, % | ||
| THD+Noise dB(A) | ||
| IMD + Noise, % | ||
| Stereo crosstalk, dB | ||
| IMD at 10 kHz, % | ||
| general performance |
very good |
As I expected, the input of the X-Fi Xtreme Audio is significantly inferior in quality to the output. And now the deadly number - measuring the quality of the Realtek HD Audio codec integrated into the laptop. Since the EMU 0202 was at my disposal for literally 20 minutes, I had to test the integrated audio using the X-Fi line input. Despite this, Realtek fully justified the hopes placed on it. :)
Realtek HD Audio Line Out
Working mode: 16bit 48kHz
| Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB | ||
| Noise level, dB(A) | ||
| Dynamic range dB(A) | ||
| THD, % | ||
| THD+Noise dB(A) | ||
| IMD + Noise, % | ||
| Stereo crosstalk, dB | ||
| IMD at 10 kHz, % | ||
| general performance |
The advantage of X-Fi over integrated sound is obvious. At the same time, I would like to note the undoubted progress of the built-in audio cards: Realtek HD Audio is at least as good as Creative SB Live! ten years ago.
Plugging the headphones into the audio output of the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook sound card, I was pleasantly surprised by... the silence. No hissing, no buzzing, no "sounds of space" and other annoying noises - perfect! Compared to an integrated sound card, X-Fi delivers much cleaner and more detailed sound. Instrument timbres are transmitted more accurately. For example, when listening to Astor Piazzola's Five Tango Sensations by Kronos Quartet (Nonesuch Records, recorded in 1991), the strings became more like themselves. The increased resolution had a good effect on the sound of complex multi-layered rock compositions: on the Yes - Close To The Edge album, the instruments stopped falling into a mess.
Overall, the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook sounds brighter and more detailed than the Philips CD604 desktop CD player (which uses two TDA1543A DACs connected in parallel). However, the Philips CD604 sound less dry, more exciting and emotional. It is worth noting the fact that when using headphones, Creative X-Fi provides a higher volume level than the integrated sound card.
The X-Fi Crystalizer function turned out to be unexpectedly useful. When it is turned on, the level of high and low frequencies is lifted, plus there is a significant compression of the dynamic range (the audio card artificially increases the volume of quiet sounds). When listening to music, this only spoils the impression, but watching movies with a quiet soundtrack becomes much less tiring: you don’t have to listen hard all the time to make out the words of the characters. The effect is especially well manifested when using computer plastic speakers - "cheburashka".
The Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook sound card has a lot of objective shortcomings, including the lack of a cable for connecting to multi-channel acoustics, poor driver support from the manufacturer, unsuitability for professional work with sound, low quality of the line-in and rather high cost (450 hryvnias or 90 dollars). In my opinion, almost all of these shortcomings are canceled out by the fact that the X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook is the only sound card in the world with an ExpressCard interface. At the same time, its analog output does provide very good sound quality. If you want great sound from your laptop but can't carry an external USB audio interface around with you, you simply have no other choice. Although, for my part, I have to say that if the headphone output in my laptop were less noisy, I would not even consider the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook as a purchase.
Instructions for setting the maximum sound quality on a Creative X-Fi sound card.
2015-08-18T08:43
2015-0408-18T08:43
Audiophile's Software
Note: The information in this article is relevant for the Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer sound card with PCI interface (as well as similar XtremeMusic, Fatality, etc.) and Windows operating systems from Vista to 10. The settings are focused on sound playback using a sound card connected to the output. cards. When using interfaces/devices/drivers/programs other than those specified in this article, the setup may not lead to the desired result.
Copyright (C) 2015, Taras Kovrijenko
Full or partial copying of the text is allowed.
Note: since I would not like to repeat myself, and also so that you do not miss something important, I strongly advise you to read this article from beginning to end.
The first thing I want to say is that the sound card is worth the money. Given its capabilities (which many probably don't know about), $100 is a very reasonable price. Besides, other manufacturers simply don't have analogues of this card (in terms of multimedia capabilities).
It means that we have, as they say, "out of the box". This is actually the sound card itself, a pack of manuals and other waste paper, well, two disks: one for Windows XP, the second - for Windows Vista. "And what about Windows 7 and 8 users?" - you ask. "Take these two discs and carefully put them in the trash can" - I will answer. Well, at least put the waste paper back into the box and throw it away in the closet. Simply because he won't need anything from that disk. Of course, you can install software from these disks, but the fact is that, for example, drivers will have to be installed for XP, and software for Windows Vista. In this case, you will have to go for a number of tricks (like compatibility modes, etc.). And it's not a fact that in the end it will all work properly. Well, in addition, a lot of unnecessary garbage is installed from the disk.
Therefore, we will go the other way, downloading the latest versions of software, already sharpened for new operating systems, in one package - say thanks to Daniel Kawakami.
So, how everything should look initially:
Moreover, in the Start->Programs folder (and in Add/Remove Programs) there should not be anything related to Creative. If this is not the case for you, run Add / Remove Programs and clean it. After removing all the software from Creative, unpack the Support Pack, go to the \Audio\Drivers\SBXF subfolder and run the Setup.exe file. After selecting everything, as in the screenshot, click ok:
Having got rid of the Creative software and received a device without drivers in the manager, we reboot again (just in case).
And now we proceed directly to the installation. It is advisable to install the following components from the X-Fi Support Pack:
We respond positively to the proposal to restart.
If everything went well, after starting the OS, a silver icon with a volume knob will appear in the tray, and in the start you will see a group of Creative programs:
And, of course, the system should already make some sounds at startup (if they are enabled).
As I said, Microsoft, starting with Windows Vista, has greatly complicated the sound subsystem. At the same time, not only the functionality expanded, but also some “pitfalls” appeared.
Well, let's try to get around these stones.
Go to Windows Control Panel->Hardware and Sound->Sound. This window will appear:
Disable SPDIF via the context menu (because this device in some cases can cause switching of the sound card reference frequency, which is undesirable), in the same way make our device (Creative SB X-Fi Speakers) the default device (if it is not is). Then double click on the device. Now check that the settings on the tabs match the screenshots:
In order to maximize the use of X-Fi DSP resources for a wide variety of tasks, there are three modes:
It is convenient to switch modes through the context menu of the Volume Panel:
The settings window (Console Launcher) appears when you double-click on the Volume Panel icon in the tray.
So, let's turn off everything superfluous:
Now a few words about setting up the foobar2000 player. Due to the unreliability of other interfaces (they really sometimes turn out to be not quite adequate), it is recommended to output sound through ASIO. Fortunately, this card has a fully functional ASIO 2.0 driver. All you need to do is install the foo_out_asio plugin (you can download it from the foobar2000 + plugins page), add an ASIO device in the plugin settings, and select it in the output settings. Pay attention to channel markings (useful for multi-channel systems).
Now you can enjoy pure sound, not spoiled by any "improvers" and other nonsense.
Another nice little thing is that the ASIO driver automatically switches the reference frequency of the sound card in accordance with the sample rate of the audio being played. For example, if you first played a track with a frequency of 44.1 kHz, and then you start a track with a frequency of 96 kHz, the reference frequency will switch, accompanied by a characteristic sound. Some people don't like it, however, this feature is a significant advantage, because only if the frequency of the material and the reference frequency of the card match, bit-by-bit playback is possible. In addition, now you most likely will not need a resampler.
But here it is necessary to make a remark - sometimes there are tracks with a sampling frequency different from those supported by the ASIO driver (I remind you: these are 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96 kHz). For such cases, you can add a DSP SoX Resampler mod to the chain (which can be downloaded on the same foobar2000 + plugins page). It will resample all frequencies that are not included in the list of supported ones (we specify them in the resampler settings) up to the specified frequency - in order to minimize quality losses, we will specify 96 kHz just in case:
In this mode, some interesting features of the X-Fi signal processor open up to us.
Do you want to enjoy 5.1 sound of your favorite movie, but don't have multi-channel acoustics? No problem! After all, a person has only two ears, which means that with the help of two sound emitters it is possible to recreate absolutely any virtual source at any point around the listener, so much so that it will be indistinguishable from the real one!
Using special processing algorithms, the X-Fi chip converts multi-channel audio to 2.0 for acoustics or headphones (note that the algorithms for creating the surround effect in headphones and speakers are very different).
And now - about how we take advantage of these opportunities. First of all, let's start the Console Launcher:
Let's take a look at the main sections one by one.
In this section, you need to select the configuration of your speaker system, or headphones. Pressing the THX button opens the speaker calibration window. We are interested in the Speaker Position tab. The fact is that when using a two-channel speaker system (which most users have), the position of the listener relative to the sound emitters is far from always the same (worse, sometimes it is unstable, but nothing can be done about it). In order for the ambience algorithms to work, they need correct data about the position of the listener. In this case, you must specify the distance to each sound emitter and the angle of rotation relative to the central axis. If it is not clear, I will explain: I mean the angle between the two lines:
The angle is counted clockwise (when viewed from above), the parameter value can take negative values.
So, if you want a 3D effect - take a ruler in your hands and go ahead - measure;)
On this tab, you can enable the effect of the environment - an amphitheater, a concert hall, etc. In case it is selected None, the Enable EAX Effects checkbox does not affect anything, but just in case, leave this option enabled.
This option is responsible for enabling X-Fi CMSS 3D - an algorithm designed to improve the effect of the environment and the positioning accuracy of virtual sources. This function will be useful when playing multi-channel audio on 2.0 acoustics or headphones, or vice versa - for the so-called upmix - decomposing sound into several channels (for example, playing stereo recordings on a 5.1 system). If you turn it on when playing, say, stereo material through headphones, it will be of little use - except that some effect of virtual sound sources will be created directly in front of the listener, which, for example, does not sound very pleasant to my ears. But in any case, the choice is yours.
The famous (thanks to the eloquent marketers from Creative) X-Fi Crystalizer - sometimes it can give expressiveness to the sound, but at the same time it inevitably introduces a significant portion of distortion. Fans of "honest sound" of course not recommended. Although, by ear, it sounds very interesting when the slider is moved to the minimum - distortion in this case is almost imperceptible, but the effect is quite good.
Smart Volume Management - to some extent - the same Advanced Limiter in foobar2000, but with a larger pre-buffer. Since the DSP output is inevitably converted to a fixed-point format, care must be taken to prevent clipping, which is what the Creative programmers did. Seeing the excess of the permissible volume in a fragment of the audio stream, SVM underestimates its volume. The main drawback is compression (the volume balance between audio fragments changes significantly). Although, dynamic range compression is the second purpose of SVM. If, for example, you want to watch a movie at low volume at night (so as not to disturb anyone), but when the volume is lowered, quiet sounds cease to be heard - this is where the compressor will help. It will boost the volume of the quiet parts, bringing them to about the same level as the rest - and you can adjust the overall volume to the level you need.
But if there is no need for the above, I would advise you to turn on the effects (and play multi-channel sound incl.) - set the volume (Master Volume) not to the maximum, but to about 50% - usually this is enough to avoid distortion.
Here we see a conventional 10-band equalizer with an additional level control. If not needed, turn it off.
And this is the sound card mixer. Here you can enable playback from the line input, microphone, etc. Unnecessary sources are turned off (because the line input and microphone, for example, can make noise).
With a sound card - everything. As for the player, there are also some nuances here. First - the player should output the sound "AS IS". That is, all soft mixers must be disabled so that in the case of 5.1 tracks, for example, all 6 channels are directly transmitted to the sound card. For watching movies, I can recommend the MPC HomeCinema player and the ffdshow audio/video filters (included in the Sam CoDec Pack) . I would also like to write about their configuration in detail, but this will be later in another article. Below I will give the main points of setting up the sound output (the player and the ffdshow filter), and there - I hope you will understand:
Without a doubt, Creative is the leader in 3D audio for gaming. It was Creative programmers who created a set of extensions for DirectSound3D, the so-called. EAX. You can read about this technology in the EAX FAQ article and Wikipedia.
The latest version of EAX at the moment is 5.0, but our card supports all versions up to the fifth inclusive.
So let's get started with the setup. Some settings sections are the same as the Entertainment mode settings, so we won't go over them again.
This tab contains the main settings - speaker configuration (which must be set in accordance with the actual configuration of your speaker), SVM, EAX enable / control (meaning only environmental effects - reverbs, etc.). Mic Environment FX is a new feature that allows you to apply effects to the microphone sound according to the environment in a 3D game.
Also, speaker placement calibration (THX) is extremely important in this mode. And I also advise you to pay attention to the Master Volume - in order to avoid distortion, it is advisable to keep this control in a position somewhere around 35-40%.
Of particular interest in this mode are the X-Fi CMSS-3D settings. When this feature is enabled (which is highly recommended for greatly improving the 3D effect in games), two new extensions introduced in EAX 5.0 become available:
Parameter value On means to force the effect on for all sound sources (for which the effect is intended). By clicking on the Test button, you can run a small test of the effects of the environment.
Well, we are done with setting up the sound card. All that's left is the software setup. As I already wrote, unfortunately in Windows 7 programs do not have direct access to the hardware resources of the sound card through the DirectSound3D API. The only API that has access to hardware 3D sound is OpenAL. So, without hesitation, Creative set about developing the Alchemy utility that converts DirectSound/EAX calls to OpenAL. I will now tell you about its setup.
So, if you followed exactly all the instructions from the beginning of the article, you should already have Creative ALchemy 1.43.06 beta installed. It was not for nothing that I chose this particular version, because in some incomprehensible way the latest release version does not quite honestly perform its functions - it is obvious that EAX with its use is software, plus the MacroFX and Elevation Filter effects do not work.
So, on the left we see a list of installed games that were detected automatically. By moving the game to the right list, we automatically enable Alchemy functionality for it.
You can also add games manually. Let's take advantage of this opportunity. Install the RightMark 3DSound program and add the address of the folder with the executable file of the RightMark 3DSound Positioning Accuracy test utility (RightMark3DSound.exe) to the Creative Alchemy list:
Move the added program to the right list. Now the program can be launched.
The screenshot shows how you can recreate the sound source located behind the barrier, behind, to the right of the listener.
This program is a great opportunity to try out MacroFX and Elevation filter technologies. Turning these effects on and off, first try to bring the sound source in the program closer to the listener's ear, and then move it up and down along the vertical axis - you will feel the difference!
And do not be confused by the fact that the program does not include EAX 5.0 - most of the effects of this version are automatically applied to all sound sources, regardless of the version of EAX supported by the program / game.
Games are configured according to the same principle - the main thing is to add the address of the folder with the game executable file to Alchemy. If the game has the appropriate settings, they must enable EAX support. If there is no such option, there is an alternative: enable multichannel sound in the game. In this case, it will be converted to stereo by the sound card and you will get excellent sound positioning.
If you want to fully experience all the effects of EAX 5.0, I can recommend the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat. This game uses the OpenAL sound engine, which gives it direct access to all EAX effects (no need to use Alchemy) - You just need to enable EAX support in the game settings and select the SB X-Fi Audio device.
That's all I wanted to say about setting up the X-Fi XtremeGamer. I hope the information in this article was useful for you and now you can unlock the full potential of your sound card. Happy listening!
14.01.2020
Andrew XIMIKATOR
GradePros: not bad sound
good amplification (my 16 ohm headphones usually run at 20-40% volume)
Cons: buggy drivers.
- the microphone is regularly bugged (in the place of the sound it's just a hiss at a wild volume, it can only be cured by rebooting the PC or pulling the plug out of the sound system)
- sometimes the whole sound is bugged (the sound disappears completely, it is treated by pulling out the plug from the sound)
- only 1 adapter for 3.5 minijack included
Feedback: I use several in my home PC for games and music.
of all the sound cards that I have (ASUS D1, Asus Xonar AE, Creativ HD), this card is the most pleasant in terms of sound without additional settings, but it got Bug. I have had it for 4 years already and the microphone is regularly bugged, on any Windows, any assembly, the drivers are the latest from the off site. I'm just tired of rebooting every time to make the microphone work, and everyone's friends are infuriated that I go into the disk with a wild noise instead of a voice. what I just didn’t do and installed other drivers and changed Windows and the microphone changed one fig bugged every second Windows boot: (I solved the problem simply - I plugged the microphone into the built-in sound system on the computer. But the problems didn’t end there either. The sound periodically disappears the same. Not so often (once a month) but disappears - I fly by plugging the USB cable ....
in general, the sound like a piece of iron is cool, but the software is still junk.
12/30/2019 Rating
Pros: Sound quality is good. Good headroom - can pump headphones with an impedance up to 330 ohms
Cons: Volume control - small backlash, uncomfortable grip due to small size
Review: This item is worth the money.
30.07.2019
Andrew G.
GradePros: Sound and more sound
Cons: The sound in the headphones is far below expectations. It seems that my Sennheiser HD 598 simply does not shake. When trying to digitize a record from a vinyl player, I got a lot of incomprehensible noise and pickups. Disconnecting (physical or hardware) the line output helps. Those. Digitization control is not possible. Well, I didn’t like the quality of digitization (subjectively)
Review: If you take this card to listen to music and nothing else, I recommend it. If you want something more, it is better to pick up something else. I play through a vintage SONY TA-313 on Mission 702 shelf speakers. The sound is just super! I listen mainly to jazz and old rock. There was Adigy SE for many years before it, this card is much better. Well, ASIO of course. Before it wasn't, now it is. I will not write about Fubar and HiRes, so much has been written. BUT! Without ASIO - a completely different sound, JetAudio does not roll. At all. So if you don’t sing right away, tinker with the settings, it’s worth it.
14.03.2019
Alexey Bereznikov
GradePros: Sound, compactness, design.
Cons: Drivers, lack of frequency 44100.
Review: With the latest win 10 updates, it was possible to install the native driver only in safe mode, I suffered all day, and only after that did the native asio drivers work. Compared to the ancient realtek, the sound has improved even on mp3. I use a tycoon and a Cambridge stereo receiver in conjunction with floor standing speakers. In terms of sound, the top became cleaner and brighter, the lows were deeper, and the overall detail increased. I set up the FUBAR player according to all the recommendations, but more for complacency. I think it's enough to set the asio driver in the aimp, I did not hear the difference in the players. And if you do not suffer from audiophilism, then you can not adjust anything and listen like that.
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradeCons: Breaks in about a year, already two cards are broken.
22.12.2017
Avdenin Nikolay
GradePros: Beautiful, There are optics, Good software (works under Win 10).
Cons: Haven't found one yet
Review: I bought it in order to send a digital signal to the receiver through optics, and for this task it copes perfectly.
But I can also say that my mini JBL speakers with this card also played in a new way.
P.S. In the photo there is a card on the receiver, baby))
22.12.2017
Eremina Svetlana
GradePros: Great sound in headphones, I listen - Sennheiser HD 558.
Cons: Terrible dances with tambourines for ASIO output
Review: For me, this is the best option in terms of price-quality ratio.
22.12.2017
Sedak Dmitry
GradePros: Price-quality, sound for this price (sound digital chip is not bad, maximum at 96 kHz, but this is enough with good tuning and pairing with the audio path)
Cons: there are no native drivers for Linux, but I also decided right away, everything works
Review: A normal initial-music card, in terms of audio output - only slightly higher in terms of sound quality (or even similar) than the built-in notebook realtek and other HD audio intels. At first I just listened through the stereo audio output connected to the receiver, then I wanted more, read about the tweaks of this card, got inside, for a start I shorted the output electrolytes (these are SMD elements) - deeper bass appeared. And then I just connected SPDIF via the optical output - and the sound quality improved immediately by a step, now the very bottoms are enough (in terms of frequencies, but this will be noticeable only on large speakers) and the tops, the detailing has greatly increased, the feeling is similar to SD, although to compare I did not try the sound with a normal CD player in the forehead. Yes, besides, in Linux manually (in the terminal) I increased the system sampling by 96 kHz and set the sound quality to the maximum, because the processor resources for sound are not required (it turned out that by default there was something in between, where in Windows these settings are generally unknown and unavailable). After all that was done, I did not carry out instrumental measurements, the sound is now close or similar to a CD player. 2 cards are now defined in the system: Creative - always works as a hi-fi player, configured to work only through the DeaDBeeF player and at the same time the built-in audio card works with it - it independently works for all other needs.
22.12.2017
Cherkun Julia
GradePros: Great card. SOLO 7c played just fabulous!!
Cons: did not notice, oh yes, the remote control would have been more!!
Review: Compared with the built-in Realtek, earth and sky. On Windows 10, the Drivers from the site got up without problems. After purchase, the difference in sound is audible to the naked ear ... I advise
22.12.2017
Shvetsov Igor
GradePros: Finally, the Pioneer HDJ-1000 headphones, which had been lying for 5 years, rejected for poor sound (I thought I bought a fake), sounded, and even like, elastic bass, amazing mids, tops without enthusiasm, but very good. Conclusion, for high-impedance headphones you need an amplifier, this device has it)))
Cons: Price, but I found it on Avito for 3 thousand, so I don’t care)))
Feedback: For those who are not subject to audiophile excesses, but who appreciate a decent sound
12/22/2017 Rating
Pros: Budget, mobile, high quality.
Cons: no adapter mini jack mother rca.
Review: Before that, I listened to music, games from the built-in codec, the asrock h55m-le motherboard, read reviews about why, the same thing ... I began to doubt whether it was necessary? read tests, good chip, headphone amplifier, adequate price [74 euros], you have to take it, ordered it in an online store, picked it up, convulsively unpacked it, plugged it in and... complete immersion in the ocean of sounds... crystal clatter of highs, velvet and depth of bottoms, surprisingly realistic midrange scene... yes, I listen through JVC HA-RX700 headphones, budget but not bad. games, Combat Arms, at first it was scary ... a feeling of complete presence, a grenade explosion ... a feeling of complete doom ... a low-frequency rumble and vibration of the whole house ... In a word, who doubts - a worthy thing.
22.12.2017
Tokarev Alexey
GradePros: 1.DAC AK 4396
2.Sound better than ALC 883
3. All the advantages of USB connection
4. Digital optical output (can be used as a USB-SPDIF converter)
5. 6.3 mm headphone jack (for me personally, this is very good)
6. Headphone amplifier with impedance up to 330 ohms (just fine)
7. ASIO support (added all the same in the latest drivers)
Cons: 1. No support for 44.1kHz sampling rate (although I think the sound quality degrades slightly, if at all, when oversampling 44.1 at 48kHz.)
2. Not very convenient "software" volume control. Moreover
is located low (almost at the surface of the table), it is also smooth (it is impossible
what could be done with the notches so that the fingers do not slip).
Someone wrote about clicks - I don't have them.
3. All sorts of EAX, SBX effects, maybe not bad in some films
or games, but you don't need to listen to music. Speaking of EAX: how
written on the "special website" of the manufacturer supports EAX Advanced
HD 5.0. Specially installed Bioshock game that supports EAX
5.0 and compared the sound with Realtek - I did not notice the difference. All this support -
frankly, sorry, bullshit. And of course, what difference can there be,
if the card does not have hardware resources to support EAX in games, but programmatically
it is simply unrealistic to process the effects with high quality. But I took the card for
music, and not for games, and it didn’t upset me much.
That's probably all the shortcomings.
Review: I took it to listen to music with headphones. This is my first discrete ZK, so I expected more from it. Yes, in general (compared with ALC 883) sound
has changed. I will not be clever, and use the phrases: "improved
scene", "the sound became not so clamped", etc. What I really heard -
the sound became clearer and clearer. It is difficult to quantify the change in quality,
maybe 30%, maybe 50% - I can't say. Just good sound, but
observance of the following conditions: 1. Good headphones (I myself listen to Sennheiser HD 558) or acoustics. 2. Player foobar 2000 with ASIO plugin installed. 3. Music in flac format. In general, a good card and I think there is hardly anything better for such money. The same quality - yes, but hardly better.
Total: a good ZK for those who want to improve the sound on a laptop or station.
computer. But is it worth paying 4 tr for it? you decide.
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradePros: sound
Cons: indicator color, volume control location
Review: The sound is good. Juicy, detailed, powerful. Foobar, resampler sox, kernel streaming output
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradePros: Good inexpensive external sound card. Except support for 44.1kHz sampling rate. The sound quality suits more than completely, since I don’t listen to equipment, but to music) The main thing is that it brings pleasure)
From the pros I will highlight:
1) ASIO support
2) Compactness
3) Powerful amplifier
4) Automatically turn off the line output when headphones are connected
Cons: 44.1 kHz, you have to use a resampler
Review: Audio card settings (24, 48) - All enhancers are disabled. Foobar: Sox resampler (48), ASIO
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradePros: Compact size, sleek design. An optical output allows the card to be used as an end-to-end USB-SPDIF converter without internal signal processing. The use of top precision DAC AKM AK4396 and analog playback path, similar to the professional E-MU 0404 USB.
Perhaps this is the best solution in the segment of external USB cards, which do not require professional sound recording, like the aforementioned E-MU, and the main task is high-quality playback.
Cons: None.
Feedback: I use it as a headphone amplifier and for connecting a laptop with an external DAC as part of a Harman Kardon HK990 + HD990 stereo system in two connection options:
The first is using your own DAC card for listening with headphones. Quite decent sound processing and an amplifier that easily swings the Sennheiser HD 598.
The second one is the main option for which the card was purchased, with the connection of the SPDIF output. I feed an optical signal pre-tuned to 24 bit / 96 kHz to the input of the Harman Kardon HD990, which is used as an external DAC with 24 bit / 384 kHz processing, and then I connect it to the HK990 amplifier with balanced cables. The sound is mesmerizing, the depth of detail is amazing. Bass, mids and highs are all there.
In both use cases, the card demonstrates excellent stage elaboration and, in general, a light, transparent sound.
_
P.S. Some settings in Foobar to make the map work correctly:
1. Playback - DSP Manager: added Resampler (SoX) with Target samplerate - 96000, Quality - Best, Passband - 99%, Allow aliasing/imaging checked and Phase response 50%. Also added to the DSP Manager is the Advanced Limiter plug-in to limit the level of components of the audio stream that, as a result of resampling, can be above the maximum level, causing unpleasant clicks.
2. Playback - Output: Set WASAPI (event): Speaker (USB Sound Blaster HD) when using headphones and line out, or WASAPI (event): SPDIF-Out (USB Sound Blaster HD) when using as a USB-SPDIF converter.
3. Also, do not forget to set the software settings of the card itself. For Windows 8, right-click on the volume icon in the lower left corner, then "Playback devices", right-click on "SPDIF-Out (USB Sound Blaster HD", "Properties", tab "Advanced" and here set "2 channel, 24 bit, 96000 Hz (Studio recording)". And repeat the same in "Playback Devices" for "Speaker (USB Sound Blaster HD)"
22.12.2017
Zolotorevich Roman
GradePros: Sound, design, package.
Cons: Can't enable 96,000Hz @ 24bit on mac.
Feedback: I use it on a MacBook Pro 2012. Plug "n" play device - plug it in and forget it, it works with a poppy, but you can't turn on 96,000Hz at 24-bit, although the card supports this mode according to the specification.
The sound has become cleaner compared to the laptop card.
The case is compact, not easily soiled, with a pleasant appearance and a soft indicator light. Lightweight, but heavy enough not to fall off the table under the weight of the wires.
I don’t know why the volume control is scolded here, it’s quite convenient for itself (by the way, it changes the sound of the system on makosi, and not just the sound of the output stream).
The set includes a trustworthy USB cable with a thick braid and an interference shield, as well as a long adapter from tulips to 3.5 jack.
22.12.2017
Epimakhov Nikolai
GradePros: Excellent sound, "the depth of the cloudless sky" immediately appears, in comparison with the built-in sound.
Cons: Periodically falls off. When you turn it off, after it has fallen off, the USB clicks loudly. This happens after turning on the beech from sleep.
Feedback: I listen with the Hybrid amplifier from Acousticslab on C-130 systems with speakers from Vizaton. Happy as an elephant.
12/22/2017 Rating
I have been the owner of this card for several months and it seems that only now I have understood all its charm. The native entertainment console (software that comes with the card) has such an effect as surround. By adjusting it to 50%, the sound really becomes 3-dimensional. Moreover, this three-dimensionality is good not only in films and games, but also in music. Paired with it, I have AKG k 701 headphones, and with this card they sound much cooler in three-dimensional sound than in the built-in one. In general, it seems to me that if you buy a card, then only for the sake of this effect. 5 out of 5 for this price.
12/22/2017 Rating
I bought a Sennheiser HD 380 Pro about a year ago. I use it to listen to music and video with pleasure, later I bought KRK RP5-G2 SE studio monitors for it. Using foobar2000 with DSP Resempler 96000Hz and Kernel Streaming plugin, only Lossless (FLAC, APE, WV). The sound quality is excellent. The volume margin is large. I realize that this "HD box" is the weakest link in my system, but I'm not in a hurry to take something expensive and professional, because operational amplifiers, transistors, resistors and cables are the second thing, because (ARGUMENT - http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=TgnZgGK1AJw), watch this argument on YouTube. There are no claims directly to the card, people have: allegedly there is no hardware support for the sampling rate of 44100Hz - indeed, no, but this is compensated by a very high-quality hardware resampler. There is no ASIO, but bitwise output can be organized with the Kernel Streaming plugin or WASAPI output. With the right tuning, the card sings "bless you"! A good amplifier for the ears is built in. It’s a pity, only that no one took measurements of the sowing device, there are no graphs anywhere. If the budget is limited, then take it without a doubt, if you can spend more "bubbles", then look towards EMU, it will be better in terms of characteristics, the question is will you understand this difference ?!
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradePros: Inexpensive. After setting up the player, you can get quite a decent sound, there is a headphone amplifier and even line inputs. If you need an all-in-one card to replace the deranged, noisy built-in audio in your laptop, or if you need a digital output, then this is what you need.
Cons: It plays extremely mediocre out of the box, obviously not on the 3100 given for it. There is no hardware support for a sampling rate of 44100Hz. There is no ASIO support, that is, if the card is needed strictly for music on headphones, then you should look for something more specialized, for example http://market.yandex.ru/model.xml?modelid=7815058&hid=90554.
Requires customization.
Feedback: So, first we release the driver and get rid of interruptions in the sound, then we change the firmware to the latest one, I found 1_0_110519, this eliminates unpleasant clicks that sometimes appear during playback, then (for the foobar2000 player) we find a library that gives us WASAPI support, activate it in the Output settings and turn on the DSP called Resampler(PPHS), you can use any other resampler. And here we got a decent quality of music playback. Without these manipulations, the sound is not much different from the integration. If you do not have a laptop, then it is better to look for internal PCI / PCI-E cards, you will find both cheaper and better.
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradePros: Looks, great sound, best value for money for music and movies
Cons: Worst software, did not get up right away, there were many problems with installation
Review: The sound is clear, it automatically turns off the headphones when you take out the plug, switches to the line output and, by analogy, back, it's convenient. I spent a long time digging with WASAPI, plugins for players and the like, but now I can’t turn off the music! It became pleasant to sit in the headphones, the speakers began to sound with a bang, a high-quality equalizer helped a lot, which processes the sound at the output, and not in some kind of player. It's a pity it doesn't work when outputting sound via WASAPI.
12/22/2017 Rating
Pros: High-quality sound, build quality, sufficient length of usb cable (I thought it would be short), ideal replacement for the sound card (Realtek) in my laptop and PC, the difference is huge.
Cons: none
Review: The sound card is connected to the receiver via an optical audio cable, 2 Hi-Fi class front speakers are connected to the receiver, the sound is on top, after Realtek on the PC. I only listen to Lossless (FLAC, APE, WV), and also watch Blu-ray Disc movies, if you listen to mp3, and also watch dvdrip and hdrip movies, in cheap headphones, not through optics, not through a receiver and on cheap speakers this card you don't need.
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradePros: - sound
- Full Linux support
Cons: - I immediately want to buy good acoustics
- you begin to distinguish between flac 16/48 and 24/96, listening to mp3 is not at all interesting
Feedback: The card is revealed only when playing in 24/96. The first day is complete disappointment and regret about the money, then you start tweaking something, reading manuals, forums. And once it starts in the correct mode!
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradePros: Naturally the price of the device
Great sound in capable hands (for the money)
Built-in headphone amp
Cons: Didn't find it.
Review: I have been using this device for about a month. It was bought primarily for headphones, since it has a built-in amplifier for them and a completely adequate price. Currently working in conjunction with Sennheiser HD 25-1-II. Some here write that they did not practically notice the difference with the built-in sound system))) well, guys ... it’s not just a bear that stepped on your ear ... he also trampled it .. trampled .. trampled! The card starts playing ONLY after tuning (which the blonde can handle too) and on condition that the material is listened to in quality, and not compressed mp3! Purely for listening to music, this card is enough with your ears. Be sure to take it because there are no analogues for such money and never will be.
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradePros: Crystal sound, no hash, all frequencies are in place.
Cons: Problems with installation and configuration, which, however, are solved.
Review: I connect this card to a laptop via "USB extension cable via twisted pair", which allows you to place a laptop at a distance of up to 100 meters from the receiver. Very comfortably:)
12/22/2017 Rating
Pros: For me, the main thing is that the sound in the end has become better. This is my first audiocort not built into the mother. And not disappointed with the purchase. The sound became more .. I don’t even know ... no longer blurred, sometimes some tracks could just be considered a bunch of noise, everything is fine with this card, besides, a lot of possibilities have been added in the software settings, in addition to the good old equalizer, there are more settings THX, while watching movies, I turn on all the functions there, everything is very worthy. Before the purchase, I corrected the sound as best I could with various software so that it was more and more detailed, the best thing I found was SRS products. Really did something about what I wanted, but the details and airiness became a victim of this, that is, the sound was simply killed. As a result, I decided on; besides, 3 thousand is quite an acceptable amount for me to just spend on something new.
Cons: Light weight, for some reason I expected that it would be more weighty. And the legs are not serious, they look like Velcro for chairs so as not to scratch the floor. Poor kit. Could have done more expensive, but put everything that might come in handy. The kit included a 3.5mm jack (male) -> two tulips. Where to stick it at all? Personally, I needed two tulips in two tulips, since I had such a house. Someone needs optics in general ... I would not refuse either.
Review: All software works with Windows 8 x64, though I didn’t install it from the disk, I downloaded it from the site right away. The device was generally determined without problems (the driver, naturally, was immediately replaced with branded ones). Adjusting the volume in the OS through the wheel on the device works the same as muting the sound when pressed. Even a baby will figure out the settings in the software, but it has not been translated into Russian. I spent 3-4 hours on tuning, I listened a lot to different genres to make some universal settings, I naturally listened in flac, I finished, I was delighted, because the difference is really significant and my Sven Royal 2 played incredibly cheerfully ... But then I began to listen to mp3 and realized that the media library would have to be rebuilt in a more decent quality, before the difference between compressed formats and no was not so obvious. In general, if you like to listen to music and have money - buy it! For professionals who choose a tool for work, I can’t say anything, I’m completely incompetent))
12/22/2017 Rating
Pros: -appearance;
- small sizes;
- the material is plastic, but it looks solid;
- convenient volume control (not necessary on a laptop
poke on the buttons), it is also the button for the MUTE mode.
Cons: I have not found it yet, except for problems with native firewood.
Review: I bought for Sennheiser hd 280 pro headphones and Edifier R2000 (2.0) speakers. I read the reviews and decided to start by installing firewood from the card itself in Windows 7. The sound made me very happy - the sound quality and volume in the headphones increased by a level. Then I thought to throw firewood from offsite and firmware ... There was a crack ... I returned to the first option)
22.12.2017
dark knight of whiteness
GradePros: price,
easy installation and easy operation, appearance,
the sound is not bad
Cons: I don't see any
Review: I have been using the device for six months now. At first, the sound did not please me at all, on the first day I was even going to change, because the difference between x-fi and realtek was minimal. asio is not there so foobar had output via the standard driver. but then I read smart people on the forums, and did this:
-updated the firmware of the card itself through the site creative
-installed the WASAPI plugin in foobar, and chose to output directly to the map
-set resampler in foobar at 48kHz
-And, OH GODS !!, she began to play! I didn’t even think that there could be such a difference in sounding due to different output and drivers! the sound became much more lively, the tightness of the stage disappeared, the bass is incredibly musical. now listening to Genesis - Selling England By The Pound via AKG K550 - it's amazing! there is no thought of replacing the card now! wins back 100)
12/22/2017 Rating
Pros: Sound quality, I like this blue button design.
Cons: None for me.
Review: People you will never get a figure by connecting through a tulip to Microlab speakers it will never play. The sound depends on all the components combined. Who will buy, do not install drivers, they can generally demolish the sound if it detects a computer when connected to yusbi, just take the mouse pointer, right-click on the volume icon in the right corner, then the playback device, turn off the factory and turn on by default external, and voila. But if you connect through a tulip, it’s better not to take this card at all and not write stupid reviews, such as a bad card, I think that your hands will grow from there. Cook can connect digital sound through a tulip; there, an optical output is made for those who do not understand anything about the quality of music, speakers are more important than an equalizer or a driver.
12/22/2017 Rating
Pros: Sound, looks.
Cons: When I installed everything from 2 disks + I started updating all the software via the Internet, it happened that my hard drive on the laptop was no longer visible ... I had to restore Windows using recovery.
Feedback: As a result, it turned out: I installed firewood from the site + Foobar2000 + WASAPI (Windows 7 64) + SoX Resampler 96000 + Microlab Pro3 = excellent sound quality! Now I'm looking to upgrade my speakers and amp.
12/22/2017 Rating
Pros: The most important thing is sound, price, build quality. The design is also nothing for my taste
Cons: No tactile analog volume control
Feedback: Thanks for the advice on setting up, the sound became "vnature nishtyak"
22.12.2017
Izmailov Ali
GradePros: - sound
- volume control
- build quality
Cons: There were software-related flaws, but now there are no problems.
Review: I have been using the device for more than a week, paired with a hi-end blaupunkt amplifier and a thoroughly redesigned Solo5. Native amplifier from the speakers for a long time in the zagashnik =). Actually why I need a regulator so much. It is a pity that it does not work regardless of the software. The manufacturer updated the software, fixed compatibility bugs and added an equalizer. Some people really miss it, but I don't need it. The sound really pleases, 24/96 gives out with a bang, the sound is felt in the air. Component and build quality is excellent too. What else is needed for high-quality sound, take it, you will not regret it. But keep in mind that the card (like any expensive card) will open its full potential only with the appropriate amplifier and speakers.
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradePros: - Great sound
- Decent view
- The presence of SP / DIF optical input / output, i.e. can be used with media players as an external DAC
Cons: Not at all for the price.
Review: As it turned out, the quality of the DAC of the device is quite on the level, all the shortcomings are associated with intricate data transfer algorithms in the driver and players and their settings! What I had to do:
- updated the firmware of the card itself, took it from the official. site
- installed the player foobar2000 with a special plugin Kernel Streaming support 1.2.2 - outputs the data stream from the player directly to the card
- set foobar's DSP Resempler settings to 48000 Hz.
AND EVERYTHING WAS PLAYED!! those. the sound when playing flac or ape became indistinguishable from playing a CD recorded from them, or even better due to finer equalizer settings.
Winamp, AIMP, Foobar with WASAPI or ASIO sound output methods - also nothing, but the "volume" and "air" in the music are lost.
My audio system is YAMAHA Piano Craft (CD reseiver) + Castle Knight 1 (shelf speakers).
22.12.2017
Weise Michael
GradePros: - The sound quality is very good in my opinion. No complaints.
- Lack of clicks and other noises when you restart your computer.
- Absence of any pickups like background 50 Hz.
- A good replacement for the naming sound.
- Possibility of connecting not instead of the headphone sound, but in parallel with it (sometimes it is necessary: for example, if 5.1 game ears hang on the headphone sound, but you still want to have a regular stereo with music through the speakers).
- The presence of different inputs for all occasions.
Cons: - IMHO a completely unnecessary and inconvenient sound control (it's good that it's soft, i.e. soft adjusting the volume of a screw mixer)
Review: I use this sound box to output music from a computer to a Bose Companion 2 Series II 2.1 stereo kit and to Sennheiser HD 590 stereo headphones. But I also tried other speakers and ears. At the risk of seeming a snob, I want to note right away that in order to notice an improvement in sound from the addition of this sound card, you need to use acoustics of the appropriate class - otherwise the money on the sound system will be spent in vain.
Of the effects, I liked only TruStudio Surround.
By the way, it supports the USB-Audio standard.
Those. many operating systems have a standard driver for it.
I tried it in FreeBSD 8.2 - everything is ok, there were no clicks (although I "probyval" only 10 minutes).
22.12.2017
data is hidden
GradePros: If you have an old sound system in your laptop, or if you have a new sound system, but you need high quality recording, then this card will be very useful for you.
Cons: The playback quality is, of course, very high, but modern laptops already have pretty good systems installed. To hear the difference with the built-in sound system, I personally had to strain my hearing. I listened on good 2.1 speakers and expensive Sony headphones, on a VAIO laptop. The difference in volume is immediately audible, there are no questions, but as for the quality, it seems to be better, but it seems to be about the same. The built-in card in the laptop is something like Realtek HD. I compared for a long time, and I will say this. There may be a difference, but it's not noticeable. And there is another problem. The microphone input on the front panel, like, is only stereo (and should be mono), because of this, the microphone is heard only in one ear. So far I haven't been able to set it up. I will sort this out. I hope you don't have to solder :) And one more thing. The sound through the microphone slows down a little, like a small echo. On a stationary computer, it seems not, but on a laptop there is, although in terms of power they are almost the same. For recording music, this is quite critical. You have to drag the vocal tracks back about half a second.
Pros: Completely agree with the previous review.
Amazing sound in headphones.
Cons: Really too light, at first I thought looking at the picture that it was made of solid aluminum, but it's just cheap plastic.
Review: Top tip:
1. I immediately dismantled the sound system, despite the warranty, replaced the op amp (operational amplifier) in the LPF (low pass filter) low-pass filter, after the DAC, on the AD8066, the sound got really better, as if you were listening from a CD deck. To make it easier to understand, these are two microcircuits with 8 legs surrounded by blue squares.
2. I bought a 50cm USB cable with gold-plated contacts and two firite rings in the F-center.
3. I weighted the card with glues to the top (on the inside) of the case with an iron plate, sealing it with automotive vibration isolation (foil with tar).
The rest of the "Tweak" in the form of replacing capacitors with more expensive ones and replacing all the op-amps does not make a significant difference.
22.12.2017
Krylov Mikhail
GradePros: clear, high-quality, deep spatial sound. The feeling of three-dimensional sound.
Nice appearance. Pleased with the build quality.
Cons: There is no on / off button (volume increase is a button, but it is not clear what this button is responsible for - when pressed, the indicator starts flashing and that's it). There is not enough weightiness - high-quality thick cords pull the device off the table...
Review: I took to replace the built-in sound of a laptop with a further perspective of connecting to a hi-fi amplifier and passive acoustics. While working in conjunction with Microlab SOLO 7C. The sound is simply amazing. Heard all my favorite songs in a new way! I haven’t used headphones yet - they write on the forums - the sound is even better than with speakers. I strongly recommend to those who are looking for an external sound system for listening to music in good quality and, possibly, watching HD movies and do not want to overpay for gadgets that are unnecessary for a simple layman, such as recording music / voice, connecting guitars, etc.!
24.09.2014 17:05
The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD is no longer a new product on the market, but it is one of the brightest attempts by the said company to please an already completely inexperienced audiophile audience.
An external sound card is definitely a specific product. So automatically audiophile. Because the average user is unlikely to bother with the search for the right device to play any kind of music, and even more so for scoring acoustic scenes, for example, in computer games.
The buyer, who decides to organize a mini-studio at his workplace, approaches the choice of an apparatus for reproducing the incoming and outgoing signal purely from subjective preferences. The technical characteristics of sound recording / playback, external ports for connecting acoustics and auxiliary devices, such as musical instruments or a microphone, are also important here. Thus, there are quite a lot of subtleties in a device called an external sound card.
With factory drivers and without the use of bundled and third-party programs to improve and change the sound, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD sounds really good.
The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD is no longer a new product on the market, but it is one of the brightest attempts by the said company to please an already completely inexperienced audiophile audience. By and large, this device is able to implement two main functions - to reproduce very high-quality sound, and also to record it using one input connector. ¼ format jack located on the front panel black box.
The main characteristics of the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD stereo card are as follows: signal-to-noise ratio - 114 dB, the X-Fi processor already known to many (from the gaming series) is installed inside, the quality of playback and recording is 24bit/96kHz which is quite good for home use. Headphone amplification - 330 ohm.
In addition to the voiced instrument jack located on the front panel of the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD, there is another headphone output with exactly the same form factor. On the reverse side of the device soldered analog tulips(two pairs), as well as optical input and output TOSLINK. The sound card is connected via a connector USB 2.0. Creative also did not forget about grounding the device, which is very nice.
The true potential of Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD hidden in the control panel, which is installed from the disk or the manufacturer's website.
During operation, a blue diode notifies the user of the device's performance. The front panel of Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD also has a volume control in the style of classic receivers. Many users scold such, but in vain. Perhaps it is too miniature, but the device itself is quite modest in size. In any case, it is convenient to control the volume, the smooth and moderately tight movement of the plastic handle is designed just for this.
With factory drivers and without the use of bundled and third-party programs to improve and change the sound, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD sounds really good. To be honest, after using the Behringer U-Phoria UM2 external card, no difference was noticed (passive Dual speakers from Germany connected to the Telefunken RA200 amplifier were used as an acoustic pair). The volume reserve is more than enough, the frequencies of all ranges are excellent.
But the true possibilities of the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD hidden in the control panel, which is installed from the disk or the manufacturer's website. It contains various EAX effects, an equalizer, THX TruStudio Pro functions. The panel is not overloaded with options, which means that any user will be able to rebuild the sound at their discretion. It really is worth it. The familiar sound of your favorite songs is literally updated with each turn of the slider of one or another parameter.
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD does not have ASIO support, which means that recording, as well as subsequent playback of the track, occurs with a significant delay.
Another significant plus Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD is a soldered instrument input, which can be used to record sound from musical instruments, such as guitars, as well as from a full-fledged microphone. The sound card copes with this task very well and at the end you get audible the quality of the track, not studio quality, of course, but sufficient for personal experiments. But there is one flaw - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD does not have ASIO support, which means that recording, as well as subsequent playback of the track, occurs with a significant delay. Thus, when overlaying one track on another, especially when playing the first one in parallel, difficulties in the workflow can arise. This is the minus of any non-professional solution, after all, the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD is an amateur device.
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD can be purchased for 3700 rubles and higher. By and large, this is a worthy offer for the opportunities that the monitored device offers the user, if we are talking about non-professional external cards for the home.
Beginning musicians who want to constantly evaluate the quality of their work, which is called on film, this device is also suitable, but with the reservations described above, which are associated with a large recording delay. In any case, when recording only one track in mono or stereo mode, there will be no problems in fact.
And the quality of the sound played through the analog inputs is really great, without any exaggeration. It is only necessary to acquire the appropriate speakers, preferably more powerful.
Two USB sound cards with high-quality DACs
In today's material, we compare two most interesting sound cards: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD vs. Asus Xonar U7. These are two products close in price and capabilities, in which the emphasis was placed on high-quality converters. At the same time, both cards at the time of this writing were on sale at a very low price, a little over 3 thousand rubles.
The forum called the Asus Xonar U7 "the best choice" in absentia, based on looking at photos and specifications. Many completely in vain forget about the need for a direct comparison of devices in terms of sound. Most are also unable to correctly interpret the measurement results.
The Creative card has a confusing name as it is not related to the X-Fi cards and is not related to the Titanium HD card. As a result, the release of the card went unnoticed. This product is not known to anyone at all, except for some enthusiasts of sound on the computer.
The Asus Xonar U7 also has an obscure name. The rather old U1 and U3 cards are budget products with integrated audio quality. U7 has nothing to do with past products in this series.
The cards cost almost the same, the difference in absolute values in price is not serious. More importantly, such an affordable price makes them interesting to a large circle of buyers. They have practically no competitors among USB-cards!
At the same time, the Asus card appeared quite recently. The manufacturer also reports that the Asus Xonar U7 Echelon Edition model will soon appear with an army camouflage body color and more functional drivers.
The Creative model is a card with full-size TRS headphone and microphone jacks. Interestingly, there is a Phono input for digitizing vinyl, with ground. It also works in the normal line input mode. THX and other proprietary processing is software only. For movies, there is an optical digital output for connecting a 5.1 receiver with a decoder.
You can connect 7.1 speakers to the Asus card by analogy, minijack connectors. The emphasis is on Dolby software included. Digital output - combined, optical / coaxial. Both cards have a line input, but in the case of Asus, the line input is combined with the microphone one, which is quite difficult to guess.
It remains a mystery why, in addition to the high-quality output, they loaded both cards with so many functions and software. This inevitably blurs the audience and distracts from the main advantage of the cards, namely quality DAC. The rest of the dregs are available in abundance in almost any sound card. In the description of sound cards and in the design of the boxes, as they say, "you can't see the forest for the trees." It is not clear who will organize a 7.1 cinema around a computer or laptop - this is inconvenient and unclaimed in practice. Fortunately, the user does not overpay much for all these additional features, since the price of the cards is very low.
In both cases, a non-stop digital controller is used. The ergonomics of the regulators is very conditional. Due to the combination of the functions of the regulator and the button, the Asus regulator has quite a noticeable backlash. Many users would prefer to remove the button, but that there is no play. Also, the recessed Asus knob is handy when carrying the audio interface. In all other cases, this decision looks controversial.
The activity indicator on the Creative card is brighter. In principle, for most this will not be a problem. But we had a keen desire to seal it with electrical tape so that it would not be an eyesore and would not be constantly visible with peripheral vision.
Both cards have connectors conveniently located.
The filling of both cards is very interesting. And this is the main feature of the cards, against the background of which everything else no longer interests anyone. The Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC is considered a class higher than the AKM AK4396.
All Creative USB sound cards have their own CA0189-2AG RISC processor running at 100 MHz. Unlike the usual DSP Creative, this chip does not have hardware sound processing. Its purpose is a fast USB 2.0 controller and a multi-channel interface to full-fledged I²S / I²C converter chips, such as those used by Cirrus Logic and AKM. There are two crystal oscillators soldered on the board.
Asus uses an interesting CM6632A chip that supports both HDA codecs and I²S/I²C converters. Number of channels - 8+2 (analogue + digital) output and 2+2 input. There is support for a frequency of 192 kHz. The chip can be clocked immediately from three generators, 12, 24.5 and 22.5 MHz, which was used by the creators of the card. It remains not very clear the decision to throw pasta from one edge of the board with the DAC to the other with connectors.
All processing in both cards is done exclusively at the software level. The maximum data rate of 96 kHz is not a big problem, since 192 kHz content is almost non-existent. Hi-Res did not give ordinary users anything and did not go to the masses, and aesthetes and Hi-End lovers are unlikely to be interested in $100 sound cards.
When plugged into the headphone jack, the speakers are turned off. This feature was first implemented in integrated audio as part of the AC'97 and HDA standard. First, the detection of connected headphones was carried out by impedance, and then by a mechanical sensor. External cards with good converters are not inferior to the integrated sound in this matter. However, in practice this can cause problems.
The software disc is similar to all other Creative products.
The appearance and contents of the Entertainment Console of the X-Fi card have already been described more than once in our materials. The Audio Control Panel is included right away and allows you to control absolutely all the settings without the nooks and crannies of the graphical menu, with the exception of the equalizer. Creative Volume Panel - it is not clear why the necessary program is supplied for the assortment. An important difference between drivers for XP: they provide a choice of frequency and bit depth directly from the Entertainment Console. The frequency is limited to choose from: 48 or 96 kHz, regardless of the OS. This choice is typical for all Creative USB sticks.
The Asus map panel is very strange. Parameters can only be selected through the context menu with the right mouse button!
There is an interesting parameter for setting the headphone output volume limit.
In the wilds of settings, Asus has a separate option - Dolby Home Theater v4, which seems to have surpassed Creative cards in terms of the number of "enhancers".
The Creative card contains two crystal oscillators and also has support for 44 kHz at the DSP level. However, drivers for neither Windows XP nor Windows 7/8 support operation in 44 kHz mode: in the device settings, you can only set 48 kHz or 96 kHz. In a map for audiophiles, this indicates either inadequacy or complete incompetence of the developers. To listen to music in 99.9% of cases, a frequency of 44 kHz is used. We are looking forward to the comments of the map developers themselves.
The Asus card has support for all frequencies: 44, 48, 88, 96, 192 kHz.
The lack of an ASIO driver for Creative cards is beyond our understanding. The best listening option for a Creative card is the WASAPI interface and software resampling in the player. Converting from 44 kHz to 48 or 96 will always be forced by the Windows sound engine, or it is necessary to select the conversion on the fly in the media player. For example, in the player foobar 2000:
Listening was carried out on active monitors Adam S2.5A and Adam ARTist 5. For comparison, very well-known sound cards E-MU 1616M (CS4398) and E-MU 0204 USB (AK4396) were involved.
First surprise: all cards play completely differently! In terms of sound quality, the E-MU 1616M is in first place, E-MU 0204 USB is in second, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD is in third, and Asus Xonar U7 is in fourth.
The sound of the Asus card is the least like the E-MU 1616M (despite the same DAC installed). Asus' distortion problems are to blame, since we know for sure about the unsurpassed implementation of the analog output on the 1616M card. This is a measurable 120 dB signal / noise, and a measurable 0.0003% distortion, and a wonderful clean sound to the touch. The 1616M is not much inferior in sound to the best implementations of rack studio devices, comparable to Pro Tools HD and Lynx Aurora, so we boldly choose the 1616M sound as a reference for devices in the sub-$150 category. E-MU 0204 USB concedes quite a bit. X-Fi HD sounds brighter and more accentuated on the highs, so with all the showiness it is a little further away from the original sound. Xonar U7 disappointed us with meager highs and a rather sluggish sound. Perhaps this problem is solved by flashing or drivers; We will certainly clarify this issue with the manufacturer. In any case, there should be no distortion of 0.01%. Both the digital and analog parts of the card are capable of more.
Let's scold Creative for the lack of a 44 kHz mode. This is simply inexplicable, nonsense! How can you make an audiophile card, put two crystal oscillators and forbid it to work at 44 kHz? Do not provide the user with an ASIO driver that bypasses Windows? This is just the wildest incompetence of developers. In the E-MU 0204 USB - a device for the same money - there are no such problems! It feels like one division of Creative is competing mercilessly with another: stubbornly developing a bicycle with square wheels when a racing sports car has long been developed and tested in the next room.
We used Sennheiser HD600 (300 ohm) and Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro (250 ohm) high-impedance headphones.
The volume is enough in both cases, but the Asus card has almost no headroom. Creative was able to surprise us once again. In terms of sound quality, the places were distributed as follows: E-MU 1616M is in first place, Sound Blaster X-Fi HD is in second, E-MU 0204 USB is in third, and Asus Xonar U7 is in fourth. The professional interface E-MU 0204 USB, in principle, performed well, but X-Fi HD looked like a clear favorite against its background and had a significantly larger volume margin. The Asus Xonar U7 is the quietest card, but its volume rises sharply when processing is turned on. Perhaps this was done intentionally so that there was a so-called headroom for Dolby technologies and other auto-equalizers. Thus, the Asus card is the least suitable for simple listening to music; the emphasis is placed on the effectiveness of processing. The squeals and hoots of the card fans remain completely incomprehensible to us.
Tests at the RMAA gave an "Excellent" rating. This means that there are no frank jambs in the devices. It doesn't mean anything anymore. (But as soon as artificial intelligence makes it unnecessary to analyze human measurements, we will be the first to tell you about it!)
Both cards were tested through their own path as they have the same high quality CS5361 ADC.
Noise is slightly better than Asus, distortion - Creative. We were concerned about how the Asus graph looked in the floating tone IM test: usually anomalies in this test indicate frequency conversion or some other digital processing. We double-checked all the settings several times. The results don't change. We ran additional tests on clean installed Windows XP and Windows 7. We used the latest drivers and latest firmware. There is only one result: the Asus card has about 10 times more distortion at high frequencies.
