[GN85]

I have an X-Fi XtremeMusic. Its sound, compared to my PM3 players (creative muvo, sony walkman), seems pretty muffled. Is my sound card an outdated piece of junk? Are the MP3 players' sounds artificially enhanced to make them sound more clear? What's the deal? Why do they sound so different? Anyone have an idea?

 

[milkweg]

It's probably because you are using the wrong settings for headphone use on the X-Fi. Set X-Fi to audio creation mode and 2 speaker setting and not the headphone setting. I don't know what hardware setup you are using besides X-Fi so you need to post that if you have furhter issues with sound quality.

 

[GN85]

I'm not really having an issue with anything, I'm just wondering why the sound of my sound card differs so much from that of my MP3 players.

After comparing the two a bit more it seems that my sound card has a flat response, and my MP3 players are colored and lacking in the mids, and kind of sound like if I had some crystalizer function enabled on them or something.

I'm just confused a bit. How are MP3 players supposed to compare to computer audio in general?

 

[apatN]

The sound of my X-FI was pretty good but I couldn't stand the crackling it would give me whenever there was some deep bass or extreme highs. Anyway, I too preferred the sound coming from my cheapo mp3 player to my X-FI. Especially when amped my mp3 player was superior in my eyes.

 

[sdfx]

lol i'm ordering this actually just for transport though.

 

[compuryan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdfx /img/forum/go_quote.gif lol i'm ordering this actually just for transport though.

I used my xfi xtrememusic as a transport for a long time. Then I got rid of it because I realized a cheapo creative card would do the exact same thing. Save a few bucks and just get a cheaper sound card, if you'll be using the xfi just for the digital out, the other xfi features aren't really necessary to have.

 

[apatN]

The Xtrememusic does do bit-perfect out and I know not a lot can do that.

 

[compuryan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apatN /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Xtrememusic does do bit-perfect out and I know not a lot can do that.

yeah thats an important feature. My Audigy 2ZS does it, but I'm not sure all the creative cards do it.

 

[apatN]

As far as I know the Auzentech cards don't do bit-perfect. Not sure though. I am happy with my Xtrememusic as a transport.

 

[Alydon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by compuryan /img/forum/go_quote.gif yeah thats an important feature. My Audigy 2ZS does it, but I'm not sure all the creative cards do it.

I don't wanna derail this thread, but I thought u should know... The Audigy2ZS cannot do bit-perfect out. It resamples everything internally to 48KHz before sending the signal out, even digital signals. Real X-Fi cards (like the xtrememusic, but NOT the XtremeGamer 7.1 for example) can do bit-perfect though.

To the OP, Creative MP's and older Sony Walkmans (pre-2002? or so) generally produce very good sound, so it's not surprising that it might sound better than your xtrememusic.

Many mp3 players will compete with or surpass PC onboard audio and lower/mid-end addon sound cards, especially if you can get a decent line-out (unamped) signal from the mp3 player and feed it to and external HP amp.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alydon /img/forum/go_quote.gif Real X-Fi cards (like the xtrememusic, but NOT the XtremeGamer 7.1 for example) can do bit-perfect though.

True. "Real" is the key word, as the very cheapest Creative X-Fi (the Xtreme Audio) is not a true X-Fi card but is instead a tweaked Audigy SE (which in turn was descended from the SB Live! 24-Bit).

 

[GN85]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alydon /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't wanna derail this thread, but I thought u should know... The Audigy2ZS cannot do bit-perfect out. It resamples everything internally to 48KHz before sending the signal out, even digital signals. Real X-Fi cards (like the xtrememusic, but NOT the XtremeGamer 7.1 for example) can do bit-perfect though. To the OP, Creative MP's and older Sony Walkmans (pre-2002? or so) generally produce very good sound, so it's not surprising that it might sound better than your xtrememusic. Many mp3 players will compete with or surpass PC onboard audio and lower/mid-end addon sound cards, especially if you can get a decent line-out (unamped) signal from the mp3 player and feed it to and external HP amp.

If the xtrememusic produces bit perfect out, and sounds very different than my MP3 players, does that make the MP3 players' sound embellished and artificially enhanced? If so, who would amp such a device?

 

[Alydon]

The difference between bit-perfect and resampled output on the x-Fi is subtle and probably wouldn't account for the big sound difference you're hearing. Unfortunately there are too many variables to know for sure what accounts for the sound disparity, but if I were to make a guess I'd say it's one of these:

1. Your portable players are driving your headphones better than the x-Fi is
2. You have the x-Fi speaker settings set to "headphones" (which I wouldn't use) instead of "2/2.1 speakers"
3. You have some other effect on the x-Fi enabled, like CMSS
4. You're plugged into the wrong output on the x-Fi
5. Your speaker selection in the x-Fi control panel is set for a speaker set you don't have (like 5.1 when you only have headphones or a 2-speaker system)
6. Your MP3 player's EQ is enabled and set to boost the treble and bass

 

[sdfx]

Wow Aly you have thought about all of them lol. IMO I doubt most could hear between bit-perfect and resampled, I think it's more or less for peace of mind to get bit-perfect transport.

 

[GN85]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alydon /img/forum/go_quote.gif The difference between bit-perfect and resampled output on the x-Fi is subtle and probably wouldn't account for the big sound difference you're hearing. Unfortunately there are too many variables to know for sure what accounts for the sound disparity, but if I were to make a guess I'd say it's one of these: Your portable players are driving your headphones better than the x-Fi is You have the x-Fi speaker settings set to "headphones" (which I wouldn't use) instead of "2/2.1 speakers" You have some other effect on the x-Fi enabled, like CMSS You're plugged into the wrong output on the x-Fi Your speaker selection in the x-Fi control panel is set for a speaker set you don't have (like 5.1 when you only have headphones or a 2-speaker system) Your MP3 player's EQ is enabled and set to boost the treble and bass

Can't be any of those except for the first one, but really? A $30 MP3 player can drive my phones better than my x-fi card? Don't know too much about the technical stuff, but this would seem kind of weird to me.

I'd be interested to hear about other people's comparison between x-fi and mp3 players' sound.