[NRGreatest]

Quote:

I'm also looking to pick one of these up.
 
I don't want to hijack your thread, but I'm wondering if anyone can tell me if you can use one of these and an Xfi PCI soundcard with the same system? I don't mean use them at the same time, I just mean have them installed at the same time and switch back and forth ...
 
NPGreatest, please let us know when you have any impressions of the xfi HD to share with the rest of us ... very hard to find out any hands on information.

Receiving the soundcard today from newegg in about 4-5 hours. I'll let you know my thoughts after! I'm hoping that magic will come out of my PC350's after I plug it in! lol

 

[thuantran]

NRGreatest, can you check whether it supports bit-perfect 88KHz audio. I wanna get this, too. If you on windows 7/vista you can go to playback properties then open the X-Fi playback device properties and under Advanced Tab check the drop down combo box for 88200Hz audio. Otherwise you can just output 88KHz audio (if you have any or resampling for output) to the soundcard with kernel streaming/asio/wasapi.
 
Thanks.

 

[NRGreatest]

Quote:

NRGreatest, can you check whether it supports bit-perfect 88KHz audio. I wanna get this, too. If you on windows 7/vista you can go to playback properties then open the X-Fi playback device properties and under Advanced Tab check the drop down combo box for 88200Hz audio. Otherwise you can just output 88KHz audio (if you have any or resampling for output) to the soundcard with kernel streaming/asio/wasapi.
 
Thanks.

I'm using XP, better for counter strike ^_^ Idk where to locate the stuff you want to know.
 

 Other than that this sound card is AMAZING. Theres actually separation in the positional audio and theres real bass! I don't know if this is properly driving the PC 350's but theres a very big difference compared to my old sound cards. Just ask me any questions about the card and I'll try to answer them (I'm not very educated when it comes to audio though)

 

[thuantran]

Some other knows about whether this thing will play 88.2KHz audio natively?

 

[Saulot]

Quote:

Some other knows about whether this thing will play 88.2KHz audio natively?

 I don't know, but I would like to know this as well.  I am running Windows 7, but I have XP Mode, so I am going to check XP to find out how NRGreatest can check for us
 
Edit:
I went through the sound properties in Windows XP and it isn't easy to see what sample rates are supported like in Vista or 7.  Too bad...  Perhaps it is in the documentation somewhere?
 
NRGreatest: I had some other questions:
1) How smooth is playback?  Are there any pops or crackles or is everything as it should be?  I am curious about music and games.
2) What kind of specifications does your computer have?  The Creative website says requirements include a 2.2 Ghz or faster Core 2 Duo.  I am currently using an old laptop with a slower Core 2 Duo, and I am a bit worried by that.
3) Also, I would appreciate it if anyone can tell me if this would be appreciably better than my Realtek ALC268 onboard sound.

 

[NRGreatest]

Quote:

Quote:

Some other knows about whether this thing will play 88.2KHz audio natively?

 I don't know, but I would like to know this as well.  I am running Windows 7, but I have XP Mode, so I am going to check XP to find out how NRGreatest can check for us
 
Edit:
I went through the sound properties in Windows XP and it isn't easy to see what sample rates are supported like in Vista or 7.  Too bad...  Perhaps it is in the documentation somewhere?
 
NRGreatest: I had some other questions:
1) How smooth is playback?  Are there any pops or crackles or is everything as it should be?  I am curious about music and games.
2) What kind of specifications does your computer have?  The Creative website says requirements include a 2.2 Ghz or faster Core 2 Duo.  I am currently using an old laptop with a slower Core 2 Duo, and I am a bit worried by that.
3) Also, I would appreciate it if anyone can tell me if this would be appreciably better than my Realtek ALC268 onboard sound.

1) For me playback is very smooth, I used to have a creative sound blaster live and it crackled  A LOT. But I do not experience any crackling/popping of any sort.
 
2) I copied this from my ESEA profile:
OS: XP
CPU: Intel C2D E8400
Motherboard: Gigabyte EP-45 UD3P
Memory: Mushkin 1066 4Gb
Hard Drive: 1+ TB made of WD Drives
Video Card: Sapphire HD 4870
Sound Card: X-FI HD
Headphones: Sennheisers PC350
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster T190
Mouse: MX-518 SE
Mousepad: Steelseries QCK Heavy
Keyboard: Old Dell Keyboard
 
3) My previous soundcards (Razer Barracuda) (Steelseries USB) cannot even compare to the X-Fi HD. I just recently plugged in my Z-2300 2.1 Logitech speakers and the bass is clear and crisp and I hear things I've never heard before. Theres like a distinct punch to the bass now, its awesome lol

 

[thuantran]

You got me interested there, the Baracuda is actually pretty good sounding card, a little better than the Xonar DX IMO. Also this is what I got when I asked Creative about whether this device supports bit perfect 88.2KHz playback:
Quote:

Dear Thuan,

Thank you for writing in to Creative.

With regards to your enquiry, please be informed that Sound Blaster X-Fi HD support of playback 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources in 24-bit with sampling rate of up to 96 kHz without audio monitoring. It will playback your 24bit/88.2KHz tracks.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to get back to us.

Please retain all the previous correspondence when replying to this email.

Best Regards,

Joy
Direct Sales
Creative Labs Americas

 
IOW he didn't answer my question, we know that it will play that sampling rate, whether it is not resampled is another matter. I don't see 88.2KHz mentioned in the USB receiver chip spec sheet either. I guess I'll go play poker and if I win I'll buy this.

 

[Madpierrot]

What about improvements in music? Any changes in soundstage (how "wide" the music sounds) etc?

 

[Saulot]

Quote:

1) For me playback is very smooth, I used to have a creative sound blaster live and it crackled  A LOT. But I do not experience any crackling/popping of any sort.
 
2) I copied this from my ESEA profile:
OS: XP
CPU: Intel C2D E8400
Motherboard: Gigabyte EP-45 UD3P
Memory: Mushkin 1066 4Gb
Hard Drive: 1+ TB made of WD Drives
Video Card: Sapphire HD 4870
Sound Card: X-FI HD
Headphones: Sennheisers PC350
Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster T190
Mouse: MX-518 SE
Mousepad: Steelseries QCK Heavy
Keyboard: Old Dell Keyboard
 
3) My previous soundcards (Razer Barracuda) (Steelseries USB) cannot even compare to the X-Fi HD. I just recently plugged in my Z-2300 2.1 Logitech speakers and the bass is clear and crisp and I hear things I've never heard before. Theres like a distinct punch to the bass now, its awesome lol

Thanks for the information!!  I'm seriously thinking of getting one of these when I get the chance.
 

 

[aBathingGrape]

this thing is usb powered only right?
 
if so, then can i use the usb ports on my xbox 360 to power it for use with the xbox's optical out >>creative x-fi hd>>headphones?

 

[NRGreatest]

Quote:

What about improvements in music? Any changes in soundstage (how "wide" the music sounds) etc?

The soundstage for me greatly improved; especially on my PC350's


Quote:

this thing is usb powered only right?
 
if so, then can i use the usb ports on my xbox 360 to power it for use with the xbox's optical out >>creative x-fi hd>>headphones?

I could try it out on my xbox when I have the time.

 

[aBathingGrape]

Quote:

I could try it out on my xbox when I have the time.

that would be great. i appreciate it

 

[pruneuk-headfi]

The specification says this can be used as a turntable phono amplifier. Have you tried that, is it any good?
I'm not looking for ultimate phono sound quality, it would kill 2 birds for me though if it could do this with reasonable
quality.
 
Thanks!

 

[Azsen]

Quote:

Some other knows about whether this thing will play 88.2KHz audio natively?

 
That's what's shown in the advanced properties of my USB Sound Blaster Digital Music Premium HD, I believe it's the same hardware.
 
Do you have some professional recording equipment/audio gear that needs 88,200 Hz sampling rate specifically?

 

[thuantran]

I'm not a recording engineer so no recording equipment but I do have a few albums in that format. From the look of that picture, any person with OCD about non resampling audio will likely put off buying this. I keep my Carat Peridot until I can afford a good DAC with TAS1020 USB chip then. The Yulong D100 might be. I'm only OCD about unnecessary resampling on PC side, as resampling on the DAC side is a way to reduce jitter and if it's done right the thing will sound good.
 
Thank you for the picture.