I've been experimenting with the Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD for about a week now. I purchased it to get USB to S/PDIF optical at my Sony TA-E9000, as well as get analog from the preamp to USB. It works, and sounds awesome. However, there are some issues, both the device and associated software are not very intutitive, at least for me, and the manual that came with the kit was, it appears, not proofed, as an incomplete sentence within it leaves me only with a sketch of how I should begin to use this product. Also, the address given for on-line suppot within this manual is dead. Nevertheless, I'm using the device with a Roxio program for digitizing vinyl at 16/48, as well as sending USB to S/PDIF at bit rates up to the maximum my Sony TA-E9000 will accept, which is 24/96. In another thread, I have inquired about a problem I have with having to re-boot the device when using it to record. One more thing, Smart Recorder software, which is available from Creative as a bonus, will allow me to digitize vinyl at bit rates up to 24/96; and, when digitizing to wav. files, I can send them directly to my iTunes library. This is nice, yet the software's track separation utility does not allow for precision division of tracks.