[aim54x]

I made an impulse purchase overnight...http://au.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-digital-music-premium-hd
It seemed like a good price and the reviews I found (Hardocp) seemed decent. I'm guessing I'm suffering from buyers remorse at the moment. This has to be better than the Realtek HD sound that is built into me motherboard right?

Anyone have one of these? Can anyone shed some light on its performance?

Thanks

 

[Schonen]

Depends what their definition of "Audiophile-grade" is.
 
Also, :

1. "Headphone AmpUp to 330 Ohms"

​But doesn't say how many mw.
 
Might be good. I have EMU0404 USB which is a Creative product and don't regret the $200.00 it cost me. 
 

 

[aim54x]

Thanks. I am always dubious about "audiophile grade" descriptions but with 1/4" outputs and a "up to 330Ohm" headphone amp I decided to give it a go

 

[Schonen]

HardOCP has a review of it and liked it but SQ is clean and lean and not bassy.

 

[aim54x]

  HardOCP has a review of it and liked it but SQ is clean and lean and not bassy.

Thanks, I had a quick read of that last night, just finished reading it in detail....I am happy with what I see.

 

[aim54x]

I have been using this unit on and off now for a while. When you have it working with the Sound Blaster X-Fi drivers it is wonderful...sadly my Desktop really does not like the X-Fi drivers, whenever they are installed I get constant crashes (on boot if the sound card it plugged in or when I plug in the sound card).

I am still in conversation with Creative trying to get some support but this is dragging on and getting no where with the desktop situation. Thankfully it is flawless on my laptop. 

 

[AkiTAKA]

does this soundcard support channel balance? i have a pair of faulty headphones and one side is quite a bit softer than the other but deterioration in audio quality is not apparent.

 

[Honkytime]

  I have been using this unit on and off now for a while. When you have it working with the Sound Blaster X-Fi drivers it is wonderful...sadly my Desktop really does not like the X-Fi drivers, whenever they are installed I get constant crashes (on boot if the sound card it plugged in or when I plug in the sound card).

I am still in conversation with Creative trying to get some support but this is dragging on and getting no where with the desktop situation. Thankfully it is flawless on my laptop. 

Did you disable to on board audio before you installed the x-fi driver? if not try that it might fix your issue.

 

[aim54x]

does this soundcard support channel balance? i have a pair of faulty headphones and one side is quite a bit softer than the other but deterioration in audio quality is not apparent.

The x-fi drivers do allow you to control channel balance. It would be very useful in your case.

 

[aim54x]

Did you disable to on board audio before you installed the x-fi driver? if not try that it might fix your issue.

Yes I have tried that. Going as far as dialing on board sound from the BIOS

 

[AkiTAKA]

btw do you have any idea waht could cause a driver to get softer? would you imagine a driver replacement would solve the problem?

 

[sterling1]

I've got a Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD. I use it as a DAC. I use it as a ADC. I use it as a USB to S/PDIF interface. I use it as a S/PDIF to USB interface. I do not sense that it has a sound. It just gets the digital from one place to another or converts digital  to analog or analog to digital at rates up to 24/96. I have not had any issues with it. I think it's a good value. OH, I also use it to convert LP's to digital. In a final analysis, it allows my 15 year old Sony TA-E9000ES to still give me state of the art sound with my laptop used as a media player/recorder.

 

[aim54x]

  I've got a Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD. I use it as a DAC. I use it as a ADC. I use it as a USB to S/PDIF interface. I use it as a S/PDIF to USB interface. I do not sense that it has a sound. It just gets the digital from one place to another or converts digital  to analog or analog to digital at rates up to 24/96. I have not had any issues with it. I think it's a good value. OH, I also use it to convert LP's to digital. In a final analysis, it allows my 15 year old Sony TA-E9000ES to still give me state of the art sound with my laptop used as a media player/recorder.

That was my original use for this unit...I will probably use it with my laptop more in the near future. The LP conversion ability was a major drawcard, even though i don't have any LP's or a record player at the moment

 

[aim54x]

  btw do you have any idea waht could cause a driver to get softer? would you imagine a driver replacement would solve the problem?

I am not sure, but it may be a wiring thing, maybe start a thread on it (in an applicable sub-forum) and maybe someone will be able to shine some light on the issue

 

[headoncollision]

No u didn't waste your money, I bought the X-fi HD mainly to use them with my denon ahd5000 and with Sony home theatre through spdf digital, I also own titanium HD sound card in my desktop and a asgard shiit 2, and I must say the sound quality is a clear improvement over on board sound and bit less of not equivalent to the titanium HD sound card, I recently acquired a hyperx cloud headset since I'm a pc gamer and needed a good mic to game and do viber calls, those headphones are rated at 60amps and I swear they sound better directly from the X-fi HD than when their connected to the asgard 2 amplifier, the frequency response us way better, and they sound so crisp, so I'm certain the internal amp of the HD is there and doing its job, I couldn't find any external DAC with much functionality in the market for under 100$, they just don't exist, this it's really a great value of an DAC and wanna be amp