[Roller]

Crysis 2 used a very much horrible sound engine, and I'm very surprised you only notice slight differences on games powered by Unreal Engine, as it gives good use to proper soundcards. And you do realize that some games require changing ALchemy settings, right? Hum, you could try running lower EAX version games with Entertainment Mode, that way you would be able to select EAX presets and intensity. Keep in mind that while EAX support drops to EAX 4 on Entertainment Mode, you still have hardware acceleration, but you should only use it on games you feel EAX presets make a significant improvement, as game audio performance is better on Game Mode. Also, I don't know if you're aware but there's a beta driver available that's newer than the original driver that came supplied with the card.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Yea I use that beta driver, well PAX modded driver. I don't think I'll need those reverb effects as they don't sound very good, it's much better on Audigy 2 ZS/kX Audio drivers. It's quite clear that this product isn't quite targeted at a consumer like me, then again there's no product I can buy that would be what I was looking for either. Imagine kX Audio driver structure based X-Fi cards with full EAX support... one can always dream...
 
The old story still remains though, Creative has some very good hardware but lacks the proper software support behind it. They don't need to further improve the hardware, it's the software-side that would need major rework and is the biggest bottleneck. I don't care much for the current X-Fi interface with DSP mode selection either, I'd want a professional product where every option is available at me and it's down to me to know what options to use and not deliberately disable stuff based on modes you're in which might be a good idea for the dumb average joe.

 

[tom2011]

there is two driver
 
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD Driver 3.00.1004
Filesize : 47.98 MB

Download

Show Details

 

Release date : 10 Feb 11
 
and
 
Beta Driver Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD beta driver
Filesize : 43.92 MB

Download

Show Details

 

Release date : 24 May 11
 
http://support.creative.com/downloads/welcome.aspx?nLanguageLocale=1033&nDriverType=11#type_11

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Yes I use that latest beta... 

 

[Roller]

Of course it is targeted at you. The thing you're forgetting to mention is that you (along with me, mind you) would be far happier by using a hardware EQ along with the Titanium HD, which brings me to ask if you've looked further into that, specially relatively affordable solutions.
 
BTW, I'm 99.9% sure that you haven't read ALchemy recommended settings guide that's available on Creative's site, which is very much why you're seeing differences on Unreal Engine games, which are very clear from generic software to hardware, so please go check it and set things accordingly. Though, some games might require fine tuning to your system. Also, keep in mind that the list is rather short, as Creative has a longer list on their SoundBlaster site, as well as 3rd party lists being floating around the web.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

No the EQ is actually very good, it's good enough for me and brings a very noticable improvement, a lot better than I had expected.
 
Yea maybe I have to check that guide but I don't like it when specific games need their specific settings, I've become so spoilt to kX Audio drivers that don't need any fiddling around in settings, I just use those optimal settings and run the games and they sound usually good enough for my taste and never run into any issues either whether I'm playing very old or new games. No distortion, crackling, skipping sound, nada, they just work.
 
The problem is that the Titanium HD doesn't seem to perform any remarkably better than my 8 year old or whatever soundcard (which I bought 2nd hand for like 20 EUR so ofc it bothers me. )

 

[Roller]

Well, that's not how things work. Many, many games require specific settings to perform optimally, and I certainly think it's worth spending 1 minute to configure a game you end up playing for hours, days, weeks, etc. I'm honestly very surprised that you have any issue whatsoever in tweaking game settings, as you've shown to be rather nitpicky and wanting to bring out the best performance from your current system.
 
Like I said before, the Audigy 2 ZS was launched at a higher price than the Titanium HD, so overall it's not as good a deal, though for 20€, things are quite different. But then, the Audigy series has lower quality parts, lower EAX version support, a horrible locked hardware resampler and relatively poor support for recent OSes. And keep in mind that it's quite likely (though not for sure) that on 2012 you will either have to go back to the virus nest that is XP if you intend on continuing to run that card.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I tried EAX with the old UT99 and UT2k4 that Alchemy is set up and yes UT99 sounded okay now too without the distortion but certainly not great, both UT2k4 and UT99 I thought sounded better with the software audio render. What happens in 2012? I plan on using Windows 7 x64 for a while like I've been using now since launch and I don't think Windows 7 support will be dropped anytime soon, whatever kX Audio drivers will have any support for OS's beyond Windows 7 I don't know but that's still plenty of time to wait for hopefully even better products from ASUS/Creative/Auzentech.

 

[NamelessPFG]

I noticed that a lot of the games tested don't sound like ones with any EAX support, depending on how recent they are. Crysis 2 definitely doesn't; it's probably XAudio2 and thus is limited to virtual 7.1 at best.
 
While I'm not sure that I can pick apart the added reverb/occlusion/etc. without it being really obvious (mostly 1990s titles like Thief 1 and 2 or Half-Life), what I have noticed is that CMSS-3D Headphone does sound a bit less like virtual 7.1 and sounds more like...well, actual 3D sound. Try making some head-on passes at a plane in Battlefield 1942 or Vietnam; you'll probably notice some vertical audio cues in addition to all the horizontal ones, too. Vertical audio cues that are sorely missing if I play something more modern, something like Just Cause 2 (the general example I cite for this because its gameplay has far more of a vertical element to it, and while I do enjoy it a lot, there's been quite a few times I've been in a helicopter trying to shoot down enemy helicopters and being wholly unable to tell whether the enemy is above or below, even frantically looking up and down).
 
Oh, and when testing Unreal Tournament 1999, did you use that Old Unreal patch that adds OpenAL and FMOD audio drivers in addition to updated OpenGL and Direct3D9 renderers? Might want to try it with OpenAL and hear how that improves things.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I do notice the improved 3D positional sound from CMSS-3D but I don't like using features that have a noticable impact on sound quality which CMSS-3D does have.

 

[Roller]

Well, you know I'm the first person to advise against using CMSS3D/DH/etc, as they make sound feel artificial by quite a bit. And I'm not talking about what CMSS3D brings to the table when it comes to positional accuracy, but simply better positional cues from a new DSP chip.
 
I think Crysis 2 uses FMOD, which while being a software renderer, it can have hardware extensions, unlike XAudio. Battlefield series is a rather good example of proper audio engines, as well as Unreal Engine powered games and Id Tech engine powered games. And while games that used EAX 1 and 2 did sometimes have too obvious of an effect, EAX 3 and above have far smoother effect transitions.
 
UT99 does have DX9 and even DX10 renderers, but I haven't tried the OpenAL patch as I can run default EAX with my USB X-Fi, so it could be likely due to you using a x64 OS, which are still problematic. UT2004 works flawlessly on my end, but only if it's configured per Creative's recommendations.

 

[tom2011]

whats is better the equlaizer creative x-fi or asus xonar

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

 
Quote:

whats is better the equlaizer creative x-fi or asus xonar

I haven't tried the ASUS one but based on feedback and the experiences I have with this Titanium HD card I'd say Creative but perhaps it works better with Titanium HD in particular. You can even boost the sliders to the top +12 without lowering preamp and it won't result in distortion/clipping just a louder and more forward sound. I've always held the 10-band EQ in the kX Audio drivers to work extremely well for the Audigy cards but this one comes very close, of course it doesn't allow 0.1 increments like on the kX Audio one but 0.2 - 0.3 increments which ofc should be accurate enough for most people.
 
This is how I set it for my XB500, ranging from -0.6 to +3.1 (compared to -0.6 to +2.0 on the kX Audio 10-band EQ for similar results) 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I take back the difference in soundstage, they are pretty much equal in that aspect, it turned out to be the different cable I was using for the cards. Yes believe it or not but using a 2.5m extension cable I've got the soundstage actually becomes slightly better, less closed in or forward / "in-your-face". I didn't notice that until quite recently though and I had never believed I'd hear such a difference depending on cable used. This time I took the stereo cable between soundcard and the ZO which if used alone with noticably narrower soundstage and more in-your-face (which is an characteristic I usually prefer but the difference in soundstage is quite huge so) + extension cable and the result is now much more better. How 5 meter of cables can do such thing I have no idea but I've certainly become a cable believer recently as the difference is so easily distinguishable in my case, almost as comparing soundstage differences between using dolby headphone and not. Maybe XB500 is extra sensitive to ohm differences, dunno, at least it's a super efficient headphone, 9~11% on vol slider brings normal listening volumes with Titanium HD + ZO Personal Subwoofer amp, the supposedly upcoming volume control of ZO v2 could start become handy since Creative's volume control is only centered to the windows mixer one so no for example separate control possibles to adjust center, rear, front channels despite I'm using 5.1 speakermode, with modded Realtek Creative X-Fi drivers I could adjust those separately (on this card the windows mixer slider still moves if adjusting the center, rear etc channel volumes. At 9% is very plenty of volume in louder recordings and 10% almost too loud and 11% or possible 12% is usually only usable in a bit quieter recordings... would be nice with a little more smooth volume control possibilities.

 

[Roller]

Hehe, I understand you perfectly regarding volume levels, as sometimes I found 10-20% to be quite some volume on my X-Fi. But that's where a volume controllable amp enters I hope the ZO v2 comes quickly, as that might be a very interesting product, and versatile enough to replace an amp on the sound chain on some cases.
 
Still, I'm stoked over the fact that a longer cable improves sound. You going back and forth between cables consistently displays a clear audio difference? If so, I'd love some thoughts of science guys on this
 
Did you try the different modes to see how the different options available change sound?