NamelessPFG
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2011
- Posts
- 3,095
- Likes
- 128
I never got around to testing the Dolby Digital/DTS decoding for older X-Fi cards, sorry. The reasons are twofold:
-The only cards that support it are the original X-Fi cards, those being the XtremeMusic, Platinum (XtremeMusic with 5.25" front-panel bay), Fatal1ty FPS (Platinum with 64 MB X-RAM), and the Elite Pro (slightly different card with better DAC and a huge external I/O box). Creative has a full list here, complete with model numbers.
-If neither the 5.25" front panel bay or the external I/O box are included, then you need this proprietary Flexijack S/PDIF adapter.
Ideally, I'd get the X-Fi Elite Pro package since they're not as easy to confuse with the XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro cards (which are full-height, unlike most XtremeGamer cards, and appear almost identical to the Fatal1ty FPS except that they don't have the Decoder tab and probably didn't come with 5.25" bays either), but the ones that do pop up on eBay sell for far too much, usually around $200.
Still, it's a feature that shouldn't have been removed in the first place. It would have been nice to eventually record my Xbox games with Dolby Digital sound instead of downmixed stereo.
As for quality differences, first impressions with the Recon3D USB have shown the following:
-48 KHz ONLY. No 44.1 KHz support whatsoever, which means WASAPI exclusive mode for most music listening is right out. It doesn't support ASIO natively, either, so forget about that.
-The SniperCzar-discovered workaround for using USB DACs results in a MASSIVE sound quality penalty. Sounds all distorted and crap. Admitted, I didn't install the Recon3D drivers on my desktop to test that for fear that it would screw up the X-Fi Titanium HD side of things, and it's pretty bare-bones in driverless mode.
-The current Recon3D drivers have ALchemy version 1.43, whereas most of the recent X-Fi drivers use version 1.42. Unfortunately, this STILL doesn't fix Thief 1 and 2. Fortunately, I think I've figured out a way to install 1.35 in their place, borrowing the ALchemy installer files from the X-Fi Titanium HD's driver package and slipping them amidst the Recon3D driver installer's files. (I should try that with other X-Fi cards.)
-Surprisingly, I can enable X-Fi/Ultra High settings in Battlefield 2, but I hear noticeable reverb effects being applied to the menu sounds that I don't recall happening on any of my actual X-Fi cards.
-The S/PDIF input is NOT presented as a recording device, so while it's useful as an Astro Mixamp/Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS type of device for console gaming, you CANNOT record Dolby Digital sources with it.
-THX TruStudio Surround and CMSS-3D Headphone do NOT sound the same. Which is better and which is worse? Too early for me to make a decision yet.
-No SoundFont support for older games with MIDI music, so you're stuck with the default Microsoft software MIDI synth. Fortunately, you can use the BASSMIDI driver in its place, and Vista MIDI Fix to make it the default device. Unfortunately, some friends of mine have issues with it crashing the DXX-Rebirth Descent source ports that I never had to put up with on my X-Fi cards, so there could be more incompatibility with that route.
-For such a small device, the noise floor is surprisingly good. I can barely hear any noise with a silent signal using the HTF600. However, it's still not truly SILENT like the internal X-Fi cards.
They're still first impressions, though, and I have a lot to figure out about the Recon3D USB's quirks. However, it's safe to say that even this thing won't hold up to the proper X-Fi cards with the EMU20k1/EMU20k2. It might still have an edge over the "X-Fi" USB devices, though (which I consider fakes like the XtremeAudio in that they also lack the proper DSP), but I've never had one of those to test.
-The only cards that support it are the original X-Fi cards, those being the XtremeMusic, Platinum (XtremeMusic with 5.25" front-panel bay), Fatal1ty FPS (Platinum with 64 MB X-RAM), and the Elite Pro (slightly different card with better DAC and a huge external I/O box). Creative has a full list here, complete with model numbers.
-If neither the 5.25" front panel bay or the external I/O box are included, then you need this proprietary Flexijack S/PDIF adapter.
Ideally, I'd get the X-Fi Elite Pro package since they're not as easy to confuse with the XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro cards (which are full-height, unlike most XtremeGamer cards, and appear almost identical to the Fatal1ty FPS except that they don't have the Decoder tab and probably didn't come with 5.25" bays either), but the ones that do pop up on eBay sell for far too much, usually around $200.
Still, it's a feature that shouldn't have been removed in the first place. It would have been nice to eventually record my Xbox games with Dolby Digital sound instead of downmixed stereo.
As for quality differences, first impressions with the Recon3D USB have shown the following:
-48 KHz ONLY. No 44.1 KHz support whatsoever, which means WASAPI exclusive mode for most music listening is right out. It doesn't support ASIO natively, either, so forget about that.
-The SniperCzar-discovered workaround for using USB DACs results in a MASSIVE sound quality penalty. Sounds all distorted and crap. Admitted, I didn't install the Recon3D drivers on my desktop to test that for fear that it would screw up the X-Fi Titanium HD side of things, and it's pretty bare-bones in driverless mode.
-The current Recon3D drivers have ALchemy version 1.43, whereas most of the recent X-Fi drivers use version 1.42. Unfortunately, this STILL doesn't fix Thief 1 and 2. Fortunately, I think I've figured out a way to install 1.35 in their place, borrowing the ALchemy installer files from the X-Fi Titanium HD's driver package and slipping them amidst the Recon3D driver installer's files. (I should try that with other X-Fi cards.)
-Surprisingly, I can enable X-Fi/Ultra High settings in Battlefield 2, but I hear noticeable reverb effects being applied to the menu sounds that I don't recall happening on any of my actual X-Fi cards.
-The S/PDIF input is NOT presented as a recording device, so while it's useful as an Astro Mixamp/Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS type of device for console gaming, you CANNOT record Dolby Digital sources with it.
-THX TruStudio Surround and CMSS-3D Headphone do NOT sound the same. Which is better and which is worse? Too early for me to make a decision yet.
-No SoundFont support for older games with MIDI music, so you're stuck with the default Microsoft software MIDI synth. Fortunately, you can use the BASSMIDI driver in its place, and Vista MIDI Fix to make it the default device. Unfortunately, some friends of mine have issues with it crashing the DXX-Rebirth Descent source ports that I never had to put up with on my X-Fi cards, so there could be more incompatibility with that route.
-For such a small device, the noise floor is surprisingly good. I can barely hear any noise with a silent signal using the HTF600. However, it's still not truly SILENT like the internal X-Fi cards.
They're still first impressions, though, and I have a lot to figure out about the Recon3D USB's quirks. However, it's safe to say that even this thing won't hold up to the proper X-Fi cards with the EMU20k1/EMU20k2. It might still have an edge over the "X-Fi" USB devices, though (which I consider fakes like the XtremeAudio in that they also lack the proper DSP), but I've never had one of those to test.