wana ask u all one thing...
i'm thinking to buy a creative live external 24 bits soundcard.
if compare this soundcard to the on board soundcard..do there any differences?
i'm using laptop.

Mostly onboard realtek HD audio can done the job...got different, but too little...

just upgraded my current soundcard from Xtreme Music -> Elite Pro

well...the first impression was rather disappointing as it doesn't produce THAT much of audio improvement. That was the first impression...

after shuffling through my music collection the whole night, I slowly pickup very subtle difference between the lowest X-Fi series Xtreme Music and the highest end Elite Pro. I'm on AegoM which is considered as the lower end hifi speakers, so it might not be able to reveal the full potential of Elite Pro, but it's still a damn good speakers to certain extend. Here's what I've noticed.
1. the bass is so much smoother now. it beats harder and ends with a much smoother feel. XtremeMusic bass...well it's rather dull.
2. The treble and bass tuning within Creative Audio Console has lesser impact on the audio output. Not sure whether this is a good thing or not, but after turning up treble and Bass to maximum, the music quality is still pretty acceptable. With XtremeMusic, the audio output changes very rapidly with each bass and treble setting, and with maximum treble it's just ear piercing and with maximum bass, music becomes blurry and lost all the music details.
3. I hardly need to tune the EQ settings with Elite Pro. Previously under XtremeMusic, I really need to spend time to fine tune the EQ to my liking.

Elite Pro still produces a very bright audio output, emphasizing a lot of "effects" from your music.

That is the result of CS4398 DAC, as people say its very analytical

Good to hear that you hear improvement, and the driver worked most of all

So the conclusion, Elite Pro is the best among X-Fi?
Is there an audible improvement?
I wanna get a X-Fi Extreme Music if Bliz don't have stock of Elite Pro..

This post has been edited by :+:[J]erR[y]:+:: Apr 10 2008, 02:20 PM

Hello......where i can get the IO console (Internal or External)??And How much for the unit? Using Xtreme Music....!!Thx...

Ya, X-FI elite-Pro is the best among X-FI in terms of DAC and opamps, which play a majority role in sound...

but extremeMusic can outperform elitepro if change the stock opamps to LM4562 and only if u have the soldering and desoldering skills..

soldering and de-soldering is easy if you have the proper equipment + steady hands. Mis-solder will cause undesirable outcome or even short circuit. I'm still admiring those who do modification to their expensive soundcards... I quite used to do soldering with circuit boards but when it comes to expensive boards, i still have to think twice.

by the way, Elite Pro does sound and feel a bit deeper with fuller sound compared with Xtreme Music. AegoM is missing certain midrange frequencies, so i think the sound will be even richer and fuller with another pair of good speakers.

i just bought the elite pro. when i plug in the mic and speak. there will be echo coming from the speaker, how to disable it?

your mic sucks? lol

anyway...mmm...try to disable the X-fi features such as CMSS-3D.

This post has been edited by blessedvillain: Apr 10 2008, 03:52 PM

will try it out. yes the mic is only rm17

regarding to your no.2 and 3 statements, i would like to add some explanation on it, so that the user of non-elitePro can know more about the EQ in Creative Console

Actually Creative EQ and Bass/treble knob is not too good because messing with one parameter will affect others frequency channel, don't understand? nvm, just see the graph below...

This is 16Khz 12dB boost


This frequency curve result of RMAA test


This is 1Khz 6dB boost


resulting boost of RMAA test


This is 1Khz -6dB cut


resulting cut of RMAA test


You can see in the graph, as the part i circled, boosting one band will pull down the adjacent band, or cut down one band will raise the adjacent band.. thats why X-FI user spent a lot of time by fine tune the EQ...

This is RMAA results from Full clock-wise bass/treble knob in X-FI console


The curve show that why the treble piercing ear when turn the treble maximum...the region boost was the "piercing region" from 3kHz to 10Khz...

I found that this phenomenon was cause by the Creative software itself, not the hardware, because other EQ plugin or media player EQ no such weird issue...

So here my advise to non-Elite-Pro X-FI user, if u are a serious EQ tuner, avoid the creative console EQ...

you can use EQ in the media player, most of them no such weird issue...i currently using Winamp EQ+ plugin paragraphic EQ

My test results just apply to XtremeGamer, XtremeMusic, FatalityPro except ElitePro because first 3 are using exactly same hardware and software...

@blessedvillain
If you can post your test i will be very appreciate...

This post has been edited by coolkwc: Apr 10 2008, 05:05 PM

@coolkwc..

interesting test. Alright...i'll try to re-affirm your statement soon....I've downloaded RMAA but still havent mess around with it yet.

Alright...i did some testing with RMAA on Frequency Response using X-Fi Elite Pro

EQ settings - Flat



EQ Setting, 6db on 1kHz



EQ Setting, -6dB on 1kHz


@coolkwc
Maybe you could comment more on the above graphs. It seems that Elite Pro EQ settings and its Frequency responses do not differ much from other X-Fi series card

This post has been edited by blessedvillain: Apr 11 2008, 09:41 AM

@blessedvillain

OK, thanks for your test...so that i can make a conclusion on Creative X-FI EQ...

Well, here my advise to all X-FI user, if u are a serious EQ tuner, avoid the creative console EQ...

Creative really not good on software development....The hardware itself no problem, but the software give troubles to the hardware... very bad

Still media player EQ or EQ plugin are the only choice to serious EQ tuner...

hi there, sorry for late reply. quite a busy week for me here. I did rmaa test for my modded xfi but it seemed something is wrong with my interconnect as the program detected crossover. so i'm waiting for a new IC and my graphic card caps just stopped working a week ago. so it might be awhile before i could get that result again.

as far as i remember, my freq response is +-2. i'm not sure why it's so bad. if bad IC cause that, that would be a relief to me.

I also noticed that dynamic range is better a point or two than yours. i forgot about other detail. i'll definitely post a screenshot later.

i think the XtremeMusic definitely got Crossover problem, even my unmodded card also detect crossover when do a loop back test, so i think is not ur LM4562 problem...nvm, take ur time to post the results...

which official driver is better for xp?
the one in cd or in website(SBXF_PCDRV_LB_2_15_0006)?
downloaded driver from web is labeled as web update 5.

x-fi driver can use in vista?
i jus found daniel_k audigy driver~
nt x-fi also..?

there is special driver for x-fi from daniel k
that one you found is for audigy
please search harder

which official driver is better for xp?
the one in cd or in website(SBXF_PCDRV_LB_2_15_0006)?
downloaded driver from web is labeled as web update 5.