proud owner of Creative X-Fi Titanium at RM325 ...
i can't hear much difference except,
- sounds that were not there before now there is, especially in music.
- highly configurable compared to onboard Realtek.
- gaming is a sensation.
- watching movies, if you actually set the rear L/R loud enough, you feel you are like in the movies but your sound perception might be distorted a bit as the surrounds are supposed to be ambient sounds.
oh.. my set... running 7.2 system
Logitech 5.1Center, Front L/R, Side L/R, Bass
Eacan 2.1Back L/R, Bass
it took me a considerably
HELL amount of time to calibrate those two different set of speakers to balance so one is not louder than the other. but i did set the rear L/R a little tad higher, gives you REAL scare when watching horror movies, especially with girls... hehehe...
I wouldn't mix two sets of speakers because the volume and quality is different. Most movies maxed out at 5.1 channels so I don't see any point using 7.1 since the side channels are emulated from rear.