Customer Reviews

Creative Labs SB1040 PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Sound Card

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Nice sound, optical in and out, cheap, BUT, as I later found out AFTER purchase, as I saw no disclaimer nor information indicating otherwise on any vendor sites nor the Creative Labs site, this is NOT a true X-FI chipset card, a cheap knock off branded as an X-FI.

It is my opinion this borders on deceptive marketing practices as an X-FI is an X-FI, and this is NOT an X-FI chipset card..

NOT AN X-FI CHIPSET CARD, BUYER BEWARE OF CREATIVE LABS

Creative Labs admitted to me this card is not an X-FI chipset card, and that it so-called "emulates" X-FI via software.

Yeah right, and if that is the case, a Ford Escort can "emulate" a LTD Crown Vic also...

SHAME ON YOU CREATIVE LABS.

My last purchae was an Audigy 2ZS Platinum Pro which was not cheap, and I fully expected more only to be VERY disappointed that I got a cheap knockoff of an X-FI card that was misrepresented.

Does anyone else feel as if they have been misrepresented by this card not having an X-FI chipset on it while being marketed/represented as an X-FI product line offering?

I ordered this sound card for its digital output toslink and claimed compatibility with windows vista. However, this card did not live up to my expectations at all. I had wanted to hook up the sound card to play through my audio receiver and 7.1 speaker setup in the living room. What they fail to tell you, except in the fine print, is that the digital SPDIF outputs only output Dolby 5.1 sound when you are playing DVDs. Otherwise, if you are playing MP3's or other music files, it only outputs in stereo (and poor quality stereo at that). I then tried to go analog and connect the various output jacks to my receiver's inputs. The sound quality was awful.
So I sent the card back.

This is in stark contrast to the old Soundblaster Extigy which I purchased years ago. It was able to output surround sould (including CMSS) through the digital connection to my receiver and sounded great. The problem is that I had to upgrade to Vista and Creative abandoned the Extigy, deeming it "End of Life". I have since been unable to find a sound card which can provide its feature set for Vista.

Needless to say, I did not purchase another Soundblaster. I went with an alternative sound card with Dolby Digital Live output. It is still not as good as the Extigy because it doesn't provide CMSS, but it'll do for now.

I purchased the PCI-e version of this card about a month ago when the built-in audio circuitry on my motherboard quit working. Sure wish I had done this sooner! Even though I had high-end sound on a top-of-the-line motherboard, the Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Audio Card was better - by several orders of magnitude. It was easy to install and configure. It did take some time, after loading its software, to download updates from the Internet. But, that will happen with any card. Frankly, I was happy it did it automatically as I hate hunting for drivers. Anyway, it has some nice config software although you may find, as I did, that it works just fine out of the box. I run a relatively inexpensive set of computer speakers with combined subwoofer -- nothing fancy -- and the sound is amazing. Much better than before. I now use this PC as a Windows Media Center PC, watching and recording TV, movies, pictures -- you name it -- in the Family Room. This card really rounds out the experience. I paid around $50 for the card on Amazon. I consider it a great value. There's a reason why Creative Labs is still cranking out these boards even though motherboard manufacturers build audio in: the sound is BETTER! Upgrade from your motherboard card and hear the difference!

When this product was first introduced under Windows XP it was able to record internet streams. When the drivers were updated to Windows Vista and Windows 7 the "What You Hear" option was NO LONGER INCLUDED. Therefore you will be paying full price for a card that only does half the job. This card is so limited in function software wise that you would do just about as well with the integrated audio on your PC or another card. I found this out after paying to have this installed in my new Dell PC. Had I known this beforehand, I would not have bought the product. Please don't support SoundBastards by buying a product that only does half the job. Teach them a lesson in the pocketbook.

Long ago, I would settle for small pci sound, even though for my better rigs I would buy soundblaster, such as the AWE64. That's a long time ago). They delivered richer sound. I then stuck with soundblaster, throughout their pci series, and through Live! and Audigy 2, and X-Fi, the best they made. I came across their new X-Fi Xtreme Audio (that's the one requiring any Pci-E or "pci express" slot, remember, a PCI slot is NOT the same as the Pci-E slots). It was not much more in price, but when hooked up with big speakers, such as refurbished Altec Lansing white satellites + sub, it really gave a sound! It was like Wow! The sound is great. If you are reading this review my friend, you get a tip-off: Buy a set of true Altec Lansing ACS 500 speakers from a place you trust. They will be used, but make ANY computer sound great. The satellites are a foot and a half high and 8 inches by 6 inches. They have Dolby Pro Logic, surround-both at the push of a button-and a GREAT subwoofer. Try them out with your present sound, and come back and buy the SoundBlaster Xtreme Audio Pci-E soundcard. I will confess I am not much more than a 2.1 sound man, this card supports all the way to 7.1 (and surround) THX certified 24 bit 96kHz audio. Go ahead and give it a try! I have been a computer designer for years, and would not steer you badly. Cost of project: Speakers ($70) Soundcard ($35)

I purchased this sound card primarily to record sound on my new HP desktop loaded with 64 bit Windows 7 professional. I was disappointed to find that the "what u hear" recording option that was available on my former windows XP system was not available with this card and OS combination. I even tried connecting the speaker output jack and the line-in jack on the card, but that resulted in nasty feedback and echo making it impossible to even record that way. Not sure if it is and OS or hardware issue, but it has me very frustrated at the moment.

Our integrated sound card quit working, disabled it and installed this sound card. Worked right away, and sounds great! Windows (7 64bit) found a driver for it right away, but I installed Creative Labs software anyway, and it did improve the sound quality even more. Only reason for no 5 star is the software install is a LONG process. Their download servers are really slow, and lots of clicking "Yes I agree" to all the different programs it installs, then once again after it all auto-updates. That should be quicker, but the card itself works just fine.

Easy to install, works great! Good sound quality, no problems getting it set up, software takes you through it without difficulty.

This card works great on Windows7. Mine came on a Dell with Windows 7, 64bit. Just download latest driver from
"Creative": driver Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme version 1.04(Windows7,Vista,Windows XP).

Pros:
- Low cost: great for music listening, gaming and HD videos and even some music creation
- Reliable:from the company-originator of all sound boards
Cons:
- Does not work on Linux

Poor Manual, had trouble setting it up. After hours of trial and error it works fine. I wish you could switch from 2 speaker system to optical output system without having to unplug from back of card each time you want to switch. Program software is poor and limited.