Customer Reviews

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Extigy Sound Card

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Great sound is almost a necessity to me, but like most college students, I opted for a laptop instead of a desktop. I felt that the only way to take full advantage of my 5.1 analog surround sound system was to connect my laptop to the SB Extigy. Connecting via USB was more or less a nightmare for me: playing anything through my CD-ROM drive produced loud pops and cracks that noticeably distracts from any music listening or movie watching (the Extigy was the ONLY USB device attached to my laptop at the time, and yes, I did enable DMA for my CD drive). Playing any material with a Dolby Digital stream, even after the movie had been copied to my HD (DivX with AC3 audio) was even a greater disappointment, especially since the Extigy so proudly wears the Dolby Digital logo. As long as I'm playing sound through USB on the Extigy with the Creative drivers, approximately 20% extra processing load is put on my 1.7 GHz Pentium 4-M processor. This extra processor usage is acceptable to some, but definitely not to gamers.

My laptop also has an optical-out link, so I hooked up my laptop to the Extigy using a [$] optical miniplug to TOSlink cable.... Virtually all the cracking and popping noises disappeared even when I played DVDs and DivX movies with AC3 audio. However, my Toshiba laptop's optical out port requires my old Yamaha sound drivers - not Creative's. This means that I can't have any EAX sound effects for music or games; it's a slightly disappointing tradeoff, though I'd rather have flawless output than EAX effects.

For those with desktops, don't even consider the Extigy. A PCI Audigy is cheaper and significantly better. For those with laptops without optical out, it's either 2.1 audio from your laptop without the Extigy, or up to 5.1 audio with the Extigy along with occasional loud pops (I would personally prefer clean 2.1 audio in this case). If you own a laptop with optical out, then get the Logitech Z-680. The cost of the Z-680 is just about equal to the cost of the Extigy + the cost of a mid-range analog 5.1 audio system, except the Z-680 has hardware Dolby Digital/DTS decoding built-in, with optical, coax, and analog inputs, plus 505 Watts RMS output (1000W peak! Take that Kiplish). Did I mention that they are also THX multimedia certified? Just icing on the cake.

Do yourself a favor and skip on the Extigy if you can. USB 1.1 has a relatively narrow bandwidth and USB (even Firewire) relies too heavily on the main processor for data transfers. Though Extigy is an interesting product and worth some merits, wait for the next generation of high-end external computer sound cards (or get the Z-680 now!).

I bought my Sound Blaster Extigy because of the price, but the USB features since I ran out of PCI slot. I was surprised that Sound Blaster Extigy is EXTREMELY easy to install. Just turn the sound card on and plug the USB cable to the computer and install the driver. I did it without any problem.

Another cool feature of extigy is, the card is external so I don't have to crawl to the back of my computer and try to switch the jacks. I use The Logitech 4.1 THX speakers and The speakers produce the most awesome 3D sound when I watch Jurasic Park III, it seems like the dinasours were in the living room.

Creative Labs unfortunately has bad reputation of having the slowest customer service. I wish they will improve it in the future, since they are no.1 sound card company.

Overall, I recommend this external sound card. The price is right and the quality is very nice.

I originally bought this extigy for my desktop cause it's a sony and I can't upgrade it internally. Here are my thoughts:
Pros: Simple and Easy installation
Theatre quality sound effect
Reduce noise normally overlooked by its competitions
Multiple connectivity (also work with PS2 and DVD players)
Great Virtual Surround Sound even with 4.1 system
Remote control
Affordable Price
One plug connection when using 510d or 550thx (Cambridge
Soudwork) speaker systems
Cons: USB 1.0 is a bit slow and may slow down computer system
from time to time. (Hopefully creative comes out with a
USB 2.0 or Firewire version of Extigy soon.)
Overall, I am very pleased with this product mainly for it's simple installation process as well as the quality sound it makes. I have both Altec 641 as well as Cambridge 510d speaker systems. On the 510d...man...they are a perfect match, producing flawless sounds. Don't get me wrong, cause even with the Altec 641 (4.1 system) you can hear every single rain drops when watching a DVD, just as if you were under the rain. Don't take my word for it. You have to experience it to believe it!
I hope you get to enjoy this as much as I do. And hope my review is helpful to you as well!!! Have a nice day !^_^!

Very easy to install, many options and input/outputs. Great bundle of software. If you have an MD recorder, its an excellent way to record digitally via the optical cable out. Great for use with MP3's due to the various sound modes. Software included allows you to RIP tracks from your CD's and convert to MP3. Just that alone makes this a smart buy.

I have been using the Extigy for about 3 months with Creative's Inspire 5.1 speaker system. From the time I extracted the product from the box in which it was held, to installation, there have been no problems. Installation was a breeze, and the bundle software was great. Depending on the location of your computer, the remote can be very handy. There also has many sound settings as well. One can change the way he or she hears a current song by changing the environment. Some environments included are bathroom, garage, cathedral, theater and many more. There is one draw back though; your computer can take a heavy hit if your system is a bit old. Me for example, I am using the Extigy with a Hewlett Packard P3 500-mega hertz 300DIMMram Windows ME computer. If you run the software included, it may take a few secs to load. Id says it's like waiting for Adobe photo shop to fully load on a basic system. Other than that, the Extigy is fantastic!

First I'd like to start off by congradulating Creative Labs by making an outstanding Sound Card. I attached it with my Klipsh THX certified 5.1 speakers and I watched DVD's on it and it rocked!
Pros:
1. External, easy to move to living room for movies, bedroom for music, computer for games, etc...
2. It has Optical in (for DVD's), Optical Out (for speakers with a digital in), Line In (for cd players...), Mic in (for mics, der), Headphones (so i don't wake my parents up), Analog outs (for some speakers that take analog inputs), digital out, MIDI in, and MIDI out. The number of connections make the sound card easily compatible with numerous speakers.
3. It has CMSS for simulated surround sound, for people who like to listen to 2 channel (audio cd's) music with sound that fills the whole room from all sides
4.24 bit sound for excellent sound quality output
5.Hooks up with USB for fast connection and ease of use
6.Remote Controll (i love to sit on the other side of the room and just turn it on, off =P)
7.Definitly saves room if you prop it up vertically onto the side of your moniter
8.Gold plated connections for best music transfer
9.The software that comes with it is awsome, although i still prefer Windows Media.

CONS:
1. External, I know it sounds contradictory but sometimes having a sound CARD placed in the computer maybe a little handier
2. When you share a USB port by have a 4 port-in-one gadget, the sound may crack resulting from lack of transfer speed

3. The dolby digital decoding gives out really small sound, so i have to turn my speakers fully up to hear the rumbles. (when speakers are turned up high, a low sizzling sound could be heard...)

All the cons are minor problems, I have moved the card into the living room easily everytime I rent a DVD. You see in order to have 5.1 surround sound from DVD's, You must have a dolby digital decoding...most dvd's have optical out, where you can hook it up with Extigy's Optical In and you could use the extigy as a dolby decoder, giving you surround sound for the ships in Star Wars flying AROUND the room or the bullets zipping by you...this is the best sound card for people wanting something more than just a sound card for the computer and want excellent sound quality...I guarentee you'll tell the difference!

Don't let the ads or products specs fool you. This sound card does not live up to what it promises. USB bandwith does not allow the Extigy to live up to the Creative standard of its other product lines. While you gain ease of installation and a remote, you lose all software, EAX HD (it claims to support it, but in fact does not) and other features. This product hogs CPU usage because it requires the computer to do most of the processing due to USB limitations. When your computer is doing many things at once, audio quality suffers. It claims to support S/PDIF in but in fact only supports it as a standalone. Any digital signal passed to the Extigy is converted to analog before being transferred to the computer resulting in a significant loss of quality and the impossibility of actual digital recording. I am completely disatisfied with every aspect of this product and am subsequently returning it.

i got a Creative internal card for my niece in college this winter, she loves it! i have another home desktop system which also has a Creative internal card and it is one of the best sound-audio devices I own.

so, later, i bought my Sound Blaster Extigy Sound Card USB/external with another brandname 5.1 speaker system for my portable pc. Unlke some others here, my gear has the quality control thing debugged. it works fine with Windows XP and i have not had problems so far.

but... their Customer support is totally in need of improvement. When i checked with them about my nieces internal system ( it plays radio stations when no other signal is present) it took 8 days to get a generic and non helpful answer.
niece finally started to disconnect her speakers when she does not want her MP3stuff. i call that a workaround.

this company has a great system, could use a QC improvement, and their reps are either overworked, or not paid for customer satisfaction. since they have fine and very inventive products, this means that the focus at Creative Labs is on the idea side, not the customer Q&A side.

This is the best sound card I have used. I use it mainly for studio work, IT IS COMPLETELY CLEAN, I LOVE IT. There are so many inputs and outputs that it has become the center of all my audio/video needs. If projects an extremely clean surround sound signal and with my logitech z 680 system, I can't imagine a better sound for my pc, xbox, dvd player, and vcr. This thing is amazing and I believe everyone should own one. I can run all these items without changing a single cable or flicking a switch. Everything is at your fingertips. This is the best.

I own a laptop on which are two crappy speakers. Audio data is provided to those speakers through a crappy sound card. I am an audiophile, and I must have the ultimate experience with sound. I bought the Extigy because it is a powerful soundcard that connects through the USB, which the only possible way to get a new sound card for my laptop. Plus, I do a lot of music editing and recording, and I needed a line in.

I bought the Creative Labs Inspire 5300 5.1 speakers along with my sound card, because a great soundcard matched with lousy speakers is a waste of money. The audio quality I got from the Extigy is superb. The 24bit audio sure makes a difference, and the surround sound works very nicely.

The included software I have mixed feelings about. The drivers installed without any problems. However the sound editing, jukebox, and all other programs are on not the best. I rarely use any of their provided software.

One of the best features is the remote center. I placed all my music into the remote center player, and I can access all my songs from the remote control, by selecting album, artist, or genre.

I have quite a bit of difficulty getting the Dolby Digital decoder to work. It works fine on the sample file. However, it will not play my DVD's in Dolby digital mode, just in stereo mode.

An absolutely awesome sounding soundcard matched with good speakers, but use your own sound editing software. Lots of physical features, and everything can be controlled from the remote.