Customer Reviews

Creative Labs SB0950 ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook Audio System

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Unfortunately, the mixed reviews on this product--mixed here on Amazon and elsewhere--delayed my purchase of this product and almost stopped me from purchasing it altogether. Fortunately, in my experience the less than stellar reviews were incorrect. This product has, quite simply, solved all of my audio issues.

My issues were poor volume output and popping/crackling. Sadly, dropping over $1K on a new higher end laptop was not sufficient to avoid having to deal with these annoying audio issues. Both issues were solved immediately with this product. No more popping/crackling and now the volume gets as loud as I want it with plenty of room left to spare. In addition, the quality of the audio is crisper/clearer and more room-filling.

I had also planned on setting up a wireless link to my stereo with the use of an Apple Airport Express module but I just found out that this item works wirelessly with a Creative receiver which costs about $20 less so I will be making that purchase soon as well.

Bottom line I couldn't be happier with this product and I couldn't be more disappointed with my laptop manufacturer for making me purchase it.

p.s. this does work with Windows 7 but I had to download the latest software for free from the Creative site.

Some laptop devices (like my Dell XPS 1530) use an "inferior" sound chipset that will not allow the Vista O.S. to record "What You Hear." This sound card will not only fix this SNAFU, but also generate excellent high fidelity sound on your laptop. The price may seem a bit steep but once you hear the awesome sound, you'll be happy with the investment.

I bought this card after upgrading to a new laptop which only had an express card slot which prevented me from using my FANTASTIC Audigy 2ZS PCMCIA card also made by creative. I was very disappointed to find that this card does not include ASIO drivers or perform hardware acceleration in music DAWs. That was a huge letdown for me since I used to love using the ZS2 in conjunction with FL Studio at very low latency settings, unfortunately this is not the case with the SB0950. The only real advantage that you get by having SB0950 card over a traditional laptop is the software bundle, and the ability to output multi-channel audio. The SB0950 comes with Creative's standard software that it ships with most of its cards including support for EAX effects, CMSS3D (simulated surround sound similar to Dolby Pro Logic), Crystallizer (improves mp3 audio quality through up-sampling). That's all fine and dandy but doesn't make me see how the software merits purchasing this piece of hardware. The one cool aspect of the hardware is that this card can stream music wireless to a set of speakers, which is something that really makes sense on a laptop. All in all I would advise everybody who thinks this is a uber quality product to steer clear as the card doesn't even support 96khz playback. Having said that if you want a device with which to connect to speakers wireless or are just looking for something because your laptop's internal sound card sucks or is malfunctioning, then this can work for you. It just pains me to see how Creative took a once great product line in the Audigy ZS2 and watered it down this. I guess that is why ZS2's cost over 200 dollars today. I suggest that everybody interested in this card should also look at USB or Firewire Audio interfaces or something like the Echo Audio cards or maybe a Nu Force USB DAC or something comparable.

My Story:

I have a Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop and I was interested in using the laptop to mix the microphone/line-in input with music being played on the headphone/line-out output (ie: karaoke). I was surprised to discover that this was not possible with Vista and the integrated sound that my laptop came supplied with. I did a little research and found out that live playback of the microphone input may or may not be supported under Vista depending on the sound card and drivers that you are using. Well, the good news is that I purchased this X-Fi Notebook card and now live playback of the microphone is working. This was my primary reason for purchasing this sound card and it has solved my problems.

The Good:

* Live playback of microphone supported under Windows Vista
* Sound quality is hugely improved when compared to integrated sound (listening through Hi-Fi headphones).
* The X-Fi Crystalizer for restoring lost quality to MP3s really does make a difference (I toggled it on/off while listening to an MP3 and there was noticeable clarity improvement with it on).

The Bad:

* When I unplug either the microphone or the headphones from the card it tends to pull the card right out of the expansion slot. I don't know if the blame lies with Creative or Dell but it is annoying.
* Getting the microphone to work is not that intuitive. When you plug headphones in to the headphone/line-out output a configuration box comes up asking you if you plugged in headphones or speakers and then the sound card automatically configures itself appropriately. This works well and should have been implemented on the microphone/line-in input as well. Unfortunately, it was not and when you plug your microphone into the microphone/line-in input - nothing happens. By default, this input is configured as a line-in input and if you try and test the microphone while in this mode it will not work. In order to get the microphone to work, you have to configure the "Recording Devices" and disable the line-in input and enable the microphone input. This will reconfigure the input to be a microphone and it will now work. It would have been so much easier if a dialog box came up when you plugged the microphone in asking if you have connected a microphone or a line input device.

Apart from allowing you to buy another overpriced device for wireless audio, this thing really doesn't do much. Yes, audio sounds better than onboard, but that's more due to the included software and the fact that audio is not run on your motherboard than the active hardware. Regarding the hardware, this is NOT a sound card: it is more like a simple audio pass-through device. It has no hardware acceleration for games and actually eats more of your processing power than your laptop's onboard audio. This device is not good for gaming or audio work. Creative needs to come out with a real laptop soundcard to be taken seriously, not this glorified audio jack.

Worth noting if you're looking for something to replace a broken audio jack on your laptop, you're better off going with a cheap USB audio dongle then spending the money you save on a nice set of headphones.

Also, how does this have a "X-Fi" stamp on it? I remember when X-Fi meant something in regards to audio processing. Now, it seems Creative would stamp X-Fi on a glazed ham if it sold.

I bought this soundcard to improve audio quality on my laptop, because Dell's built-in soundcard was horrible. True to the product's promises, it improved my sound significantly -- in fact, I hear no noise at very high volume levels where I would normally hear slight static and buzzing sounds.

However, I was expecting this to have the same kind of audio processor in it that the other X-Fi soundcards do. I make music on my laptop, and wanted a soundcard that could take a small load off of my processor. The product is slightly deceiving (since it's the only product in the X-Fi line that won't do that) but it was well worth the money anyway.

Ever since the headphone jack of my internal sound on my old Dell laptop went out, I've always wanted to get a replacement. Thankfully, my laptop came with the ExpressCard slot, and this was the very first piece of hardware I bought for it.

I did notice right off that the quality of the sound was very different from my other 5-channel Soundblaster Live! PCI card (different computer entirely). The Soundblaster Live! model is comparatively deeper and more full sounding, but also more muffled. The X-Fi, on the other hand initially sounded clear, but hollow and -almost- tinny, although it was not terrible at all. It was just different and took some getting used to.

As for software, the item does come with a driver and software disc, and I did make the mistake of installing nearly every little thing they offered me. It was not necessary. In fact, I uninstalled everything except the drivers and the card works just as well as it did before. Compared to my internal hardware (Sigmatel), the options you have for this card are extremely expanded and advanced. For outputs to the headphone/line jack, you have controls for main speaker, Wave, MIDI, CD Audio and Line In. Also for inputs, you have a Digial Audio Interface (internal capture), Microphone and Line as well as Auto-Gain Control on the Microphone input. This is not as feature-laden as a full-blown PCI sound card (which might also have SPDIF, CD Digital, Microphone passthrough outputs, etc.), but for a laptop ExpressCard, it is pretty good in my book.

I was rather curious about the Bluetooth interface they mentioned in the quick guide. Apparently, there is some other Creative-brand hardware you can buy which will communicate with this thing via Bluetooth (the Connect light on the ExpressCard is also a pairing button), and plug directly into your Aux input on a stereo. I don't have anything like that, so I don't know how well it works, but I think this particular feature is pretty locked down, as the Bluetooth on my cell phone doesn't recognize the pairing on the card. Oh well.

On swapping or removing: when I want to switch to my internal speakers, I have to go into my Sound settings and change them automatically. I can leave the card plugged in when I do this, and it will work, but I have to restart all my applications that were using it before.

One very interesting observation: the package came with ear buds and a built-in microphone. However, they are not the one-plug 3-circuit type. Rather, they are two plugs: a stereo headphone plug and a microphone that terminates with a standard stereo plug. However, the microphone is mono, and they have made this microphone nonstandard by wiring the middle ring of the plug to the positive tip rather than the grounded bottom ring. I suspect this is because the microphone jack on the card also functions as a stereo Line-In, and they are simulating this with a mono microphone by wiring the left and right on the plug together. But, a standard microphone plug is grounded up to the tip, which is positive. This will make it record only in I think the right channel so any stereo recording will be off-center. So, in short, if you're wanting to use the included ear buds in your phone, any two-plug to one-plug converters -might- ground out the microphone and make it unusable.

I would not recommend ever purchasing this product, especially if you make music (for example, in programs such as Guitar Rig, Frooty Loops, etc..). The delay is so bad that it's not even worth trying to record with.

In terms of play back, the sound quality sounded slightly deeper and more full than the normal audio jack on my laptop. However, the same thing can be accomplished by upping the bass with the default windows drivers. (Therefore, not worth $70 in my opinion).

The worst issue is how poorly constructed it is. It would not stay in the express slot on my computer, with or without the adapter. The slightest movement would cause the card to disconnect, which would then cause my computer to freeze up for a couple minutes because of trying to switch back to the default audio source while in the middle of an audio based application.

I use a laptop to store and plan my musical presentations for large square dance events. The Express Card Sound Blaster, has given me greater output and I am able to control my sound to meet the acoustic challenges of different location's.

To be honest, I've had sound cards before, but I purchased my laptop for college and found the sound quality coming from my audio codec software (included with the laptop, from Dell) to be very lacking. Thus, I purchased this card. As usual, I immediately noticed a difference in my music. It's much clearer, both highs and lows (particularly the bass has been boosted, and every song has been more balanced so it sounds better all-around). The two complaints I have include that the card costs quite a bit ($80+ with shipping) which wasn't wonderful, and that while browsing some websites I still hear a slight crackling noise due to the processor having to work so hard. If you have a high-end PC or laptop, that shouldn't be a problem at all - I'm sure it will eventually be fixed anyway!