Customer Reviews

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum

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

 

 

Pros: Perfect sound, solved resampling issues

Cons: famous popping/crackling noises makes it useless for gaming, especially in BF2 (which use OpenAL by Creative). Crystallizer is useless.

This card has the most advanced sound processor which does not work on at least 20% of high end systems, not only NVidia NForce 4 chipset, but also with other AMD and Intel CPU motherboards: see Google for "X-Fi popping/crackling". Even if you do not have in game crackling immediately, you have a good chance to get it after any memory or HD upgrade or driver configuration change. For long time Creative denied existence of this problem. Eventually it was recognized (see official CL forums) and a new driver (since November 2005!) was promised at the end of May 2006, but beta version published 05/30/06 did not solve my problem. In the case of old audigy 2 zs the problem was solved with unofficial "hacked" drivers. I suspect that X-Fi crackling is an architecture design flow, which cannot be completely solved at software level, because PCI bus cannot provide sufficient memory access for the "the fastest sound processor" simultaneously with high end graphic card, HD controller, and other devices.

Bottom end: I have to stop playing games, or go back to low quality integrated sound. Do not take risk, wait for working drivers, or buy a working card from different manufacturer. With fixed drivers I would give this card 4 or 5 stars.

UPDATE 06/12/2006
I found that many desktop motherboards (MB) have really slow south bridge (south bridge is connecting PCI, USB, Firewire, and HD to CPU directly or through north bridge), especially MBs with NVidia chipsets (and even with some Intel MBs). New beta X-Fi driver and MB BIOS updates solved the problem in many cases (but not for my MB Asrock K8NF4G-SATA2, nVidia 6100 / 410 MCP chipset), but situation is still marginal and X-Fi might go unstable again. I contact CL customer service, they did not solved the problem, but pointed out that ATI chipsets (Athlon 64, ATI 200 or 3200) have no problems with X-Fi. I decided not to return SB to seller, but save it for a new computer with ATI based MB. I guess that majority of workstation class MBs with upscale south bridge and PCI-X (even NVidia based) also should be fine with X-Fi. The trouble is that majority of X-Fi buyers have generic NVidia based MBs like me. So I can give X-Fi two stars instead of 1 (but I cannot change the rating), and even more stars if it will work well in my new computer of after new driver release (if it will work).

So, after 7 years of long (and worthy) usage, I've decided to replace my antiquated SB Live. This card was a perfect follow up, because I watched the Audigy and Audigy 2 platinum's prices their whole life and they rarely changed, so I figured I'd pull the trigger now because I doubt the price will fluctuate much in the coming year.

Let me say this: the sound on this card blows away my old SB live. You really have to hear it to believe it. And, as the reviewer below mentioned, BF2 performance is amazing, as well as taking strain off my CPU.

The I/O drive on the front of my PC is the reason I bought this card actually. I use the MIDI I/O to program my gutiar amp, the mic/headphone ports are handy, the remote makes watching videos from my bed a breeze, and the other I/O ports will someday come in handy.

A great investment, and unlike a video card, it won't be outdated in 2 years to come.

I am probably one of the most musically/sound impared people on the planet. I rarely notice the difference between my onboard sound systems and my sound cards. I only notice substantial jumps in sound technology. I am very reserved about getting soundcards, as I dont think I ever notice a difference between 16 channels and 40000 channels of sound. I have gone from a adlib, to a SB, to SB16, to Audigy LS and now to this card. That being said, this is probably the last card I will even pick up or need. The sound is a subsantial leap ahead of my other cards, and is amazing clear. I love the front panel for adding my headphones if I need them. I couldnt be happier with the price I paid or the product itself.

Amazing buy. I cant say enough good things. I dont speak geek about the improvements, its like art.. you know what you like, and I love this card.

I loved the sound I got from this card, but unfortunately it did not play nice with my ASUS ALN8 chipset and AMD processing. I would get a BSOD at least once - sometimes twice a day - caused by the Creative drivers. After 30 days i returned the product. I would suggest visiting Support Forums regarding Creative drivers with AMD processing and/or ASUS ALN8 chipset. Creative Support is aware of this issue but admitted there is no quick fix in sight. If they create a fix I would gladly re-purchase.

Well I am very fastidious on sound, I want good sound even on a PC that's why I've always bought sound cards from Creative Labs.

And I respect Creative's hard work on the new architecture for the processor on its X-Fi product line that's why I bought this product even with the awareness of that it is Linux-challenged. I thought, they've got great engineers to work out the highly modularized ring architecture on the audio processor, there is a reason to believe that they are a _tech_ company, there is a reason to believe that they care about geeks, there is a reason to believe that there is a voice for geeks in this company, there is a reason to believe the Linux driver for X-Fi line is not just a dream. So I bought this card in Sep. 2006, and installed a Windows partition in my Linux workstation just in order to be able to appreciate the hard work of Creative's engineers' for the X-Fi processor. I waited patiently till year 2007. However the page claiming X-Fi's road map for the Linux driver doesn't exist anymore on Creative's domain.

I have the feeling that all the Linux users are simply abandoned by Creative, this is getting very, very emotional. Not mentioning that the coolest geeks and serious software engineers/computer scientists tend to use Linux or BSD, some distros of Linux like Ubuntu are attracting more and more non-techie users. Google earth has a Linux version and so does Skype. WAKE UP Creative! If Creative does not want to spend money on the Linux driver any more, at least he can release some tech specs allowing the GNU guys work out an ALSA solution. I really hope Creative hear this! Enough people are begging for a Linux driver on Creative's own forum, I've watched long enough to draw a conclusion that the product managers are not listening or even don't care about their own forum. So that I am posting here to add yet another tiny voice. Hope many many tiny voices together can finally wake up Creative.

Otherwise, the advanced technology for new audio processor on the X-Fi line really delivers more superior sound than other sound cards. The difference is even noticeable on very cheap speakers: a lot cleaner, more details and more powerful dynamics. The software package for Windows is reasonably decent. Comprehensive music editing/authoring packages are provided, a joy to use.

I bought this card because my old SB Live 5.1 card wasnt working with my new 5.1 speakers (center speaker didnt work in games/mp3's) so it just gave me a reason to get it. I love to play games and my g/f loves to play music on my computer. First off let me tell you BF2 is amazing! If you play BF2 get this card ASAP, the first time i shot a sniper rifle I was just shocked! The quality was so nice and it was so crisp, i shot at nothing 10-15 times just to hear the sound... It was amazing, on top of that bf2 ran smoother! Even on old games like counter-strike the upgrade was noticable. Now with music my g/f loves it too, and shes not a computer person. She loves to play with the different settings and LOVES the remote w/the platinum version. It's a little on the expencive side, but it is more than worth it, I LOVE IT!

I like to do a lot of home video taping. Time my wife gave me another project to convert her cass.tape into cd. with what I had in my computer which was a sound blaster card that came with it, I knew that was a hard task to do. So I chose the reseach this project some more. I look at adding a dazzel gadet, and upgrading my sound card which would be a little more than I wanted to pay. I started looking The Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum and software that came with it. The Price I payed for it was a bargain. The setup was a snap If you know a little about hardware. I notice a big differance in the sound quailty the proformance in recording and gaming. I am looking adding a surround sound speakers anything less would be a waste of a excellent card.

deharris
NC

Hardware was A breeze to install.took about 20 minuets including the bay.Same for the software, no problems.Sound Quality is much improved over my old live card.In battlefield 2 game play is much improved on my 2.4/radeon 9700 pro/512.Before I would freeze framing during start in rooms, and during game play in intense situations.Now with the X-Fi I have none of that, and the game runs much smoother overall. Dvd movies sound much improved. Music is also much improved. The only problem Ive had burning expanded mp3's is 1 didnt convert well out of 5 so far. Software interface is also A bit lack luster, but is functional. Card is worth the price, hopefully upgrades will improve interface.

Everything I have tried to do with the sound card has been easy to do. Great sound, great hardware and good software.

A superb sound card that will do anything you want it to. If you are a gamer, it offers wonderful sound. If you just want to listen to music on you PC, you won't do better, assuming you have speakers to justify the price of the card. I haven't tested it's recording and CD production yet, but I suspect they are excellent.

I have been listening to music on computers for a long time. It has never sounded better than with this card.

Two things to think about. This is an expensive card, but in my opinion well worth it. And, the installation is fairly complex as sound cards go.

Hank Williams never sounded better on my computer. I'm listening to "Movin' it on over" as I type.