PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium vs soundmax integrated digital

[zisman]

PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium vs soundmax integrated digital

i am looking to upgrade my current sound card ( soundmax integrated digital hd) to a Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium.
what is the actual different between them?

 

[dokk2]

better cleaner sound and no drag on the system,plus you might get more options from the software included with the sound card..

 

[uncle_ben]

Going from sound max to X-Fi Titanium is like
swapping 50cc motor bike for a porsche carerra or a m1a1 abrams tank perhaps.

Major benefits I can think of:
- Much higher audio quality and cleaner signal because of components used and the EMI shield
- Full EAX 1.0 - 5.0 support in hardware
- Dolby Digital Live
- Optical input and output
- X-Fi Crystalizer for better mp3 playback
- PCI express bus - does not share resources unlike the soundmax

 

[jiinx]

Well, will let you guys know how it goes, because I just purchased an X-Fi Fata1ty pci express. I've got a soundmax on my Asus Maximus Formula and it will not let me do a +20db boost on any of the control pages. Hell! It won't even allow acess to advanced features!
I had an Audigy2 ZS in the PC since the beginning, but it seems to cause me grief.
( slow screens, locking up, wierd noises lately so I went back to the Sound max onboard. Critical feature ( +20db boost) not available on it, and since I use my mic when I'm on the Pc... well, you get the picture.
I'm running windows xp on the system and haven't really had problems, other than what I considered too many items on one IRQ.
I put in a new HD and reloaded windows. Tomorrow, if the card comes in, I'll find out how good the X-FI really is...
Later.
Jiinx

 

[gamerk316]

Going from sound max to X-Fi Titanium is like
swapping 50cc motor bike for a porsche carerra or a m1a1 abrams tank perhaps.

Major benefits I can think of:
- Much higher audio quality and cleaner signal because of components used and the EMI shield
- Full EAX 1.0 - 5.0 support in hardware
- Dolby Digital Live
- Optical input and output
- X-Fi Crystalizer for better mp3 playback
- PCI express bus - does not share resources unlike the soundmax

The EMI shield has been proven to do next to nothing in ever review I've looked up; its just marketing hype.

Most cards have some form of Dolby playback, what features are supported varies by card.

Cross off the EAX above 2.0 in Vista; Vista won't allow direct access to hardware (hence, Alchamey). Also note a lot of use are not Creative fans due to all sorts of Driver issues; the card is unusable on nforce motherboards, for instance.

Are you looking for a card for gaming or a card more of a home theaeter PC? For gaming, I recommend the Razer Barracuda AC-1; for a HTPC, I recommend the ASUS Xonar D2X (PCI-E based also).

 

[jiinx]

I've already plunked down the cash on the X-FI, so unless it doesn't do what I want, I'll be stuck with it. I've always been happy with Creative, so I hope my loyalty won't be misplaced. I have been reading negatives and positives about all of the cards, and it seems that Asus has a good line.
I have had a few problems with Asus' motherboards and video cards and I've witnessed first hand the quality and support decline of that company. I'm a little more wary about spending my money there.
Sry, but in response to your question, I do more gaming with my rig than anything else.
I've got an Asus Maximus Formula, 6850core 2 duo, OCZ 9600 2048M, and an ATI 3870 512 card.
All the benchmarks are up there but the thing is a slug compared to my wife's 6000 cheepo AM2 setup. But that is another story ... lol

Thanks for your opinion, appreciate it

 

[climber07]

Well I just went from my (ADI 1988B) SupremeFX onboard sound (Asus P5N32-E SLI) to the X-Fi Titanium. The difference is incredible. Especially with the Logitech Z-5500 speakers. If you use Winamp, Power DVD 8 and the like, you will also have the support for Dolby Digital Live and DTS along with hardware audio support.

The software console for Creative allows you do customize everything...