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SB X-Fi XtremeMusic: OK for music now (44.1khz ASIO) or NOT?! Please tell me..
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| Dance123 |
Hi,
In the past Soundblaster was a NO GO because it's samplerate was fixed to 48khz or something, am I right?..
Now, when checking the specs of the Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeMusic (the basic model) over here: http://www.creative.com/products/pr...uct=14066&nav=1 it seems that it has ASIO 2 support also at 44.1khz which wasn't the case in the past I believe. Is the 44.1 a native samplerate or does the card still resample from 48khz like previous SB cards?!
Does this mean that this card is as good as Audiophile 2496 for audio/music production or not?! Anybody has experience with it?!
If it is as good, why not get it cause you have the added benifit that SB cards are also good for games, but I first want to know if it is as good for audio as it says in the specs?! |
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| Dance123 |
The reason I am considering the Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeMusic is because I want a card that is both good for gaming and audio.
In the past, gaming cards like SB were no good for audio and audio cards not good for gaming, so I was wondering if this card is finally good for both purposes?!
Since it's SB it will be good for games, so I wanted to know if it's also very good for audio now?! |
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| Derivative |
| quote: | Originally posted by Dance123
Hi,
In the past Soundblaster was a NO GO because it's samplerate was fixed to 48khz or something, am I right?.. |
Yes but that was only with the Audigy 2 I believe. The Creative X-Fi can record and playback at 44.1khz.
| quote: | Originally posted by Dance123
Is the 44.1 a native samplerate or does the card still resample from 48khz like previous SB cards?! |
Its sample rate converted. They make a big issue about how their converters are 300 times more powerful than the Audigy 2 converters (Creative: citation please). Thats bull but the converters are better than the Audigy 2s and you can start up projects and record in 44.1, 48 or 96khz so its definitely a step up from its predecessor.
| quote: | Originally posted by Dance123
Does this mean that this card is as good as Audiophile 2496 for audio/music production or not?! Anybody has experience with it?!
If it is as good, why not get it cause you have the added benifit that SB cards are also good for games, but I first want to know if it is as good for audio as it says in the specs?! |
Let me get this out of the way first - Creative's marketing department is absolutely full of bull. The 24-bit crystallizer does not make mp3s sound better than the original recordings. It has been proven that it is basically a transient compressor run off the cards onboard DSP.
The 136dB SNR (yes you read that correctly) is only rated for the outputs. Not the inputs. It is very high on the outputs though so they get credit for that at least. Creative havent disclosed the SNR on the inputs but the general consensus is that it cant be as good, otherwise they wouldnt need to market E-MU products. The 1616M has inputs rated at 120 dB SNR and those are amazing. Therefore, you can probably assume its less than that.
The converters, contrary to what Creative claim on their website, will not give you the best sex of your life, make you dinner and do your laundry for you. They arent bad though and are in line with What E-MU were putting out before they switched to pro-tools 192 converters on their recent prosumer cards.
Creative owns E-MU so much of the technology that goes into the current generation of E-MU cards is in the X-Fi in some form or other.
Because of the financial clout that Creative has, they managed to push the 1820M and 1616M into the best soundcards in their price bracket. Its not even an issue. There is nothing else sub £350 that will give you ADAT, AES/EBU, 120db SNR on the inputs, pro tools 192 converters and 2 preamps with a whopping 60 dB of pre gain on them.
However, the X-Fi has none of these. Instead it has some pretty lame technologies which basically function like some post processing VST efects you probably already have. And EAX which is, in my mind a gimmick - Its just a bunch of reverb effects run off the DSP. Its not even a good reverb...
That said, the X-Fi is a good card. Its a sight better than the Audigy 2 for producing. I dont know what their ASIO driver support is like though, so this could make or break it as a production card. Theres alot of extra frilly bits and marketing bull which you dont need and you pay for those but basically its a good, if basic card.
But if I were you, I would save a few more bucks and bag an E-MU 1212, 1616 or 1820M if you can afford it. Guaranteed to get rock solid ASIO driver there. And you wont need to worry about buying preamps. You wont need to worry about AD/DA conversion, ever. You will never run out of digital ins/outs. etc. |
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