Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro Review

[MikeC]

Kyle Kerley, aka superklye, has posted a review of the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro.

The XTREMEMUSIC, Platinum and Fatal1ty FPS have similar features such as 24-bit/96KHz sound at a 109dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio and EAX Advanced HD 5.0. The Platinum and Fatal1ty include a remote control and a front drive bay adapter. The Fatal1ty steps up once more with 64MB of X-RAM.

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/creative_sb_xfi/images/product_shot_s.jpg

Sounds good, right? Well, the Elite Pro has everything the Fatal1ty does and goes over the top for the all-in. Featuring a 116dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio and better quality DACs than the other cards, as well as the 64MB X-RAM and external breakout box, the Elite Pro is a true audiophile and home studio musician's dream come true.

Check it out here:
http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/creative_sb_xfi/index.shtml

[Clay]

Excellent first outing for a review! :thumbsup:

[jAkUp]

Nice review Superklye!

[superklye]

Thanks guys...I'd love to hear feedback and anyone that would like to know more info, I'd be glad to offer it up. Just ask! :)

[OWA]

Nice review. (xmasmile)

Edit: I had boot issues also, with my 2nd system and the Xtreme Music version. It worked fine in my main system but when I moved it to the Abit system, it wouldn't boot at all. I finally had to remove the card, flash to the latest Abit bios, and then things were good to go.

[superklye]

Acutually, about that, it's weird. I was having a lot of problems when I got back home after Thanksgiving. My computer had been off for over 5 days (first time I'd been off for more than an hour in MONTHS), and it refused to post. It would get to the CPU frequency being overclocked to 250 and would NOT boot.

I restarted a number of times, powered-down a few more and even turned off the PSU power, gave 10 minutes and came back. Nothing.

I went into the BIOS and set the frequency to 249 and now it boots no problem. I had absolutely no issues with a 250 CPU frequency until the X-Fi was put in, and now it won't post at that speed anymore. I don't know what the card is doing, but it's messing with my ability to OC and it's very weird.

EDIT: and thanks. :)

[Sazar]

Nice review.

Btw is the remote RF or IR ?

[Scunner]

Nice one, Kyle.

Some observations, if you'll allow me:

1. The target market for the Elite Pro is musicians and to a lesser degree, prosumers. Arguably the standout feature of the Elite Pro is the I/O Console, though you barely touched on this. If I were a musician, I'd want to read more about its features and the software. I appreciate that you had problems recording from your guitar, and I would like to have read more about how you resolved the volume problem.

2. The Crystaliser feature does add something to the sound, but you don't describe what it does. CPU and GPU reviews are easier to write in that you can compare framerates, etc. Reviewing something as subjective as sound can be tricky because another person may not pick up the same subtleties that were revealed by the X-Fi as you did. To my ears, the Crystaliser acts as a pre-amp and increases the EQ settings in the high range without changing the actual EQ settings. Turning the Crystaliser on uniformly improves the resolution of music, whether it's rock, soul/r&B, jazz, or classical, to my ears at least. I would like to have read your impressions of a wider range of music genres, since you never know what your readers listen to.

3. You mention that the X-Fi adds more depth and vibrancy to your music compared to your Sony HT, but was that because of the Crystaliser, or just the X-Fi alone?

4. The Creative Entertainment Center is the application you describe on page 4. The Console Launcher provides access to the Mode Switcher (Game > Entertainment > Creation) which allows the user to control settings for EAX, EQ, Mixer, SVM, etc.

5. Some more analysis of your SLI results would have been appreciated. This is the first review I've seen where a loss of performance was noted in SLI mode with the X-Fi. Things like this easily sway the buying decisions of people who read reviews, so as a service to their readers, reviewers should do some of the legwork and provide links to further information.

A quick lookup on Google shows that there are problems with the X-Fi, Far Cry, and XP 64. Are you using the 64-bit version of XP?

6. You didn't cover features such as CMSS-3D, EAX, the Flexijack or the built in Dolby Digital and DTS decoder.

7. The MaximumPC comparison chart states that the Xtrememusic and Platinum editions have 2MB of X-RAM. They don't. They have 2MB RAM for cache, but it's not X-RAM. Only the Fatal1ty and Elite Pro versions have the X-RAM.

Sorry if I'm being overly picky, but after reading your review, I wouldn't be convinced to buy an X-Fi card, let alone the Elite Pro. I've got the Platinum, so I know it's an excellent card.

I like your writing style. It's easy to read, is good grammatically, and free of typos, unlike many reviews seen on the interwebs. I liked your photographs, but a shot of the I/O Console from the front would have been nice.

I look forward to reading more of your reviews.

[superklye]

Thanks for the constructive criticism.


I haven't had a lot of time due to school and work to go back and mess with the breakout console, but finals end on 12/16 and then I'm on Christmas for a month. I have all intentions of going back and figuring this thing out when I have more time. I know I probably should've waited until I ran through everything, but I wanted to get this up ASAP. That and I DID make a point to show that it was incredibly easy to plug in and start going. It didn't take anything special to get my guitar coming through the speakers.

I really wanted to make the point that if you've used Cubase or the other programs, this card would be perfect: there is no messing needed. Just plug in and go. Most people that aren't musicians wouldn't be considering this card anyway, so the market for it is kind of niched anyway. Is that an excuse for not being more in-depth, of course not, and I'm not trying to make an excuse for skimping in that area.

I'm not running XP 64. Standard XP 32-bit w/SP2. I know there are bugs with SLI and FarCry, but it was very weird that the X-Fi lost performance. I played the same sections in each game (FarCry was in the Archive level) with each card in SLI and single card mode and when the X-Fi results came up low, I quit the game, and tried again. Same thing. I rebooted and still got the same results.

As for the music comparison, I'll go back and listen to some more genres of music, though I thought NIN was a pretty good medium considering the very wide range of musical styles employed by the band. But still...I've got hundreds of CDs to choose from, so I'll take some more notes. I've been listening to more heavy music as of late and anyone familiar with Soulfly and Slipknot would appreciate the fact that they haven't heard heavy until they've heard heavy on an X-Fi. I almost blew out the woofer at half-volume playing The Heretic Anthem by Slipknot. The bass came in it was making the most terrible vibrating noise.

And as for the additional vibrancy and depth to sounds, it's in part from the Crystallizer, the three EQs I use and the X-Fi in general. It's got amazing quality sound and amazing ability to pump it out.

Regarding the RAM/X-RAM, I can't find any of my magazines right now so I'm going to assume you're right. I may have just read RAM and associated the X with it since everything about this card is X-based and the other two cards had X-RAM. My bad. :o

I talked about the CMSS-3D a little bit. My cheapo-headphones sounded like a 5.1 surround system in F.E.A.R., but I wanted to focus more on a spearker system. What else would you want me to do? I tested the feature out in a game and it worked exactly as advertised, so I didn't think much more needed to be said. Headphone gaming isn't my thing, especially in creepy games. People have a tendency to sneak up on me when I'm gaming, even if they're being loud and completely unsneaky--I don't want to have a heart attack. :) But if there was something else you wanted me to look at with the headphones, please don't hesitate to ask.

And you're absolutely right about EAX. I completely forgot about the different environments. From past experience on my Live! 24-bit though, the settings suck. They usually at reverb or other annoyance "ambiances" that I can't stand to use, so I never do. I turned them on for a little bit and messed with settings when I first got the card and with the Crystallizer on as well as my EQs, apart from some slight reverb, I couldn't ever tell a difference between EAX being on or off.

I completely forgot to talk about the DTS and DD, you're right. I cannot comment on DTS as I do not have ditigal speakers. DD works exactly as it should/is expected to work. Sound is phenomenal in movies, just like everything else on this card.

But you're right...a soundcard review is pretty hard since most of it is all in the eye (ear) of the beholder. What I think sounds amazing may sound like crap to someone else (but they're wrong then. :p). Thank you very much for your feedback. I appreciate it, as well as your compliments on my writing style. I take pride in knowing my major isn't going to waste. And like I said, I fully plan on expanding this review once the semester ends and I have more time.

Any other feedback is greatly appreciated...thanks. :)

[superklye]

Nice review.

Btw is the remote RF or IR ?
It's infrared.

[Sazar]

:(

I wish everyone would make RF remotes.

I have my computer setup connected to my speakers at home and tonite I have a little party at my place. My playlists will be controlled with my ATi remote wonder and I wish things were as easy with other devices.

[Scunner]

I talked about the CMSS-3D a little bit.

Oops. My turn for a my bad!

The most impressive thing about the CMSS-3D feature to me was the demo with headphones on! In games, it's just too damn confusing; everything is spaced out farther than it really is. Footsteps right behind you sound like they're twenty feet away. And in music, it completely kills the mid frequencies.

EAX is great in certain games, but only when I've got headphones on. Weird, but that's my ears for you!

[CaptNKILL]

Nice review Kyle. Im too cheap to go for the top end model, but Im getting an Xtream Music edition for Christmas. I cant wait :D

[superklye]

:(

I wish everyone would make RF remotes.

I have my computer setup connected to my speakers at home and tonite I have a little party at my place. My playlists will be controlled with my ATi remote wonder and I wish things were as easy with other devices.
You can definitely control the playlists and everything with this remote. You just have to use the Creative player instead of Winamp or whatever else you would use.

For that reason alone I do NOT use the feature, even though I've wanted something like this for years. I cannot give up my 4FrontEQ in Winamp. Music the Creative player just sounds so dull and flat without that EQ. Thankfully the EQ works in WMP, too, but I feel that program is just too clunky. I've used Winamp for years and it's never let me down, so I've been reistant to branching out to other programs. :)

[superklye]

Oops. My turn for a my bad!

The most impressive thing about the CMSS-3D feature to me was the demo with headphones on! In games, it's just too damn confusing; everything is spaced out farther than it really is. Footsteps right behind you sound like they're twenty feet away. And in music, it completely kills the mid frequencies.

EAX is great in certain games, but only when I've got headphones on. Weird, but that's my ears for you!
Heh no worries...I really do appreciate your feedback, so thanks.

I mean, I appreciate what Creative is doing, but I'm just not the kind of person that is happy with headphones. I tolerate them with my Dell DJ, but that's because I have no choice otherwise. But with a card like this and speakers as powerful as I have, it seems like the card is going to waste with just headphones on (FEAR may not have been the best game to test with because everything I heard I thought was that creepy little girl sneaking up on me. My God, that game is scary... :p). I was just testing out every aspect of the card when I first got it and I turned on CMSS-3D while listening to music, and you're right: it kills the sound completely.

And EAX definitely seems to be something that would be best taken advantage of with headphones. I just get so annoyed when it's on with music or a video because of the echo that most settings add. I've noticed that this is one of those settings that you either love or hate and you're going to use (or not) regardless of what someone else says.

[superklye]

Nice review Kyle. Im too cheap to go for the top end model, but Im getting an Xtream Music edition for Christmas. I cant wait :D
I can definitely tell you that you won't be disappointed, and neither will those 5500s of yours. :D

[Scunner]

And EAX definitely seems to be something that would be best taken advantage of with headphones. I just get so annoyed when it's on with music or a video because of the echo that most settings add. I've noticed that this is one of those settings that you either love or hate and you're going to use (or not) regardless of what someone else says.

That's the beauty of the different modes - what you set in one isn't set in another. I have EAX enabled in Game Mode, but disabled in Entertainment mode. Mostly I'm not a huge fan of EAX, but it works quite well in some games.

Another feature I love is the automatic speaker cut-off when you plug in headphones. Genius!

[BLOODUK]

I can definitely tell you that you won't be disappointed, and neither will those 5500s of yours. :D


Well im dissapointed , and im from one of the ever growing crackling user
problem members i had to put alot of settings in bios just to stop 90% of the crackling from pci latency 128 to pci wait clocks to 1. Many other users
get the major frame right dives with eax enabled or that other crmss thing
in games and have to disable it... EVERY reviewer seems to rate this card
highly but when visiting the forum its a completely different story.

Some cards have been fine only to go crackle crackle and cause problems
a month or two down the line!

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=32566
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=31426

[superklye]

Well im dissapointed , and im from one of the ever growing crackling user
problem members i had to put alot of settings in bios just to stop 90% of the crackling from pci latency 128 to pci wait clocks to 1. Many other users
get the major frame right dives with eax enabled or that other crmss thing
in games and have to disable it... EVERY reviewer seems to rate this card
highly but when visiting the forum its a completely different story.

Some cards have been fine only to go crackle crackle and cause problems
a month or two down the line!

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=32566
http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board/message?board.id=soundblaster&message.id=31426
I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I honestly had no crackling whatsoever, and I was aware of people having issues. Apart from my system not posting at my original OCed levels after installing the card, I have had no issues with it.

[BLOODUK]

I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I honestly had no crackling whatsoever, and I was aware of people having issues. Apart from my system not posting at my original OCed levels after installing the card, I have had no issues with it.


Hey your honest if it works for you it works for you, you can hardly lie (cheers)

[superklye]

Hey your honest if it works for you it works for you, you can hardly lie (cheers)
It really is a shame there were so many problems with the X-Fi line at launch. I’m glad that I was lucky enough to not have any of those issues and I feel really bad for the people that did have them. Because most of them will more than likely get rid of the card and never experience how truly awesome it is.

I’ll be honest…for the first few days after installing, especially after the first boot up with the card installed and my BIOS being reset, I was scared. I thought for sure I was going to have all of the problems everyone else had, but somehow, I lucked out.

Hopefully Creative and nVIDIA both will continue working to get everything fixed completely. These cards are worth all the headache and pain they can cause, though. I’ve never heard better sound.

[OWA]

Both of mine have been fine so far (i.e. no crackling). I've had zero issues with the ASUS nforce4 board and while I had the boot issue with the Abit nforce4, that was solved with a bios flash. Other than that, things have been great with both systems/X-Fis.

[zoomy942]

i will say one thing, and klye has already heard this, that the 24-bit live is the only sound blaster i have never had any issues with. cant say i am suprised about the stuff going on with the x-xi. i dont like to see all these issues, and its good to see that as time goes by, things seem to be getting a little better

[superklye]

I'm still using the drivers that came on the disc with the card...I'm thinking about updating to the latest ones tonight. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Any other X-Fi users have experience with the new drivers? Any praise/warnings?

EDIT: And I'm glad to hear the Live! 24-bit is working out for you (again) Paul. :) You get that GW thing figured out?

[zoomy942]

nope. but pokking around the web i have learned that the game does 2.1. when i was using the nvidia audio, it was emulating surround sound. i can make it like that on my 24-bit with that CMSD thing, or whatever it is, but i'm not really down with emulation, so i'll pass on that. but COD2 is a different world