Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD

Excellent sound card, especially for people who like bass heavy music. The bass options outweigh the STX.
They have my AD700s thumping, which I didn't know was possible. Clean bass of course. 33-330ohm headphone amp.
 
I would get this if I understood why it was better than my onboard card other than a few fps...
Although historically I recall creative drivers being a nightmare to deal with.
 
what's the difference between this internal one and the external USB X-fi HD? Because I found an X-Fi HD here that seems to be more useful for me since I can swap it between PCs.....

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Soun...qid=1315859319&sr=8-2&srch_Creative_sound_xfi

It's cheaper @ $82 and I could use the USB one between my laptop and PC.... and it should roughly sound the same quality, no? Is the USB one practically the same thing since its the X-Fi HD as well, or is it a lesser sound card because it inputs via USB?
 
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Nice price. I've really wanted to try one but I just got myself an X-Fi Titanium a couple months ago so I can't really justify this card.
 
Zoson said:
I would get this if I understood why it was better than my onboard card other than a few fps...
Although historically I recall creative drivers being a nightmare to deal with.
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Drivers aren't a problem. Last time I had issues with my X-Fi's drivers was way back with the release of Vista.

The problem with this card is that most games don't even access it's abilities. It's not like back in the days of BF2 when if you had a X-Fi the sound was so much more amazing. Dice said they can do much more in software on a modern CPU than the X-Fi can do.
Hardware acceleration has been trailing the obvious development in how audio is treated in games for years, unlike graphics acceleration that instead has pushed that area continuously forward. Nowadays even GPGPUs suit the needs of contemporary audio processing better than do hardware accelerating sound cards and we're very excited about the opportunities that something like Intel's Larrabee might give us.

Also, the main benefit that hardware accelerating sound cards has provided to date has been environmental effects, such as reverberation. We believe that we get equivalent or better, more consistent, results from our software solution for a modest CPU cost by today's standards. Even the software APIs available for these cards are lacking in many areas, mainly by retaining the structure of DirectSound that even Microsoft themselves have now abandoned for game development in favor of the more up-to-date XAudio API.
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Linkage http://blogs.battlefield.ea.com/bat...2/an-audiophile-s-guide-to-bf-bc2-full.aspx##

With that said, I would never give up my X-Fi to go back to on board sound. But the reason I bought my X-Fi to begin with was for the amazing in game audio that it offered over software onboard stuff.
 
That USB system will tax your CPU actually when you are doing anything from playing music to gaming. Shouldn't be a major issue if you have a up to date CPU. If I had to bet the sound quality likely isn't as good as the Titanium. May not be noticeable for most people, but audiophiles likely will see the difference. I would only consider that USB one if you really want to switch it between your desktop and computer. If you are just thinking about doing it and it would sit at the computer like 95% of the time go for the titanium.

teatime0315 said:
Buy now to test and then sell it for profit lol?
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BB has it for $120. Maybe this is being discontinued or price is dropping? Not sure if you would get much for reselling.
 
Met-AL said:
Drivers aren't a problem. Last time I had issues with my X-Fi's drivers was way back with the release of Vista.

The problem with this card is that most games don't even access it's abilities. It's not like back in the days of BF2 when if you had a X-Fi the sound was so much more amazing. Dice said they can do much more in software on a modern CPU than the X-Fi can do.

Linkage http://blogs.battlefield.ea.com/bat...2/an-audiophile-s-guide-to-bf-bc2-full.aspx##

With that said, I would never give up my X-Fi to go back to on board sound. But the reason I bought my X-Fi to begin with was for the amazing in game audio that it offered over software onboard stuff.
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That really helps Met-AL. Thanks for the clarification. That just leaves me with one more thought. Why wouldn't YOU switch back? What do you like so much more about your X-fi?
 
Zoson said:
That really helps Met-AL. Thanks for the clarification. That just leaves me with one more thought. Why wouldn't YOU switch back? What do you like so much more about your X-fi?
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Onboard has shitty sound quality. That is my reason anyway. I never bought my Xtremegamer for EAX personally.
 
Zoson said:
That really helps Met-AL. Thanks for the clarification. That just leaves me with one more thought. Why wouldn't YOU switch back? What do you like so much more about your X-fi?
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I have 3 PC's in my house that are used for gaming. My sons both have onboard Realtek stuff, from different generations. Both are a giant headache. I have nothing but problems with the newer Realtek HD Audio or whatever it's called and Teamspeak 3. The microphone works one time and it's not recognized another. Things like that. So I went out and bought them each USB headphones and just disabled the onboard audio chip all together.

Another reason besides the "It just works" thing is the quality. The X-Fi sounds great, you don't get that hissing and behind the background "digital noise" crap going on.

Also, the X-Fi has some nice features like headphone CMSS which really really helps nicely with 3D positioning in games. The Crystalizer (enhances poorly encoded music) used to be one of my favs too, but now I just play tunes on my old HTC Hero plugged into my home stereo via Pandora so I don't use that much anymore.

Is it worth a hundred bucks now that software CPU based audio engines are better in gaming? I dunno, it's hard to say, but I would at least have some sort of real soundcard just to get away from Realtek onboard.
 
xBanzai89 said:
Onboard has shitty sound quality. That is my reason anyway. I never bought my Xtremegamer for EAX personally.
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Some of the Realtek drivers are pretty decent. They are the first onboard drivers that I've found impressive. Realtek ALC888-VC2-GR is the onboard drivers I've currently got and they produce basically no background noise or hissing and drive out to an amp and my senn 600s pretty well.I'm not saying an dedicated sound card wouldn't make some improvements, but its more than passable for me for headphones.
 
The need for a sound card can also vary. I have had some motherboards which produce alot of noise and low level crackling. I have had other onboard sound systems that made me get rid of aftermarket sound cards. Sound Storm on nVidia chipsets back in the day was great for me. Did not need anything else. I have also had alot of problems with creative cards as well. So if you hear some sort of issue then you may want to upgrade.
 
in the post he doesnt have a link or say where that card is on sale?

"Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD
$99 + tax Free Shipping. Finally replaced my st gen xfi fatality, sure gonna miss the front panel though. "
 
It's the shell shocker of today.

To those that are wondering how they compare to the xonar stx.... there is what feels like a slightly boosted lower bass range, and a midrange that isn't as clear.
It's still a great card, but it's not neutral. The differences aren't huge, it's more like a trade off.

I prefer the driver interface of the xonar stx... you can get a similar boosted bass frequency by adding like 1-2 db around 50 hz.

listening was done on akg k702s. Needles to say I returned the xifi card. However at 100 bucks.. you'll be happy.
 
how much better is the X-Fi Titanium than a X-Fi XtremeMusic?
 
I put shellshocker and newegg in the title i swear! i blame the modssss :eek: editing the first post now

whoops sold out now i guess... hope people got into the deal
 
just cancelled my order. kept finding horror stories about sound randomly not working. also, you have to plug/unplug the headphones whenever you wanted to use them. if you leave both in, it shuts off the rca outputs. lame, i really wanted a soundcard.
 
Wow, that's strange since there is a setting in the control panel to toggle that option for the headphones.
 
what's the difference between this internal one and the external USB X-fi HD? Because I found an X-Fi HD here that seems to be more useful for me since I can swap it between PCs.....

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Soun...qid=1315859319&sr=8-2&srch_Creative_sound_xfi

It's cheaper @ $82 and I could use the USB one between my laptop and PC.... and it should roughly sound the same quality, no? Is the USB one practically the same thing since its the X-Fi HD as well, or is it a lesser sound card because it inputs via USB?
Click to expand...

So does anyone know if the external x-Fi titanium HD (USB) will perform identically to the internal x-Fi titanium (non-USB internal sound card)?????? Thanks banzai89, but I am wondering for sure because it seems like a better deal for me.

and yes my CPU is good, lol, of course
 
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Dylan80 said:
So does anyone know if the external x-Fi titanium HD (USB) will perform identically to the internal x-Fi titanium (non-USB internal sound card)?????? Thanks banzai89, but I am wondering for sure because it seems like a better deal for me.

and yes my CPU is good, lol, of course
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Doing a quick Google search yields positive results.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/295961-28-looking-feedback-titanium

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc...cards/creative-x-fi-titanium-hd-712750/review

http://www.guru3d.com/article/sound-blaster-xfi-titanium-hd-review/
 
enter260 said:
just cancelled my order. kept finding horror stories about sound randomly not working. also, you have to plug/unplug the headphones whenever you wanted to use them. if you leave both in, it shuts off the rca outputs. lame, i really wanted a soundcard.
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Met-AL said:
Wow, that's strange since there is a setting in the control panel to toggle that option for the headphones.
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Yep. Most of those reviews are laughable on Newegg. Most of them had no idea how to setup the card and they probably had ancient PCs.
Remember, the people who are happy are less likely to leave a review than a unhappy people.
There's a difference between setup issues and failure issues. For setup, the problem usually lies between the PC and the chair.

Since I had my HD, installed drivers once and it worked flawlessly since day one.
 
enter260 said:
yeah for setup, i think a lot of it would be due to user error. i know there were some cases where this soundcard wouldn't work with a certain type of motherboard (p67 or something?)

but this was the headphone thing was the deal killer. i rather not reach back each time and plug/unplug everytime i want to use headphones:
http://forums.creative.com/t5/Sound...adphones-or-speakers-from-Windows/td-p/562754
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Issues like that I understand, the user isn't at fault.
Thankfully I have a FT02, so all of my wires are at the top of the case.
 
So I am not crazy then! The regular X-Fi have the software headset toggle, but the HD doesn't:

I got the Titanium HD thinking:

"YES!, i don't have to reach around back of my computer everytime I want to switch back to my speakers, this will be awesome!"

Basically because my g/f had gotten a normal xFi card and it had this functionality, but I wanted something geared more to the headphone experience.

Lo and behold, $200 later, I'm rather dissappointed. The sound quality is great, I love the RCA outputs for my speakers, but no ability in the software to switch between speakers and headphones. I realize, this was probably done to help keep the sound quality high, but.. YARG! What the heck!
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Met-AL said:
So I am not crazy then! The regular X-Fi have the software headset toggle, but the HD doesn't:
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Pretty much. I just tested it myself, no dice. I bought mince for $75 of CL so it's not a big deal.
For $99 it's not a big deal. For $140-200 like others have spent, it can be a big deal.

Sound quality > Headset toggle
 
I am thinking about getting it from BB- $119 but I had the Fatality gaming one from newegg Shell Shocker in April for $80 and sent it back as I was having an issue which seemed common with he P67 chipset motherboards where sound would just stop working...

WorldExclusive- looks like you have a Z68 mobo and no issues using this card? I have a Z68 board as well and tempted to give it another try...
 
Volkswagen said:
I am thinking about getting it from BB- $119 but I had the Fatality gaming one from newegg Shell Shocker in April for $80 and sent it back as I was having an issue which seemed common with he P67 chipset motherboards where sound would just stop working...

WorldExclusive- looks like you have a Z68 mobo and no issues using this card? I have a Z68 board as well and tempted to give it another try...
Click to expand...

i just installed this today on p67 mobo and no issue so far in past 2hrs of playing music/movie/game test
 
WorldExclusive said:
Pretty much. I just tested it myself, no dice. I bought mince for $75 of CL so it's not a big deal.
For $99 it's not a big deal. For $140-200 like others have spent, it can be a big deal.

Sound quality > Headset toggle
Click to expand...

Things like this are what helps give Creative a bad name. The headset toggle is a feature on a lesser card so you would expect it to be a feature on a higher card. But it isn't. Not a big deal, but how would a person find this out as the card's actual complete feature set isn't really available anywhere and if you don't stumble onto a thread about it on a support forums, you would really never know until after you bought it and were disappointed with it.
 
if i buy one of their older front panel things, would it have worked with this card?
 
Volkswagen said:
I am thinking about getting it from BB- $119 but I had the Fatality gaming one from newegg Shell Shocker in April for $80 and sent it back as I was having an issue which seemed common with he P67 chipset motherboards where sound would just stop working...

WorldExclusive- looks like you have a Z68 mobo and no issues using this card? I have a Z68 board as well and tempted to give it another try...
Click to expand...

I have a P67 B3. Your GeneZ comes with onboard X-Fi right? Well it doesn't have the amp though.
Just tested my Zalman Clip-On mic and it's very clear.
 
WorldExclusive said:
I have a P67 B3. Your GeneZ comes with onboard X-Fi right? Well it doesn't have the amp though.
Just tested my Zalman Clip-On mic and it's very clear.
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Yeah it comes with the X-FI chip- not sure how much better the sound card would be- $120 better :confused:
 
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