Creative Returns with SB X-Fi Titanium HD
For this PCIe card, Creative has ditched the polka-dotted cover seen with the Titanium Fatal1ty card with a tinted, slick version branding the Creative and THX logos. The device doesn't really look like a sound card until your rotate it around to see the gold-plated connections on the back: microphone input, headphone output, RCA output Left and Right, and RCA input Left (or Optical In) and Right (or Optical Out).
On a PCB level, Creative is no longer using electrolytic Jamicon and OST capacitors, but rather has moved on to use surface mount device (SMD) capacitors. By taking this route, Creative uses very few through-hole solder joints (that's a good thing--the less solder, the better). A hands-on preview noted that the X-Fi Titanium HD also has well-defined areas for its audio paths, however the design indicates that Creative initially planned to power the card via a 4-Pin Molex, but eventually ditched the idea.
"The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD is powered by the second-generation Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor for PCI Express slots," Creative said back in January. "The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD combines captivating industrial design with audiophile grade Digital to Analog Converters (DACs) and components to produce a 122dB signal-to-noise ratio, the highest SNR ever produced by a Creative sound card. A replaceable Op-amp is also a distinguishing feature allowing users to customize audio output with coloration that is refined to their personal tastes."
Although the vanilla version of Creative's Sound Blaster Titanium HD is already on the market, the X-Fi version is slated to be priced at $99.99 USD, however no shipping date was specified. The pricing also seems a bit off, so stay tuned as Creative delivers official dates and pricing sometime soon.
I remember when a PC build always consisted of a 3COM LAN card, US Robotics Modem and a Sound Blaster sound card of some kind. Now, all 3 of those companies have almost disappeared. Not to mention the S3 or Trident video cards that I used.
and why are there drivers so bloated, its a sound card for crying out-loud...
and why are there drivers so bloated, its a sound card for crying out-loud...
I remember when a PC build always consisted of a 3COM LAN card, US Robotics Modem and a Sound Blaster sound card of some kind. Now, all 3 of those companies have almost disappeared. Not to mention the S3 or Trident video cards that I used.
You started to make me feel old, until I remember when I got my first sound card and Wolfenstein didn't have to use PC speaker!
I do wonder how it went so wrong for Creative, I still believe in discrete sound cards for FAR better audio than onboard, but with all the driver issues, I CBA!
Daniel_K's drivers bring new life to current and older Creative cards. (I still have my SB Audigy one of my older gaming rigs & it works beautifully with these drivers) I highly recommend them if you haven't tried them already. You can find his drivers via his posts on Creative's forums. Username: daniel_k
Also, to completely uninstall Creative's bs drivers, I recommend a small utility called Nasty File Remover. Use it after you perform the normal uninstall & reboot.
Enjoy!!
Amen brother. You just had to have the SB Pro or SB16 (granted, you're choice was pretty much limited to SB, SB Pro, SB16 or an Ad Lib card) to get the proper xwing/tie fighter/wolf3d/doom experience.
I had to wrestle with tradition to finally drop putting a sound card in my wife's computer. The onboard audio does just fine. I have a fata1ity plat in my rig (its about 3 years old now). While I really do like the optical in/out and the other features of the front panel, the crappy drivers pushed me over to foregoing a sound card in my wife's machine and just using the onboard. The onboard really has come a long way since that crappy onboard yamaha opl3 that was on my 266 Dell P2 (the last prebuilt desktop I've ever owned). I had been wondering if dropping my pci platinum and going to a pci-x would solve some of the sound loop problems I get in things like L4D2, but based on the comments here it sounds like creative is still sucking in the driver dept. Much to my annoyance, I do have a bit of brand loyalty - that SB Pro from years back really was a phenomenal change to my gaming experience and there's a bit of nostalgia there, I also like my Zen Vision which actually does work pretty slick with the SB utilities and card.
I have a DB50XG that kills Roland's shitty GS soundset.
(Snap/crackle/pop no not cereal just my sound card.)
Creative died a long time ago, they just haven't realized it yet.
I had a GUS too. The original one was probably the best because of the hardware mixer.
Windows 95 killed the GUS when Gravis decided not to make DirectSound-compatible drivers (probably due to the fact that DS expects to do software mixing, when the GUS wanted to do all that work with it's superior audio processor). The follow-ups (GUS PnP, GUS Max, etc.) were crap, and they didn't do justice to the demo scene.
2nd Reality FTW