Creative Labs SB046A Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro Series

1. Posted: Aug 12 2008

   *updated review - see end* Great sound - after a couple hours I re-hooked up my old speakers and was *really* blown away by how much my entire sound stage "collapsed" There is enough in the other reviews about the virtues of this card, everyting they said is right - if you want great sound, you will NOT be let down. With that said, I would like to address a issue that I think is simply misleading and wrong. WARNING: If you are buying because of the bundled powerDVD software *Don't* PowerDVD has lost a customer due to the misleading and stupid bundling of their software with this card -- no its not all creative's fault - read on.... The package states "includes Cyberlink's PowerDVD software with DTS and Dolby Digital-EX decoding via free download for an unbeatable DVD movie watching experience" You may want to remember that "unbeatable" line up there. That sorta implies that you are getting a pretty current version and that you can't beat it. (unbeatable?) Cyberlink currently has 3 versions of this software available for sale: 1. versoin 7 2. version 8 3. version 8 ultra (blueray) Now, I don't expect their top of the line software - however, I DO expect at least a currently shipping version! Thats right - you get none of the above - you get version 6. Now version 6 has all sorts of known problems (with new hardware - it IS 3 versoin old) - I was never able to get it to work with most of my movies and its decoding was ify at best. Not only that, every time you run it it pesters you to "upgrade to version 7 or 8 and you can have a really great software program at a special price -- click here!" - (my paraphrasing...but you get the point) OK - I'l bite -- how much is the "special pricing" Are you ready for this -- instead of 99.00 you can buy it for 95.00 -- Thats right - you save 5.00! Cyberlink obviously thinks that version 7, 8 and 8 ultra all "beat" version 6 - and they obviously rate version 6 as only being worth about $5.00. Thanks guys! Now, I don't mind bundling "trial versions" of software - or giving me old versions -- but AT LEAST warn me of that when I purchase it. I don't want to buy a 130.00 card then spend almost the same amount to get software that it sounds like I am alread getting. Now cyberlink -- if you really wanted to get me as a cuatomer - at least give me a *real deal* - say half off for having the bundled version of your software --- Just my thoughts... BTW - I am curretnly using the free "VLC Media player" and it seems to be working well. But the !hours! I wasted trying to ger version 6 of powerDVD to work correctly really left a bad taste with me. BTW - yes I did download powerDVD version 8's trial and yes - it does seem to work. However, I would spend MORE money with some other company rather than support this dishonest practice of "bait and switch" Update: OK after spending even MORE time I have learned the following: Digital IN: Does NOT support dolby 5.1 (card is not a dolby decoder - yes you can soft of figure this out but the wording of everything certainly lets you (and hundreds of others looking at the sheer number of complaints out there) think that it does. Digital OUT: Does NOT send out dolby 5.1 out the digital out. What this means is if you attach a DVD or cable box to the digital in you only get stereo - no surround and if you attach the digital out to your dolby receiver you still only get stereo - no surround! You only get surround from internal programs (games dvd software) and then ONLY if you either use the analog outputs (!!) or purchase another device from creative for another 179.00...even then you still have to convert to analog - go to device - it converts back to digital then goes from there. Creative support is certainly aware of this issue and simply chooses to make it as hard as possible to find out. All these are design decisions that Creative made and should have shared upfront in a *clear* manner with us. I downloaed the manual for the card ahead of time and it *clearly* states that it does several things it does NOT do -- turns out they only have one manual of their product line and all the different part do not relate to all the products. You mean you really cannot have a seperate file for each product telling me what it does and how to do it? Really? That is just too much work??? I expected better from you creative.

2. Posted: Jul 9 2008

   I like this card a lot.It's way better then my old one,which came with Abit mother board.There is a lot of software comes with this card.But if you have Nvidea chipset this card has some issues,so you have to check with Creative labs if they fix it.

3. Posted: Jun 24 2008

   My old sound card was not providing accurate sound in Call of Duty 4 with headphones. I figured i'd give this a try since i heard the CMSS-3D the x-fi had was great. The sound the x-fi giving me seems to be a bit more accurate than my previous card

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