Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty XtremeGamer and Creative Labs GigaWorks S750 Speakers

Hey guys, I have a Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty XtremeGamer Sound Card and Creative Labs GigaWorks S750 Speakers. This should be an incredible combination, and when the volume is kept down, it is.

However, as soon as you turn the volume up half way, things start to differ. When playing music, there is a variable amount of choppiness (depending on just how loud the speakers have been set to play). The sound is not distorted, so this confuses me. There really is no reason for this to happen, I have tried to fix this issue in numerous ways (to no avail).

Someone else described this problem as the sound being"...very "choppy". Its a rappid cut-in cut-out effect in the surround sound settings". ([TweakNews.net Forum] :: View topic - Sound Blaster X-FI *Drools*)

Although in my case this applies even without having the surround setting settings enabled, even though I can play music louder without surround sound settings enabled before it becomes a problem again.

Anyone have any idea why and what I can do about it?

I have tried the latest Windows Vista drivers for this card and installed the latest version of Creative's Audio Console, but still this is an issue.

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Ah, yes, ye olde X-Fi vista with 4 gb ram scenario :) I sympethise totally.

Try this, it worked for me
http://forums.hexus.net/operating-sy...ay-nicely.html

I found you can install the latest console & everything, just don't touch the drivers when you get them working! :)

The latest drivers fix the 4GB issue, no fiddling around anymore.

So, shaithis, to clarify, you suggest I install the latest drivers?

This is what I have already tried.

0iD, surely this only applies if you have 5.1 speakers. Mine are 7.1 to start with, so this shouldn't be a problem.

Mine was a response to the post above mine, the thread linked to is now kinda moot due to the latest drivers resolving that particular issue (which I can confirm).


Your issue (pardon the pun!) sounds different.....

I would try toggling the surround sound option on and off if people are reporting that turning it off resolves your issue.

I would also try the speakers on a different PC if thats an option.

Trying them on another PC is not an option, as this is a hefty set of speakers which can't really be moved.

They only work on Creative cards properly (because 4 cables are merged into 3 3.5mm jacks). This means that other sound cards only play audio through 5.1 speakers rather than 7.1.

I previously tried enabling/disabling the surround sound option.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by shaithis

The latest drivers fix the 4GB issue, no fiddling around anymore.

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In my experience, this is not the case. I had the same prob as before, so rolled back the driver & the problem went away again.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by oimi

0iD, surely this only applies if you have 5.1 speakers. Mine are 7.1 to start with, so this shouldn't be a problem.

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It's not that it applies to 5.1 setups, just that we have 5.1 setups & therefore tinkering was geared that way.

Well I have a really slow download speed, because the University is tight and gives us very little bandwidth.

Do I really need to download the 6xxMB file?

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looks so mate always try a driver update first.

Don't you think that was one of the things I tried first? Had it been that simple I wouldn't have needed to have started a topic.

This is extremely annoying.

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dont be offended my dear chap, but you've got to TRY the drivers.

This issue has been causing you grief for a long time so surely a download it the way forward?

Although I have previously tried using the latest drivers to resolve this issue, I will download those provided in the link on the previous page and see if these make a difference.

I wont download the Vista CD, as I already have this (it came with my sound card).

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Lol the way you acted not surprised the bumps aren't getting you no attention

Just did!

Anyhow, I downloaded those drivers and they do seem to have helped. I still have the same problem though, it just happens at a greater volume. I have read elsewhere that people with the same speakers and soundcard as me (using XP) do not have the same problems as I do (using Vista).

This is a shame, wonder if it would help if someone could enable us to install the latest drivers (provided this month) for Windows XP (Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty XtremeGamer) using Vista.

I have no suggestions, still looking for some (although it would be nice to install XP on a seperate partition that is not an option).

Bad sound is one of Vista's features.

"Why Vista sounds worse"

Do you really think I need to be reading that?

Reverting back to XP is not an option, your comment was not at all useful as it seems as though this is just an excuse to rant about how bad Windows Vista is. It doesn't help me to resolve this issue.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Enda

Bad sound is one of Vista's features.

"Why Vista sounds worse"

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Interesting - and useful to those using music systems professionally. I wonder if the Vista service pack will improve things? Or if a higher priority for the music processes would help? But I guuess for the moment, if you are processing sound for pro applications - stick to XP!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by oimi

your comment was not at all useful as it seems as though this is just an excuse to rant about how bad Windows Vista is. It doesn't help me to resolve this issue.

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I do not rant. I give you information. Judging by time taken by yourself to download latest drivers it seems you have trouble processing information though. You do not blame me for this. And you do not call my short posts rants.

(Or I'll send some nasty virus over to your IP and it shall fry your dormitory harddrive assets and shall leave you with a nervous tick for the rest of your life)

;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by peterb

Interesting - and useful to those using music systems professionally. I wonder if the Vista service pack will improve things?

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It does NOT seem to:
Performance Results Mixed with Vista Service Pack 1

I always like to component swap when these things happen. It is perfectly possible that you could have a defective component and drivers will never solve your issue. I had to return a set of Creative speakers in the past. I believe your speakers have an amp, and it could be an issue with that.

If you are not prepared to move the speakers to another computer. Try moving another computer to the speakers. Even a laptop with headphone out will be a useful test.

Worked fine on a laptop, couldn't get them as loud as the laptop detected them as headphones so there were no configuration options.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Enda

I do not rant. I give you information. Judging by time taken by yourself to download latest drivers it seems you have trouble processing information though. You do not blame me for this. And you do not call my short posts rants.

(Or I'll send some nasty virus over to your IP and it shall fry your dormitory harddrive assets and shall leave you with a nervous tick for the rest of your life)

;)



It does NOT seem to:
Performance Results Mixed with Vista Service Pack 1

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I'd like to see you send a nasty virus through a hardware firewall or two that the University have set up. Fry my dormitory hard drive assets? Get real, stop wasting my time. The only tick you leave me with is the one which makes me want to bash you over the head :angst:!

Well, that is good in that the speakers and amp don't seem to be duff.

I wonder if you are overloading the output from your PC. With your speakers having an amp already built into them, you would normally use a lineout feed into them. That is, the outputted signal from your PC should be quite low.

Amping your output signal, and then amping again with your speaker's amp can cause issues. You do have dedicated connections for your speaker/card combo so most of that should be taken care of already anyway. It may be worth having a think to see if you are over boosting your signal in some way. An example would be using a graphic equalizer in some software with settings above the centre line, audio codecs that have in bulit boosting etc etc.

I have a HDA Mystique, and output using coax SPDIF. In my sound card I have the output level (master) at only 75%. If its higher than that it can cause issue should I use graphic equalisers or volume normalisers in other software.

Might be worth a shot, fingers crossed :)

Thanks for the response threepe.

You mention which soundcard you are using, but what speakers do you have?

If I use software enhancement then I cannot turn the volume up so high without this choppiness. The choppiness still occurs when I turn up the volume without software enhancement, only it occurs at a slightly higher volume.

I use an AV setup, I left the world of computer audio about 5 years ago when I could not get the quality I wanted. There were two competing products at the time. Creative had I think what was called the Megaworks. They were really good, but turned themselves off every now and then losing all their settings which drove me nuts. The other ones were Logitech ones, but they had a constant hiss when nothing was being played through them.

I do wonder if you are experiencing some sort of clipping. The fact that it only happens at higher volumes does tend to point to something overloading. If the chopiness is there at lower levels, and slowly gets worse then its normally in the signal that is being outputted to the amp.

I'm trying to think the logic through here. Start at a point of no chopiness at all at a certain volume level. Then, turn the dial on the speaker's amp only. If that induces chopiness it has nothing to do with your drivers. The only alteration you are making in the above situation is with your amp, the software side stays constant.

If the above causes chopiness then you are either overloading the output signal from the pc somehow, have a defective amp, or are just expecting the volume to be too high for the kit you have. Not being there in the same room makes it hard to help. Doing the above should let you know if drivers are the cause though.

Somehow the speakers have been fine in terms of this particular problem for some time now, maybe a driver update or something.

However, I now have several different problems! I've got a working TV Tuner, which works with Windows Media Center on my Windows Vista Home Premium PC. When I watch TV using Windows Media Center, I get sound coming out of all 7.1 channels. When I watch a DVD using Windows Media Center I get sound coming out of 3.1 channels and if lucky out of 5.1 channels. What is it that is causing this? I have my X-fi set to provide surround sound.

The ironic thing is, that when I use Windows Media Player I get all channels of sound for music (when listening to mp3s) and usually when I try to watch DVDs too. However, when I try to use Windows Media Player to watch anything I have this strange problem occur. Demonstrated in this video: http://tinypic.com/usermedia.php?uo=...Y0wgqZpw%3D%3D

Images demonstrate this too:

http://i35.tinypic.com/2h74d4x.jpg

http://i35.tinypic.com/2py74fk.jpg

http://i34.tinypic.com/4vlabc.jpg

Does this happen when u play games? If so then you need a new graphics card. If not, then yo tuner is broke.

Hello, thank you for your response.

This does not happen when playing games, only when watching DVDs using Windows Media Player! But when I watch DVDs using Windows Media Center the picture is fine, it's just then the sound!