Have Audigy 4 - Worth upgrading to X-Fi Gamer?

[roorooroo]

Hi, I currently have the Audigy 4 installed and it's pretty good to my ears...just wondering if it's worth the fifty quid upgrade to the gamer edition of the X-Fi? (performance and listening wise)

Mainly used for playing MP3's and lots and lots of games.

Cheers, Roo

[benjiboo]

yes, it most certainly is!!

[azrael1]

not if you use vista...

[SHare]

I would upgrade and get an OEM X-FI extreme music from ebuyer. Its a more fully featured card and allows you to use the external boxes etc if you have one for your audigy. The gamer and the basic music are half sized cards and some reckon are closer to the audigy sound than true x-fi.

[roorooroo]

Thanks for the suggestions and information..appreciated...so it would be better looking for a full size card instead of the half size cards then? Had my eye on the x-fi gamer xtreme from Scan for 50 quid (retail.)

[vinnyT]

The X-Fi Xtreme Music OEM £49.99 inc VAT (ebuyer) http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/112512

They have free delivery on orders over £49.99 (not sure if that's inclusive, if not buy a cheap cable or something).

[SHare]

From what I've heard on head-fi, which is a bit of an audiohile forum, is that the half size cards are inferior to their full size counterparts. Really it depends on the sound quality\cost your willing to put up with. I got an OEM full sized music extreme from ebuyer for about £45 a while back so it may be worth checking out, it also provides all the gaming modes as well as entertainment and recording modes, which I think are missing on the purely gamer cards.

[roorooroo]

That's very interesting....will go check the x-fi cards over at ebuyer...looks like the music oem is the favourite at the moment going by your comments...cheers, Roo

[sutton]

If you play FPS the X-fi is like having wall hax!, on CS_office i can hear people reloading and breaking glass across the map, and pin point their location by footsteps, I use it with the sennheiser HD595's and I get accused of wall hax all the time!

[wmsteele]

X-Fi is superb for gaming, well worth the upgrade, especially since its only £50 ish inc p&p from Ebuyer. Hopefully Creative will get its Vista drivers sorted out ASAP, untill then I will be sticking with XP.

[tinners]

I was always sceptical abnout being able to tell any difference between onboard, Audigy SE and then the XFi Xtreme. I game with Medusa 5.1 headphones and was on the whole happy with the Audigy SE.

I then bought an XFi Xtreme Music and to be honest I dont know how I managed before. Absolutely fantastic.

Word of warning though, it'll make you jump playing something like BF2 with a headset on

[sutton]

Yeah, when someone pulls a knife on you in CS:S you will **** yourself, spin 180 and blow his head off!

[jamena]

so you'd say that the XFi does slightly better positional audio than an Audigy2? ...really that much better? honestly?



please excuse the scepticism but it just all sounds too good to be true etc etc!

[roorooroo]

Thanks a lot all..i've plumped for the x-fi xtreme music OEM from ebuyer. Staying with XP a while longer!

Cheers, Roo

[tinners]

Cant really say for positional so much as the 5.1 headsets more of a gimmick than a real 5.1 experience but for general crispness and realism of sounds, plus great music playback it really is worth the hype.

[RavenNight]

The support for these cards in Vista is actually not that bad, you don't get the same interface as in XP but it still works. I love my 5.1 Medusa's, despite what people say you can tell where stuff is coming from much better than you could with standard stereo cans.