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Thread: USB XFi VS PCI Soundblaster Audigy SE

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    USB XFi VS PCI Soundblaster Audigy SE

    Hi,

    I have a USB Xfi soundcard that I use most of the time whilst my PC has an internal PCI Audigy SE that is disabled.

    Do you think the Xfi uses a lot more resources such as CPU time than the PCI?

    There doesn't seem to be much in it sound quality wise however.

    Which one would you use?

    Thanks
    E6850@ 3700MHz / 6GB DDR2 / 500GB SATAII / nVidia 7800 GTX / Lian Li Plus7B

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    Re: USB XFi VS PCI Soundblaster Audigy SE

    I find that USB card can slow down in games in some situations, but if you are not experiencing it, then I think that the X-Fi (provided the USB version is similar to the PCI version) is a much better than the Audigy SE (which is not even a true Audigy).

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    Re: USB XFi VS PCI Soundblaster Audigy SE

    I don't play any games sadly but it seems fine generally.

    The XFi has cmss-3d and EQ etc, I use headphones but it was set to headphones in the options and I set it to 2 channel and it sounds much better now. I will test out the Audigy SE tomorrow for the sake of it. The PCI card sound quality is pretty good tbh for the price I paid, which was about £15 a long time ago.

    The problem I have with the XFi is that when I change any equaliser setting in the 'console launcher' app it stops working and I have to close it, everytime.

    Probably down to good old Vista though.
    E6850@ 3700MHz / 6GB DDR2 / 500GB SATAII / nVidia 7800 GTX / Lian Li Plus7B

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    Re: USB XFi VS PCI Soundblaster Audigy SE

    CMSS-3D Headphone on the USB 'X-Fi's (and any other 'X-Fi' that doesn't have a EMU20k1 or EMU20k2 chip) is dreadful. It's practically false advertising trying to cash in on the full X-Fis by giving these things the same name.

    CMSS-3D Headphone mode of full spec pci-e and pci X-Fis is pretty decent. I wouldn't use it for music but it's very good indeed for games.

  5. #5
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    • Ben Rogers's system
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      • CPU:
      • Intel core i5 2500k @ 4400MHz
      • Memory:
      • 12GB DDR3 (8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz)
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      • 60GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD (boot) + 1TB Samsung F3 + 500GB Samsung F1 SATA II
      • Graphics card(s):
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      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 64 bit SP1
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      • 19" Samsung SyncMaste
      • Internet:
      • 23Mbit / 1.1 Mbit ADSL2

    Re: USB XFi VS PCI Soundblaster Audigy SE

    I only listen to mp3s so the sound is only as good as the source so doesn't make odds what soundcard really lol..

    its hooked upto an 80watt denon amp and seinheisser headphones
    E6850@ 3700MHz / 6GB DDR2 / 500GB SATAII / nVidia 7800 GTX / Lian Li Plus7B

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