Xi-fi

[BlindMelon7]

I agree with FInalD, I actually use the onboard on mine to drive my old logitechs because there is no point in rigging them to my main sound card. The difference in quality wouldn't be noticable, especialy when they're up against my main speakers (LEAK 3090s).

[BeoWulf]

Ordered the xi-fi today, ETA of wednesday. Thanks for the help guys. Bit late on the incompatability with the nvidia chipset bit heh. I will be looking to upgrade to a ATI chipset based mobo after christmas is over and done with.

[chuckskull]

My x-fi is on NF4, no problems. Cant see you having any tbh.

[xolotl]

FInalD makes a very good point, a £50 Xtreme music is a good upgrade for any system. But with bad speakers you wont see a huge difference.

Even Logitech Z-5500 and similar PC speakers in that price range arent all that good. A good pair of Hi-Fi separates will blow away PC speakers, it a brilliant and quite cheap upgrade to make. B&W 601s go for around £100 second hand, plus a decent amp for another £100 will blow away your £200 logitech or creative speakers.

[starbuck]

I was thinking of upgrading my audigy 2 to a X-Fi music then thought of upgrading my 2.1 speakers at the same time. The above suggestion made me think....I've got a really good surround sound sys in same room so may as well plug x-fi into that and save a big wad of cash into the bargain.

[starbuck]

can anyone recommend a good cable(3.5mm to phono) to connect the x-fi to the back of my surround sound sys?

[FInalD]

Any good highstreet electronics shop should have them.

FinalD

[frazered]

not meaning to hijack but I suppose I am in a similar position

However I am potentially moving from sb live 24 bit onboard sound, not realtek

do you think there will be any noticable difference?

I will be feeding into a pa2v2 pocket amp >> beyer dt770 pro's

ta

[chuckskull]

If you game at all you'll notice the difference instantly(just remember to turn the sound options up in game), music is more subtle, but it's definite improvement.

[BeoWulf]

Starbuck, make sure you get a shielded cable, and one thats not too long, signal degrades quite a bit. As to other points.. I got sick of buying amps... cost me a small fortune. I will probably go for a creative 7.1 set for christmas. Chuckskull, im stuck on NF3 at the moment till the next major system upgrade.

[Silent Shark]

frazered, I upgraded from a SB Audigy LS, which was a SB Live! with an Audigy sticker on it. I noticed a huge difference, even on the really cheap speakers I had at the time. Annyoingly, when I got my surround sound speakers back I had an ear infection and could barely hear anything, but now it's cleared up, I'm really enjoying the X-Fi.

If you have Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, the difference is astonishing!

[frazered]

frazered, I upgraded from a SB Audigy LS, which was a SB Live! with an Audigy sticker on it. I noticed a huge difference, even on the really cheap speakers I had at the time. Annyoingly, when I got my surround sound speakers back I had an ear infection and could barely hear anything, but now it's cleared up, I'm really enjoying the X-Fi.

If you have Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, the difference is astonishing!

cheers for that

[rob4001]

Ah this is a great thread just what I'm after.

I am also looking to upgrade from my motherboard sound. I was looking at audigy 4 or X-Fi. I currently have 2.1 logitech X-230 speakers and was thinking of buying some medusa 5.1 surround sound headphones is the X-Fi worth it with this setup or go for the audigy 4?

Thanks

[pr0p4g4nd4]

Do you think the difference between AC97 and X-Fi Xtreme music will be apparent with either my JBL Creature speakers or my Shure e2c earphones?

[Puncr0c]

I ran with AC97 onboard sound for ages but realised that it totally sucked. When I tried to use it (hardware mode) in Battlefield 2 i'd get missing sounds, and sounds that just didnt go away (they just repeated indefinitely lol) - IT WAS A NIGHTMARE.

So enough was enough and I bought an X-Fi Xtreme Music...

I WAS BLOWN AWAY! It was loads better than the onboard sound. Even on my cheap £40 speakers u can hear a massive difference.

Around the same time I purchased the Medusa 5.1 surround headset. This also was a fantastic purchase, although looking back I wish I had bought a decent 2.0 headset instead of the 5.1s - Simply because the X-Fi has a virtual 3D audio mode that is absolutely amazing! Its bizarrely creates better 3D positioning effect than the Medusa's?! lol

So my advice is to anyone considering buying an X-Fi is: ADD TO BASKET; PROCEED TO CHECKOUT!

[JPreston]

The OEM X-fi for ~£53 from scan is definitely, definitely worth it