I'm building a new pc and I was wondering if it's worth getting an x-fi? Currently the plan is to pull the audigy 2 out of my current pc and use it in the new one. Is there any benefit of getting an x-fi over an audigy 2?

I have an X-Fi Xtreme Gamer, which is the bottom of the range that still gives you both the Crystallizer and EAX support in games, and I must say it's been an excellent purchase. My housemate has just bought an X-Fi Xtreme Music on my recommendation to feed his new speakers - and for £27, you can't really go wrong.

Ultimately it depends on how much music/films you listen to and how good your speakers are. I have music on 95% of the time and a fairly decent 5.1 setup so I get good use of my sound card.

I don't think so. The crystalizer always sounded like crap to me and I've never thought EAX was so spiffy. Sometimes I intentionally turn it off because it just adds stupid-sounding echoes to everything. I think you should stick with your Audigy personally. My X-fi never paid off.

Not to mention Creative's world renouned bug-free drivers and support...

Quote: Originally Posted by _Sexy_Pants_ I don't think so. The crystalizer always sounded like crap to me and I've never thought EAX was so spiffy. Sometimes I intentionally turn it off because it just adds stupid-sounding echoes to everything. I think you should stick with your Audigy personally. My X-fi never paid off.

Crystallizer is nice for when you don't have the nicest speakers. Using it with my old x-230 speakers it made them sound a lot nicer, but now if I turn it on while using my grado headphones I think it makes it sound like crap.

Yeah the EAX is pretty crappy, I don't really see the use for it.

Quote: Originally Posted by Im_gumby Not to mention Creative's world renouned bug-free drivers and support...

Agree. You buy the soundcard, you're telling them they're A-OK and doing everything just right

I love my X-Fi Extreme Gamer MOST of the time. Vista support is pretty good with their Alchemy app but I have run into some wierd issued in Win XP 64bit. Voice chat simply will not work in DDO (Dungeons & Dragons Online) but works great in all other games. The sound quality and 3D audio capabilities of the X-Fi is easily better than any onboard sound solutions I have used in the past. EAX is ok... nothing THAT much to write home about UNLESS the game has a specific X-Fi setting like games such as BF2 and BF2142.

If you question is Audigy or X-Fi. I say X-Fi.

It's a good card. Buggy, but way better now than it was. I own one and personally think it's the best soundcard I've had. Versatile for it's various task specific audio modes (games, production, movies/music).

ive owned an x-fi xtrememusic for probably about 2 years now, and so far, its worked pretty much perfectly under Windows XP 32bit (not sure about 64bit)

enabling EAX effects never did seem to make any real difference in my games (with the exception of Battlefield 2, in which there is a DRAMATIC improvement). the overall sound quality never sounded any different than my old Audigy gamer (first gen), and quite honestly, neither of them sounded noticably better than my old SB Live! 5.1, in fact, the old Live! card was much more fun to use than this, as the EAX effects were fun and easy to mess with, not so with the X-Fi's.

if you get the x-fi, it will be purely peace of mind and futureproofing, for as far as i can tell, there really isnt a better performing or sounding audio solution out there for the money. just dont expect miracles in your games unless the game was written with the card in mind, in which case, you will probably be thankful you took the plunge. its also worth mentioning that the x-fi series cards do help your overall framerates in almost any game you run, though the improvement versus a lesser audio solution is probably negligible at best.