new express slot Xfi sound card

does anyone know if the new sound card allows u to use it with ur notebook speakers? or can u only use external speakers or headphones. would like to know so i can pick one up soon. thanks in advance.

 

only external speakers...no sound will come out of your notebook speakers with the sound card plugged in

 

Doesn't matter anyway. Notebook speakers are so bad the X-Fi wouldn't make a difference.

 

good point i guess. but i heard that there was some software that allowed the audiogy or however u spell it to use the notebook speakers. i mean mine arent THAT bad. they actually could be compared to stereo desktop speakers. 2.0 that is.

 

i thought that the last model was able to do this? i don't see why the newer model couldn't, but honestly, you wouldn't notice any difference.

 

it's too bad this thing's expresscard 54 and won't fit in a 34..

 

I wonder how good the quality really is. Would it be a noticeable difference if I plug in 5.1 speakers into the card vs if I put them in my notebook audio-out?

 

There is a great review of the card with some surprising test results...its on the sister site of notebookreview.com...i think it is called gadgetreview.com.

 

Can you tell the difference between 5.1 and 2-channel?

That's not even getting into sound quality.

 

The X-Fi does make quite a difference even if your laptop does have connectivity to a 5.1. There are many technologies that it has to help improve output.

 

I have the older card and there is an option to allow playback through the notebook speakers - it's all software based though, so it should be available on the next model I would assume

 

The older card was better, since it's based on the Full Audigy 2 Zs with nearly all features remaining. the X-fi express card is a X-fi Xtreme Audio, which is NOT a real X-fi. Instead it's basicly a rebranded Audigy SE, which is a stripped down version of the original Audigy. All it has is some of the software/driver functions that the PCMCIA card don't have. The Audigy Zs PCMCIA has a much better DSP and hardware sound acceleration (EAX, OpenAL). The X-fi does this in software.

Here's the review Gautam did http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=146202

 

The only thing going for the X-fi, in my opinion, is that its an express card. It doesn't have any hardware acceleration at all, which is basically useless for gamers. Shame, shame creative. I wish someone would make a express card sound card with hardware Dolby Digital Live.

 

What? Then what's the point of the card? Is it just an anti-piracy dongle?

 

It's for music and movies. It's got better sound than the integrated soundcard.

 

but in the review they have on this very site, it says that he/she got a boost in FPS. yes it was only 1 or 2 fps but that has to account for something.

 

true, it uses LESS resources than the integrated one, just not as good as a proper X-fi or even proper Audigy.

 

1 or 2 FPS and a marginal increase in sound quality is not worth $70 or so odd dollars.

 

No, you cannot use your notebook speakers.

Good point.

That's really too bad, I agree. For those users with small notebooks that only have the EC/34 slot, you'll need to look into USB alternatives.

It depends on the source of the sound.

Yes, it's really great for movies - the whole point is really 5.1/7.1 sound.

Exactly, guys. I think one good feature of the card is it forces the position of the audio ports to be on the side of the computer. Those of us with newer Asus, Dell, or HP notebooks know that it can be annoying to have the ports in the front for a home theater setup.

 

... that's one way to answer a ton of questions all at once...

 

I have on the side, next to a firewire port and a usb port. All in all, my port layout is brilliant.

 

Just got mine, and I like it. Was a ***** to setup though, Vista didn't want to recognize it. Just be aware that Creative will be NO help, I talked to three different reps over an hour, two of them did not even know that the card existed.

Also, if you plan on using 5.1 surround or 7.1 surround, you will have to order the module from Creative directly (just call their phonenumber). It's roughly 50 bucks, and as far as I know, it is only available in the United States.

 

Available in Europe as well.

 

Well like I said, I know on my old Audigy card I was able to use both my laptop speakers and logitech z-5500's at the same time - are you absolutely positive that you can't with the new wanna-be-xfi card?

 

It's technically a wannabe audigy card that's rebadged. So the Audigy is better.

 

The thing died on me again, sending it back to Newegg. I don't know if it was just my experience, but my Vista did not want it to work.

 

thats too bad my friend. maybe they will come out with something better soon.