"Soundblaster® X-Fi? Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled" What is that? Is this Necessary?

"Soundblaster® X-Fi™ Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled" What is that? Is this Necessary? or the basic one: "Internal High-Definition Surround Sound Audio (5.1) "

 

I wonder if it's just like Soundblaster MB, a software solution for Realtek audio codecs to play EAX 4 and some filters to improve sound.

 

I still don't get it... its a sound card or a software?

 

It says it's software enabled so I think it's software?

 

Umm... someone knows?

 

@Waffle - I will do my best to try and explain. If you purchase at a retail store, the x-fi go pro usb, it comes with software called X-Fi Hi def Audio. This includes surround sound THX stuff, effects and items to just overall make your sound better. When this software starts at boot, it looks for my USB card to drive the software.

I believe this software solution will utilize your onboard sound to enhance and process your surround sound.

I believe this software will work with your onboard sound card.
Keep in mind, this is a SOFTWARE enhancement. This means it will utilize your CPU to process and therefore you will not have as much CPU for gaming.

Best Wishes,

StevenX

 

Well for $20 might as well grab it. But Steven, do you think this will severely impact the cpu usage to the point that will decrease gaming performance? I mean Alienware wouldn't recommend it and add as an option if the 2nd Gen i7 ulv cpu can't handle it.

 

What puzzles me, if it is only a SOFTWARE enhancement, will a copy of it be on the back up disc you get containing the operating system or will you be S.O.L after you wipe the drive for a fresh install?
Will it be available as a download like the drivers?

Have a Magical Day

 

I ordered it with my m14x. I have the usb xi-fi go as well so I wanted to compare the two. Understand that ANY item that utilizes cycles of your cpu can impact performance. That is why I wrote many docs on optimizing your m11x to increase performance.

StevenX

 

I ordered an audio upgrade/soundblaster with my Dell Studio early last year and a disc of the product was included in the box, so I'm assuming it will be the case for this

 

Steven is right, this is a SOFTWARE solution. Back when the XPS M1710 was new (yea, a while back) they offered it with the exact same thing. they made it sound like it was a sound card for the laptop though. I decided it was worth the $20 cause I was hoping it would assist with pulling the sound processing off of the CPU.

I even went so far as to call sales and talk to them about it. They really could not answer my question if it was hardware or software (big surprise, right?) but felt it would be both.

Well, we were all mistaken. It was nothing more than a special Dell version of Creative Labs software. It was software written to work on the specific sound card that the motherboard had on it. It has nothing to do with a special sound processor or anything like that.

the worst part was that is was so poorly written it caused more issues than it was worth. The amount of overheard the software needed was absurd and it really hit hard when the CPU was being pushed.

I eventually reformatted and just never loaded the software anymore. Yes, it allows you to pick 'sound blaster X-fi' as an option within games, but it will put extra load on your CPU by having to do the processing for the effects in addition to everything else.

IMHO - NOT worth it.

 

I got this option as well. Going to test to see how performance goes when I receive my machine.

 

I will say this. The new m11x r3 (and even the m14x) have much more powerful processors then they had several years ago. With 4 threads and a clock speed of over 2.4 ghz I hope this is enough to NOT impact gaming.

I can give you some advice. My cpu utilization at idle is ALWAYS ZERO. When I use the xi-fi software I have to disable the microphone setting called "WHAT YOU HEAR". This puts your own voice back into the speaker. The reason for this is that it kicks my cpu utilization up to 5 percent, even when at idle. With this disabled, it once again stays at zero cpu utilization at idle.

Best Wishes, StevenX

 

I have it on my Desktop's motherboard. It's literally just a little thing of software that lets you modulate your voice when you're doing voice chat, and the $20 is for covering the licensing fees that allow them to display the THX logo which, in my opinion, means absolutely nothing now days...

 

Thank you all, and special Steve =] I do have 5.1 Logitech Speakers X-530, so I dont need it so much.. no? (its only a software right? not a sound card)

 

Thank you all, and special Steve =] I do have 5.1 Logitech Speakers X-530, so I dont need it so much.. no? (its only a software right? not a sound card)

 

I have the same speakers, love them! priced right too. Bass is a little over powering sometimes though.

 

Hehe yea, but I would like to know, how would be the audio, the sound, if I will buy this software..

 

Right. It's only a software enhancement, not a sound card.

If you do ever format, you should either be able to download it from Dell or restore when you use your recovery discs. Dell has a special section in your account where it pulls details about several pieces of software that were included with your build. Typically, the number of times you can download software from that section is limited to 1 to 3 times, so it's best to download and keep in a very safe place.

I've used the software on Klipsch ProMedia speakers. I can say it wasn't worth the extra I spent back when dual core processors were first being introduced. But I haven't used any recent renditions of the software, so Creative may have improved its performance and quality. However, I wouldn't put that much stock in Creative.

 

Hardware is always better, software will probably make the sound better but more improvement in hardware, like having good speakers and a good sound card. I have an older asus g50 series laptop and it has a pretty crappy sound card but when I attached my bose companion 3 speakers man oh man the sound is excellent.

But for like an extra $20 you cant go wrong, full tank of gas is more expensive then that :*( Chicago gas is at $4.60 a gal

 

Are they sending with the laptop the cd?

 

Recovery discs come with your laptop. Yes. "Free" even. And you can make your own restore discs on top of that - assuming you have access to an external recorder.

 

Nice^^ ok thanks bro, you really helped me

 

There is a way to trick the computer into thinking you have xfi on there, its buried somewhere in the boards.

 

you do have it right? can you upload the files to the internet :X

and what is that "Rep Power" ??

 

I dont have it installed since I use the 5.1 outputs on the computer, never really had the need to upgrade it. I will do some searching and try to find out how to do it.

 

Hehe ok thanks

 

Ahhh, thanks for clearing that up

 

does anyone have the file they can share. I just got a m11xr3 with the soundblaster option however after a series of lockups I did a factory restore and now I'm getting rundll32 errors for DBACSU.dll. I'd do a reinstall of the driver/software however my service tag is not in the system or in the system incorrectly and I can not find anything on the resource DVD.

 

nevermind... used the software update and it fixed problem

 

Does any of you know how I can get the Soundblaster® X-Fi™ Hi Def Audio drivers? I purchased my system with it, but now that I have done a clean install on an SSD, I don't see it included in my resource DVD or listed in the drivers page of the m11XR3.

In addition, I am not sure if it is related, but I have one unknown device 'Exclamation' mark in my device manager window and that is for "High definition Audio Device'. Am I seeing this because I have not yet installed the above mentioned Soundblaster® X-Fi™ Hi Def Audio drivers? I habe already installed the Realtek audio drivers.

Would appreciate any feedback and help.

Thanks!

 

Same problem with me. any response will be appricated.

 

If you don't want your music to sound like mud. Get it.

Try this? http://support.creative.com/downloads/?h=7

Pretty sure its same chipset. (External and Internal in which case the drivers should be same.)

 

Anyone know if this is purchasable after the fact? I would assume since it's a software-only solution it would be.

 

Not sure if your problem was with the unknown "High definition Audio device" exclamation mark in the device driver manager or that you cannot find the Sound Blaster software. If it was for the unknown driver issue, I solved it by reinstalling the intel drivers.

Regarding the missing Sound Blaster software read below:

Well, Alienware is supposed to ship a DVD containing the software and drivers IF you purchased it as an add-on option during your online-purchase of the system. I found out mine did not come with it even though I did.

I was sent the DVD containing the SOund Blaster software and drivers and received it a few days ago. Installation was a breeze and I now have a bunch of different audio options and a bunch of other undocumented creative audio softwares.

If you purchased the add-on and did not receive the DVD in the box, give them a call.

The Creative DVD that came adds a bunch of audio features and other creative audio editing/managing applications that were not listed on the add-on page when you were purchasing the m11x.

1. Sound Blaster X-Fi
2. Creative WaveStudio 7
3. Creative Alchemy
4. Creative MediaSource 5

 

The download unfortunately does not work for our alienware systems. I tried this before contacting Dell about my missing DVD. When you try to install the download, it states that it cannot find the compatible hardware. Apparently, the SOundblaster software that comes as an add-on for our systems has been specially configured to work only with Alienware.

 

Mobilezila, so you had a CD for the Soundblaster software? So 3 CDs in total?

I bought the system with the software but I only received the Windows 7 Home Premium CD and the Resource DVD.

 

I only had 2 DVDs when i received my Alienware M11XR3.

1) Windows 7 Ultimate
2) Resource DVD

I found out that Dell forgot to include the 3rd DVD (Sound Blaster DVD). This Sound Blaster DVD is ONLY included if you purchased the Sound Blaster Add-On extra option during your purchase of the system. This DVD comes with it's own license activation number.

I had to call them to ask them to ship it out to me.

 

I see, I guess I'll have to give Dell a call.

 

Interesting! I ordered it but did not receive the disk as well. Guess I'll call too!

 

Did you have any issues providing a service tag # in order to get the DVD? I'm a little worried since mine is still not recognized in the system.

 

Hi aliengirl, no, I did not have an issue. My mchine is also not recognised in my Dell online account, but if your provided them with your service tag # or customer number, they should have you in their in-house database.

They will be able to pull up your purchase invoice. Once they see that you had purchased it as a line item on your invoice, will ship you the DVD containing the softwares when you inform them that you do not see the software or drivers for the soundblaster on the resource DVD.

 

Thanks! I appreciate the info. + rep, I was wondering what had happened to my Soundblaster software.

 

Would you please post the Dell part # for the m11x x-fi dvd they sent you? I wonder if this is perhaps the same software? http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...=dellSearch&baynote_bnrank=0&baynote_irrank=1

 

I spent over an hour on the phone and was transferred 4 times; the end result was a tech saying he would get back to me after he found out if 'the engineers could provide me the Soundblaster disk'.. and of course no one got back to me.

mobilezila, do you have a rep you worked with, an email address or phone extension? No one even knew what I was talking about really, a sales person just verified that I had indeed purchased it, but sales can't provide missing software.

 

Hi! I've recently bought a new Dell XPS 17 L702X notebook and encountered the same DBACSU.DLL crash problem right after restoring the factory image with the Dell Datasafe utility. Prior to restoring, I had never seen this crash at all. Afterwards, it happened on all future startups. I even went out of my way and chose the option to recover without preserving any updated files. This should have put the machine back the way it shipped, without the error. How annoying!

Like you, I fully solved the problem by manually running the Creative Autoupdate software and selecting the update for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB 1.00.10

From your experience as well as mine, I have to assume the Dell factory shipped the machine with this update installed in the OS, but NOT included in the "factory image". In my opinion, this should never happen since the user relies on that factory image to be exactly as the machine shipped.

I hope this thread may be of help to others who later "restore" their system to this state!

Now to get back to enjoying my new system

 

I wonder how many people received the Soundblaster software on an actual disk with their M11x R3 systems? Mine was installed, but as people noted in the forum, there is no back up for it if you have to reinstall everything. I got nowhere trying to get a copy from Dell tech support or a rep.

 

can it be had via Dell Smartsource?

 

Can anyone drop an ISO of the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi MB2 driver disk somewhere, I'm in the UK and this does not seem to be an option at order time or as an add-on.

Unless it comes with the software installed.....I will find out

 

my m11x came with the x-fi CD and a product key printed at the back to install it. it wont install without activating the product key before install

I've a few more CD then then what i got with my R1, i got windows cd, resource dvd, webcam central cd, x-fi cd, another one for facial recognition and mcafee. the only cd i was missing is the one on office and i didnt receive the product key for that