Sound Question

Ok all... I am about to spend some money on sound for the M17. I wanted to ask...

Has anyone utilized the
Creative Soundblaster x-fi go?
Creative Soundblaster x-fi xtreme?
Either of these support EAX? Do games even use this anymore?

If so, did they work well? Did they eat up a lot of resources (mem or cpu)?
Did they impact gameplay?

I am also looking at headphones and I think I am going with the razer GREAT WHITE's over the TACTX. Reason is that the razers are a newer desing, the TACTX are the steel series from three years ago. (I know they work well but for some corny reason I like the razer). I have looked at the different 5.1 headphones, some of which actually have 6 to 8 speakers in the phones. I am thinking the USB attachment will eat cpu.

As always I appreciate all your thoughts and opinions. I play mostly rpg and fps type games. I am thinking I also want headphones I can use on the 360, but this is not a deal breaker.

Best wishes,

StevenX

 

I have the Soundblaster X-Fi Notebook and it renders sound far better then the onboard sound card in my opinion. It does use EAX but TBH I don't know how many games nowadays are actually optimized for EAX anymore.

As for the Headset, when I'm not using the Soundblaster X-Fi Notebook (i.e. at home not when on the road) I use the Turtle Beach AK-R8 headset. It comes with its own external sound card and is USB driven, and I've never had an issue with either of them "hogging resources (cpu or memory)" they both were extremely well. I like the Turtle Beach headset especially for fps games because it renders surround sound really well. I've actually caught myself turning around to see the guy sneaking up on me lol.

 

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback.

 

Do Express card slot sound cards make any difference to headphones/earphones or only the built in speakers of the laptop?

 

TBH I only use my laptop with headphones (I actually haven't tested to see if the sound changes from the speakers with the ExpressCard), and when i use the X-Fi I have to plug my headphones into the actual X-Fi Expresscard, not the onboard audio jacks.

 

THat's wicked cool!!

 

Steven, take a look into external DACs, the external soundcards and also headphones over headsets. Often you find with headphones, even with 2 drivers (how many ears do we have ) you get a much better overall result, for the same cash. Especially if you're going to be listening to music

 

Depends for what purpose, having a mic is pretty nice when you play games that "require" you to talk with the rest of your team/friends/players.

 

Clip on mic, something like the Zalman ZM-1 (supplied with thier headsets) is cheap and deals with that issue pretty easily, plus you still get the better sound quality

 

Mmm, no idea to be honest, since my headset (logitech G35) isnt that cheap its pretty good as sound quality goes and mic. But i guess it kinda makes sense for lower end hardware, -mic +quality for headphones speakers.

 

Even over the G35s you can get better, the same situation pretty much extends across the board; what you spend on headsets, you can usually get better sound quality for less
Even Sennheisers PC350 use the same drivers as the HD555/595 but with a worse sounding setup and cost far more.

 

Yea but in my case ill have to remember one more thing to pack with me Thats why i prefer something that folds into the headphones Heck if the headset could fold into the laptop would be even better, ive forgot them a few times so far