XPS 1330 and Creative X-fi express card

This may be a silly question but if I choose the creative x-fi express card as my sound option does that mean that I won't have integrated audio on my laptop? Or will I have the integrated audio plus the option of using the express card?

 

I've not got the card, but usually you can select what you want doing what, ie which card would be your output which would be input etc, but i have to ask why would you want two sound cards on at once??

 

I don't want to use the cards at the same time, I just want to have the option of which one to use. I didn't realize that the express card sticks out a bit when I ordered it and so I don't always want to use it ( I will probably just use it when I'm playing music). And I would like to use the integrated audio for everything else. I just wanted to make sure that I would still have integrated audio and the headphone jacks in the front of the laptop in addition to the option of using the express card.

 

I've got a XPS 1330 with a x-fi card; whenever you take the card out, the laptop automatically switches to the internal soundcard. Hope that helped...

 

does the x-fi sound card do digital audio passthrough, so that you can connect an optical cable to the digital out on the card, and then connect to an av receiver to get dolby digital 5.1/dts sound?

 

It outputs digital using a 3.5mm mini-toslink jack, but only with 2.0 channels. You can get the speaker docking module for analog 7.1 sound.

 

NO, you need to buy an adapter at an additional $$$ Creative to output a digital bitstream. The creative adapter isnot worth it. Turtle Beach (highly respected in good quality computer audio) has the Audio Advantage Micro for $30 which outputs DD/DTS bitstreams to home theater via optical. It's tiny, and no additional accessories to buy.

 

the speaker docking module only outputs analog audio - which the xps laptops can already do (well, at least the m1530).

i thought the x-fi has optical outputs on the expresscard unit - strange that it only does 2.0 channel sound - what is the point of that?!

have seen the turtle beach one, but it's not available where i am (australia), and no shop where it's available seems to ship to australia either...

 

Have you tried Ebay?

 

I believe the card has 5.1 channel pass through.. ie.. movies will be played in surround sounds through the optical out without docking module.

 

http://aqm4.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=1556

 

I got this card for my m1330 and it outputs 5.1 just fine.

 

can someone please confirm this either way with/without the extra docking module? ie full pass-through of 5.1 sound, or 2.0 channel only?
thanks!

 

Docking module basically provides a way to connect the card to speakers that requires separate inputs (right front, left front, etc...).. You get 5.1 pass through using the optical out without using the docking module... however some users have issues with Vista drivers... based on the post above no issues with M1330.. I can't verify this (yet).. will be able to in 2 days or so.

 

thanks - am looking to get passthrough of digital 5.1 channel sound to connect the laptop to my av receiver through optical cables.

the docking module seems to only relate to analog output (which my laptop can already do) and don't want 3 separate cables - too messy a setup.

someone said that the x-fi card only outputs 2.0 channel digital sound - which would be an odd result?!

 

Turtle Beach does not compare anywhere near the sound quality that a Creative card will offer. Subjective opinion only though. The speaker adapter is not necessary for anyone who is connecting to a receiver through optical cable (the speaker dock has no optical outs anyway).

 

Hmm.. Okay that's good to know it does SPIDF passthrough for audio. I was looking at the product page off of Creative's site and there's no mention of that capability which I think they should mention since it's the only reason I would buy it. Sorry for the misinfo. If you're looking just for passthrough capability, the Turtle Beach should output the same bitstream though. When my $75 coupon arrives from Dell, I might take a second look at the Creative card.

 

but surely there wouldn't be any difference re sound quality for purely digital 5.1 channel passthrough? i'd be hoping the sound card doesn't do anything to the sound - it just takes the signal from the dvd/bluray and sends it straight to my receiver for decoding to analog...

the turtle beach is also much cheaper - my problem is that it isn't available in australia (have checked online stores and ebay...). the creative x-fi is available anywhere - but pricey.

 

The passthrough will have no differences.. The X-Fi is known to have driver issues in Vista as well which is something to consider..

 

yes - have seen that mentioned.

the creative website says, for spdif out:

24-bit/96kHz (Windows XP)
24-bit/48kHz (Windows Vista)

what exactly does this mean in the real world?? what can it do in xp that it can't do in vista?

 

I have a logitech Z-5500 THX 5.1 surround speaker set.

I usually use the Optical cable to connect to the Playstation.

I see that the X-Fi supports Optical input, but when I look at the jack that the plug is supposed to go into on the X-Fi, its just a standard headphones-sized jack.

But my digital cable is kind of "square"ish. It's like a half square half triangle shape, with a roundish plug coming out the end.

How does this connect to the X-Fi?


Are there two different optical cables or something? Cos my Z-5500 plugs say "Digital Coax" and "Digital Optical". Im using the digital optical but the plug on the X-fi looks the same as the plug for Digital Coax.

 

There is a little mini adapter that is usually sold with most optical cables (it's a mini toslink to toslink adapter)... that converts the optical on the X-fi to the squarish connector you mention. You can buy it for $1.99 on Amazon if you didn't get one with your cable.

It's Digital Optical. Not Coax.

 

Cheers! I never got one! I'm actually very keen to buy an X-Fi Expresscard now, even if it doesn't have the actual X-Fi chip built into it if the video reviews are correct, the software alone should be better than what comes with the M1330 by default.

Ive been using an Audigy 2 ZS for years, and now when I get my m1330 it sounds like ass.

 

Strange, they list that on the Australian site, but not the US site. Creative US is losing a lot of sales by not listing SPDIF!

 

I'm using the 7.1 analog out for playback of HD DVD/BluRay. I'm wondering if analog is also limited to 48kHz output in Vista?

Since lossless codecs from HD DVD/BluRay can't be passed via SPDIF, I opted for the analog out solution, thinking that this would provide the best possible sound. If it is limited to 48kHz, there's no real benefit to my using the docking module...