Sound Blaster X-fi USB or ExpressCard ?

I have a Creative X-Fi MOD USB soundcard, and it works flawlessly (as in no lag in games, music or movies). It's this one: http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=668&product=15913

 

So I wonder if the expresscard version would have the same problem, I wouldnt think the speed of a usb port must be whats causing the lag. Perhaps its my processor...hmm maybe if I ever attempt the T9300 upgrade it would solve the problem..schwatever

 

Ive previously mentioned that the Express version would be a better choice due to the USB version hogging a lot of valuable resources. A lot of owners reports 90% cpu usage when playing music or gaming.

 

There is a pretty BIG chance I will get the expresscard with the 5.1 upgrade when I get back

 

You should be more specific. The recources my USB card takes are really negligible, but since it's an X-Fi MOD, it doesn't do the software EAX stuff the gaming soundcards do, so naturally it requires less of the CPU. My bet is the recources are not related to USB, but software processing of the EAX, or a combination of the two. It's a shame that the older PCMCIA card is the only good notebook solution for gamers (since it does hardware EAX processing). The ExpressCard version is basically rubbish. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

I'm having the same dilemma now...thinking of getting either the Creative X-Fi USB surround 5.1 or the X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook...I plan to use it on my Dell Inspiron lappie.... My machine is running on Vista too....I'm planning to use it for gaming, watching movies and listening to music..what do you guys recommend? I don't do recording though..

LastCallKillIt: Is the lag really bad when u are watching movies? u mean u are going to change the USB to the X-Fi Extreme Audio notebook?

 

I wonder if anyone has ever thought of getting an Expresscard to PCMCIA in order to make use of the Audigy2 ZS Notebook Edition

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839158018

+

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-PCMCIA-Blaster-Audigy-Notebook/dp/B00067KZJI
=

 

Sheesh, that's over 400 bucks

 

hmm....I'm tempted.....

 

be tempted, but be left with a non vista supported soundcard.
I had the XMod, found it to be quite avg. Sold it and bought the Expresscard x-fi. Sounds a LOT better.

 

Ok guys, I'm running on a 2.1 speaker setup (Razer Mako) with my Dell Inspiron laptop using Vista...but I want better sound quality for games, movies and music....which card should i take? the X-Fi USB surround 5.1 or X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook? Is the lag issue with the USB very bad? Do i have to get the extra speaker docking module if i get the Xtreme Audio Notebook card if i'm running it on a 2.1 speaker setup? I'm not an audiophile so really need help on this..Thanks guys =)

 

It's not Ridiculous but its there, I'd say about a second behind whats being displayed.

 

I also have the USB Sound Blaster X-fi and I am experiencing audio delay. I wouldn't say it has a second delay, but it is enough to make movies look like they are dubbed.
Has anyone solved this? Or does anyone have one of this card and is not experiencing this problem?

 

I have a Creative XMOD and I am definitely impressed by it. I'm not too much of a gamer (Little bit of BF2142, TF2, etc) so the missing EAX support doesn't really matter for me. It's the improvement for music/movies that totally makes it worth it. Also, from what I can tell, the XMOD doesn't use any system resources (or very few). I can pretty much confirm this as I am using it on a linux box with 32MB ram and a 233MHz processor at the moment, it requires no software to run, and all it's functions work without using any resources on that box (streaming music to it). As far as I can tell, the quality of sound is the same as it is when I use it with my laptop. Plus, the XMOD can be used standalone as long as you have a power supply. Maybe the creative drivers come with extra processing software that take up resources...that's the only explanation I can see.

 

I own the USB since my PC does not have an express card, I don't game as I have a tablet...but I've watched several movies and some HD ones and have not seen any audio lag what so ever, and I'm very keen to things like that =)

I really only bought it as a 5.1 analog adapter to my speaker system.

 

I tried out the Sound Blaster 5.1 Surround USB and I immediately returned it. The delay was just horrible in games, even after updating to the latest drivers. I think it's mainly a Vista thing, not so much with XP.

Also, it sucks power off the CPU and causes big frame rate drops in many games, especially source games like HL2, TF2, and L4D.

I might try out the ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi, even though it doesn't offer 5.1.

 

I'm in the same boat. It's a shame no-one deigned to comment on your 2 posts on this thread.

In my opinion, I don't think the Razer Mako requires the speaker docking module since the only inputs it has are:

Line 1: Stereo via 3.5mm male
Line 2: RCA input for left and right speaker.

There is no input for the sub, so I think you would just get the soundcard, set it up as 2 stereo speakers, and let the fantastic razer amp do it's work.

I am going to get the 34mm x-fi expresscard for my sister's notebook so I will give it a test run on the razer mako and see how it improves the sound quality. I'm also going to use a 3.5mm to 2 gold plated RCA cable to see if this improves the sound. having said that, the quality sounds really good even with the onboard sound of her Vaio (running xp.)

In a week or so, I need to make a decision on either getting the 54mm expresscard x-fi card, or a usb x-fi card...

Any advice would be appreciated. Especially since the razer mako doesn't allow a sub input into the sub from the sound card, only left and right stereo.


The 3 models I am considering are:

Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio (54mm expresscard for my notebook)
http://uk.europe.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=16642

USB Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Sound Card (alternative to the above for my notebook again)
http://uk.europe.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=876&product=17751

Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook Sound Card (34mm expresscard soundcard for my sister's vaio)
http://uk.europe.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=17988

One thing I am interested in knowing is if I would get improved sound quality from using:
the 2xRCA stereo from the usb card going into my razer mako via two RCA inputs

vs

just using stereo line out into stereo line in from the sound card to the speakers

vs

Stereo line out to 2xRCA stereo inputs

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks