Sigmatel Vs Creative X-Fi Notebook SB0950

I have Sigmatel High Definition Audio installed in my M1730 and getting Creative X-Fi Notebook SB0950. What significant or noticable differences that I might find? Please tell me realtime differences rather than copy paste creative's advertisement?

Anyone who has used it and found differences?

Thanks

 

Honestly, nothing.

It has no actual onboard DSP, so it relies on the CPU for the work. Onboard chips are not as bad as they used to be for general audio work.

Why did you buy it if you don't know what it will do?

 

Not bought but thinking to get one.
Also is there any other alternative software which works like Sound blaster audigy advanced mb ?

 

The only way you're are going to get good sound with a laptop is with a USB DAC.

 

Exactly.

What do you want from it? More sound channels, recording?

 

Just for gaming and watching movies. I just wanted some richer and clear sounds with EAX.

 

Then plug some good external speakers and you are good to go!

 

I already got 7.1 home theater but was wondering if there are other improvements.

 

Any other alternative software which works like Sound blaster audigy advanced mb that brings 3d sounds to every application?

 

Isnt 7.1 the top? I think you wont find any noticeable difference unless you change your home theater for another one with better sound range.

 

well there are alternatives but the one im about to mention although it works wonders its not very portable because it needs external power. anyway i found tha absolute best audio you can get on a laptop is with an expresscard to pci-e x1 adapter. with this i am able to use my desktop creative sound blaster x-fi titanium fatality card on the laptop. this card provides full hardware acceleration, dolby digital live and dts neo. (dts neo is the one i wanted as that one turns all audio into dts 5.1 channel audio (game surround sound is fully supported via digital optical toslink) it even turns 2 channel audio into 5.1 pretty convincingly. but like i said this requires you to power the card externally because the expresscard port does not provide enough power for this particular card.

if you want portable audio then you could get something like i did. i got a g35 logitech headset which supports dolby headphone which basically takes multichannel audio and turns it into 7.1 virtual surround sound. it works very good and the headphones themselves are pretty high quality alone so you dont really have to worry about them breaking while in transport.

if you want proof that it works take a look into this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=397667&page=33 at post number 322 and if you want to see some pics of the hardware itself look at post number 326

 

That's a neat project ryokowashu. However, a USB DAC (Digital-Analog Converter) can be a lot better in every way. They are generally portable, although this varies from extremely portable to not very. They can be powered through the USB bus, so that is a plus. Their size and weight varies as well. Another thing is that there is no limit to how good they can get. You can buy a very small, light, portable one for under $100 I think. You can also spend a couple thousand dollars on one. The can come prebuilt, you can buy a kit, or you can built your own. There is a USB DAC for everyone. There are some sound cards that are a lot better than anything made by creative, made by Asus and Emu, but the creative can be modded to improve its sound quality quite a bit. Check it out. As far as DAC's go, the audio quality of the lower end ones is usually on par with high end sound cards, or so I've heard. The sky is the limit with DAC's and they are the optimal solution to upgrade the sound of any notebook. Here are some pictures of them: http://images.google.com/images?source=hp&q=usb+dac

 

Umm...little different information than that I was asking. I was asking about some software which makes 3d sounds. Like DFX in winamp or other media player. DFX just works for that certain media player but I was asking about the one which applies for whole system. I mean creating 3d sounds for songs,movies, games and so forth.

 

I would think that you can only get it as good as your hardware can give you and not just software.

 

if what you want is a program that adds generic sound field like echo and reverb then just download the cccp codec pack and do a full install. then when you play anything play it using media player classic. you can either then right click the ffa icon that comes up in the taskbar then go to settings or load up the config for the ffdshow filter via start menu under combined community codec pack.

 

So it changes the audio in games, window pop ups,infact everything to echo stuff?

 

no what i suggested will only do it for stuff that you open with media player classic and any other player that uses the ffdshow filter. if you want it in games youll have to use something else.

 

Yes, I am asking about that something else. What can be used?

 

Any software or DFX to bring revereb and echo in whole PC but not just a certain media player?

 

srs audio program also there are modded idt drivers to work on sigmatel notebooks, which will give them equalizer and 5.1 sound.

 

To get the best quality, you would need some sort of usb pass-through device that will transfer the digital info untouched to your real audio gear such as a home theater system receiver. Creative have done a good job of advertising but their cards are not that great.

 

look at the USB adapters from turtle beach. They all have SPDIF connectors/adapters. Very inexpensive and, compared to any/all of the current creative labs gear, every bit as good.

Unless you are going to back up a XiFi sound device with state of the amps and speakers, your money is going to be wasted.

 

If you have state of the art amps and speakers but use an X-Fi sound card, your money is being wasted.

The only thing Creative has going for them is their marketing department.

 

I have the older (silver) X-Fi Audio thing and I love it. It's true, it doesn't have an actual hardware decoder for most/all of it but the effects it does make any crappy sound system sound better and with my <$75 studio headphones I'm still blown away by the sound enhancements.

The graphic equalizer is nice, and the parametric bass boost are my favorites. Crystallizer makes 128kbps mp3's bearable again. The 3d effect is nice on 2.1/2.0 speakers, but I can't say anything for the 7.1. I imagine it makes it sound more "surround sound."

It's really more of a toy but I love how it sounds. I say get it if you're looking for something new to play with.

 

the software 'features' of XiFi are the same as any other decent dac/sound card. The downside of this is that XiFi has a much higher CPU utilization than more hardware-centric do.

 

Any link for that?
It would be really greatful.
Thanks

 

dunno if you still want it but heres a link to the srs program although it isnt free it does work pretty well. for anyone else that wants it too just follow the link. oh they also do provide a trial version too so you can test it out.
anyway heres the link
http://www.srslabs.com/store/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=6

 

Thanks for that as I was still looking for it.

 

Ok a new issue. After I installed srs, there was no sound output from my laptop. When I goto device manager, I can see my sound card and srs WDM there. After I disable SRS Wdm and restart, the sound was normal and if I reenable it, the sound is gone. Any help?

 

well this could be a couple of things. i assume your audio card on your laptop is supported because most are. the thing i had problems with is the same your having. i solved my issue by going into the srs thing under the sound config on windows and configure it for 2 channel stereo. i guess if you have it on 5.1 channel it wont work if your card doesnt support 5.1. with my audio card i dont support 5.1 so i had to put it on 2 channel. after that it worked great

 

Can you give me steps to change 5.1 to 2 as I am not seeing it?

Edit: Did you mean changing this setting? (attachment)

 

yeah change it on that menu for your sigmatel and on the srs. that is what i had to do to get it to work. also i noticed once you get it working if you ever need to update your drivers erase the srs update then reinstall srs. if you update with it installed then it wont work or at least it didnt with me.

but since you have sigmatel audio maybe you could also give one of these drivers a shot. they seem to have srs built into then.
http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/23790-latest-sigmatel-idt-modded-drivers-for-win-7-and-vista/