I purchased the Soundblaster X-Fi to replace the soundcard on my laptop which had recently begun to degrade. My laptop is connected to my stereo system and I have very high standards for sound quality.
The initial setup was easy on Windows 7 - 64bit(simply plug-in via USB). The included installation CD installed all the drivers and applications (it took about 45 minutes including updates).
Once installed the sound card exceeded my expectations. The sound is pristine. My music files have never sounded so good. The included equalizer works perfectly and works for all types of applications, e.g., itunes, steaming music, etc. There's all kinds of additional software for adjusting video sound, e.g., dolby, THX which I haven't experimented with yet.
I highly recommend this product - simple to install, reasonably priced, and produces beautiful sound. Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro USB Audio System with THX SB1095
I got this to use in place of my ThinkPad's built-in sound. I'd assumed for years that sound cards these days were not noticeably different at performing basic tasks like listening to iTunes, but this one is definitely better than the ThinkPad's. Perhaps it takes a better than average pair of speakers to tell a difference. It is working great and the M-Audio Studiophile AV30 Professional Reference Speakers sound much, much better.
My only minor criticisms are the size (there is a smaller USB stick available) and the top-mounted volume control - do we really need another one?? - which makes it difficult to stack anything on top.
I allowed Windows 7 to install default drivers - which it did quickly and painlessly - rather than installing the Creative Labs software, so I have barely scratched the surface of what the card is capable of. I haven't tried any audio special effects/processing or 5.1 sound. But, I can recommend it if you just want good quality stereo sound rather than the surprisingly inferior sound that comes on a laptop or desktop motherboard.
This external sound card blows away your standard onboard computer sound.It works by blocking your inferior internal sound board.Now i can hear more detail in my music with better clarity.I had to go this route because my computer case is micro.This little guy can turn a pirated Tron cam rip into a nice 5.1 sound with no latency true story.I'm glad i don't read neg amazon reviews because i could have missed out on a great product.
certain features simply do not work, like the realtime processing of 5.1 channels over the optical channel. Works w/ windows xp, but vista and 7 are out.
says the card is fully win7 compliant, but clearly it is not.
However the sound quality is exceptionally better than what you get w/ most onboard processors.
Im a movie enthusiast so if you want to turn your PC or Laptop into a home theater system, its a good purchase. I bought it under $80. Now, be sure to buy yourself a good 2.1 or 5.1 audio system cause it just wouldnt be the same with your regular computer speakers.
I purchased this product for use with an old dell laptop that only runs music. The product works great connecting the laptop to my home stero. Like the sound and the controls the software provides. I would recomend this product to friends.
Who I am and what I use audio for:
I'm 27, I edit short films and game. I've been a PC gamer since the late 80's and have purchased a good share of different sound cards, almost all of these PCI cards. I usually kept my sound card purchases at no more than $100. However I recently purchased a new laptop (Dell Precision M6500) and was not at all impressed by the IDT audio that was available on board. I looked at my options and really cringed at the thought of "USB audio". After plugging this in and messing with all the amazing settings (Finally being able to use my 5.1 again, YES!) I was quite surprised when the device out performed my desktop's internal Creative Sound Blaster Audigy in terms of depth and just overall sound quality. If you are looking to improve laptop sound this is a great idea, just make sure you have some decent speakers to go along with this.
I guess the only negative I can see is the fact that is uses up one of my USB ports which I always seem to be running out of with my laptop, however that was not enough reason to diminish the rating.
I have an old 5+1 speaker system and I am using it via this sound card on Windows 7 64-bit OS. First of all this device is designed very well. It looks
pretty good. Volume whell and remote control are also very useful. I only install and use entertainement console. This sound card makes addiction!
+ Portable. Also suitable for a desktop PC
+ Great price for this kind of product
+ Clear sound
+ THX Certificated
+ Surround option for listening musics within 5+1 sound system
+ Crystalizer makes you discover your music archive again. It is such a great tech
+ You can connect 2+1 or 5+1 speaker systems. You can not do this by using an onboard sound card.
+ Headphone mode is automatically activated when you connect a headphone. So you can listen 6 channel sounds (like dolby digital or dts)
by using your headphone without switching from entertainment console. It is restored when you plug out.
+ Optical output
I think this device's driver crashes when used with ESET Smart Secutity (not NOD32) software. If you do not have such problem, let me
know. I do not want to wrongly instruct.
I found this product to be just what I was looking for, an excellent USB Audio system for my Windows 7 machine. Works great and I like having control of my headphone volume with the knob on top. The only nits I have are with Windows 7 itself and multiple audio devices. Windows 7 has its own ideas about where to send your audio. Often I end up having to use the Windows 7 Sound panel to turn on/off the speaker and SPDIF devices to get the sound to go where I want it. It would be nice if Windows 7 had an audio patch panel to control this.
I also read a review where this device doesn't support EAX. That is not true. It does support EAX sound environments natively. The confusion may be over EAX for game sound effects. This is not supported in hardware, but is supported by software emulation (and probably why Creative doesn't put a checkmark in their EAX support column for this device). This may have been a negative for Windows XP class machines, but is no problem on a Windows 7 machine. In any case, I tried a couple of older games that used EAX and they worked fine using the emulation. - External Sound Card - Laptop - Audio - Sound Card'
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