Excellent sound card with a few irregularities
Pros: Amazing sound, easy set-up, front bay, multitude of connections, sleek
Cons: Doesn't always work as expected, front bay a little finicky, somewhat pricey.
I bought this card as specifically for the Dolby DTS Live feature so that I could play all my games and movies on my home theatre as is. Cards that don't have this certification will only output 2 channel sound via optical cable.
Set-up was a breeze, literally plug'n'play. Connecting the front bay uses two somewhat stiff cables, but YMMV. The front bay is really useful, has the mic and headphone outputs as well as two RCA inputs for an older camera or VCR. The volume control knob neatly pushes into the casing to eliminate and chance of it being hit by a chair or something, and the same goes for the mic volume control. There are 3 buttons which activate "Game-mode", "X-Fi Mode" and "3D-Surround".
As for the sound quality, I cannot complain. The bass is punchy and clean without distortion using various sets of speakers ranging from low end to high end. The trebles sound crisp and clear again without distortion. Watching movies and playing games on this thing is an absolute joy - once you start using a dedicated sound card, there's no way you'll go back to integrated solutions.
The only down-side to this card is the drivers. Creative does push out fairly regular updates, but more often than not, they don't really do much for stability. On the rare occasion that the front panel buttons stop working, a reboot normally clears this up.
Verdict: A highly recommended buy if you can afford it. The version without the companion front bay is about $50 cheaper.
Set-up was a breeze, literally plug'n'play. Connecting the front bay uses two somewhat stiff cables, but YMMV. The front bay is really useful, has the mic and headphone outputs as well as two RCA inputs for an older camera or VCR. The volume control knob neatly pushes into the casing to eliminate and chance of it being hit by a chair or something, and the same goes for the mic volume control. There are 3 buttons which activate "Game-mode", "X-Fi Mode" and "3D-Surround".
As for the sound quality, I cannot complain. The bass is punchy and clean without distortion using various sets of speakers ranging from low end to high end. The trebles sound crisp and clear again without distortion. Watching movies and playing games on this thing is an absolute joy - once you start using a dedicated sound card, there's no way you'll go back to integrated solutions.
The only down-side to this card is the drivers. Creative does push out fairly regular updates, but more often than not, they don't really do much for stability. On the rare occasion that the front panel buttons stop working, a reboot normally clears this up.
Verdict: A highly recommended buy if you can afford it. The version without the companion front bay is about $50 cheaper.
