USlatin

Ok, I just put in my purchase for the X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro Series ar Newegg for $140, and if you help me out here I will let you guys know how these mods work on it. From the looks of it, it seems to be the same card with different processors... so all the stuff should apply. ::crossing fingers::

I had to buy one now so as to have good playback, NOW. I start editing a movie the 15th... but what I really want is a modded card. I found the X-Fi XtremeMusic at Amazon for $60 refurbished and $85 new, but since I don't know how it sounds off the bat I decided to get the newer one so my sound is ok if I don't get to modd it before I start editing.

Did you place the orders by phone? What was your grand total $ spent?

Should I expect a boost on performance from the audio processing being handled by the card?

You said to mount cards down low away from video cards, but what about the ones that have the PSU in the bottom? Does that still apply?

I will replace the input opamp for sure and I could record clips of the before and after to post here for you guys to get an idea of what these tiny suckers do!

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Chapstick

X-Fi Elite Pro
X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS
X-Fi Platinum
X-Fi XtremeMusic There's the cards that work.

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gonX

I'm not sure if it would work, but couldn't you paint one of the sides of the EMI paper black?

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USlatin

That sounds great... or just apply black gaffer tape to it

Hey Chapstick, sorry about the editing after you replied, I didn't realize people were still up.

Yea, I saw the list of modding certified cards, but as I mentioned it in my edit to the post I need something good now... and with the cheapest card being $80 and this new one $140 I though I should just go for it and be the one to verify if the mod works or not... I'll examine it, take 8MP pics of it and post them for the experts to look at... and if it won't work I'll RMA it.

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soloz2

I've been modding the x-fis on an individual basis for head-fi members if they ask me to, but no I haven't put anything up on my site.

I've also changed the mod a little bit for my card and the few cards I've done for others.
Instead of shorting the decoupling caps I replace them with higher quality audio-grade caps. Any cap in the audio path will degrade SQ, but I chose to do this for 2 reasons. 1. upgrading will yeild better SQ then stock and 2. keeping the caps there helps protect against DC offset. Even a little bit of DC offset if connected to an amp w/o DC offset protection will grow exponentially and can cause serious damage to headphones or speakers. Plus many people power headphones directly out of the x-fi jacks.
I also use a 1000uf Blackgate for the Power position because it simply is not necessary to use a 2200uf cap there. The smaller cap still gives all the benefits of having a better and larger cap without some of the potential problems of having such a large cap on a sound card that wasn't designed for that much capacitance.

Here's my x-fi with stereo mods



oh, and for those of you concerned about the grayish looking ERS paper being visible through your case window... I'm working on something to make it look a little better. I'm out of glue though so I have to wait until next week. I'm probably going to use it on the back (top) of my x-fi and on top of my PSU since it sits below my x-fi

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cyberspyder

Actually, if you're afariad to mod your card, you can always opt for the HT Omega Claro Plus. It is a high-end card for a very not-high-end price. Its opamp performs virtually the same as the LM4562, so you can expect similar performance between it and the X-Fi card (modded).

Brendan

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Speakers are done...

ENTERPRISE

Interesting but I dont think ill mod mine thanks lol.

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DuckieHo

Very nice... a project to look foward too. With all the hardware changes, there won't be any driver issue... correct?

EMI paper = Faraday Cage = mesh paper ?

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soloz2

No, there are no driver changes, the cards work just fine w/o even a reinstall.

I use ERS paper.
http://www.tnt-audio.com/accessories/ers_cloth_e.html


It is pretty spendy though.... $20 a sheet plus shipping. (I've got 3 sheets sitting next to me )

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TheLegend

How much ching does this project require?

If I don't have much experience with soldering, should I even consider trying this?

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