Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music or HDA Digital X-Plosion

LadFromWales · 3 Apr 2006 at 00:27

Looking to get a soundcard, as my nforce2 Soundstorm is giving me no end of problems with GTA San Andreas.

SA with the MTA mod is pretty much all I play at the moment, but when I play it, I get lots of sound issues. When the display is busy, such as at the beginnigs of races, or turning corners, the ingame radio stutters and jumps, using winamp for game music does it too when using the waveout plugin, but the directsound plugin is fine. Ingame sounds disappear randomly and come back later. When using winamp and it stops, exiting the game and checking winamp, will find that it still is in play mode, but the spectrum is stuck where it was when it froze, and the track title is still scrolling. A reboot is needed to resume proper playback.

Chucked in an sblive 5.1, the sound doesnt disappear anymore, instead, I'm plagued by sounds sometimes being replaced by a weird pop sound.

Anyway, looking at either the X-Fi Xtreme Music or HDA X-Plosion. I am worried that the X-Plosions lack of full EAX support will give me the same results with San Andreas that I am seeing now with Soundstorm. Will the X-Plosion function any better than Soundstorm does, at games that are primarily EAX HD etc.

Which of those two cards functions best when it comes to music playback. I'd imagine both cards would sound the same if I were using a digital connection, but what about analog, which card has the best DAC's and OPAMP's? I'd like to be able to connect headphones directly to the soundcard, as the headphone socket on my receiver can't drive my headphones very loud (using an old aiwa mini system just for its headphone out currently, as its headphone out sounds much better than my Sony amp!)

Are there any other cards I should be considering apart from those two?

Thanks

Phil99 · 3 Apr 2006 at 00:33

X-fi for gaming definitely.

X-Plosion lacks hardware EAX processing and can only do up to EAX2 anyway.

How are you planning on connecting them up?

I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference with music listening between the two.

LadFromWales · 3 Apr 2006 at 01:01

Currently using Optical spdif to my amp from soundstorm on my NF7-S. Using analog from the SBLive, doesn't sound too bad, but its missing lots of highs, makes music sound very dull, although the bass is there. Newer cards sound much better using analog than the live does I guess?

I know with the x-fi I'll need to buy a flexi-jack converter as it doesn't have any digital outputs as standard.

From what I understand, DDLive can be used as an alternative to EAX?

max power · 3 Apr 2006 at 08:55

most reviews i have read claim that the x-plosion sounds amazing. especially since its now dd-dts. and hda is about to release a new driver that make it work even better. but its really up to u as to waht u want to do with it. switching to an x-fi loses that single cable going to your amp and looses the dd. but choosing the x-plosion looses the eax 4 support. personally if u liked the soundstorm you'll love the x-plosion.

james.miller · 3 Apr 2006 at 09:00

LadFromWales85 said:
Looking to get a soundcard, as my nforce2 Soundstorm is giving me no end of problems with GTA San Andreas.

SA with the MTA mod is pretty much all I play at the moment, but when I play it, I get lots of sound issues. When the display is busy, such as at the beginnigs of races, or turning corners, the ingame radio stutters and jumps, using winamp for game music does it too when using the waveout plugin, but the directsound plugin is fine. Ingame sounds disappear randomly and come back later. When using winamp and it stops, exiting the game and checking winamp, will find that it still is in play mode, but the spectrum is stuck where it was when it froze, and the track title is still scrolling. A reboot is needed to resume proper playback.

Chucked in an sblive 5.1, the sound doesnt disappear anymore, instead, I'm plagued by sounds sometimes being replaced by a weird pop sound.

Anyway, looking at either the X-Fi Xtreme Music or HDA X-Plosion. I am worried that the X-Plosions lack of full EAX support will give me the same results with San Andreas that I am seeing now with Soundstorm. Will the X-Plosion function any better than Soundstorm does, at games that are primarily EAX HD etc.

Which of those two cards functions best when it comes to music playback. I'd imagine both cards would sound the same if I were using a digital connection, but what about analog, which card has the best DAC's and OPAMP's? I'd like to be able to connect headphones directly to the soundcard, as the headphone socket on my receiver can't drive my headphones very loud (using an old aiwa mini system just for its headphone out currently, as its headphone out sounds much better than my Sony amp!)

Are there any other cards I should be considering apart from those two?

Thanks

i get that with an x-mystique so i wouldnt be looking at a HDA card as the solution to your GTA problems. tbh though, GTA: sa is the only game i have that problem with, so im more inclined to say it's their shoody programming rather that a problem with the soundcards.

Phil99 · 3 Apr 2006 at 09:19

james.miller said:
i get that with an x-mystique so i wouldnt be looking at a HDA card as the solution to your GTA problems. tbh though, GTA: sa is the only game i have that problem with, so im more inclined to say it's their shoody programming rather that a problem with the soundcards.

Just wondering if you've tried hardware audio acceleration/hardware EAX1 + 2 on your Mystique in games?

Whenever I enable it in any games I get a really dodgy screeching noise.

james.miller · 3 Apr 2006 at 09:20

whenever i've had the option its been fine. As far as i can remember GTA: SA is the only game that's given me any problems. annoying when your playing in 5.1 and suddenly you loose the center channel lol

LadFromWales · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:07

james.miller: do you experience the popping sounds with GTA, or the sounds going missing and coming back, and dropping out music etc?

max power: yeah I'm sure I would love the HDA card, but if I'm going to get the same sound issues that I'm trying to get away from with their cards, it's no good

james.miller · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:15

yeah that's what i said. its always when it rains, all the near-field sounds drop out so i get no guns or talking. no car noise if its raining either.

LadFromWales · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:32

hmmm well that issue is different to mine. I've read about your issue countless times on various GTA forums, so you are definately not alone.

I don't lose sounds when it rains, I lose sounds all the time.

I get the feeling the HDA is the better choice, but I don't want to spend £90 and find I'm stuck with the same (or similar) audio problems I have now.

Like you said, it probably is just the poor programming of this particular game, I don't get sound issues in any other games I've played.

james.miller · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:38

oh i do get it randomly, but i always loose it when it rains.

Tommy B · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:56

Can someone just say which one is better for music listening?

Phil99 · 3 Apr 2006 at 11:59

Tommy B said:
Can someone just say which one is better for music listening?

Depends how you're connecting it up / how you define "best".

The X-Plosion/X-Mystique has the potential to be better with upgradable op-amps for analogue output, and can output 5.1 over digital whereas the X-Fi card can't.

Having said that if you want the *best* audio quality for listening to music you aren't going to want to use a lossy codec with upmixing, you're going to want PCM stereo output, which both cards can do perfectly well.

LadFromWales · 3 Apr 2006 at 12:06

For music listening, I would say the HDA with its digital outputs would sound best for music listening.

But if your limited to analog, I've heard that the HDA has better DAC's than the X-Fi's (except the Elite Pro) so should sound better than the X-Fi.

james.miller · 3 Apr 2006 at 12:07

no it wouldnt. Phill was spot on, for the best output you want bit perfect pcm. the hda's and the x-fi's both do this. cd music using DD/DTS encoding is not the way to do it.

LadFromWales · 3 Apr 2006 at 12:17

I didn't say anything at all about using DD/DTS encoding for listening to music.

I said a HDA with its digital outputs would sound best for music, as the DAC's in an audio receiver would usually be of higher quality than the DAC's on a sound card.

james.miller · 3 Apr 2006 at 12:20

the x-fi has digital outputs.....it would output the exact same pcm....

LadFromWales · 3 Apr 2006 at 12:23

the x-fi has digital outputs when you throw away money on a premium version with internal or external bay, or spend £20 plus shipping on a flexi-jack converter.

Phil99 · 3 Apr 2006 at 12:25

LadFromWales85 said:
the x-fi has digital outputs when you throw away money on a premium version with internal or external bay, or spend £20 plus shipping on a flexi-jack converter.

Or just use a mini-plug -> phono adapter and use the white plug for co-ax.

LadFromWales · 3 Apr 2006 at 12:27

Didn't know you could do that...

But what about Optical?