Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro Sound Card

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro

Strengths: Sound quality and number of features

Weakness: somewhat price

This audio card was quite easy to set up and install and it works great. The sound quality is just amazing and there are so many different features and ways you can tweak the sound, that you just can't name them all and I don't even think I have used even half of them so far. The only negative thing was the out of pocket cost was a little high, but the $100 rebate helped that out (provided I...
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This audio card was quite easy to set up and install and it works great. The sound quality is just amazing and there are so many different features and ways you can tweak the sound, that you just can't name them all and I don't even think I have used even half of them so far. The only negative thing was the out of pocket cost was a little high, but the $100 rebate helped that out (provided I receive the rebate). I definitely recommend this to anyone that is looking for a top of the line audio card that produces amazing sound.

By MADMOMMABEAR2 - Jun 14, 2006

Professional quality at a consumer price.

Strengths: Amazing amount of connections, superb sound, professional capabilities.

Weakness: Remote lacks some functions.

To begin, let me just state that I do not think this unit is over-priced. Creative Labs continuously runs $100 rebates on this item, meaning that, after rebate, I bought this product for about $265, which isn't all that much more than the suggested retail price of the "lesser" X-Fi models. Now, as for the product itself, it offers the absolute highest quality of any consumer sound card I have...
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To begin, let me just state that I do not think this unit is over-priced. Creative Labs continuously runs $100 rebates on this item, meaning that, after rebate, I bought this product for about $265, which isn't all that much more than the suggested retail price of the "lesser" X-Fi models.

Now, as for the product itself, it offers the absolute highest quality of any consumer sound card I have ever seen, as well as an external I/O box, which puts this card in line with professional-grade sound editing and creation solutions. With this card and a copy of Adobe Audition, Pro-Tools, or even Cubase LE (included with the product), you have a professional-level sound studio on your home computer for under $300.

Some people have complained that the I/O box is too big, but it is roughly the same size as other external professional boxes I have seen. For example, where I earned my degree we had a great deal of Pro-Tools stations, each with an external I/O box about the size of the X-Fi Pro box. To give you an idea of the size, it is roughly the size of the original model Playstation 2, meaning it is not too big, really.

The sound quality on this card is phenomenal. Also, the 24-bit crystalizer actually does add some extra oomph to your music, and the various CMSS-3D and EAX settings can give new life to your sounds. I figured this was all hype, but I was proven wrong and am truly enjoying these features.

On top of this, the addition of the included remote and software package turns your computer into a media center. You can watch DVD's, videos stored on your computer, as well as listen to music, etc. It also has an option to view pictures, but since the software drops the screen resolution to TV quality, hi-resolution pictures do not look very good. This quality is fine for DVD's, however,as they are NTSC resolution, anyway. The remote supposedly works with other non-Creative Labs applications, too, though I have yet to test this.

The only real complaint I have with the entire product is that the remote lacks some necessary features when viewing DVD's. For example, there is no menu button, which is just odd. On the plus side, though, the remote does include scroll wheels for the various settings (24-bit crystalizer, CMSS-3D, EAX, and 3DMIDI). Ultimately the lack of some buttons isn't a huge deal, given that I can now control my DVD's on my computer while lying on my bed (not a capability I was expecting when I first began shopping for a new sound card).

All in all, this is the best consumer sound card you can currently buy. It is a highly recommended purchase for any home audio enthusiast or pro-sumer audio editor/musician.

By ickyptang - Jul 20, 2006

awesome

Strengths: crisp and clean sound quality, a lot of features which allow you to add extra sound effects

Weakness: none so far

I bought this card to upgrade from creative audigy 2 ZS. All I can say is that it is a even better sound card. The sound quality is crisp and clean, well balanced. You need to a good set of speakers to test the sound quality though (I have a logitech 5.1 speaker set). It comes with a lot of features which allow you add extra sound effects. It has a remote as well. Great product!

By wjarcher - Jun 4, 2006

Great sound and connectivity

Strengths: Great sound quality with the crystalizer and lots of inputs and outputs.

Weakness: A bit pricey at retail price and the external box is a fairly big. Remote doesn't work all functions that it should.

Installation was easy and the sound quality is great. Nice effects with the audio creation console and would make an ok inexpensive studio type recording card. Have had no problems so far and very pleased with the results. The $80 rebate that came with my purchase made this a better value.

By bamboozled2 - May 14, 2006

Elite for sure!

Strengths: Incredible Sound Quality, Best Gaming Sound experience, Amazing connectivity

Weakness: Requires internal power connector, Not sure Remote is so useful, Included drivers not recommended (get from website), Break-out box really big

I thought I was crazy, paying $200 for a sound card! But in my case, the extra connectivity appealed to me for music recording etc. If you can't find a connection with this thing than you havent tried. It has multiple channels of analog and digital in's and out's. I installed the downloaded drivers first, then put in the CD and installed the applications I wanted (make sure to uncheck "Drivers"...
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I thought I was crazy, paying $200 for a sound card! But in my case, the extra connectivity appealed to me for music recording etc. If you can't find a connection with this thing than you havent tried. It has multiple channels of analog and digital in's and out's.

I installed the downloaded drivers first, then put in the CD and installed the applications I wanted (make sure to uncheck "Drivers" install).

The remote appears to only work in the provided "Entertainment Center" application, not what I expected. I wanted it to work in other applications and/or regular Windows, for at least volume control if not other options like the Crystalizer. I'm still looking into this.

Box is huge! If you can afford it, you will love this thing. Otherwise get a regular X-Fi for around $50 and you'll also be happy. Fwiw, you can add-on the I/O drive or the full break-out box later (albeit expensive).

By Virtue - Jan 16, 2007