Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro Sound Card - 70SB055A00000 - Professional Audio Creation. Serious Gaming Performance. Xtreme Fidelity.

I have owned one of these babies for almost a year now and I am still impressed with the performance. I use to use an Audigy Z2 with and without SRS Audio Sandbox, and the sound from this card is ten times better. The bass increase in value and clarity alone are worth getting this card. The Creative Console is easy to use and the mode switcher is great (it really improves the sound for the different situations) even though the software is a bit unstable (use the drivers from the website not the ones from the box then help tremendously but still a little glitchy). the card made my Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultras sound like 1000+ dollar home theater system. The input and outputs on this thing are insane. There are fiber optic, digital coax, MIDI, 5.5mm(for guitars and professional mics), 3.5mm,all with separate in/outs. There are also standard analog computer surround and RCA outputs and 2 mic inputs (one 3.5mm and one 5.5mm) . The only disappointment I have with the card is that the Dolby Digital is software decoded rather than hardware decoded, meaning that there is a delay even on high performance machines (e6600cpu, 4gigs Crucial Ballistix Tracer ram) when decoding an external signal via fiber optic or digital coax. This is really no longer a problem since I now have a separate receiver driving my speakers, but it was a problem when I was using my comp for all my audio processing. A simple solution to this(though it looses the benefit of digital sound) is to just hook up the audio via RCA or 3.5mm cable and switch on the virtual surround. however, this the delay only matters if your trying to match video from an external source, such as a Xbox360 or dvd player hooked up to a tv. The card used to be almost unsupported in Vista, but now ,thanks to recent driver updates, it is almost fully functional in the operating system. If you want the best sound and most features, then get this card. It will not regret your purchase.
 
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I owned a blaster pc. This computer has sound blaster live platinum 5.1 on board. It sounds pretty good. I tried to up grade to sb audigy platinum. But I was so disappointed. The sound is so sucks. I returned in the next day. I thought that blaster pc is the best for the sound until I buy the sb x-fi elite pro. The elite pro produce good suond especially the bass. I listen to "hotel california" live version with the elite pro. The bass and the high is so much improve. I feel like I am in the eagle's concert. I feel the presure of the bass. I am using a ati power amp($600.00) and a pair of paradigm studio 40 bookself speakers($1100.00) and a paradigm sub-woofer(400.00). With the elitte pro I don't need to use my sub-woofer. I feel like 15-20 precent improve. I think the elite pro sound better than a $2000.00 pre-amp. I also try it with my ear phone shure e4c($250.00). It sound so good.
 
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