I know, this card is crap. But I have it, and want to make it better. Already replaced the op amp for stereo (don't use the surround), now I've come upon a nice Elna 6.3v 1000uF cap from a dead Laserdisc player that I'd like to replace the X-Fi's power filter cap with. Anyone know where, on the card, it is?
Ah, well that only leaves one, I believe there is only one capacitor that is bigger than the others. Thanks for confirming 🙂
Noooo, I don't mean all SB cards are crap. I've had many amazing SB cards. Not as good as my old Diamond MX300 (which I would be using if it was here), but this particular card is not what they say it is. The X-Fi ExtremeAudio is actually a rebadged Audigy SE, which is far inferior to the other X-Fi cards.
It's crap because it's not what you thought you were paying for. I bought the card at a high price when it was brand new thinking it was an X-Fi. That made a lot of people mad.
Anyways, I did the mod with a different cap (10v 1000uf Elsa from the Laserdisc player's power supply), and it works great. Deeper bass from my speakers (random Technics/Pioneer boxes with 8-in woofers, smaller tweeter and mid connected to a recently cleaned Technics SU-8600) and more defined highs...it's all just punchier.
What's next? What other fruits will the gutted Laserdisc player bear?
It's crap because it's not what you thought you were paying for. I bought the card at a high price when it was brand new thinking it was an X-Fi. That made a lot of people mad.
Anyways, I did the mod with a different cap (10v 1000uf Elsa from the Laserdisc player's power supply), and it works great. Deeper bass from my speakers (random Technics/Pioneer boxes with 8-in woofers, smaller tweeter and mid connected to a recently cleaned Technics SU-8600) and more defined highs...it's all just punchier.
What's next? What other fruits will the gutted Laserdisc player bear?
Ummmm.....I also have one of those very cards and thought it wasn't bad at all. I tested it with the RightMark audio software and it speced good as well.
I also had a Chaintech AV-710 that I was dumb enough to give away (still trying to figure out why) which was far superior but about $50 cheaper at the time. It's not a bad card--it's just terrible for the how much it cost when it was new; especially considering that the card it is based on (which Creative did NOT tell you it was based on) was around $30 less.
Next mods will be on an old Aztech ISA sound/modem card. It's got an Analog Devices chip, a Yamaha OPL, and the modem section is all Rockwell (14.4 modem). I think caps are all I can do to it, but I don't know. It's such an interesting looking (and huge) card I may put a pic of it up.
Next mods will be on an old Aztech ISA sound/modem card. It's got an Analog Devices chip, a Yamaha OPL, and the modem section is all Rockwell (14.4 modem). I think caps are all I can do to it, but I don't know. It's such an interesting looking (and huge) card I may put a pic of it up.
Right now I have a M-Audio 2496 Audiophile card that is great. My computer doubles as a DAW on the second hard drive. Can't find a reason to mod this card at all.
Ive got an audigy 2 and its crap. Does the X-fi outperform it by a considerable money or should I look for an M-audio or something better?
I bought an Audigy 2 Value (SB0400), and there is a strange thing: on output I see a high freq noise with quite high amplitude (80 mV). It's spread between 60 and 300 kHz. Is it normal? Would anybody check his/her similar soundcard?
ASUS sound cards are the best
ASUS XONAR D1 PCI Sound Card Retail at ZipZoomfly
$64.99 shipped (after rebate) Excellent sound quality 7.1 will allow you to use digital crossover at no cost. PCI-E version is $3 less.
ASUS XONAR D1 PCI Sound Card Retail at ZipZoomfly
$64.99 shipped (after rebate) Excellent sound quality 7.1 will allow you to use digital crossover at no cost. PCI-E version is $3 less.
Since this old thread has been revived, and so have I...
Luke - It depends:
Gaming: X-Fi is optimized for gaming; it was made for 3D audio and the like.
Music: Get something better.
Movies: Ditto.
Pafi - Three solutions:
Typical computer guy answer: Re-install drivers, set all settings to default, then check.
Guy who thinks he's an engineer answer: Check all of the caps for bulge/leak, check the surface of the card for burns, especially around little black squares with two or three legs.
Normal Person Answer: There's better cards anyway, Try finding a used X-Fi XtreemMusic, or grab the Asus Xonar DS if you can spare $50, otherwise go up to an M-Audio (if you input) or something HT Omega if you're made of money, which I assume is not the case, since you are here.
Ted - Newegg has about the same pricing, but they're out of stock. It's also a good choice, though.
Luke - It depends:
Gaming: X-Fi is optimized for gaming; it was made for 3D audio and the like.
Music: Get something better.
Movies: Ditto.
Pafi - Three solutions:
Typical computer guy answer: Re-install drivers, set all settings to default, then check.
Guy who thinks he's an engineer answer: Check all of the caps for bulge/leak, check the surface of the card for burns, especially around little black squares with two or three legs.
Normal Person Answer: There's better cards anyway, Try finding a used X-Fi XtreemMusic, or grab the Asus Xonar DS if you can spare $50, otherwise go up to an M-Audio (if you input) or something HT Omega if you're made of money, which I assume is not the case, since you are here.
Ted - Newegg has about the same pricing, but they're out of stock. It's also a good choice, though.
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llamaboy!
Thank you for your answer, but I don't search for solution as long as I don't know whether it's an error or a feature. I would like somebody who has this kind of (or similar) soundcard to check the output. I could have try thousand things, but I don't have so much time.
I quess I will have to ask this question from Creative.
Why? Is it free of this problem for sure? (However I won't buy this, because it's 7 times more expensive than the one I bought.)
Thank you for your answer, but I don't search for solution as long as I don't know whether it's an error or a feature. I would like somebody who has this kind of (or similar) soundcard to check the output. I could have try thousand things, but I don't have so much time.
I quess I will have to ask this question from Creative.
Why? Is it free of this problem for sure? (However I won't buy this, because it's 7 times more expensive than the one I bought.)
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