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Sound Blaster X-Fi Issues Explored

SpoonMuffin

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Introduction
Back in May, we published an article and report about many issues reported on the latest Creative Labs product – The Sound Blaster X-Fi. A few weeks later Creative released information and blamed DDR Dual Channel for these related issues. And, after a few months, they changed their version and blamed Nvidia’s nForce4 for these issues, instead. Nvidia never responded to us about their side in the story, but they denied it on a chat.

We kept following this story and we received a lot of reports from users without nForce4 that claimed they had the same issues. So, to investigate these issues, we grabbed an X-Fi XtremeMusic from the closest hardware store and checked it out on the following motherboards: Asus M2R32-MVP, Asus A8N-SLI, Asus A8N32-SLI, ECS RS482-M and Gigabyte GA-965P. We used Windows XP SP2 with the latest updates and the latest drivers for all the devices. We also used the latest BIOS versions and ensured that the X-Fi was not sharing an IRQ with any other device by plugging it into a non-shared PCI slot.

IRQ Sharing
Talking about IRQ Sharing: Most of the time, Creative Labs and some other audio card manufacturers blame IRQ Sharing for its issues. Currently, Creative and everyone are saying that the issues and reports are caused by IRQ sharing.

Let me explain something to you, IRQ Sharing is not a bad thing! In these days devices are supposed to share an IRQ with other devices, but the device has to support both hardware and software. IRQ Sharing is in the latest PCI bus specification – and every manufacturer needs to follow and make their products support fully the latest PCI specification. If Creative’s products are unable to support IRQ Sharing, Creative has to take their products from the shelves or make it work. When someone tells you that IRQ Sharing is an issue, tell him that IRQ Sharing is a feature of the PCI bus and devices are supposed to support it.

Most of today’s motherboards use IRQ Sharing – mostly due to SLI and Crossfire. Therefore, manufactures have to accept the PCI specification and make their hardware work and support IRQ Sharing. Failure to do so means that the manufacturer’s product is breaking the PCI bus specification.

Asus M2R32-MVP
We plugged in the card and installed the drivers from the CD; and then applied the latest drivers from Creative Labs. We installed a few games such as Battlefield 2 and few more and played around. We didn’t notice any crackling or popping issue on this motherboard. Be aware that this motherboard is powered by ATI’s latest chipsets – the Xpress 3200 for AM2. So far, everything worked on this motherboard without a problem.

Asus A8N-SLI
The A8N-SLI is a classic motherboard; this is one of the first SLI-capable motherboards that appeared on the market. It is powered by Nvidia’s nForce4 chipset. We installed the same stuff on this motherboard as well and checked around. The results were the same as the M2R32-MVP -- everything worked without any popping or crackling sounds. So far, so good.

Asus A8N32-SLI
After that we tried the A8N-SLI. We went to the 32 edition that is powered by the nForce4 x16 chipset. This time we had an issue finding a slot that does not share an IRQ with the graphic card. So, we had to plug our graphic card into the second PCI Express slot to avoid IRQ Sharing. After we managed to get it working, we installed games and all the other stuff. This time, the crackling noise was noticed with the drivers from the CD. After that we installed the latest drivers and it reduced the crackling noise -- but it still existed. We tried playing around by switching PCI slots, but nothing solved it.

ECS RS482-M
The RS482 is powered by ATI’s Xpress 200 chipset and is suited for the AMD 939 socket. We installed the motherboard and flashed it with the latest BIOS. After the operating system installation, we installed the latest chipset drivers and some games. We installed the X-Fi with the drivers from the CD and noticed that the crackling issue appeared on this motherboard as well. Same with the latest drivers, but however, the frequency of the issue appeared less than with the A8N32-SLI -- but it did still exist on this motherboard. In the same drill, we tried to switch to other PCI slots but nothing solved it – and it actually made it worse due to IRQ Sharing.

Gigabyte GA-965P
It took us some time to grab an Intel chipset based motherboard and that delayed this article. After we managed to get this motherboard working, we installed all the drivers, games and stuff to get the X-Fi working and ready for this article. Fortunately, this time, the X-Fi worked flawlessly without any problems. Even the old drivers from the CD worked well and smoothly.

Results
From our entire testing, the X-Fi generated crackling noises from 40% (2/5) [Fixed typo] of the motherboards. I’d consider it a high number because PCI cards are suppose to fit and work fully within the PCI specification. If this card fails to work on more than a single motherboard, the manufacturer should investigate and do something about it. I must say that the latest driver update has helped in reducing the frequency of these issues, and some motherboard manufacturers have released BIOS updates to fix the issue. Since BIOS is software as well, it is likely that these issues can be solved via software. Yes! They don’t have to wait for motherboard manufacturers to sort it out -- Creative can write a small device driver that’s capable of acting like the BIOS modification itself.

Software
During this test we noticed that X-Fi’s driver is written horribly. Instead of coding a driver, Creative took a lot of code parts and integrated them into a single driver. Therefore, it creates a lot of memory usage and may affect the performance of your computer. When we inserted the CD and launched the installer we saw that Creative is adding so many applications – in my opinion, most of these applications are totally useless and are not suited for an enthusiast or a gamer -- musicians maybe, but that’s too much I guess.




When we choose only the Audio Console and the drivers only – without all the applications that we don’t really need -- the installer still showed that 131MB are required to install it. Why the hell do I need to use 130MB on a small audio console and audio drivers? We have enough free space on our hard disks these days, but still, 131MB for an audio driver only and a small console is way too much. Well, let it be, we installed the drivers and check this out:




X-Fi’s drivers added three new applications in our Startup Folder and from what I saw, one of them is totally useless (Updreg.exe). You think that’s all? Well, think again! Except for these three new executables on the Startup, X-Fi’s drivers added not one, not two or three, but SIX new device level services to our system. Every service is handling a different feature. And now you can see that instead of writing one single driver for all the audio needs (Like Realtek is doing) they are writing many parts and spamming your system with their services/executables. And what does this all mean?




It takes away from your system resources due to unoptimized and unprofessional coding from Creative’s side. The screenshot above just shows the usage of the three executables; we still don’t know how many resources are being used by all six of the services-based device drivers. Creative is trying to aim their products to gamers and enthusiasts, but their driver is simply horribly and unprofessionally coded. Why do we need to lose so many resources – just to run a single audio card? Why? There are many solutions out there with almost the same features that don’t spam our systems with tons of services and crapware/bloatware.

Sound Blaster X-Fi Issues Explored
Published on December 26th, 2006

Conclusions
In our test we saw that two motherboards out of five caused the X-Fi to produce crackling and popping noises. But, beyond that, we saw that X-Fi’s driver is simply bloatware and amateurish code. Personally, I have nothing against Creative Labs. I honestly believe that there is a place and need for audio solutions. There is a place for the latest X-Fi products and I’ve always thought that. I even remember the good old days of the Sound Blaster Pro, 16 and AWE. However, Creative has to do a lot of thinking and make a lot of changes, because they are currently disappointing and losing users of their products. They have a lot of potential and I believe in them. But, they must make some changes for the next product launch. They must get rid of that bloatware thing that they call a driver. They need to lose all the current developers, hire new ones and get some good hotshot software development manager; and write new and professional software for their hardware.

Software is not enough here – they need to start following books and standards and make their products run on EVERY motherboard. They need to test it on every motherboard before they launch it to the market to ensure their products are working and bug-free. They need to improve their cooperation with motherboard manufacturers and make their products 100% certified for the PCI (or PCI Express) specification – including making their hardware/software capable to work with PCI IRQ Sharing.

Beyond software and hardware they need to treat their customers better because too many people are complaining about lack of support. Their forums have turned into a full time battlefield (Why play Battlefield 2142 when you can fight for free on their forums?). That includes proper driver updates and public relations. (Not these viral marketers/employees that are sent to flame us on a few forums).

In addition, their X-Fi prices are extremely overpriced and unattractive. Why would anyone pay so much to buy some product that doesn’t even have native SPDIF/DDL outputs? So, instead of making front panels, ridiculous Fatal1ty marketing, they should do something useful and smart. Anyway, if Creative Labs will start making these changes I mentioned they might have a chance and convince us to stop using the onboard Realtek audio, and to buy their products. Creative has to make changes and shake the entire company if they wish to impress us. Instead of blaming other manufacturers and DDR Dual Channel and IRQ Sharing, they should investigate research and make changes because they are the ones selling the cards, not the others. Blaming others is not helping. They should take action themselves. Until then, if anyone asks me what I think about X-Fi, I will simply say, "Crap, it isn’t worth your money."

Updates
1. We tested five motherboards, not six (it was a number typo).
2. A few users have contacted us, and claimed they are experiencing some issues on the nForce 680i chipset as well. However, we don’t have any 680i chipset based motherboard in our labs to verify it. (Thanks a lot to Nvidia/EVGA for their horrible cooperation).

Written by Eran Badit
Edited by Lewis Turner

sorry i didnt copy over the images, somebody else is welcome to post them if they like, but this just conferms that creative sucks arse at programing!!!!
 

Darren

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Thats why I purchased the Azentech X-meridian, no bloatware, no problems. It works!
 

TXcharger

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ya but can u hear everything i can hear on bf2 with ultra high sound settings and eax on?
 

Darren

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ya but can u hear everything i can hear on bf2 with ultra high sound settings and eax on?

Not sure, dont play battlefield.

It supports only upto EAX 2.0, So i doubt I can enable EAX HD

EAX will be redundant once vista is out as Microsoft is dropping direct sound 3d which EAX is an extention of.

But on the plus side I get Dolby digital and DTS bitstreams to my AV reciever in any game with more than 2 channels :nutkick:
 

TXcharger

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What other alternatives are out there that can compete with the features of the X-Fi?
 

SpoonMuffin

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Txcharger: acctualy read the review of the razor sound card, bf2142 sounds BETTER with the razor sound card then with the x-fi, the razor card uses the exect same chip as the auzentech X-meridian

and those extra "voices" acctualy dont help the game be more real, the human ear can only hear so many voices befor its overloaded and cant hear anymore.

as stated EAX isnt gonna work under vista as it does now under xp.

eax above 2.0 isnt worth the bother honestly, and the x-fi has WORSE audio quility then the X-meridian or razor sound card, im not talking just games or just music i mean allaround worse quility!!!
creative crystalizer is NASTY, sounds worse then my adi1988 onboard sound!!!!!, well acctualy spec wise the 1988 is better then x-fi in many ways anyway :)

your x-fi is made of fail and expence as they say about things like the ps3 ;)
 

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uh let me guess u like macs to
 

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uh...me to

I doubt it as with Creative cards you can only experience DD/DTS with pre-encoded sources such as DVD's (even a 10 pound soundcard can do this:p)

Azuentech's X-meridians have a built in encoder so one can still experience DD/DTS from MP3's, avi files, games (including battlefield), any sound source!


No disrespect, Creative make good soundcards, but none of their x-fi series include DD/DTS, I believe creative support Dolby EX though, which is a fancy way of convertig 5.1 to 7.1
 
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Darren

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What other alternatives are out there that can compete with the features of the X-Fi?

Bluegear's B-Enspirer kicks crap out of the X-fi!!

Features:

Features for BlueGear's b-Enspire sound card can be found on BlueGear's web site.

DTS® Interactive - a real-time 5.1 channel encoder that takes 2 or more channels and encodes them into a DTS bit stream
DTS® Neo:pC - an up-mix matrix that turns any 2 channel audio into 7.1 channel surround sound
Dolby® Digital Live (AC-3) real time 5.1 channel encoding bit-stream to facilitate the connection with CE AV receiver
Dolby® Pro-Logic IIx surround processor, spreading stereo audio into 7.1 channel surround sound
Renowned Dolby® Headphone technology, conveying 5.1 surround and 3D gaming audio over stereo headphones
The latest Dolby® Virtual Speaker solution, creating amazing virtual surround sound from a generic two-speaker configuration
C-Media FlexBass™ - configurable LFE channel crossover frequency (from 50 to 250Hz)
C-Media Magic Voice™, a popular feature for disguising voice in online chatting
C-Media Xear3D™ 7.1 Virtual Speaker Shifter technology
C-Media's unique Karaoke functions: Microphone Echo, Key-shifting
Individual 10-band EQ for each channel
27 global reverberation environments
Supports most industrial standards of 3D sound for PC gaming, including EAX™ 1.0&2.0, A3D™ 1.0 and DirectSound™
Supports 7.1 CH digital audio playback for WinXP/2K,/ME/98SE(Microsoft® DirectX V.9.0 and above is required)
7.1 channel output – Up to 7.1 channels of pristine 24-bit/192 kHz audio output
High Quality Stereo Input – Two channels of 24-bit/96 kHz audio input for super-clean recordings from instruments and other line-level devices
Dedicated Microphone Input


http://www.atruereview.com/bluegears_enspirer/index.php
 
D

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there ya go,built in dts.

its as bad as intel versus amd.you pay your money,you take your choice.

why argue about it?
 
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battlefield 2 is the only game you'll ever hear mentioned when discussing x-fi's (2142 dosent count, its a standalone mod)

1(1.5) game(s) vs many issues??, no thanks
 

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there ya go,built in dts.

its as bad as intel versus amd.you pay your money,you take your choice.

why argue about it?

I established that DTS/DD can be achieved but ONLY with pre-encoded material such as DVDs, any soundcard can do this.

I bet you any money that when you play an MP3, you only get prologic or PCM-48 from your AV reciever
 
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I established that DTS/DD can be achieved but ONLY with pre-encoded material such as DVDs, any soundcard can do this.

I bet you any money that when you play an MP3, you only get prologic or PCM-48 from your AV reciever

this is why i still use my (4 year)old nforce2 soundstorm for jukebox/movies
 

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D

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from here-http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1893828,00.asp

One issue with the X-Fi—and we've seen this in other Windows Media Center solutions—revolves around problems with digital audio output. As it turns out, protected content isn't allowed through the digital audio output port. This includes DRMed music downloaded from pay music sites and DVD-Audio playback. However, Creative has a solution for this. It can best be described as a workaround that costs a hundred bucks. It's not elegant, but it does work. It's called the Home Theater Connect DTS-610.

On the surface, the DTS-610 is a silly idea. It takes the analog multichannel output from a Creative Labs sound card and converts it to digital audio so that you can pipe it to your A/V receiver.NOTICE- It's a workaround for dealing with content-protection issues forced on Creative Labs by the content providers.-NOTICE It probably works with non-Creative Labs audio hardware, too. One very cool thing that Creative did is that the digital output is either direct (PCM) or DTS audio. The compression ratio for DTS is lower than with Dolby Digital, so the whole affair probably sounds better. If you prefer the processing capabilities built into you're A/V receiver, you can just use the direct option.

http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,1694,iid=121022,00.asp

http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,1694,iid=121023,00.asp
 

Darren

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So you admit it, the DTS-610 is not an X-fi card. Just an optional device creative put together to get extra money from their customers! X-fi's dont have DDL/DTS encoding!


That how you know creative dont appreciate their customers, makin' them purchase an DTS-610 after shelling out for a high end X-fi...oh yeah then you still need the AV reciever as well!!

The DTS-610 supports DTS and PCM 48, but what about prologic and Dolby?
 

TXcharger

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well i still have to say i saw an incredible increase of my fps in bf2 with my x-fi card let alone im not being killed as easily lol

but x-fi is still probably the best soundcard on the market for gaming...the razer is good but i think that the creative x-fi series has alot more to it
 
D

Deleted member 24505

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As it turns out, protected content isn't allowed through the digital audio output port.

NOTICE- It's a workaround for dealing with content-protection issues forced on Creative Labs by the content providers.-NOTICE
 

Darren

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well i still have to say i saw an incredible increase of my fps in bf2 with my x-fi card let alone im not being killed as easily lol

but x-fi is still probably the best soundcard on the market for gaming...the razer is good but i think that the creative x-fi series has alot more to it

I've heard EAX HD, and it is indeed impressive. I dont know much about the Razor but the spec is almost identical to the Mederian and there are a couple of threads were people are actually tradin' in their X-fi's for X-Meridians

I'm not a company basher, I respect creative as they are on top, but they need to give us more value/features and stop making us buy Y just to fix X, then make us update driver Z to get Y and X correct.
 
Last edited:

Darren

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As it turns out, protected content isn't allowed through the digital audio output port.

NOTICE- It's a workaround for dealing with content-protection issues forced on Creative Labs by the content providers.-NOTICE

Tigger69, how come other companies such as Bluegear, Azentech and Nvidia have not followed this protected content rule? as they offer DD/DTS through coax and optical.

TXcharger read these:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1113796

http://forums.anandtech.com/message...eyword=&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear
 
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upmixing from analog?, i wouldnt let anything that uses 3.5mm audio jacks near my receiver, even with the highest quality cables, the signal loss is unacceptable

And the c-media chips are lacking in game features

come on nvidia, make the soundstorm2 (preferably as a seperate card)
 

Darren

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System Name Cheap yet powerful gaming and entertainment rig!
Processor AMD Athlon 3800+ X2 Windsor, 1 MB L2 Cache (512k L2 Per Core), 65W Energy efficient, 2GHz @ 2.78 Ghz
Motherboard Asrock ALiveNF7G-HD720p Rev v5.0
Cooling Freezer 64, 2x120mm, 1x92mm
Memory 8 GB DDRII PC6400 @ 929 MHz OCZ (2GBx4) timing: 5-5-5-5-16-2T
Video Card(s) XFX ATI4830
Storage Seagate 320 GB SATA (16 MB Cache)
Display(s) 19' HannsG (1440x900 @ 75hz)
Case Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Meridian, Pioneer VSX-516 Receiver 7.1 with DD/DD EX/Prologic II/DTS/DTS-ES//DTS: Neo
Power Supply Cool Master eXtreme Power 460W PSU
Software Vista Ultimate X64 Corporate Edition
upmixing from analog?, i wouldnt let anything that uses 3.5mm audio jacks near my receiver, even with the highest quality cables, the signal loss is unacceptable

And the c-media chips are lacking in game features

come on nvidia, make the soundstorm2 (preferably as a seperate card)

I totally agree. EAX 3/4/5 features would of been nice on C-media, but with vista I guess it really dont matter?
 

TXcharger

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Memory 2gb(1gb x 2) OCZ high performance PC3200 3-3-3-8
Video Card(s) Sapphire X800gto r430 445/545(1100 effective) w/ Zalman FATALITY fan and Omega Drivers 3.8.360
Storage Maxtor 80gb 7200rpm
Display(s) 19in dell flatscreen LCD
Case Dell Dimension 3000
Audio Device(s) Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Xtreme Gamer
Power Supply stock 350 watt
Software Windows XP sp2
Tigger69, how come other companies such as Bluegear, Azentech and Nvidia have not followed this protected content rule? as they offer DD/DTS through coax and optical.

TXcharger read these:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1113796

http://forums.anandtech.com/message...eyword=&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

ok...and razer stole the technology lol...i still got tons of love for razer(love my copperhead) but i guess since this chip or w/e is newer than the x-fi than it should be better, but i still own and love my x-fi and i dont really think there is much of a difference between the 2 cards. but there both damn good cards its just a matter of preference, but i do like the x-ram on the x-fi it WORKS
 
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