X-Fi Support Syndicate & Owner's Clubhouse

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by AphexDreamer

Wait your having a bass problem? I had a problem where my Center Speaker was getting the bass sounds and my bass the center. If you don't have a Swap Center/Bass options then manually switching the cables will fix that too. If thats what your problem is.

No it's not that serious..
My bass is coming out of the bass box. But not totally...

If I can explain myself better - I wish I got 2 equalizers, one for the sub and another one for the satellites so that I can remove their low Hz and leave them for mid & treble only.

At the moment in time to do so I must enable bass redirection on my x-fi Creative Console Launcher. Which leaves the sub too weak, at least when compared to its output without bass redirection (which in turn puts too much bass through the satellites giving distorted sound).

[AphexDreamer]

Originally Posted by Mussels

control panel, sound. right click the sound device and hit "configure speakers"

go through the wizard, and untick the options for "full range" speakers - the z55's arent full range, as they need the bass to go to the sub

You are absolutely right. Totally forgot about that and after reading his problem again that should fix it. Happened to me and some tinkering around led to that.

[Black Panther]

Originally Posted by Mussels

control panel, sound. right click the sound device and hit "configure speakers"

go through the wizard, and untick the options for "full range" speakers - the z55's arent full range, as they need the bass to go to the sub

Just checked, they're already unticked.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by AphexDreamer

You are absolutely right. Totally forgot about that and after reading his problem again that should fix it. Happened to me and some tinkering around led to that.

her

Originally Posted by Black Panther

Just checked, they're already unticked.

damn. is there any advanced options in the properties for the sound device? i've seen bass redirect appear in there before... hell, even just a way to turn the bass down in there period, and then turn the subwoofer volume up via the speakers control pod

[hv43082]

I have the X-fi Titanium Fatality Pro. What should the setting for stereo envelopment under mcss-3d option? Thanks.

[imperialreign]

First off - thanks a ton, guys, for helping out and keeping up with this thread!

For some reason, I haven't been recieving any emails from TPU the last few weeks

Anyhow . . .

Originally Posted by AphexDreamer

Have a question.

Would it be possible to connect my PS3 to my X fi sound card via optical and then have the x fi take that sound and put it out via my Aux cables to my speakers. So it kind of acts like an amplifier I guess?

I believe there's a way to do so - with the Titanium . . . otherwise, you'd need the I/O console. There's an OP in on the back of the card, and an OP out - connect the OP cable from your PS3 to the X-Fi, then connect your speakers. Go into the WIN console and change the Line In to 'Optical.' Make sure you're in Entertainment mode, go to the driver settings in WIN control panel, and there should be some kind of setting for "SPDI/F bypass," IIRC - you want to set that.

I can't remember clearly off the top of my head, and the setup is different from XP to Vista (and I have no idea on WIN7 yet), but there is a way to let the X-Fi simpyl pass-through an audio stream.

Originally Posted by Black Panther

Hi guys, got a small issue here.. (been going on for some months thinking I'd eventually solve it myself)
Everything had been fine on XP but when I got Vista I just couldn't get my proper sound back.

I've got an X-Fi Xtreme Music hooked up to Z5500.

When I got Vista on the desktop, the sound was very low volume compared with the volume I used to set my speakers before on xp.

When I downloaded the Alchemy drivers, this got kinda half-solved.
Though I'm not worrying about it since there's still plenty of volume left to turn up.

The current problem is the bass volume vs the satellite volume.
If I disable bass redirection I get nice and good sub booming, but distortion on the satellites.
If I enable bass redirection the satellites play okay but the sub gets weak.

The problem's not with the speakers, they function fine on XP.

I tried playing around with the equalizer, but to no avail.

I'm pretty sure I'm missing out something... somewhere...

Pls help? It'd sound stupid for me reinstalling XP for dual boot just to listen to my music...

Yeah, this is a Vista issue, as I noticed the same thing (Vista sounds quieter than XP).

First, normalize everything. Set the EQ and all that other good stuff back to default.

Alrighty - go into WIN control panel and open up the 'Sound' panel. Click on the 'speakers' setting, then hit the 'configure' button - make sure the configuration matches your setup . . . then go back and hit the 'properties' button at the bottom. Go to the 'tone' tab, and check to make sure bass/treble are equal (you can adjust them later). Hit the 'levels' tab, then next to 'play control' hit the "balance" button - make sure your sub channel is set a bit higher than the others . . . for reference, with my setup, I have the sub channel set to 45, and all other channels to 34. It will vary based on your subwoofer.

Under the Console Launcher, 'Bass' tab, you should be able to use redirection - I have the subwoofer gain selected, and crossover set to 80Hz . . . again, this'll kinda depend on your setup . . .

The Subwoofer gain option will boost output to the sub - the crossover will set what level that all frequencies below that setting will be sent to the sub - if you have the crossover too low, that will force your satellites to play too low of frequencies.

From there - go back into the WIN panel and adjust the bass/treble setting (or you can do so if in entertainment mode).

Back to the X-Fi panel, adjust your EQ, then your CMSS-3D settings, then the crystallizer and/or whatever else.

Hope this helps!

Originally Posted by hv43082

I have the X-fi Titanium Fatality Pro. What should the setting for stereo envelopment under mcss-3d option? Thanks.

Technically . . . Stereo Expand.

It depends on the setup you have configured - the drivers change the CMSS-3D settings based on the speaker configuration. For example, Stereo Expand is not available with 2.1 speakers . . .

[imperialreign]

So - how have things been holding up with WIN 7 now being officially "alpha?"

Any strange, unusual or other detrimental behaviours with the X-Fi lineups? No "re-enactments" of the Vista release?

[FreedomEclipse]

Not heard of anything going wrong as yet - though since im back at work, getting a new soundcard is Priority since my XFi Titanium Pro is starting to deteriorate slowly..... & tbh when the card WAS working, it was working great. so with that in mind Im considering replacing it with the same card instead of the Asus Xonar i was originally planning to.

my titanium wouldnt have broke if i didnt connect it up to the FP of my case. & since the titanium is still a bit cheaper - that is what im thinking about getting.

[random]

Can I join?

Auzentech x-fi forte 7.1 here, running in Win7 Ultimate 64-bit

[imperialreign]

Originally Posted by randomflip

Can I join?

Auzentech x-fi forte 7.1 here, running in Win7 Ultimate 64-bit

yeah, sure thing!



BTW, guys - if y'all start having any issues on WIN7, post 'em up, along with any fixes you might run across.

I still have yet to install WIN7 - I have my copy, just waiting to get another VR 300GB HDD . . .

It's looking good so far, I haven't heard of any issues yet - looks like Creative made a major turn around between Vista and WIN 7 in the driver department . . .

[AphexDreamer]

Originally Posted by imperialreign

yeah, sure thing!



BTW, guys - if y'all start having any issues on WIN7, post 'em up, along with any fixes you might run across.

I still have yet to install WIN7 - I have my copy, just waiting to get another VR 300GB HDD . . .

It's looking good so far, I haven't heard of any issues yet - looks like Creative made a major turn around between Vista and WIN 7 in the driver department . . .

Yeah its been fine with me. Its just that the more I use it the more I don't notice much of a change with my onboard. Unless the game has EAX its just the same thing.

I want to see some more EAX support to take advatage of these wonderful cards.

[imperialreign]

Originally Posted by AphexDreamer

Yeah its been fine with me. Its just that the more I use it the more I don't notice much of a change with my onboard. Unless the game has EAX its just the same thing.

I want to see some more EAX support to take advatage of these wonderful cards.

Yeah, it'd be nice . . . at least if devs would start supporting OpenAL a bit more - it's practically the same damn thing at this point.

But, leave it to game devs to not give a rat's ass about the quality of in-game audio. I think the worst I played recently was CoD:WaW . . . the sample and bit-rate were absolutely atrocious. It felt like I was listening to a freeking AM-radio station.

[simi_id]

Hi,

I have a X-Fi Titanium PCI-E and Windows 7.

Should I install the drivers from the CD which came with the card and then apply the update from the web ?

Or should I install directly the drivers from the web, since the CD it's for Windows Vista and I may encounter issues in Windows 7 ?

[AphexDreamer]

Originally Posted by simi_id

Hi,

I have a X-Fi Titanium PCI-E and Windows 7.

Should I install the drivers from the CD which came with the card and then apply the update from the web ?

Or should I install directly the drivers from the web, since the CD it's for Windows Vista and I may encounter issues in Windows 7 ?

I think this is what I ened up doing and I have everything you have.

Installed the driver from the cd then went on the web and download the latest driver and installed them, but that might now be necessary. Anyways its what I did and everything is A ok.

[imperialreign]

Well - I recommend using the drivers on the DVD, then upgrading from there . . . although, I'm not sure if the drivers on the Vista disk are fully compatible with 7. But, with the updated drivers, it won't be a problem.

There's some software, though, that's only available on the disk, and not available for download from Creative's download site - like, the volume control panel (IIRC), and I believe the console changer . . . can't remember what else.

[FreedomEclipse]

It is with great sadness (somewhat) that I announce that I shall be departing the X-Fi club since my Xonar D2x has arrived.

It has been a great pleasure supporting & being supported by you guys throughout the unstableness of creatives manmade mess's & I wish everyone all the best. No doubt, I will be back again in a few years if Creative possibly release a new card but until then.

Au Revoir!

[random]

Well if I connect my headphones into the socket on the card itself or through the FP, it has a consistent static that I can't get rid off and the noise is in sync with GPU and Wireless load, so if I connect to the internet or load a site i can hear the interferance from the wireless card lol...

I heard this is a PCI Latency problem although i have noway of fixing it since if I try to open up the PCI Latency tool it just freezes.


My solution for now?

I've noticed my speakers did not have any static coming from it, so fortunately my speakers has headphones socket, I connect my headphones through there and there is no more static .

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by randomflip

Well if I connect my headphones into the socket on the card itself or through the FP, it has a consistent static that I can't get rid off and the noise is in sync with GPU and Wireless load, so if I connect to the internet or load a site i can hear the interferance from the wireless card lol...

I heard this is a PCI Latency problem although i have noway of fixing it since if I try to open up the PCI Latency tool it just freezes.


My solution for now?

I've noticed my speakers did not have any static coming from it, so fortunately my speakers has headphones socket, I connect my headphones through there and there it no more static .

The best solution to this problem? Drop wireless and go wired.

[random]

Originally Posted by Wile E

The best solution to this problem? Drop wireless and go wired.

rofl I really wish I could but the router is 4 walls and a story away ;/.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by randomflip

rofl I really wish I could but the router is 4 walls and a story away ;/.

So is mine, actually. That's what drills are for.

I can't let a silly thing like the appearance of my home effect my Gb network speeds.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by Wile E

So is mine, actually. That's what drills are for.

I can't let a silly thing like the appearance of my home effect my Gb network speeds.

i know right.

what silly people they are, putting walls between me and my network.

[imperialreign]

^^

Originally Posted by randomflip

Well if I connect my headphones into the socket on the card itself or through the FP, it has a consistent static that I can't get rid off and the noise is in sync with GPU and Wireless load, so if I connect to the internet or load a site i can hear the interferance from the wireless card lol...

I heard this is a PCI Latency problem although i have noway of fixing it since if I try to open up the PCI Latency tool it just freezes.


My solution for now?

I've noticed my speakers did not have any static coming from it, so fortunately my speakers has headphones socket, I connect my headphones through there and there is no more static .

In all seriousness - it's not a PCI latency issue . . . it's an EMI/RFI kinda thing. The card is just picking up too much noise from it's environment.

There's some things you can do to try and alleviate the issue - one, if possible, move the audio card as far away from neighboring components as possible.

Two, make an EMI shield for the card - this will take some creative license, but you can use anything from old HDD plates, to aluminum foil. You'll have to figure some way to mount it to the card, without having it touch any of the exposed components. Make sure the shield is in good contact with the PCI plate of the card, too.

You can also add small copper heatsinks to various PCB components on the card - it will cut down of some of the noise a bit . . . especially, target the DAC, ADC, OPAMPs and VRMs.

You could also attempt to ground your case - get ahold of some shielding wire, then route it up and down along the inside of your case panels - at the end of the wire, attatch it to one of the case screws to ground the cable. It should help reduce any external noise.

[johnspack]

I no longer hate my xtremegamer. Under XP64 with special mod drivers, and my new turtle beach hpa2s, friggin awesome!!!! Left4dead, you can hear all around, haven't even had time to test games yet. Upmix from 2.0 to 5.1 for things like Winamp, daaaam! I want a higher end x-fi now... a titanium pci-e is dam cheap now. Now I have an idea what $200+ audiophile headphones might sound like. And I said might...

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by johnspack

I no longer hate my xtremegamer. Under XP64 with special mod drivers, and my new turtle beach hpa2s, friggin awesome!!!! Left4dead, you can hear all around, haven't even had time to test games yet. Upmix from 2.0 to 5.1 for things like Winamp, daaaam! I want a higher end x-fi now... a titanium pci-e is dam cheap now. Now I have an idea what $200+ audiophile headphones might sound like. And I said might...

No, those HPA's do not give even the slightest hint of what audiophile headphones might sound like.

[johnspack]

They do however absolutely blow away any headset, headphone under $200. This I guarantee. Of course they are not meant to be audiophile, they are positional gaming headsets. So like comparing apples to oranges....