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The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium we have here is among the best audio solutions money can buy currently
Digital audio on the PC has come a long way from the days of the original Sound Blaster 8-bit audio controller to today’s Creative X-Fi products. Features, sound quality and ease of use have improved in leaps and bounds. The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium we have here is among the best audio solutions money can buy currently. Admittedly, it’s geared towards gamers, but that doesn’t mean it is not ideal for high end home theatre setups or - to a limited degree - music creation.
The X-Fi Titanium has all the relevant technologies one would expect from a premium Creative audio product. Industry standard technologies such as Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, DTS Digital Surround and the ES version are supported. This makes the X-Fi Titanium arguably the most complete audio solution available today, because not only does it support all these standards, but it’s one of the very few audio cards that are THX certified.
Environmental audio effects may not be new as they debuted in the late 90s with Creative’s Live! products. However, we are now at Version 5, aptly named EAX Advanced HD 5.0, which is number one in the industry for providing immersive audio environments in games and other supporting titles. With Windows Vista having taken away accelerated Direct Sound, Creative could have lost a key advantage in the audio card market when compared against other manufacturers; but luckily Creative offers an Alchemy driver that restores EAX support in Vista, bringing back the full benefit of the X-Fi audio processor to Vista users.
The X-Fi Titanium supports the normal 5.1 and 7.1 outputs, but if you want to get the best from the X-Fi Titanium, you will want to use the digital output as you can then make use of all the card’s features without compromising audio clarity. The best aspect of the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium is the audio quality. It may not be a match for the HDAV we reviewed two months ago, but it is definitely better than anything else you will find built onto a motherboard (or even some high-end audio solutions).
The sound in movies, provided you’re using a good set of headphones or speakers, is fantastic, clear and precise. MP3s are significantly improved with the various effects that can be applied to an audio signal. The one that stands out the most is the X-Fi Crystalizer. While it may add an unwanted brightness to some music, for the most part it seems to boost clarity in compressed music formats, making them sound significantly
better.
Creative has a great product in the X-Fi Titanium, and one we would have no qualms in recommending to anyone who takes their audio seriously.
Digital audio on the PC has come a long way from the days of the original Sound Blaster 8-bit audio controller to today’s Creative X-Fi products. Features, sound quality and ease of use have improved in leaps and bounds. The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium we have here is among the best audio solutions money can buy currently. Admittedly, it’s geared towards gamers, but that doesn’t mean it is not ideal for high end home theatre setups or - to a limited degree - music creation.
The X-Fi Titanium has all the relevant technologies one would expect from a premium Creative audio product. Industry standard technologies such as Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, DTS Digital Surround and the ES version are supported. This makes the X-Fi Titanium arguably the most complete audio solution available today, because not only does it support all these standards, but it’s one of the very few audio cards that are THX certified.
Environmental audio effects may not be new as they debuted in the late 90s with Creative’s Live! products. However, we are now at Version 5, aptly named EAX Advanced HD 5.0, which is number one in the industry for providing immersive audio environments in games and other supporting titles. With Windows Vista having taken away accelerated Direct Sound, Creative could have lost a key advantage in the audio card market when compared against other manufacturers; but luckily Creative offers an Alchemy driver that restores EAX support in Vista, bringing back the full benefit of the X-Fi audio processor to Vista users.
The X-Fi Titanium supports the normal 5.1 and 7.1 outputs, but if you want to get the best from the X-Fi Titanium, you will want to use the digital output as you can then make use of all the card’s features without compromising audio clarity. The best aspect of the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium is the audio quality. It may not be a match for the HDAV we reviewed two months ago, but it is definitely better than anything else you will find built onto a motherboard (or even some high-end audio solutions).
The sound in movies, provided you’re using a good set of headphones or speakers, is fantastic, clear and precise. MP3s are significantly improved with the various effects that can be applied to an audio signal. The one that stands out the most is the X-Fi Crystalizer. While it may add an unwanted brightness to some music, for the most part it seems to boost clarity in compressed music formats, making them sound significantly
better.
Creative has a great product in the X-Fi Titanium, and one we would have no qualms in recommending to anyone who takes their audio seriously.