Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic $44.99 - Good deal?

[Apokalipse]

Huge difference from 45 to 166 though.

Yes, but it's actually worth paying $166 for, as long as your headphones/speakers are up to par with it.

Wait but I'm confused. Is it worth it to buy the Creative XtremeMusic? I'd be upgrading from onboard sound.

It is definitely worth it to upgrade from onboard.
All of the cards (Creative X-fi XtremeMusic, Auzentech X-Fi Forte, Asus Xonar Essence STX) are a good deal for the price they're at.

For music, the STX is definitely a better card. For gaming, the X-fi's do a better job, but don't have the same sound quality.

The Auzentech cards probably have the best balance if you are a gamer and listen to music. They have better sound quality than Creative's X-Fi's, with the same gaming capability.

The STX has the best sound quality, but doesn't support all the surround and environmental effects as the X-Fi's. It's still pretty descent for games though.

 

[Oreo]

If you want an X-Fi, I'd still suggest an Auzentech card over the Creative ones.
While the X-Fi audio processor is quite good, the other components of the Creative cards aren't.

though you can get the Essence STX for ~$166 here

Cool. But check the delivery charges to UK:

to United Kingdom
INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE TO PAY THEIR COUNTRIES CUSTOM CHARGES, COUNTRY TAXES, AND APPLICABLE VAT
(2-5 business days) $256.83
(1-3 business days) by end of day $272.60
(1-3 business days) by noon $281.94
(1-3 business days) by early morning $328.34

I think not..

 

[Fat.Clown]

For gaming, the X-fi's do a better job, but don't have the same sound quality.

Apokalipse, with the removal of audio hardware layer in Windows Vista, wouldn't you say as time moves on X-Fi's would have less and less of an advantage over other cards?

openAL is the future?

another thing I wanted to add was back in '06 when I researched(AKA googled) differences between xtremeMusic and xtremeGamer, almost all sites indicated Music is better
this thread is the only place I see saying Gamer is equal or better

I would go for the xtreme gamer instead...Those 2 cards are not the same...I had the xtreme music 1 first and took it back and got the gamer!!! There is a big difference if your going to use it for gaming!!

 

[Apokalipse]

Apokalipse, with the removal of audio hardware layer in Windows Vista, wouldn't you say as time moves on X-Fi's would have less and less of an advantage over other cards?

openAL is the future?

I hope so. I don't want to be restricted in choosing sound cards, because one company has control of a certain technology.
Creative cards in general, while better than onboard, tend to be lower quality than you can get for the money from somebody else.

another thing I wanted to add was back in '06 when I researched(AKA googled) differences between xtremeMusic and xtremeGamer, almost all sites indicated Music is better
this thread is the only place I see saying Gamer is equal or better

There are two XtremeGamer cards. Fatal1ty Pro, and one without the Fatal1ty brand.

The one without the Fatal1ty brand isn't as good. The Fatal1ty Pro is basically equal, except for the addition of 64MB cache (they call it X-RAM)

 

[Boma]

I used to work with component parts on power supplies so I've definitely seen what a difference in component parts will make on any circuit, especially a sound card.

Some cheap caps, resistors, diodes, etc. can be as cheap as 3 for 1 cent. They usually have a tolerance level of around 10%. Where as high quality high tolerance parts have a tolerance level of around 3% or less. These parts can cost 50 cents a cap/diode/resistor/etc. , or even up to a few dollars.