Recon3d pcei mini review final thoughts..

[LifeInferno]

After a month of testing my recon3d Pcie i made my choice.
first of all i give 100euros for nothing, my x-fi fatality pro seires was better and more settings opened!
when i install my x-fi again on a formated system i see the difrence and as expect the x-fi is the real upgrade over recon3d!
unreal tournament 3 , battlefield 3 is some of the games i tested!
as for music?
x-fi has asio
recon3d not
x-fi has more settings to tweak the sound
recon3d not much
i believe is another market trick and nothing at all, but really whats your opinion?

[DirkHardpeck]

I do feel like the Recon3d Fatal1ty Pro is overpriced and uses market trickery (and flashy looks) to sell inferior hardware. I have gone between it, my X-Fi Tit, and onboard a few times and while it is still far superior to Realtek, the X-Fi beats it in pure sound quality.

That being said, I am sticking with it for a few reasons:

1. I like gaming with headphones, and I very much prefer the THX TruStudio Surround over CMSS-3D. With no surround "enhancements", the X-Fi wins hands-down. IMHO, CMSS-3D headphone ruins the sound completely. The TruStudio, especially being that it has an adjustment slider, can apply a subtle positional audio tweak without making it sound like its coming from a tin can. Here, the Recon3d wins for me.

2. Dedicated and amplified headphone jack as well as a cleaner, more intuitive client means I can switch between headphones and speakers on the fly, without unplugging anything.

3. Elegantly executed customizable profiles that can be switched without exiting sound-generating programs.

EDIT 4. Almost forgot! CrystalVoice works quite nicely, actually. I spend alot of time in Vent for MMO's and BF3 and whatnot, and everyone notices how much clearer and cleaner my voice comes through. Then again, hell with them But it is another + that I should mention.

The X-Fi will most likely go into my HTPC. For gaming, however, the Recon3d adds a hell of alot of convenience and what I feel is a superior surround technology. I've stated this in other threads but I will reiterate here: if I spent any modicum of time listening to music or watching movies on this particular PC, I would emphatically stick with the X-Fi or else upgrade to the HD. It is not even a question. The X-Fi is a much, much better card.

As it is, the software package with the Recon3D meets my gaming needs to a tee. I cannot emphasize enough how much happier I am with the TruStudio over CMSS-3D. I may be alone here.

[LifeInferno]

i use CMSS-3d only when i listen music in full 5.1 surround! but this rarely!
on games i dont use none effects like cystallizer or cmss-3d i love the sound pure!
recon3d its a good just working card for a simply move on from onboard soundcard.
but my realtek ALC889 blows it away.
i use my x-fi again until a bug or something comes out....but as far i can see on my AMD fusion setup nothing goes wrong with sound problem that i had on intel and nforce setups before...to end my monology i wanna add this (whats the future of recon3d? will we have more powerfull cards? and if we can, will support 7.1,oamps tweaks,more DBs? well we better hope for it)

[DirkHardpeck]

With Windows 8 coming out soon, I guess we'll see what soundcard manufacturers can come up with....I would like to see something with 7.1, quality DACs, etc. but it seems like MS is all about getting everything on-die and onto the motherboard. And game manufacturers sometimes even seem to be caring less about sound quality.

I don't know, I feel like the future of hardware sound acceleration is looking grim, and has been for some time. But I do expect Creative to release a proper successor to the X-Fi at some point, as the Recon3d is definitely not it.

[LifeInferno]

my friend the same old story...lets see how far it goes...
btw i had a bsod with encoder mode hahaha yeap x-fi is good but the usual staff crash and hags! so maybe i give to recon the honnor to be in my setup cause it stable kinda i have slow control panel start and its with high contrast colour and take long to respond dont know why its the first time that do this to me on formated pc...

[terente0081]

Ever since Vista sound hardware was somehow leveled in terms of features (EAX & hardware positioning). I believe the best way to go is really with the onboard in most cases, especially when just average or below average speakers/headphones are being used. The speaker/headphone will limit the experience anyway, so why bother with a better DSP?
If the user wishes for better stereo quality, the best route IMO is still the onboard but using the digital out to an external DAC & AMP and you cant get better than that for a PC.
However, if 5.1 is your cake, internal sound card is what you must have. Even then, I would stay away from Creative.
I like the X-Fi and I have an X-Fi myself, but implemented by Auzentech. For a soundcard, the DSP is 20% of what you hear, the other 80% is the DAC, AMP and components used in the signal path.

[goat1]

You guys are missing the point.. Its a gaming card geared for the gaming market. Onboard is crap! I would never lower myself to that. And I'm sorry but the x-fi doesn't blow the recon out of the water.. Gamers don't need Ansio.. They need positional audio.

[DirkHardpeck]

Originally Posted by goat1

You guys are missing the point.. Its a gaming card geared for the gaming market. Onboard is crap! I would never lower myself to that. And I'm sorry but the x-fi doesn't blow the recon out of the water.. Gamers don't need Ansio.. They need positional audio.

I'd like to piggyback on that by pointing out that it's not only geared for the gaming market, but perhaps more importantly, the gaming market of 2012.

Gentlemen.

Hardware acceleration is dead. New games are software sound, for better or worse. I know some of us still bundle up at night, desperately clutching our Sound Blasters and copies of various Unreal and id games. But it's time to let go. Those times will live on through open source acceleration on Foobar and whatnot, and maybe another playthrough of Bioshock, but it's fading fast into the night.

But look forward into a bright and shiny, scary future: some say video hardware acceleration is next on the chopping block (I don't see it). But they will try. And even your beloved Dice is processing sound through the ample muscle of your quad, or 6, or 8 core processor. That sound is presumably being processed 3-dimensionally right alongside the actually positions of the sound sources, as they too are being calculated; if one didn't know better, they would say that was an IMPROVEMENT. But the raw *quality*, and tweaking options, are still garbage. And no matter what, they are prone to interference.

What we need is, simply: better DAC, better SnR, maybe a headphone amp, an EMI shield to cover those, and some software that gives me more options than: Opera Hall, Padded Room, Tin Can, Submarine, Whale Stomach, etc.

With Recon3d, you get this plus legacy emulation and a fancy red LED, and a slightly inflated price. I get what they are doing. The only thing that boggles my mind is this: if this is basically just a better interface to get to the same software sound, why aren't the components slightly better quality?

Besides that, and the fact that I question the usefulness and potential pitfalls of offloading sound data to this "quad core" processor, I rather like the way the thing sounds.

[Meocene]

Exposing Hardware-Offloaded Audio Processing in Windows

Far from dead - a new generation.

Recently read that Sony and a bunch of the big developers have all gotten together with the sole purpose of trying to introduce some standardisation within audio formats and processing across multiply platforms (android and iOS included). Guess what api it's basses on: OpenAL 1.1.

Hardware audio's just starting to make a come back. It took a while, but then that's what happens when your rewrite functionality from scratch for a hardware environment as diverse as Windows.

[goat1]

That would be awesome if that happens and its about time! I'd buy any soundcard that uses it.. I'm always willing to try something new..

[DirkHardpeck]

Originally Posted by Meocene

Exposing Hardware-Offloaded Audio Processing in Windows

Far from dead - a new generation.

That is some good news. Thanks, interesting read as well.

[xoleras]

Originally Posted by goat1

You guys are missing the point.. Its a gaming card geared for the gaming market. Onboard is crap! I would never lower myself to that. And I'm sorry but the x-fi doesn't blow the recon out of the water.. Gamers don't need Ansio.. They need positional audio.

What? The entire point of the x-fi is positional audio, something that it does BETTER than the recon 3d. In fact, the chip on the recon 3d isn't new, it is in fact the old chip that was used on the x-fi except it doesn't support any of the x-fi features (CMSS 3D, x-fi crystallizer, etc). The x-fi also supports openAL (which helps positional audio, just FYI)

The titanium HD is superior to the recon 3d, I think you've been duped by creative marketing. The x-fi is better than the recon3d in every aspect. The recon is not a "new" chip, like I've said before it is an old chip that creative made cheaply to compete with motherboard sound.

[DirkHardpeck]

Originally Posted by xoleras

What? The entire point of the x-fi is positional audio, something that it does BETTER than the recon 3d. In fact, the chip on the recon 3d isn't new, it is in fact the old chip that was used on the x-fi except it doesn't support any of the x-fi features (CMSS 3D, x-fi crystallizer, etc).

It does support Crystallizer, which is trash regardless. It does not use CMSS-3D; it uses THX Surround and Scout Mode, either of which I find to be superior to CMSS-3D. So, no points there.

The x-fi also supports openAL (which helps positional audio, just FYI)

That's cool, if you still play UT3. Recon3d supports OpenAL, albeit software...who wants to pay for hardware to support old games just slightly better?

And yes I realize that when you look at recon3d price, that argument seems invalid.

The x-fi is better than the recon3d in every aspect.

Well, mostly, yes. Unless you prefer the clearly superiordrivers and software suite...or a dedicated headphone port with integrated amp. Or if you want your mic to sound unlike smashed ****, and actually have options to tweak it. Or you want to hook up analog 5.1 (missing from HD).

So, better in every respect? Nah, not really. It's biggest crime is being overpriced and flashy looking. Otherwise, it's a solid option for gaming with a headset.

[MaxBlade]

Well I think when tossing around what it really does/doesnt do and all you can prove is "its old, its new, it cant, it can".. thats it? So unless you post some facts about what the chip/card can really do.. its just your view.. like me below.

Lol why would you buy it? I have the card and 4 older Blaster (Audigy-X-fi). Yes the older can do more but again why did you buy it? In games you are so hard pressed you cant even tell the difference.

Creative never said it was better than.. People just took the last part of the name then looked at other older blasters cards and ..OMG.. its not the same!

For me sure the older cards with music plus games you can fine tune.. but MAN the drivers always have had problems. Always having to RESET back to defaults then refine tune blah blah..

Recon.. wow not one problem at all Win 732-64-Win 2008r2 (I test alot)..nothing. Everything works. Headphone jack.. a real plus.

Price? Really guys? 99% of everything that comes out is way over priced.

[GAR818]

The titanium HD is the best sound card IMO.

[ROBSCIX]

Originally Posted by GAR818

The titanium HD is the best sound card IMO.

It is one of them for stereo....but there are many great cards available right now.

[DirkHardpeck]

Originally Posted by GAR818

The titanium HD is the best sound card IMO.

Went from an X-Fi Titanium that I had for years to a Recon3d which I hated but warmed up to eventually, to an X-Fi Titanium HD this morning...

It sounds awesome.

Oh yeah, THIS F*CKING SOFTWARE, I remember you.

My old nemesis.

First time changing modes, Creative Control Panel crashes, as expected.

Entertainment mode, no sound output, try to change settings, crash. Crash next time I open it.

That's ok, music sounds great in Creation mode anyway, let's get Game mode setup.

Man....I miss having profiles for individual games. Yup, mic is all noisy again.

I still like TruStudio more than CMSS-3D...

Guys, Recon3d might be a rip-off piece of hardware, but I gotta tell you....it does some things right. Just wish Creative would get on releasing something with the Titanium HD hardware quality that didn't blow goats when it comes to drivers....

EDIT: Ooh! A quasi-semi-pseudo professional review, in English!

I mostly agree with this guy. After reading this, I feel less insane.

UPDATE: Reinstalled drivers, everything is working. So I decided to take THX TruStudio Pro for a spin, as I love it on the Recon3d. On the HD, it sounds just....horrible. No idea if it's being implemented differently with this card, or if the higher fidelity is letting me more clearly hear the brutal rape of the signal. Perhaps a little of both. And yup, CMSS-3D still sucks. What a conundrum...I....absolutely...do not want...to like Recon3D better...

[headoncollision]

I have had the recon3d for quite some time now and yes its not the best sound card in the market but its the only one I came across that have a dedicated headphone jack and 600amps aside with a 5.1 out also a digital in and out, this makes this card really convenient to use as you can simply switch between output mode simply in the software slider. the pcie standard version is not rip off like the professional and the fatal1ty version, its even cheaper now on newegg 85$ or something, so its becoming a good deal, in games it sound really good and it even has some sort of virtual surround sound in stereo headphones which is sweet, in music, mmmmm I don`t know maybe above average, but again it has been only recently released so probably a better drivers will be released tha will make it sound alot better than now, we are comparing it with x-fi and the asus model which were in the market for 2 years now and has updated drivers alot sine then, so we are simply comparing a re-mature product with a final result x-fi and asus, for me am keeping the recon3d just for the connectivity and the convenience of stable drivers and support, lets give it a few months and see if any new drivers will make it sound better.

[headoncollision]

I have had the recon3d for quite some time now and yes its not the best sound card in the market but its the only one I came across that have a dedicated headphone jack and 600amps aside with a 5.1 out also a digital in and out, this makes this card really convenient to use as you can simply switch between output mode simply in the software slider. the pcie standard version is not rip off like the professional and the fatal1ty version, its even cheaper now on amazon 85$ or something, so its becoming a good deal, in games it sound really good and it even has some sort of virtual surround sound in stereo headphones which is sweet, in music, mmmmm I don`t know maybe above average, but again it has been only recently released so probably a better drivers will be released that will make it sound alot better than now, we are comparing it with x-fi and the asus model which were in the market for 2 years now and has updated drivers alot since then, so we are simply comparing a pre-mature product with a final result x-fi and asus, for me am keeping the recon3d just for the connectivity and the convenience of stable drivers and support, lets give it a few months and see if any new drivers will make it sound better in music and games.

[Vandrende Pind]

Originally Posted by DirkHardpeck

What we need is, simply: better DAC, better SnR, maybe a headphone amp, an EMI shield to cover those, and some software that gives me more options than: Opera Hall, Padded Room, Tin Can, Submarine, Whale Stomach, etc.

Whale Stomach is my favorite.

[flimbo]

If you're unsure about it, that usually means it sounds crap but you're trying to defend your purchase...

I wouldn't buy a Recon3D if you paid me!

[Kaleid]

Me neither, the X-fi's are better.

[ROBSCIX]

Originally Posted by terente0081

If the user wishes for better stereo quality, the best route IMO is still the onboard but using the digital out to an external DAC & AMP and you cant get better than that for a PC.

LOL, what?
External DAC amp is not always the best route it depends on the gear.
Many modern soundcards can easily surpass DAC's that are multiples of their price.

Back to the Recon3D, as was mentioned by me anda few others quite awhile ago this card was not aimed at the high end of the market. This card is at best an entry level product.

[arseniy82]

Well, here are my two cents... Had X-Fi fatality for some time now and used it with the optical output. Never used all those fancy crystallizers etc at all, because I believe in pure sound as someone said before in this thread In the end I got gtx580 and I'm now using HDMI output for both video and audio. Man, I am happy! Don't know about DACs, but my Yamaha receiver is doing a great job processing sound, I have a graphical menu for receiver settings right on my monitor and and I no longer care about x-fi modes and such - the sound is simply sent to receiver uncompressed, whatever the source is, the rest is done there (most of the modern games use software anyway, so not much needed on the PC side). Oh, and Yamaha has a nice headphone output too, automatically switching modes when I plug headphones in. Now tell me, why one (I mean, except those who work with sound professionally) would ever want to bother with audiocards having something like this?

To all X-Fi lovers, I have my fatality for sale and it even comes with the 5.25 bay! Interested, anyone?

[ROBSCIX]

Originally Posted by arseniy82

Now tell me, why one (I mean, except those who work with sound professionally) would ever want to bother with audiocards having something like this?

To all X-Fi lovers, I have my fatality for sale and it even comes with the 5.25 bay! Interested, anyone?

That's an easy question. Modern soundcards, generally have much higher quality DAC's then what is available in entry/mid and even some high end receivers. This doesn't mean the receiver sounds bad but generally companies skimp out on DAC's for digital input sections. So, that being the case more often then not, digital is actually a downgrade for many people!
The same case applies for S/Pdif and HDMI also....similar quality DAC's.

The only way to find out for sure is to test both analog and digital inputs and use your ears to decide. It depends on the card and the receiver in question though.