Sick of Creative? Auzentech Rocks!

Hi, just wanted to share my experience so far with my new Auzentech card. Ok basically, it's friggin sweet-totally blows my P.O.S. X-Fi Fatal1ty card out of the water...the only thing that was a fatality was the card itself...ok enough of that.

AANYYWWAAYY-I have been looking for an alternative to get rid of my problematic X-Fi card for a long time and it looks like I've found the light. I wanted to pick up the Prelude but it's pretty much sold out everywhere...so I ordered it and it'll be here soon. Being the impatient person I am, I decided to go to my local retailer and pick up an Auzentech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 card to keep me busy and to let me give Auzentech a run. The card itself is a fine piece of work-all solid-state caps, upgradeable, nice layout...it's very clean and the design was well-thought out for sure. Would've liked to see a heat sink on the main chip but I don't believe it needs it, or it would've been included. My only concern is that it's sitting between two G80 cards.

All-in-all the card performs very well! I was soo used to the popping, crackling, hissing, screeching, BSODs, etc. for soo long that it was a very pleasant surprise to be able to play all my games with no hiccups of this kind in any way. Optical out is sweet, music/movie playback is clean. I don't have a 7.1 or even a 5.1 system for that matter due to space constraints but the sound it cranked out of my Klipsch 2.1s is top-notch. Yes, the card doesn't support EAX 5 and 4 I believe, which is a big deal to some-but I really don't care for it anyway so this doesn't effect me much. Games run fine, you can run hardware/high mode for BF2142 and everything sounds crispy...same for WoW, C&C3, ET:QW Demo, Bioshock, etc. For Performance/CPU usage, this card is fine for me-but it damn well better with my setup. Ok, OK-my setup is pretty much average these days but I really don't see the FPS fall-off or even noticed the FPS increase over this card using my X-Fi card.

I paid $100, you can get it for $79 from Newegg. Although my opionion is just my opionion I HIGHLY recommend you look into this card or their X-Fi Prelude card instead of trying to fix your Creative card or are thinking of picking up a Sound Blaster product.

#)(#&% Creative.


Kthx.

 

That's good to hear mist3r_q (yeah, I had to copy paste your nick....lol)

I emailed auzentech support and asked them if I could return the Prelude 'just in case' I got the dread squeal of death with it. I am awaiting their reply.....

 

So, the X-Fi was too much for your 2.1 system, so you ordered a Prelude and then went out out and bought the X-Plosion. And the sound is leaps and bounds better. Riiiiiight...

 

Try gaming on Vista and find out most of your games run in stereo...

Prelude or X-FI is the the only way.

 

He wouldn't know, he has a 2.1 system.

 

The X-Plosion is a decent card. Not in the same range as a X-Meridian or a Prelude but decent for the price.
Enjoy.

BTW, The X-Plosion only supports EAX 1,2 in software. If your using Vista, then you have no EAX support.
Not a big deal, alot of guys game without EAX. Heat wouldn't really be a concern for this card aslong as it isn't getting extremely hot.

 

Got a response about my warranty question. Unfortunately it was all gibberish/illegible so I couldn't even read it......lol

 

X-Fi was too much for my 2.1 system? Ehh...no-the Creative X-Fi cards are buggy as hell and have horrible support from Creative resulting in SCPs & BSODs enough justification to yank it. Why don't you pick one up for yourself and experience the bs for yourself?

Yeah, that's right-I ordered a Prelude and yep-bought an X-Plosion...when the lude comes in this'll go into my Wife's rig to replace her on-board sound...And?

I'm not sure where you derived me stating or implying the sound from the X-Plosion is leaps and bounds better than my Fatal1ty card...the functionality, I will agree, is...and that's hard to deny with Creative's current positioning with their cards.

I'm going though a long process of remodeling my house, at the moment I'm confined to a small crack in the wall to setup my computer...hence the 2.1s which are compact. When i'm done with my office I'll connect my Logitech Z5500s.

My objective was to share my experience of being a long-time Creative customer and finding a solution that doens't have pestering, annoying issues that they do.

 

I think he has and didn't experience BS. It wasn't THAT big of a group of peeps who had the problem, not everyone is going to get it. And besides, there are other better alternatives to the X-plosion.

 

Think being the key word.

Wasn't that big of a group effected? Well if the 900+ unanswered post thread on Creative's site and the *Sticky* on this forum and many other forums regarding the Sound Blaster issues doesn't indicate anything...

And, for alternatives for Creative's card (is what I think you meant) of course there are better options, such as the X-Fi Prelude...can't think of any others.

Hey, my feedback is simply entailing an alternative solution for those with a problematic Creative card. Of Course this won't apply to everyone and of course it's not the BEST card out there or has all the bells and whistles that the CL cards have, but it doesn't snap, crackle, pop, screech, cause lock-ups, or BSODs...which is a huge plus. Amirite?

 

Well, if all you wanted to say is that other cards come with better drivers than Creative's, newsflash, we knew that already

 

X plosion?????

No thanks...

EAX 2???

no thanks

Prelude EAX 5? Superior Sound quality ??

Yes please...

 

Does anyone actually read topic posts anymore or just jabber away mindlessly?

 

Not jabber, stating the X-plosion is not good for games.

And the Prelude is a better choice....( which creative still helped made....)

 

Yup. In fact, mine just arrived today and is sitting next to me to be installed tomorrow as well as my new fans and my HD600

It seems OP is a little angry (personal vendetta with creative?). Just saying, calm down...

 

I wouldn't say it's not good for games, the X-Plosion is fine for games and per my topic-it is a fix for those facing issues with thier Creative cards and in that aspect-it excels. It just doesn't have the latest and greatest EAX features and from a gaming standpoint to only a specific audience, large or not, this isn't necessarily a key element to rule it out entirely.

I totally agree the X-Fi Prelude is the complete package in all aspects and elements and I can't wait until it arrives.

 

Im still dreaming to get a prelude and some good HIFI speakers.

But atm , my Audigy ZS (softmodded to 4), with my Z5500s.Sounds Pretty darn good for now.

Hopefully By the time i need to upgrade creative will bring out a new card..
More inputs would Get me Interested.

i could never live without the newest EAX.

hardcore gamers...like me know the difference in sounds between not having EAX and Having Eax...

Which from 2 to 4 is alot....

Especially Eviromental Effects.. (if there not Pre made into the game, which gamer developers should do, but this requires twice as much work>)

 

Grats for you-mine is in tomorrow.

My post is to talk about an alternative to CL cards and my experience with a specific product, a lof of the commentary I've read isn't related that topic-oh well, it's t3h forumz.

 

With a title like 'Sick of Creative?', I think you're asking for some opinions to fly

Let's just say that the X-Fi didn't bomb-out for a lot of people out there. Maybe some of the 'X-Fi works' group are just getting sick of those from the 'X-Fi doesn't work' group slamming Creative, either because their expectations weren't met, or just for the sake of bashing a large company?

I dunno, I think we get a bit too attached to our computer purchases, much like a sports fan would back their favourite team.

/IMO

Anyway, good to hear that you've found a soundcard that works for you. People on these forums often mention Auzentech as an alternative to Creative, especially when it comes to sound quality, so it's good to know that the advice that we spout helped someone out.

 

if you think the X-Plosion sounds nice you should hear what the good cards sound like (hint X-Meridian & Prelude).

I haven't heard the Prelude but I know the modded X-Meridian is f'in SICK