Creative wants you to come up and check out its new X-Fi

Rich Brown Former Senior Editorial Director - Home and Wellness

Rich was the editorial lead for CNET's Home and Wellness sections, based in Louisville, Kentucky. Before moving to Louisville in 2013, Rich ran CNET's desktop computer review section for 10 years in New York City. He has worked as a tech journalist since 1994, covering everything from 3D printing to Z-Wave smart locks.

Expertise Smart home | Windows PCs | Cooking (sometimes) | Woodworking tools (getting there...)

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Rich Brown

Aug. 8, 2005 7:19 a.m. PT

Just when we thought we'd hit the pinnacle of PC audio quality with the Sound Blaster Audigy 2, Creative introduces a whole new line of audio chip. Creative's announced its new X-Fi chip and attendant sound cards today. Creative trumpets the X-Fi for, among other things, bringing improved audio quality (Creative claims a minimum of 109dB SNR, for those keeping score), a 24-bit "Crystallizer" that's supposed to restore CD audio to the quality of its original master recording, and the introduction of EAX 5.0, the latest, greatest version of Creative's reverb engine that lends enhanced effects to game audio.
The X-Fi will be bundled in four different packages:

- The Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro ($399.99 ) includes the card, an external audio port box, and 64MB of dedicated audio memory.

- The Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS ($279.99) and the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum ($199.99) include the card and a front panel port plate (the latter card also comes with Creative's Entertainment Center media management app).

- The Sound Blaster X-Fi Extreme Music ($129.99) is the most basic package that includes just the card and a handful of audio-related apps.

We can't say we've thought poorly of our Audigy 2 cards lately, but Creative seems determined to make audiophiles out of all of us. Stay tuned for our review.

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