Review of Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro

[Suhit Gupta]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1877574,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530' target='_blank'>http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1877574,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The top of the line is the X-Fi Elite Pro ($400 street), which has 64MB of X-RAM, higher-end DACs that provide an additional 7dB of dynamic range, and an oversized desktop-mounted breakout box. The Elite Pro competes sonically with semipro multichannel audio interfaces, and no board offers gamers a better combination of flexibility and sound quality. In addition to all the connectors found on the I/O drive, its breakout box includes an RIAA-equalized phono jack that lets you record LPs without a preamp, a high-impedance input for directly attaching electric guitars, a special DIN connector that lets you control the sound board, and a set of compatible Creative speakers with a single remote."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/xfi.jpg" /><br /><br />Wow, Creative looks to have established a new state-of-the-art in the sound board market. The Elite Pro has an enormous feature set. Its only drawback is its price, which is high enough to drive less-demanding users to more affordable choices like the X-Fi XtremeMusic and Platinum models, or Creative's last-generation Audigy 2 boards. But it looks to have great audio quality, a flexible I/O box and 64MB onboard RAM. It also comes with high-impedance electric guitar and RIAA-equalized phono inputs. Very nice, I wish I was putting together a PC. :)

[Philip Colmer]

I've said it before and, I'm sorry, but I'm going to say it again: this needs to be available on PCI-Express. I don't really understand why Creative couldn't have done that from day one.

Apart from that, this does look like a sweet sound card.

--Philip

[Suhit Gupta]

I've said it before and, I'm sorry, but I'm going to say it again: this needs to be available on PCI-Express. I don't really understand why Creative couldn't have done that from day one.
Why though? I don't think the card needs it. The bandwidth I think it needs is satisfied by more than enough using plain old PCI. And most motherboards, even the PCI-E ones still come with at least 1 or 2 PCI slots.

Suhit

[Philip Colmer]

I've said it before and, I'm sorry, but I'm going to say it again: this needs to be available on PCI-Express. I don't really understand why Creative couldn't have done that from day one.
Why though? I don't think the card needs it. The bandwidth I think it needs is satisfied by more than enough using plain old PCI. And most motherboards, even the PCI-E ones still come with at least 1 or 2 PCI slots.

Suhit
Mainly because of overall system bandwidth, I think. I use my computer for video editing so overall performance is critical to me hence my desire to use the most efficient connectivity possible.

Having only the sound card in the PCI bus would be OK, I guess, but modern motherboards don't have many PCI slots now that PCI-E is out, so there is also the risk of another "legacy" device wanting a valuable PCI slot :-).

--Philip