CS-Nation

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sound blaster x-fi extrememusic
review: sound blaster x-fi extrememusic
As if you couldn't tell already, I enjoy quality sound. Given my limited budget as a college student, I don't normally have the means to splurge on high priced audio hardware. I decided to make an exception this time when I began to grow tired of my onboard sound. Sorry old girl, you just aren't cutting it anymore.

Once I realized that onboard sound couldn't satisfy my growing hunger for intense sounds, I set out on an adventure. A journey of epic proportions that sent me face to face with one of the most advanced sound cards around, the Sound Blaster X-Fi ExtremeMusic. So what are we waiting for? It's time to get EXTREME!

Packaging and Contents
Out of the many X-Fi packages out there (including ExtremeMusic, Platinum, Fatal1ty FPS, and Elite Pro editions) I opted for the most affordable solution ($130 total for this card) for a college student. Granted, it was the solution with the least amount of included hardware extras such as a remote and front panel component, but that really doesn't matter much to me. Other person's of greater discernable tastes will obviously have another say on the matter.


The hardware itself
Included in the box was the typical fare. There was the card all neatly tucked away in an anti-static bag, a quick reference setup poster, a setup CD that we'll dive into later, and a color-coded sticker to place onto the card itself. Think of the sticker as a failsafe for those of us who don't know what audio jacks to plug our sound system into... like me.

Setup and Installation
This is simple enough if you've ever installed any PCI card into your computer before. I won't get into the details of installing a PCI card here, because knowing me I'd leave something out and BOOM ... the world explodes when following my instructions.

For the sake of argument, let's say you firmly seated the card in a slot and you've successfully booted into Windows. The fun really begins now! No, not the sort of fun you'd have with a pack of rabid badgers, a tube of toothpaste, and a cheese log but it's incredibly close!

You pop in the CD and let it load up. Included on the CD are a multitude of drivers, applications, and other bits and pieces you'd be led to believe actually needed to be install. In my case, I installed just a few of the available applications (including the THX console) and the included driver.

Huzzah! I encounter problems already when the included driver didn't actually work for me! I had no sound through any of my speakers, and with everything else hooked up and configured correctly it was time to find another solution. I actually had to download and install a newer driver from the SoundBlaster website. Nothing major, but you'd expect a driver to work that was included on a CD.

You should make sure that the Windows has your default sound playback device set to the newly installed sound card. If you really wanted to get a little crazy you can hop into your system bios on your next boot and disable your onboard sound device, provided that was what you were using for your sound previously. Once you have everything working it's time to get down to business. What do you need and what don't you need in terms of included software?

Overabundance of Software
Well, it should come as no surprise that you won't need every last piece of software bundled on the installation CD. As I mentioned I only really use the THX setup console and a few others. I did install more to give you a little visual representation of what to expect in these. Naturally, you will want to install the driver itself.

There is an extra music player, music organizers, audio converters, this, that, and the other all included in the package deal. I must admit, outside of taking screenshots of the program for use in this review I haven't touched the programs since. Speaking of those screenshots, take a little gander below. Go on, they don't bite.



Music organizer & player
File conversion tool