soundcard

[p.mc]

Hi All

Apologies, but I couldn't find a relevant NG...Here goes.

I want an external soundcard for my laptop (see below)
http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-usb-2-0-sound-card-11358351-pdt.html

Thing is my laptop falls short of the required configuration [My specs in
these type brackets]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Configuration
Microsoft® Windows® 7, [YES...32bit OS Though]
Windows Vista®
Windows XP (Professional x64 Edition, Service Pack 2 or above)

Intel® Core™2 Duo or AMD® equivalent processor,
2.2 GHz or faster [NO...Celeron Dual Core 1.90 GHz]

1 GB RAM [YES...2GB]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would the soundcard not work on my laptop at all; or would it just be slow?
Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards
p.mc



Regards
p.mc

 

[Nil]

I want an external soundcard for my laptop (see below)
http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-usb-2-0-sound-card-11358351-pdt.html

Thing is my laptop falls short of the required configuration [My
specs in these type brackets]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Configuration
Microsoft Windows 7, [YES...32bit OS Though]
Windows Vista
Windows XP (Professional x64 Edition, Service Pack 2 or above)

Intel Core2 Duo or AMD equivalent processor,
2.2 GHz or faster [NO...Celeron Dual Core 1.90 GHz]

1 GB RAM [YES...2GB]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would the soundcard not work on my laptop at all; or would it just
be slow? Any advice would be appreciated.

How do you plan to use the sound card? Is it just for listening to
music? Game sound effects? Recording music from the mic input?
Multitrack recording?

If you're doing anything by multitrack recording, this would probably
be a decent choice. It can record at 24-bits, which is good. The built-in
phono preamp would be convenient if you want to record vinyl records from
a turntable. For simple stereo recording or playback, I don't think your
slower CPU would be much of a problem. Where you might start to have
trouble is if you were multitrack recording. Your slower CPU might be
a problem when you get over a few tracks. Also, for that task you need
low latency ASIO drivers, and from what I can see, this device doesn't
have any available.

I can't imagine why they say you need 600 MB of disk space. A driver
shouldn't take that much. I think it may come with some recording
software, which could explain that spec.

I have to say that the Creative web site really stinks. There is little
information, sketchy specs, few pictures. I have some basic questions
about the product, and the answers don't seem to be on their site.

There are some reviews on amazon.com - you might want to check them out
to see what other users have to say about it.

http://us.store.creative.com/Creative-Sound-Blaster-XFi-HD-Sound/M/B004275EO4.htm

 

[Paul]

Hi All

Apologies, but I couldn't find a relevant NG...Here goes.

I want an external soundcard for my laptop (see below)
http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-usb-2-0-sound-card-11358351-pdt.html


Thing is my laptop falls short of the required configuration [My specs
in these type brackets]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Required Configuration
Microsoft® Windows® 7, [YES...32bit OS Though]
Windows Vista®
Windows XP (Professional x64 Edition, Service Pack 2 or above)

Intel® Core™2 Duo or AMD® equivalent processor,
2.2 GHz or faster [NO...Celeron Dual Core 1.90 GHz]

1 GB RAM [YES...2GB]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would the soundcard not work on my laptop at all; or would it just be slow?
Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards
p.mc

The question is, were you able to find a user manual for it ?

CPU loading comes from "special effects". The American version
of that product (different SKU) has no EQ or even bass/treble
controls. So it's not wasting CPU doing digital signal processing
in that case.

You'd need some idea, how many special effects the driver was using,
to judge whether it uses the CPU at all. They put the THX logo on it,
and it has like, two channel output. What does that mean exactly ?
Does it down-mix multi-channel movie output, to the stereo output ?

The American version has optical SPDIF on the back of the box. The European
version, I can't find a picture of the back of the box. Only the
front view of the box is shown. Pretty clever And the Sound Blaster
web site is careful to note I'm in North America, and not show me
any info about European versions.

Paul

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

(Would have emailed, but wasn't sure if home.com was real.)

Hi All

Apologies, but I couldn't find a relevant NG...Here goes.

I want an external soundcard for my laptop (see below)

You don't say _why_ you want this. When _I_ wanted such, it was to get
stereo input, for digitising records/tapes etcetera (the _input_ on most
laptops is [a] microphone level so easily overloads {or is noisy if you
reduce the signal so it doesn't} mono {it uses a stereo connector,
but uses the other leg to feed power to the microphone}. It may _appear_
to be stereo in the mixer, but if you look at it on a left-right
display, as in e. g. GoldWave, you'll see it's mono).

Another reason you might want external is if you want surround sound
(5.1, even 7.1) outputs and your laptop only has the one stereo output.

[Note: many of the cheap external soundcards on the market, the ones
that look just like a USB stick but with sockets on the back, reproduce
these limitations - i. e. they provide only a mono mic. in and a stereo
out. Fine for connecting a Skype headset, in fact I know someone who
uses one such for exactly that so she doesn't have to disturb her main
sound card, speakers, inputs, etc.; Windows 7 lets you direct Skype etc.
separately.]

http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-usb-2-0-sound-c
ard-11358351-pdt.html

Hmm, 60 quid; has a nice range of inputs, though only stereo output.
Maybe it's the inputs you're after.

When I wanted stereo input, I went for this:
http://goo.gl/dLmxI
http://www.gearjunkies.com/product_gallery.php?id=878
http://www.gearjunkies.com/product_info.php?products_id=12350

which has line in, mic. in, and (though I don't use it) 5.1 output (and
an unusual appearance too). Unfortunately its current appearance is less
attractive to me (YMMV), though I did find that the current version
definitely works with Windows 7. It is however available for less than
30 quid:
http://goo.gl/oC3Sq
http://www.hercules.com/uk/Sound-Cards/bdd/p/56/muse-pocket-lt/ (doesn't
mention 7 but I did find a page that did).

Thing is my laptop falls short of the required configuration [My specs
in these type brackets] []
Would the soundcard not work on my laptop at all; or would it just be slow?
Any advice would be appreciated.

Obviously I can't speak for that "card" with your PC; with the above
unit, on my ageing '98lite laptop (400 MHz processor IIRR), I found I
had to use a lower sample rate: when used at full rate it seemed to
work, but careful listening showed it had swallowed bits, i. e. the file
had closed-up gaps in it! It works fine at full rate on my 1.6G
single-core XP machine (a netbook) [and fine at the lower rate even on
the old machine].

Regards
p.mc



Regards
p.mc

Regards, John

 

[p.mc]

Hi All

Apologies, but I couldn't find a relevant NG...Here goes.

I want an external soundcard for my laptop (see below)

You don't say _why_ you want this.

Thing is my laptop falls short of the required configuration

Particularly...
Intel® CoreT2 Duo or AMD® equivalent processor,
2.2 GHz or faster [My Laptop's is...Celeron Dual Core 1.90 GHz]

Would the soundcard not work on my laptop at all; or would it just be slow?
Any advice would be appreciated.

-----------------

"Apologies, and thanks for the great responses"

The thing is, I just want to get better sound quality out of my laptop when
linked through a Dynacord powered mixer/Ad-lib Audio speakers in my friends
pub.
(Karaoke and disco) No turntables, just MP3 files through Winamp.

At the moment I also have to use a ground loop isolator device in between
the laptop's
headphone out mini jack skt and the mixer channels to eradicate noise.
would this noise be gone using the creative soundcard or would the isolator
still be needed?

I suppose I'd really like to know if I purchased the creative
creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-usb-2-0-sound-card.
Would it work on my laptop although the laptop's spec is under the cards
required configuration?

Or if it would it struggle and defeat the object?

Below is a really good in depth review I found if you care to peruse.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/09/20/creative_xfi_hd_usb_sound_card_review/1

Regards
p.mc

 

[Paul]

Hi All

Apologies, but I couldn't find a relevant NG...Here goes.

I want an external soundcard for my laptop (see below)

You don't say _why_ you want this.

Thing is my laptop falls short of the required configuration

Particularly...
Intel® CoreT2 Duo or AMD® equivalent processor,
2.2 GHz or faster [My Laptop's is...Celeron Dual Core 1.90 GHz]

Would the soundcard not work on my laptop at all; or would it just be
slow?
Any advice would be appreciated.

-----------------

"Apologies, and thanks for the great responses"

The thing is, I just want to get better sound quality out of my laptop when
linked through a Dynacord powered mixer/Ad-lib Audio speakers in my
friends pub.
(Karaoke and disco) No turntables, just MP3 files through Winamp.

At the moment I also have to use a ground loop isolator device in
between the laptop's
headphone out mini jack skt and the mixer channels to eradicate noise.
would this noise be gone using the creative soundcard or would the
isolator still be needed?

I suppose I'd really like to know if I purchased the creative
creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-usb-2-0-sound-card.
Would it work on my laptop although the laptop's spec is under the cards
required configuration?

Or if it would it struggle and defeat the object?

Below is a really good in depth review I found if you care to peruse.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/09/20/creative_xfi_hd_usb_sound_card_review/1


Regards
p.mc

That article, mentions there is no graphic equalizer (EQ) in the software,
but there are frequency shaping controls. Crystalizer affects both bass
and treble. Unless the effects are done in hardware, inside the USB box,
then software on the CPU does the functions. (The functions fall under
general name Digital Signal Processing or DSP.)

I doubt very much it would overwhelm your CPU. But it could amount to a load
of 5-10% of the CPU.

And if it did, you'd disable all effects in the Creative control panel,
and then the computing load would be close to zero.

Some of the Creative PCI sound cards, Crystalizer is done in the DSP on
the card itself. USB versions of hardware, don't generally have honking
great processors, inside their chip. Since USB has a 2.5 watt power limitation
(5V @ 0.5 amps), the power envelope places some limits on what can be
installed. (USB3 has increased this power limit somewhat - devices fitted
with USB3 plugs could draw more power.)

*******

The CPU specification may have been intended, as a combined number suited
to DVD movie playback with THX. 2.2GHz would be enough for video processing and
audio processing, where the audio processing is a fraction of the CPU load.

*******

If you use a laptop operating on battery, then there is no other ground
path in the picture, and an isolator should not be needed. If the laptop
has a second ground path present, then the isolator will still be needed.
In North America, the laptop power adapter doesn't have a safety ground
connection, and so our power source here doesn't count as a ground.
Safety requirements vary from country to country, and if a hard safety
ground is present on the adapter, then you'd still need the isolator.
YMMV of course. The fact you're currently in need of an isolator,
says you're still going to need it to get rid of hum. Look carefully
at all the wires you've fitted to the laptop, to see where the multiple
grounds are coming from. There is probably an explanation there somewhere.

Paul

 

[Paul]

Hi All

Apologies, but I couldn't find a relevant NG...Here goes.

I want an external soundcard for my laptop (see below)

You don't say _why_ you want this.

Thing is my laptop falls short of the required configuration

Particularly...
Intel® CoreT2 Duo or AMD® equivalent processor,
2.2 GHz or faster [My Laptop's is...Celeron Dual Core 1.90 GHz]

Would the soundcard not work on my laptop at all; or would it just be
slow?
Any advice would be appreciated.

-----------------

"Apologies, and thanks for the great responses"

The thing is, I just want to get better sound quality out of my laptop
when
linked through a Dynacord powered mixer/Ad-lib Audio speakers in my
friends pub.
(Karaoke and disco) No turntables, just MP3 files through Winamp.

At the moment I also have to use a ground loop isolator device in
between the laptop's
headphone out mini jack skt and the mixer channels to eradicate noise.
would this noise be gone using the creative soundcard or would the
isolator still be needed?

I suppose I'd really like to know if I purchased the creative
creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-usb-2-0-sound-card.
Would it work on my laptop although the laptop's spec is under the cards
required configuration?

Or if it would it struggle and defeat the object?

Below is a really good in depth review I found if you care to peruse.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/09/20/creative_xfi_hd_usb_sound_card_review/1


Regards
p.mc

Found what could be a picture of the inside of the Creative product.

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/7928/psxfihd4enl.jpg

Now, the interesting part, is the description of the CA0189-2AG chip
in the picture. It's a ~100MHz RISC processor. The actual audio
components, are external to it, and on interfaces like I2C. The
difference between the two devices (the Creative 5.1 version and the
X-FI HD), is the number of channels implemented. Both devices have
some kind of Cirrus Logic chip for handling audio. I also see
an STI flash chip (which I'm guessing holds the firmware).

I can't believe Creative spent the money, making yet another chip...

http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=ahura5&logNo=150083143908

(I think this is the 5.1 version... But shows the same ideas as the HD.
This uses less "audiophile looking" component choices Like Plain
Jane ceramic caps.)

http://blogfiles.naver.net/20100322...cBg6g_jpg/creative_x-fi_usb_inside_ahura5.jpg

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/multimedia/creative-xfi-surround-51-p1.html

Now, the 5.1 design, supports EQ. The X-FI HD does not, but it suggests
the reason is product differentiation, instead of the hardware end.
The CA0189-2AG would be responsible for special effects, so I would
be comfortable using the USB adapter with *any* PC.

What amazes me, is they can do all of that with no more than 2.5 watts
of power. Since the RISC runs at 100MHz, it's not going to draw
that much power (compared to phones or tablets running at 1000MHz).

I'd originally assumed this was just a dumb USB audio chip, but it
appears to be much more. I'm more impressed now. Even if the provided
software to use it is pretty sad. They could have put EQ in there,
and you'd be able to compensate for the acoustics.

It still has a ground path, so to remove the isolator, the Creative
box would have to be the only ground.

Paul

 

[charlie]

Hi All

Apologies, but I couldn't find a relevant NG...Here goes.

I want an external soundcard for my laptop (see below)

You don't say _why_ you want this.

Thing is my laptop falls short of the required configuration

Particularly...
Intel® CoreT2 Duo or AMD® equivalent processor,
2.2 GHz or faster [My Laptop's is...Celeron Dual Core 1.90 GHz]

Would the soundcard not work on my laptop at all; or would it just
be slow?
Any advice would be appreciated.
-----------------

"Apologies, and thanks for the great responses"

The thing is, I just want to get better sound quality out of my
laptop when
linked through a Dynacord powered mixer/Ad-lib Audio speakers in my
friends pub.
(Karaoke and disco) No turntables, just MP3 files through Winamp.

At the moment I also have to use a ground loop isolator device in
between the laptop's
headphone out mini jack skt and the mixer channels to eradicate noise.
would this noise be gone using the creative soundcard or would the
isolator still be needed?

I suppose I'd really like to know if I purchased the creative
creative-sound-blaster-x-fi-usb-2-0-sound-card.
Would it work on my laptop although the laptop's spec is under the cards
required configuration?

Or if it would it struggle and defeat the object?

Below is a really good in depth review I found if you care to peruse.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/09/20/creative_xfi_hd_usb_sound_card_review/1


Regards
p.mc

Found what could be a picture of the inside of the Creative product.

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/7928/psxfihd4enl.jpg

Now, the interesting part, is the description of the CA0189-2AG chip
in the picture. It's a ~100MHz RISC processor. The actual audio
components, are external to it, and on interfaces like I2C. The
difference between the two devices (the Creative 5.1 version and the
X-FI HD), is the number of channels implemented. Both devices have
some kind of Cirrus Logic chip for handling audio. I also see
an STI flash chip (which I'm guessing holds the firmware).

I can't believe Creative spent the money, making yet another chip...

http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=ahura5&logNo=150083143908

(I think this is the 5.1 version... But shows the same ideas as the HD.
This uses less "audiophile looking" component choices Like Plain
Jane ceramic caps.)

http://blogfiles.naver.net/20100322...cBg6g_jpg/creative_x-fi_usb_inside_ahura5.jpg


http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/multimedia/creative-xfi-surround-51-p1.html

Now, the 5.1 design, supports EQ. The X-FI HD does not, but it suggests
the reason is product differentiation, instead of the hardware end.
The CA0189-2AG would be responsible for special effects, so I would
be comfortable using the USB adapter with *any* PC.

What amazes me, is they can do all of that with no more than 2.5 watts
of power. Since the RISC runs at 100MHz, it's not going to draw
that much power (compared to phones or tablets running at 1000MHz).

I'd originally assumed this was just a dumb USB audio chip, but it
appears to be much more. I'm more impressed now. Even if the provided
software to use it is pretty sad. They could have put EQ in there,
and you'd be able to compensate for the acoustics.

It still has a ground path, so to remove the isolator, the Creative
box would have to be the only ground.

Paul

I quit using C-Labs sound cards for multiple reasons, among them refusal
to provide updated drivers, etc. Not to mention that the first C-Lab
sound card I had eventually killed the DMA circuitry in my first 386 P/C.