X-Fi Titanium and Build 9926

[LaP]

Well yea. I paid close to $200. Canadian only about two years ago.

 

Well it's Creative ....

 

I probably wont buy a discrete sound card when i'll build my next PC. Onboard sound chipsets are good now and anyway since Vista the sound quality in games is so average it's not worth it. And for movies and music i use the HDMI output of the video card.

 

But for now until i change my MB i'm stuck with my X-FI Prelude. Old drivers work in windows 8.1 I hope they'll work in Windows 10 too.

[Rickkins]

Well it's Creative ....

 

I probably wont buy a discrete sound card when i'll build my next PC. Onboard sound chipsets are good now and anyway since Vista the sound quality in games is so average it's not worth it. And for movies and music i use the HDMI output of the video card.

 

But for now until i change my MB i'm stuck with my X-FI Prelude. Old drivers work in windows 8.1 I hope they'll work in Windows 10 too.

When I bought it, it was because the onboard I had seemed not powerful enough to drive my z-5500's....

[Warboy]

Yea, something is causing problems.

 

 

For anybody that wants to use over onboard audio [that works fine]

 

If you loose sound, and notice its still showing it in the Audio Devices. Here is what to do.

 

 

Goto Services in Admin tools, Find the Windows audio service and restart it, it will ask you if you are sure because it will restart Creative's service too. Do it, then test your sound. it should be back.

[Jaybonaut]

Well, I think the Z has been out for almost 2 years now so I feel as though Creative Labs' line is due for a refresh or something new.  I will say though my Z has been working just fine on Win10 9926 for me (upgraded from 8.1U1).

Is it?  I know the Recon 3D is a few years old, I thought the Z cards were newer.

[T3X4S]

Obsolete? It's a sound card. The only time it gets obsolete is when it dies.

Or the fact that mobo integrated sound is pretty darn good.  And since most people use crap speakers - they arent taking advantage of a special sound card.

What do most people spend on speakers ?  $100 --  no point in add-in soundcard as far as sound is concerned.  And the CPU isnt taxed by sound anymore - so in a sense, they are obsolete for most people.

[+kpo6969 Subscriber¹]

How about doing it again and again - surely what happened the 3rd time wont happen anymore....

Or you can get a new card or no add-in card and not mess with the latest build which is giving everyone problems.  {just sayin}

I know what you're saying (about 9926) but on-board sound I do not like. Realtek has it's issues also.

New is not always best since my last 2 new hardware additions have issues also.

-Samsung Evo 840 that was fixed with a soft ware patch that wasn't

-GTX 970 4GB/256-Bit/64 ROP is really only 3.5GB/224-Bit/56 ROP

[T3X4S]

I know what you're saying (about 9926) but on-board sound I do not like. Realtek has it's issues also.

New is not always best since my last 2 new hardware additions have issues also.

-Samsung Evo 840 that was fixed with a soft ware patch that wasn't

-GTX 970 4GB/256-Bit/64 ROP is really only 3.5GB/224-Bit/56 ROP

 

kpo -

You realize the problem with your examples of "new is not always better", right ?

Those are 2 isolated incidents where a possible hardware failure/issue has caused the problem - iti s not a problem with the entire model - or a problem with going newer.

Sure, many things will have issues for some people - but many times - people witness an issue and automatically think it is a problem for everyone.

For instance, I build a computer for someone and use a Cooler Master case.  This case just happened to have a scratched panel.  Now that customer who I am building a computer for is thinking that all Cooler Master cases suck....

On the other hand, I was referring to the silliness of people who go out and get $150 add on sound cards (or even $50 ones) and think they are going to witness some noticeable upgrade in sound quality - then plug in some $75 speakers.

Many builds ago, I had an X-Fi Titanium, but I used pretty good speakers.  Aside from some special effects - Im not sure if onboard sounds would have sounded noticeably worse...

Just my 2 cents

[Rickkins]

kpo -

You realize the problem with your examples of "new is not always better", right ?

Those are 2 isolated incidents where a possible hardware failure/issue has caused the problem - iti s not a problem with the entire model - or a problem with going newer.

Sure, many things will have issues for some people - but many times - people witness an issue and automatically think it is a problem for everyone.

For instance, I build a computer for someone and use a Cooler Master case.  This case just happened to have a scratched panel.  Now that customer who I am building a computer for is thinking that all Cooler Master cases suck....

On the other hand, I was referring to the silliness of people who go out and get $150 add on sound cards (or even $50 ones) and think they are going to witness some noticeable upgrade in sound quality - then plug in some $75 speakers.

Many builds ago, I had an X-Fi Titanium, but I used pretty good speakers.  Aside from some special effects - Im not sure if onboard sounds would have sounded noticeably worse...

Just my 2 cents

While the onboard sound on my sabertooth 990 does work ok, there is a noticeable sound quality difference on my z-5500's....

[LaP]

Or the fact that mobo integrated sound is pretty darn good.  And since most people use crap speakers - they arent taking advantage of a special sound card.

What do most people spend on speakers ?  $100 --  no point in add-in soundcard as far as sound is concerned.  And the CPU isnt taxed by sound anymore - so in a sense, they are obsolete for most people.

 

It's true if you have a newer mobo. But mine is 5 years old and for now it's still working perfectly and powerful enough for new games so no point upgrading it for now. The on board audio on it sucks big time and the drivers are even more outdated than my xfi.

 

I'll be sad if i need to upgrade my mobo or my souns card just because my still perfectly working and very good sound card is not supported in windows 10.

[T3X4S]

While the onboard sound on my sabertooth 990 does work ok, there is a noticeable sound quality difference on my z-5500's....

Oh definately with those speakers - Im sure you could hear a pretty good difference.  Back when I had a sound card, I hate the Klipsch 5.1 Ultra (about same as the z5500) and there was a noticeable difference, especially with the surround sound, and the added "modes" of the X-Fi software was nice --

But people like you and I are the minority - most people buy the junk stuff.  Of course there are people (audiophile snobs) who would say our stuff is junk

 

LaP - I see where you are coming from - I remember the problem I had with creative and their driver support - back when I was messing around with Linux - it was really tough finding sound drivers - infact the community was so upset about their lack of support - people made their own.

The situation I am in now is even worse.  The onboard sound on my ASUS P6X58D-Premium is bad (not sure what it is and didnt mess with it before getting another solution)

I used my X-Fi Titanium but then I needed the x1 PCI slot and there went my sound card.  However, I sold the Klipsh speakers and now have the crappy Corsair 2100 Vengeance headphones that have their own sound processor (which sucks)

 

So I just put up with it until its time for me to pull the trigger on a new system build.

[Chris123NT]

people still use Creative sound cards?  Jesus lol.  I think I punted mine out the bedroom window sometime during the Vista beta.  They have a HORRIBLE track record with drivers.  I've been using onboard audio for years now, and an external dac/headphone amp for when I want the best quality audio for music/gaming.

[Rickkins]

I use the "pax" drivers.

[seta-san]

internal audio cards aren't worth it anymore. they are completely useless with digital audio.

 

seriously, if you're that concerned about audio quality get a good external audio receiver. and speakers

[Jaybonaut]

Or the fact that mobo integrated sound is pretty darn good.  And since most people use crap speakers - they arent taking advantage of a special sound card.

What do most people spend on speakers ?  $100 --  no point in add-in soundcard as far as sound is concerned.  And the CPU isnt taxed by sound anymore - so in a sense, they are obsolete for most people.

Untrue, there is a vast difference even on cheap speakers.

[Rickkins]

internal audio cards aren't worth it anymore. they are completely useless with digital audio.

One of those things that just annoy the crap outta me.

ALL audio, is analogue. Period.(think of a sine wave)

[Nogib]

people still use Creative sound cards?  Jesus lol.  I think I punted mine out the bedroom window sometime during the Vista beta.  They have a HORRIBLE track record with drivers.  I've been using onboard audio for years now, and an external dac/headphone amp for when I want the best quality audio for music/gaming.

 

While yes, Vista onwards did pretty much kill the ability to offload sound processing, a dedicated sound card still has proven vastly superior to onboard sound.  I used to get so much electrical noise when I dared try the garbage that passes as audio on modern motherboards.  That experiment didn't last long.

[Opteron185]

I'm having the same problem with my Auzentech X-FI Home Theater HD. It no longer works with 9926 of Windows 10.  It has worked with every previous version of Windows 10.

All of the programs just say something like "The audio device supported by this application is not detected.  The application will exit."

I tried running a Process Monitor against one of the applications and noticed a bunch of "NAME NOT FOUND" errors under keys like this:  HHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\MMDevices\Audio\Capture\{186442c4-2e10-45ed-8227-e5008c83a0a4}\Properties

I'm wondering if they changed something with that structure.  Maybe I'll fire up my old Win 8 install and try to compare the outputs.

And to everyone that has said that having a dedicated card is not worth it - I can't wait to have my Auzentech working again.  Even on HDMI, I can tell a huge difference between this card and the audio from both my Radeon 7870 and my onboard Realtek.  It doesn't even come close.  This Auzentech in Audio Creation Mode also lets you manually tune channel volumes - no onboard card comes close.  If you're hooking in to a nice receiver (like my Pioneer SC-05), it's a must to have a nice sound card.
 

[T3X4S]

It seems there still is a place for add-in sound cards...maybe not for the populace - but definately still a market

[Ezzyb]

Is anybody having issues with the software? The driver works fine. But after installing the software, I can't get the creative audio control panel or creative console launcher to recongize the card and allow me to change settings.

It's an ongoing issue, I had it with 8.1 and finally solved it.  For me it cropped back up with 10041 and I didn't have any success for a couple of months.  Before, installing the PAX drivers while holding your mouth just right would do it, but that no longer worked with 10041.

 

I actually reinstalled 10041 from scratch from the ISO and that still didn't help.

 

I found this today, apparantly it was released just a few days ago, and it just worked.  I didn't even uninstall the old drivers, just had a go and imagine that, installing drivers that work the first time!  My card is actually a X-Fi Extreme Gamer, so no guarantees but the driver package claims to support every X-Fi except the Extreme Audio, which, if my research is correct, deserves nothing less than a class-action lawsuit.  Hope it works for you!

 

http://forums.creative.com/showthread.php?t=714135

[corrosive23]

It's an ongoing issue, I had it with 8.1 and finally solved it.  For me it cropped back up with 10041 and I didn't have any success for a couple of months.  Before, installing the PAX drivers while holding your mouth just right would do it, but that no longer worked with 10041.

 

I actually reinstalled 10041 from scratch from the ISO and that still didn't help.

 

I found this today, apparantly it was released just a few days ago, and it just worked.  I didn't even uninstall the old drivers, just had a go and imagine that, installing drivers that work the first time!  My card is actually a X-Fi Extreme Gamer, so no guarantees but the driver package claims to support every X-Fi except the Extreme Audio, which, if my research is correct, deserves nothing less than a class-action lawsuit.  Hope it works for you!

 

http://forums.creative.com/showthread.php?t=714135

The market segment occupied by the XtremeMusic was moved downwards, with the introduction of the (cheaper) 'Xtreme Audio' and 'Xtreme Audio Notebook' products, which, despite the "X-Fi" label, are the only products in the X-Fi line not using the EMU20K1 chip (CA20K1)^[3] but an older chip similar to the Audigy SE and SB Live! cards (CA0106-WBTLF)^[4] and thus lacking the hardware acceleration of 3D sound and EAX sound effects, gaming and content creation features and the I/O extensibility of all the other X-Fi models.  

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Blaster_X-Fi