i have officialy pushed the red button on creative.

[Grunt_Style]

http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Article...=read&arc_id=76

 

this article pretty much sums up my feelings of this comapny. i hate them now. EAX sux anyways. it doesnt sound realistic at all with 5.1 no matter how much tweaking i do to the speakers. it never balances out the audio beetween them.

on top of that the popping/crackling that i get whenever i play a game and be logged on at the same time.

DIE XFI DIE!!!!

grrrr. im cranky and sleepy. ive been reading all night long on thier forums looking for the answer. almost 1700 posts on the "Crackling/popping thread"

and noone has yet to find a viable solution.

[Oceanborn]

.....I was thinking about getting an X-fi ....

That's nasty...

I guess I will be sticking with onboard audio until something non-problematic comes along....

 

Nice article btw....

[ReMoose]

wierd, i bought a xtrememusic edition when they first came out and have zero problems. i do listen to quite a bit of music and play sound intense games. I dunno.

[chaos952]

Wow... And I was planning to get one for my future build...

 

Look at this on Creative's forums:

 

X-Fi happy thread: 42 posts

X-Fi Popping/Crackling Issues thread: 1642 posts

 

Also, I skimmed through the X-Fi happy thread, and noticed that most of the happy users are using Intel chipsets. However, there was one user using a DFI board (AMD-based, the LANparty) that wasn't having any problems. That person's post can be found at the bottom of the 3rd page...

[Burleyboy]

I've heard for years how Creative drivers suck and are nothing but problems. I'm not trying to argue with you, as a lot of people came to that conclusion, and there were some real problems with the Expert and popping and crackling with the early drivers.

I don't get it though. I've had 2 Audigy2 ZS and now an X-FI Extreme Music, and they have all worked great. I've swapped them in and out of a lot of different sytems, with different driver sets, with never a problem. As far as the hardware, all are going strong. My Daughter has my old one, she's 13 and that card get's a lot of use, plus another sitting around if I need a spare. My point is my experience has been that Creative has great hardware and drivers.

Creative's software autoupdate site is the best I've ever seen.

I have a Yamaha receiver and a 301 disc Pioneer cd player that have pretty much been rendered obsolete by my Audigy2 and Logitech Z-5300 speakers, they sound that good.

I knew there were early problems with the X-FI and the Expert, so I wondered about my Venus. As usual, not one problem.

Man, I thought the Audigy sounded good, and it does, but the X-FI sounds even better.

Music is extremely clear, never a pop or crackle, and I'm hearing . in my games I never heard before. The 5.1 positioning to me is pretty amazing. Music and games never sounded so good through my head phones.

I've been happy with every Creative product I've purchased. If I sound like a fanboy, so be it. I think companies like Creative should get their due.

Because of Creative, I haven't had to listen to crappy on board sound for years. I never bothered to even try the Karajan on 3 different DFI boards, because I knew it wouldn't even come close to the Audigy.

It's my opinion Creative Labs makes an excellent product for a very reasonable price, and I thank them for it.

[madian225]

It would appear that I have also been fortunate with Create, I started with a Creative soundblaster live years ago and I was impressed with it then.

 

I will admit that I have had a few problems with regards to updating the drivers with the previous Creative soundcards that I have had but like Burleyboy I too have a XF-I ExtremeMusic card and have had zero probelsm with it at all.

 

I have had no instances of crackles or popping or anything else for that matter and that was with the SLI-DR then the Expert board and now with a Venus board. I have updated the drives easily without any problems and I have been very pleased with it.

 

I am beginning to wonder if the ExtremeMusic card is OK and it is just the other cards that seems to be causing more aggrevation that it is worth?

 

I will also agree with Grunt_style that if I have had that much hassle with a piece of equipment then it would have found it's way into the rubbish pile a long time ago and looked for something else that will do the job.

 

With all new hardware/software there will be teething problems and we all agree that although it is highly frustrating it is also to be expected. However, given the number of postings that are being mentioned here I would assume that there must be a more deeper probelm than just a driver update issue

[Onsightsmith]

Another thing to remember, the same thing happens here at DFI forums. Most of the time only the people with problems voice out on forums. There are thousands of people out there that will have no problems with a product and they will not go into the forums to say what a wonderful product it is. Goes back to that old saying, the squeeky wheel always gets the grease.

All products will have problems, especially computer hardware as now a days, there are so many variables in the mix. So XFI has had 1600 people classy lady about the product, I bet there are 10000 that have had no problems but dont bother to say "Wow, it works great"

 

Just my 2cents...........

[ICON57]

i have been a user of creative products for many years also, never had any probs, but i do know a few that have.

 

on a new build i just did for a friend, i put the audigy 2zs on an expert mobo.....with zero problems.

 

i had read of issues with the eXpert/x-fi cards, and i didnt think there is much diff between the 2 cards, so i went with a known working solution for audio....

[Angry_Games]

never had a single problem with any Creative cards I have ever owned, including the 3 Audigy2ZS cards, one Audigy1, one Audigy2 Value, and 3 Live! 5.1 cards laying around or installed in my rigs

 

I don't have an X-Fi and not really interested in one since my Audigy2 ZS can do everything I want it to without me spending $150+ lol

[ooztuncer]

The issue is (in)consistency. Half of of the customers are happy, other half unhappy. Somehow, the "acceptance" and "give-up" seems the only way to GOT RID of the headache their products/drivers/support giving to us!!! (talking as a unhappy, angry, ferocious customer even tough I have 2 working creative products).

 

I do NOT like creative company, their support, their drivers, their irresponsible behaviors against their inconsistencies.

 

However, I have an audigy2 sound card and 30gb zen xtra. WHY - cost of course! and admitting here their marketing hype! Paid $20 for audigy 6 months ago and $200 for zen 1.5 years ago.

 

I couldn't use audigy for 2.5 months until I did a fresh installation of windows (opened a thread in nf4 section, spent perhaps more than 200 hours and closed the thread 2.5 months later). My first zen xtra's hard disk went bananas after 25 hrs of usage (literally).

 

The creative media source organizer is one of the worst modern disasters. There are 42 pages of "WISH" list in their forums starting from 2004 asking to add FLAC / OGG capability with a small firmware update - NADA, no response from creative for 3 YEARS. What are they waiting - probably hitting that page number to 4,200!!!

 

Grunt-style if you use a HAMMER or your bare hands or propane or whatever PLEASE hit that mofo for me, too...

 

Now I can go back to work.

[peanutplanters]

I just bought a Xi-Fi yesterday for 79.99. No problems at all.

[wevsspot]

My only complaint with Creative products are there bloated installation packs. However, with that being said;

 

1 - 5.1 SB Live (still running no problems)

1 - 5.1 GE (sold to friend still running)

2 - Audigy2 ZS (still running no problems)

1 - 5.1 SB Live (died after about 6 months and is laying in rest at the local land fill)

 

I would continue to buy Creative products in the future.