Others by stefan @ 2010-12-03
Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD is the latest sound card from Creative, aimed at both gamers and audiophiles, thanks to the included high quality components. For the first time, Creative offers us the possibility to swap the OPamps, to fine-tune even more the sound quality.
At first I would like to thank Creative for offering me the possibility to review their latest PCI-Express sound card: the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD.
"Creative is the worldwide leader in digital entertainment products for the personal computer (PC) and the Internet. Creative was founded in Singapore in 1981 with the vision that multimedia would revolutionize the way people interact with their PCs.
Famous for its Sound Blaster sound cards and for launching the multimedia revolution, Creative is now driving digital entertainment on the PC platform with products like its highly acclaimed ZEN line of digital audio players. The company's innovative hardware, proprietary technology, applications and services enable consumers to experience high-quality digital entertainment-anytime, anywhere.
Since launching the phenomenally successful Sound Blaster sound cards and setting the de facto standard for PC audio in 1989, Creative has been able to leverage on its leading-edge audio technology, huge user base and strong brand name to expand into the exciting lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment (PDE) market.
Today, Creative is widely recognized as a global leader for product innovation in the audio and PDE segments, offering consumers a complete, high quality digital entertainment experience through Creative's hardware, software applications and services. Finding the perfect balance between form and function, Creative strives for every product to be a sensory feast for the eyes and ears.
Creative is expanding the power of the personal computer with a wide range of interactive PDE products that comprises MP3 players, portable media centers, multimedia speakers and headphones, digital and web cameras, graphics solutions, revolutionary music keyboards and PC peripherals.
These products and solutions are marketed to consumers and system integrators through a worldwide distribution network that includes traditional marketing channels, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the Internet.
Creative's product innovations have won numerous international awards and accolades throughout the years. The more recent and notable awards include the Consumer Electronics Show "Best of CES" awards for four consecutive years for Prodikeys PC and music keyboard (2003), ZEN Portable Media Centre (2004), ZEN MicroPhoto MP3 player (2005) and ZEN Vision:M MP3 player (2006). The ZEN Micro MP3 player also won the Ziff Davis Media "Best of DigitalLife 2004" award.
Creative has also set new audio standards with the launch of its latest Xtreme Fidelity (X-Fi) audio platform. The cutting-edge technology has gained wide industry recognition and was selected by Popular Science as the "Best of What's New in Home Entertainment" in 2006 for bringing outstanding audio quality to MP3 music.
Creative has forged partnerships with some of the industry's top technology companies and developers worldwide, fortifying our strength and leadership in product innovation and research & development. Creative also made strategic investments in a number of US-based companies.
Moving forward, Creative's mission is to expand our leadership role in the lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment market, using groundbreaking technology and leading-edge designs for not just the technically savvy consumers, but for everyone who enjoys entertainment. With strong focus on our user-friendly interface, multiple features and cool industrial designs, the Creative brand is synonymous with lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment.
In June 1994, Creative gained a public listing on the main board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
Creative's global corporate headquarters is located in Singapore, in the heart of the Asia-Pacific region. It has regional headquarters in the US (Milpitas, California), Europe (Dublin, Ireland) and Asia (Singapore)."
The Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD provides the highest quality audio playback of any other sound card Creative has ever introduced. This sound card includes THX TruStudio PC audio technology, bringing together two of the most respected names in sound quality to provide an unparalleled audio experience on the PC. The Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD features audiophile-grade components for high-quality playback of music, games and movies, including 122db SNR Digital-to-Analog Converters (DACs), the highest signal-to-noise ratio sound card ever produced by Creative. Replaceable OP-amps provide the flexibility to further customize your audio experience through different sound coloration. If you are serious about how your PC sounds, this is the ultimate Sound Blaster experience.
-Intel® Core™2 Duo or AMD® processor equivalent (1.86 GHz or faster recommended)
-Intel, AMD or 100% compatible motherboard
-Microsoft® 7 32-bit or 64-bit, Windows Vista® 32-bit or 64-bit with Service Pack 1 or higher
-1GB RAM
->600 MB of free hard disk space
-Available PCI Express® slot
-CD or DVD drive for software installation
-High quality headphones or powered amplified speakers (available separately)
The Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD from Creative is shipped into a nice and stylish box; right from the outside we can see how the actual product looks like, without unsealing the enclosure. On the frontal part, we can see the full name of the product, the interface (PCI-Express) and we are also informed that the card is also aimed at audiophiles; the product supports the THX TRUStudio PC technologies:
On one of the box sides, we can see the logos of the latest EAX 5.0, Creative Alchemy, or OPENAL:
Further on the box, we can see the card connectors drawn and solutions regarding on what to connect to them:
Next, we can see the Minimum System Requirements listed on the box, along with some technical specifications regarding playback and recording, but also the package contents:
More in-depth technical specifications can be found on one of the other laterals of the box:
The bottom of the box retains the same orange/black theme and we can see some extra info regarding the onboard components, the supported technologies and software bundle:
After the removal of the external transparent plastic box, we can find the card fixed inside of a plastic frame, to avoid damages during transport:
Under the plastic frame there is a cardboard box with the rest of the bundle and documentation:
The bundle consists of two optical cables, a RCA to stereo jack plug cable, the CD with drivers and applications and the Quick Start Guide:
The little Quick Start Guide explains to us how to install step by step the card in our system, but also how to connect it to other devices like active speakers, headsets, A/V receivers and so on:
The card looks very nice from the outside; it features a semi-transparent top plastic shroud:
The top part is metallic and we can see some logos on it; one of them is the THX TruStudio PC one:
Near it, we can also find the Sound Blaster logo:
On the back of the card, we can only find a little sticker that holds the code name of the sound card, its serial number and the location where it was manufactured:
On one of the sides, we can find the expansion proprietary header for Creative devices:
Next, we can find a space left out in the casing where the Front Panel header is located (very useful, by the way because almost all the computer cases present on the market do have such connectors present and it is much more convenient to use these instead of going to the back of the case):
On the I/O shield, we can find, from left to right the:
-Microphone jack
-Headphone jack
-Front Left RCA jack
-Front Right RCA jack
-Line-In Left/Optical In combo connector
-Line-In Right/Optical Out combo connector
To remove the top cover, we can remove the 4 screws located on the back of the card:
On the board we can find now only SMD capacitors, an improvement compared to the older cards:
The Creative CA20K2 digital audio processor can be found in the lower right corner along with a 16MB memory chip.
"The 20K2 digital audio processor is based on the 20K1 architecture and accelerates OpenAL 3D audio, X-Fi CMSS-3D, X-Fi Crystalizer and other advanced X-Fi audio processing. The 20K2 uses an advanced PCI Express (PCIe) one-lane interface and adds an embedded RISC processor to safeguard against control latencies introduced by the PCIe interface. The 20K2 also expands the audio I/O capabilities and upgrades the SDRAM interface to DDR for increased local memory bandwidth. In addition, The 20K2 incorporates a High Definition audio architecture (UAA) component."
More details can be found at this link.
Near the PCI-Express connector, we can find the Burr-Brown PCM4220 high performance ADC:
The Wolfson WM8775 96KHz stereo ADC with 4 input selector can be found near the Front Panel header and is used for turning into digital the analog signals from the microphone input and line-in:
A Burr-Brown PCM1794 Delta-Sigma DAC can be found in the middle of the PCB, near 2 of the 4 replaceable OPamps, the JRC 2114D:
Finally, near the I/O shield connectors we can find the other two Opamps, the high performance, high fidelity LME49710 Nationals. Near them we can also see 4 metalized polyester film capacitors:
Right before installing the card inside the computer, we must make sure to uninstall the previous audio drivers (to avoid conflicts or system malfunction). Even if we have owned a Creative sound card before, it is most likely the older drivers won't be compatible with the new hardware.
When we insert the disk into the drive, an Autorun menu will pop up and will prompt us to select the language in which the installation will proceed:
After the language has been selected, we will be prompted to accept the Creative end-user software agreement:
Next, we can choose to install right away the software or customize:
The installer will ask us in which operating more we will want to start: entertainment, game or audio creation:
There is a part of the installation when we have to sit back and wait for it to complete:
After the installation is complete, a restart will be required:
The Product Registration application will pop-up after the system has restarted and will ask us to register the card in the Creative database, to gain more benefits like accessing the knowledge base, benefit from the product returns service or get email/phone call support:
Next, the Creative Software AutoUpdate will appear and will ask us to bring the installed software to the latest versions:
After the updates have been selected, the downloading phase will start:
The AutoUpdate feature got the latest versions of most the software, except the beta drivers from the website:
The Entertainment Mode is one of the three modes in which the card can function; it is meant mostly for movie and music playback. The THX TruStudio PC feature is also present here; on the top part of the interface we can see the features enabled, we can navigate through the menus by clicking on the icons, adjust the Volume, Bass or Treble, but also switch between the available modes:
When clicking on the little Mode button, the Mode Switcher application will appear:
The Speakers menu allows us to select the output device and also to do some tests; we do also have an advanced button which lets us to adjust volume levels per channel:
In the EAX effects menu, we can select the desired one and also the effect amount; this is a very known feature though older Creative audio cards users:
In the THX TruStudio PC menu, we can adjust some extra special effects that can be applied to the audio material; these could be also found with the previously reviewed World of Warcraft headphones, also from Creative:
THX TruStudio PC Surround provides immersion control to enhance the natural sense of audio depth and spaciousness by creating virtual surround sound channels. Stereo content or multi-channel content played over stereo speakers and headphones will sound as if it's coming from all sides while voices remain centered in front and original balance and timbre is preserved.
THX TruStudio PC Crystalizer restores the natural dynamic range that is lost when iTunes and MP3 music gets compressed. This makes the music sounds as good as the artist originally intended, and adds an enhanced level of realism for movies and games.
THX TruStudio PC Speaker fills in the missing low frequency tones and gives the extra impact for a better entertainment experience. Consumers no longer have to tolerate lack of bass in speakers built into notebook PCs, 2.0 speakers or headphones, as THX TruStudio PC Speaker technology dramatically improves the sound experience without a subwoofer.
THX TruStudio PC Smart Volume addresses the problem of abrupt volume level changes during playback and between songs by automatically and continuously measuring volume, and intelligently applying gain and attenuation to compensate for those changes.
THX TruStudio PC Dialog Plus enhances the voices in movies for clearer dialog, allowing the listener to hear the dialog over the rest of the soundtrack and over ambient noise in the listening environment.
In the EQ menu, we can customize the 10-band equalizer, but we can also select from some of the predefined presets:
Something that could be also found on the World of Warcraft headset software interface is VoiceFX, some funny effects that can be applied live to our voice when using the microphone. The Silencer is a technology which eliminates unwanted background noise that threatens to disrupt our conversations, ensuring that our voice is heard loud and clear:
In the Mixer menu, we can adjust both playback and recording volumes for different ports:
Next, in the Encoder menu we can switch on the DDL or DTS Connect encoders. These technologies enable the use of digital multichannel sound with consumer sound cards:
In the Digital I/O menu, we can enable Bit-Matched Recording or we can switch on the option to play stereo mix using the digital output:
The Audio Creation Mode is a little more complex and integrates most of our recording needs in a cool mixer interface; it is composed from some mixer strips which contain various controls related to a particular channel.
On the top of the strip we have a drop-down menu from where we can insert different effects.
On the left part of the interface, we can select some auxiliary effects that can be applied to the signal. Auxiliary effects allow us to send an adjustable amount of our input signals into 1 to 4 selected effects.
Pressing on the (…) button will launch the Effect Editor; from here we can tweak the effect parameters.
Further down, we can find the Balance Controls; for a mono channel, turning this knob anti-clockwise will pan the signal to the left; the opposite will happen if we turn it clockwise to the right. For stereo channels, we will have two knobs and they determine the levels of a channel pair in relation to each other. If we will position both knobs at the 12 o'clock position, the resulting sound will be a balance mix between the left and right channels.
Next, the Mute buttons will mute the channel and the Solo buttons will mute all other channels; the Solo buttons are useful for monitoring specific channels within a complex, multichannel mix.
The Level Faders control the output level (volume) of the channel.
The Bus routing buttons direct the channel to specific bus destinations; a single channel can be simultaneously routed to more than one bus destination. For example, if we want our instrument to be heard on the front and rear speakers only, we only have to click the corresponding buttons.
The little button that looks like a lock synchronizes the volume, mute, solo, and bus routing settings on both the left and right signals, which is ideal for stereo input such a synthesizer or CD player:
The Game Mode can be activated when we decide to run games; the interface is split into multiple tabs. One of them is the CMSS-3D menu, a function which upgrades the stereo sound to reproduce an amazing 3D sound environment, even when using regular headphones.
The MacroFX function accurately recreates sounds that are closer to us for better audio depth perception; the Elevation Filter enables HRTF filtering to discriminate sound locations that are above or below ear level:
The X-Fi Crystalizer enhances the effects so they will sound more dynamic; we can enable it whenever we feel the need:
The EQ menu has the same functions as it was previously mentioned when describing the Entertainment mode; the EQ does come with 10 bands and preloaded presets:
In the Mixer menu, we can control the volume levels of all audio sources; from this menu we can also adjust the microphone level but also enable/disable the SVM(Smart Volume Management) option:
The Audio Control Panel application allows us to set most of the previous settings that we could modify previously, but in a much more plain looking interface:
The Creative Diagnostics program allows us to detect and resolve hardware and software problems; some tests will be ran first and if we require some further assistance, we can send the log to Creative:
The Creative Media ToolBox 6 software comes with a 30-day trial period:
This software represents a complete recording to conversion solution, for music enthusiasts:
The Creative System Information software tells us what hardware and software we have installed in the system, mostly multimedia related:
Another application that comes bundled with the sound card is the Creative Wave Studio; with it we can make advanced modifications to the audio material:
The SoundFont Bank Manager is an application that gives us easy access and precise control over our SoundFont banks. With SoundFont Bank Manager, we can load, audition and organize SoundFont banks and presets quickly and easily:
The Creative Alchemy application restores the hardware accelerated audio for older games and applications:
The AutoMode Switcher is an useful application that permits us to specify in which mode specific applications will start:
For example, we can add the executable of a specific game, set a name of the application to appear in the table and we must also specify in which audio mode the sound card must switch when the application is executed:
After the application has been added, it will appear in the list:
Finally, the Volume Panel application will allow us to launch most of the installed applications that have been preinstalled:
CPU: Intel I7 Retail @ stock
Motherboard: Foxconn BloodRage with G42 BIOS
RAM: 3x2GB Patriot PVT36G1600LLK 1600MHz
Video: Sparkle GTX 470 with stock and OMNI A.L.C.
Power Supply: Nexus RX-8500 850W modular
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.11
Case: Thermaltake Armor+ LCS, stock cooling
The RMAA tests were done by following the instructions from Creative located here.
The loopback was realised between the Headphone Out and the RCA Line-in when testing the X-Fi Titanium HD; the cable used was the one that came with the card. The X-Fi Titanium HD was compared to the X-Fi Sonar, an addon sound card that was bundled with a Foxconn BloodRage motherboard.
For testing the X-Fi Sonar, the Headphone Out of the Sonar was linked to the RCA Line-in of the X-Fi Titanium HD.
Remember! These results are not to be taken as reference because each computer system configuration can produce different noise levels, so you may obtain lower or higher performance results than the ones listed here.
X-Fi Titanium HD
X-Fi SONAR
X-Fi Titanium
X-Fi SONAR
X-Fi Titanium HD
X-Fi SONAR
X-Fi Titanium HD
X-Fi SONAR
There was no doubt that Creative sound cards were the best in the past regarding in-game audio spatialization. This latest version of Titanium, the HD, makes no exception, delivering very good sound quality in the games I have tested like Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, Borderlands, Mass Effect 2 or Left 4 Dead. I was impressed to see that the sound positioning was as good as using 5.1 headphones, even if I was using the stereo Beyerdynamic MMX2 headset.
The movies and TV series also sound good on this board, and are more spectacular when the CMSS feature is turned on. When using the onboard audio, I could not benefit from the stereo expander or other effects present in the Entertainment mode of the Creative card and all sounded very cold.
The quality of the sound is impressive (as long we make sure the audio material we are playing is also high quality too, like FLAC). I really appreciated the inclusion of the Front Panel Audio header, considering that many other manufacturers are leaving them out. Depending on how components are arranged inside the case, the Front Panel Audio cable cansometimes deliver background noises. During my testing with the headphones, I could hear a little buzz when no music was playing; however, when I have switched to the connector at the back of the case, the background noise was completely gone!
The software that comes with the sound card offers us plenty of options to customize how the card can sound and record and is split in 3 sections: Audio Creation, Entertainment and Games; if we switch between the modes, our customized settings, including the volume levels, will remain applied.
What I would like to mention is that we may not hear very big differences between this card and some other high-end consumer sound card if the speakers and/or headphones you're using are of inferior quality; so when you're considering upgrading your soundcard, don't forget your speakers set.
Considering that the card offers only a stereo line out on the RCAs and a headphone output, we can conclude that it is not possible to connect analog surround speakers directly to the sound card; for that, we would need to use extra equipment like a separate amplifier or decoder and connect the card via the optical interface to it. This way, we will still be able to use the software interface of the card, but considering this time everything is on digital and the conversion from digital to analog will be done inside the equipment we will connect the card to, most of the hardware components of the card will not be used.
Also, for the first time from Creative, we are offered the chance to replace the OPamps of the card with the ones of our choice; this option was available from other manufacturers in the past and most of the people that will use this feature would be the audiophiles.
The card can be bought off the online Creative Store Website in Europe for about €179.99 with free shipping.
I would like to thank again to Creative for offering me the chance to review their latest sound card!