Not another X-Fi sound card!

[@Maximum_Game_Hun]

I just replaced the opaque amp chip on Titanium HD yesterday and it beats everything with new chips ... It also supports a stereo 600ohm earphone this way. brutal!

[@sixcoregamer9221]

I used to have a SB Titanium HD. Super clear/precise sound with my Beyer DT 880 250 ohm. But keep in mind, the DT 880 250 ohm has very little bass, so I guess it's easy to drive. I miss my old Titanium HD, but there are a few downsides such as it only supports up 5.1 channels CMSS 7.1-->Headphone has slightly better rear positioning in games compared to CMSS 5.1-->Headphone Another downside: In regards to recording audio (especially with CMSS on), if you record "what you hear", it does not record what you hear. It records either unprocessed audio or not fully processed audio. If you want to record what you actually hear, then connect a cable from audio out to audio in. With some Creative sound cards, it is easy to connect headphones-out to line-in, but the Titanium HD uses RCA audio cables and I do not know how to feed the audio output back into the card. One person (on youtube) asked me how to do it on the Titanium HD, but he never replied to me about whether he got it to work with RCA cables. Those were the only two issues I had with the Titanium HD. I recall the sound quality is breath-taking. I never changed the op-amps.

[@AntonsHardware]

Well, it seems there is another downside. After finishing this video, I wanted to play a bit more with this card and found that it is now broken! Don't know why! It worked one moment and the next its not detected by Windows any more. PC boots, starts windows and then the screen goes black. :( It seems that it is a windows thing, as a Linux machine does detect the card. But Linux and X-Fi cards don't mix well. I'm rather upset that the card doesn't work anymore all of the sudden! It worked perfectly during recording and creating the video.

[@sixcoregamer9221]

​@@AntonsHardware That happens with Creative sound cards in windows. It happened with both my old Titanium HD and my current Audigy Rx. The solution is to uninstall the creative drivers (or uninstall all creative software and drivers), restart PC, and re-install Creative software/drivers. You might also need to remove/re-insert the card (while drivers are uninstalled and PC is off). The card is very sensitive to "movement". Touch/move the card as little as possible after it is inserted. Inserting/Removing cables can cause the card to become undetected in windows. If you don't touch the card and don't touch any audio cables connected to the card, and you don't move the PC, then it should work fine, I hope. support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?prodID=19749&prodName=Sound+Blaster+X-Fi+Titanium+HD It's been months since I reinstalled the creative drivers/software for my Audigy Rx. Initially, you might have to re-install the drivers a few times, but eventually, the card and drivers should "settle down" and not need to be reinstalled. I don't have a good explanation for why this is. All I know is to reinstall drivers and reseat card when it happens.

[@AntonsHardware]

Thank you for that answer! I will try that! I did reinstall the drivers, but maybe didn't reboot (was too impatient :D)

[@hypergalaxyhoover]

Happy 2021 to you too! Also, thanks for your reviews, I'm getting the DT 770 Pro 80 Ohms with the Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus tomorrow! :D

[@AntonsHardware]

WOW! I want that DT 770 pro also!

[@sergiosanchez5764]

Happy New Year to you. I had an X-Fi Titanium for years and I loved it till it gave out. On your recommendation, I bought the Asus Strix and I love it. Thanks for the video.

[@AntonsHardware]

Thank you! :D

[@tEXKiKos]

Hi, I have it now and used it for the past 8 years. Was brilliant, but didn't know its that good compering to everything else. I'm selling it on Ebay UK. Do you know how much is it worth it? I've replaced my PC to ITX and have no space for it in my new rig.

[@ThamilNesan]

Anton I had the Sound blaster live which was the great sound card for Logitech 5.1 speakers XFI Titanium was not even have that qualify of sound

[@AntonsHardware]

The Live was a huge leap forward back in the days! I got one last year to make a video about, but nowadays the card isn't that interesting anymore. So don't know if I'll be making a video about that one. Also, there is no driver support, so you have to use some modded drivers just to get it working. :D

[@ThamilNesan]

@@AntonsHardware Yes sound blaster Live was great I enjoyed it until it faced driver issues on Xp service pack . Then I bought Auzentec 7.1 which was good but not near the Creative live But now I want go for final decision Creative sound blaster Z or Asus zonar AE will be the great surround withclear tight bass and highs sound for Windows 10 on Dell i7 with Logitech 5.1 speakers without crazy driver multifunction issues Br Pls let me know Thank you ,🤝 if you can both are $100 canadian

[@MartinTeerly]

I over this cars for over 10 years and I'm wondering if they use to make desk remote for it

[@AntonsHardware]

No they didn't :(

[@阿綸的全勳學院]

Your current best sound card is EVGA sound card? or X-fi?

[@AntonsHardware]

The current sound card that is in my main system is the EVGA NU sound card. The X-fi isn't used.

[@brianignaut2330]

I purchased the Titanium HD used but have not been able to find a Windows 10 driver that will install properly. Any suggestions?

[@AntonsHardware]

You can use Windows 7 drivers. They worked for me!

[@brianignaut2330]

Thanks!@@AntonsHardware

[@mjd3879]

How do you think the X-Fi Titanium stacks up against onboard motherboard audio today, like a z790 motherboard?

[@mykolapliashechnykov8701]

1st gen Titanium might as well be worse than a modern onboard audio as its power design was horrible. Titanium HD will most likely beat any onboard chip, Creative did their homework with it. The only issue with it is a programming error of the TI DAC causing it to clip when the volume is more than -6 dB.

[@jimbab101]

hi anton, just my first 2023 youtube comments...i just bought that from ebay

[@adrianr.s.9956]

Good video, you should try to get the Asus Xonar Essence One and see how its sound quality

[@AntonsHardware]

I'm trying to get one! :D The Essence STX 2 is coming soon, but that's a whole different card.

[@adrianr.s.9956]

@@AntonsHardware I'll be waiting for the video about the STX ll, as for the Asus Xonar Essense One I mean this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4eog6igpc18as0

[@AntonsHardware]

Yes, the external card! It looks cool and it may be a recommendation! Thanks for the tip!

[@f0nd4c54]

Me encantan tus videos, cual me recomendarias calidad precio? Actualmente tengo la Asus Xonar dx, saludos desde Argentina.

[@AntonsHardware]

¿Cual es tu presupuesto? El DX está envejeciendo, pero sigue siendo una buena tarjeta. Yo elegiría el Xonar AE o Sound Blaster Z. ¡Saludos desde los Países Bajos!

[@f0nd4c54]

@@AntonsHardware Gracias por responder. La Sound Blaster Z ya la tuve y no me gusto la calidad de sonido, ahora tengo la Asus Xonar DX y me encanta el sonido, pero como decis, la interfaz esta anticuada. Ire por la Asus Xonar AE que es lo Máximo que me puedo permitir. Muchas Gracias Antons.

[@AntonsHardware]

¡De nada!

[@nicholasmorrill4711]

Anton I've watched dozens of your video's & I'm none the wiser......you talk about sound cards but what your actually looking at is onboard Dac's & they are nowhere near as good as my audiolab Mdac as far as I can see. What I want is a simple card that will deliver toslink & coaxial out of the pc then my Mdac can do the rest.(the audiolab does better sound quality through coaxial 24 bit/192 khz).Do you know of one? PS: a couple of RCA out's would also be good then I could connect it directly to my pre amp bypassing the Mdac & make a direct comparison.

[@AntonsHardware]

I understand that you call them onboard dac's and you are almost right, but they aren't just dac's, as a dac only will decode. A sound card has an onboard DSP, almost always have a headphone (swapable) amp onboard and have some sort of driver interface, where you may change stuff like roll on roll off. Something mainstream DAC's don't have. So there is a bit of a nuance there, but I do understand where you're coming from! But I don't agree that they are nowhere near as good as the Mdac. If you look at the AE-5 it also has the ESS Sabre DAC, as does the Mdac. The components used are also good quality. If you look at the EVGA NU, the AKM AK4493 dac, which is also used in very high end products and is capable of 32 bits and 384 kHz. Outperforming the Mdac. Don't get me wrong, the Mdac will provide better sound, on that I do agree, but the difference isn't that big in my humble opinion. Why won't you use the onboard solution of you motherboard? Most will provide a Optical SPDIF. As the decoding is done by the Audiolab, that may be a great solution! I love your reaction and I really appreciate your opinion!

[@nicholasmorrill4711]

@@AntonsHardware The Mdac not only has those slow roll off & sharp roll off filters Anton but about five others as well & to be frank it drives me mad. I have spent the last couple of nights changing between them. The best seems to be something called Optimal Transient XD for which there is no explanation whatsoever..... & it does the 32 Bit thing with a sabre chip which is the top one above the AE5.....though I can't even get it to play CD from the dedicated transport in the 24 Bit/192 KHZ it says it is capable of producing through coaxial ....& the optical toslink is the same producing 16Bit something.......meanwhile the USB from my old computer automatically knocks out 24Bit 48 KHz but the quality is not there. The whole things too bloody complicated. I bought the AE5 because apart from the toslink that I can feed strait in the headphone amp is bi-amp along with the rest of my system which is a significant improvement.I look forward to seeing how it performs in reality.

[@nicholasmorrill4711]

@@AntonsHardware PS: I reset the Mdac last night to factory settings in an attempt to get 24 Bit out of it (I bought it second hand) & now I get a little white box on the screen bottom right hand corner that was'nt there before saying D3E. God only knows what that is!

[@AntonsHardware]

I know what you mean! I've done a lot of listening with the roll off settings, but somehow it's nearly impossible for me to hear any difference. As for the CD issue, CD's are sampled at 16 bits and 44,1 kHz. So maybe that's why it show that? It's just a direct output, without any upscaling I think?

[@AntonsHardware]

Ohh great. I destroyed a sound card the other night (X-Fi Titanium HD) and spend the whole weekend trying to figure out why that is. I just wouldn't accept that it broke down! (but it did,...)

[@rygar74nl]

No blouse, still, great vid.

[@AntonsHardware]

Trying to show a difference in my wardrobe :D