This X-Fi Champion has an I/O drive!

[@zoltanturi8940]

I like this sound card videos! Keep up this good work & just do more and more like that! Thanx!!

[@AntonsHardware]

Thank you! :D

[@Aranimda]

My favorite sound card of all time. It's the last sound card of a generation where hardware processing, 3D positional audio, EAX (Environemntal audio) and PC surround sound were must-have features for gamers. It also is one of the last sound cards that comes with a MIDI synthesizer with SoundFont support. I'm very much disappointed that this card no longer works on my AMD ThreadRipper Pro system so I switched to the Xonar AE (Which very much disappointed me because the software/drivers are quite bad in features) and now the Terratec Aureon 7.1. which works nice but lacks the Creative EAX technology. Under Vista to Windows 11 I used Creative Alchemy to get EAX and hardware 3D sound back on games that support it like Thief II, Unreal and Guild Wars 1.

[@HABIBULLAHxZed]

Apart from software issues, how was the sound quality of Xonar AE for speakers?

[@HABIBULLAHxZed]

I mean stereo sound quality? Was it better than this reviewed one?

[@Aranimda]

@@HABIBULLAHxZed Well. Fine I guess. The basic sound of the Xonar is excellent, just like any modern sound card is. The issues I had are with crappy 7.1 upmixing. If you just use it with stereo speakers, that is not an issue for you. But then again. Just use your on-board sound then. It is fine nowadays.

[@shereder-one]

Nice review Anton! but I would like to see some user interface as well. Maybe a comparison between all x-fi cards you own :) but that might be asking too much

[@AntonsHardware]

The user interfaces from the X-Fi's are all about the same as you can see at 8:35 in this video. Stripped down drivers with just the bare essentials. Nothing fancy. But doing a video on driver interfaces is a very good idea! I'm going to put that one on my idea list! Thanks!

[@rygar74nl]

Great vid. Good shirt, good haircut.

[@AntonsHardware]

Going to the barber soon! :D

[@Lestercortez128]

Hi! I had the creative X-Fi Elite Pro in the past. How does the Super X-Fi differ from the Creative X-Fi Elite Pro?

[@sixcoregamer9221]

I am looking forward to your frames per second video. Just an idea for you. Since you have so many sound cards, perhaps you could record some in-game audio to compare different sound cards (in different games). I know it is a lot of work to record gameplay audio on different cards, and then compare them all, but it is something that no one does (on youtube), as far as I know. You might want to use a separate recording "card" that is specially designed to record audio/video. Trying to use the sound card itself to record itself can be tricky, and it might turn out bad.

[@AntonsHardware]

Thanks! I'm currently working on it. Did all the benchmarking, recorded the video's and voiceovers. Now working on how to present the results in an easy manner, so everyone will understand. :D Hope it will be ready next Friday! I try to release every two weeks on Fridays around 15:00 - 16:00 GMT +1 time. That is a very very good point you are making. I have been fiddling around with recording the different sound cards, just to let everyone hear what they sound like. But there are a lot of issues with multiple drivers on a single windows machines. They tend to get "in each others hears". So now I'm trying to figure out how I can use a capture device with a separate audio input. And yes, self testing a sound card will give weird results. I've tried a self test on an Asus Essence STX 2 and the results were just way too good to be true. But I want to use that one as the seperate test card in the future.

[@sixcoregamer9221]

​@@AntonsHardware I can not recall (on youtube) ever seeing a direct comparison between Asus and Creative sound cards (in games). KZbin is filled with Game XYZ tested using video card A vs B vs C or cpu D vs E vs F. But I can't recall seeing any such comparison for sound cards (in music/movies yes but not in games). I think it's sad that sound cards are dying. This trend needs to stop. Currently, I only have one sound card (the Audigy Rx). Not the highest audio quality but good enough for youtube and good enough for gaming (in general). Most new games sound worse than older games. However, there are are rare exceptions. Warframe sounds decent. Valve and Bethesda tend to use older game engines that might sound better than other (more modern) game engines. There are so many PC games now. Not like 15-20 years. Destiny 2 and warframe are free to play. Destiny 2 had lots of reverb/echo with my Audigy Rx (cmss on). I hope to get a VR headset in the next 1-2 years, and I hope my sound card can work with that. Good 3D VR + 3D audio will be mind blowing, I hope. Last night, I re-installed Thief 2 after I watched a youtube video, and I realized the sound is the best thing about that game. If I were you, if i were to make a video comparing Asus to Creative (for gaming), I would try to test newer games instead of older games. But unfortunately, it is rare to find a modern game that is optimized for sound cards. The next "big game" I am looking forward to is Vampire: the masquerade bloodlines 2. That is on my "must buy" list. If you know any modern games that sound amazing on a sound card, I would love to know.

[@sixcoregamer9221]

One more thing. Assuming you are recording gameplay audio for youtube (stereo), be sure to set windows desktop speaker config to the highest possible (usually 7.1 or 5.1). Then, in the sound card control panel (Asus or Creative), set speaker config to headphones (because this is stereo which is what you want for youtube). In most modern games, the game will automatically use windows desktop speaker config. But in some games, there is an option to set speakers in the audio settings. Be sure to set the highest possible speakers (7.1 or 5.1) that the sound card supports. The reason to do this is because the game will output the greatest number of audio channels (7.1 or 5.1) and the audio processor on the sound card will downmix that to stereo. This usually makes the audio more 3D. However, sometimes you might get better results with both windows desktop and the Asus/Creative control panel set to headphones. The consensus is, in general, set windows desktop to the highest possible speaker config (7.1 or 5.1). If a game has a strong built-in audio engine, then it might be better to let the game create the 3D audio. But usually, games have weak in-game audio engines, which means, usually, it is better to output as many audio channels (from the game) as possible, and then let the sound processor on the card convert that into stereo. By the way, I can hear a different between 5.1 with cmss on and 7.1 with cmss on. About 10 years ago, I wrote a review for my headphones. In the review, I said that my headphones have weak audio for rear sounds (coming from behind) in games. The reason i thought this is because i was using a Titanium HD with 5.1 Years later, I get an Audigy Rx with 7.1 audio channels and with the exact same headphones, suddenly, the rear sounds the same as the front (in games). It had nothing to do with the headphones. It was simply because 7.1 has more audio channels in the rear which gives it more accurate 3D positioning in games. I am not making this up. I am 100% certain that 7.1 has better rear positional accuracy in the games I was playing. It's a shame the Titanium HD only supports up to 5.1 and not 7.1 because I miss that card.

[@backdash5649]

@AntonsHardware: I've been trying to get my IO Drive to work for some time. No matter which driver I install, the 3 buttons, volume button and LEDs just don't work. My card is also recognized as "Xfi fatal1ty Pro Series" by the product registration, not as "Champion Series". The connection cable is definitely OK. It seems to be a common problem as you can find a lot about this problem but no solution. Can you please show me exactly which driver you are using to make it work?

[@ismailthix]

can I request the iso driver cd to be sent via the link

[@AntonsHardware]

I don't have the driver CD anymore. It broke :( If I remember correctly, I got the driver from the Creative website! support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=671&subCatID=671&prodID=17813&prodName=X-Fi+Titanium+Fatal1ty+Champion+Series&subCatNam

[@mrPCbuilds.]

You completely missed some of the biggest features.. when you change the modes it opens up the actual interface.. you were reviewing the settings menu essentially, not the interface.

[@AntonsHardware]

Sorry, I didn't see this when recording! I will be more carefull in the future!

[@StoreTechEc]

hello friend please I don't know if you can help me urgently with a DVD image of the drivers of the audio card since I lost my dvd and on the internet there are only the drivers but not the drivers or the volume controller software, help me by please I would be very grateful

[@AntonsHardware]

Hi PC Support Store! I got my drivers from the website of Creative. These are the english drivers, but you can change the site to your language down below. support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&subCatID=208&prodID=16559&prodName=X-Fi%20Platinum%20Fatal1ty%20Champion%20Series&subCatName=X-Fi%20Series&CatName=

[@napalmarsch]

i want this card for my retro system becaus it supports xp vista 8 7 and 10 driver for all windows versions and eax support =D

[@AntonsHardware]

Recently I found another second hand one on Tweakers (dutch hardware site), but sadly I cannot find it anymore. :( Cool name by the way. I think I know which game you like! ;)

[@napalmarsch]

@@AntonsHardware i found one on ebay for 40€ just the card i think thats okay Thanks =) yes the good stuff from the best times of pc gaming =)

[@amyjojinkerson6745]

I got mine for $20.00 used

[@AntonsHardware]

Great price! How is the audio quality?