X-Fi XtremeMusic Front Panel Cable Mod

[klipsch4.1]

I have the Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card and I was looking for a good pinout to make the connection from the Creative Proprietary Connector on top of the sound card to the front-panel audio port on my case (Antec 300). I know that this site exists, but I've heard mixed things about the mod not working 100%.

I have made one cable, but it appears to only half the power to the headphone jack & mute the rear speakers. After doing extensive searching through forums & whatnot, I've come to find the following information regarding the pinout of the connector on the X-Fi as well as the standard AC'97 & HD Audio connectors.

Creative Proprietary Connector Pinout:

***** FRONT OF CASE *****
01 - AUD GND
02 - FP Out (L)
03 - Audio Mute (L)
04 - FP Out (R)
05 - Audio Mute (R)
06 - MIC
07 -
08 - MIC BIAS
09 - MIC Mute
10 - Cable Detect
***** REAR OF CASE *****

AC'97 Pinout:
01 - MIC
02 - GND
03 - MIC_Bias
04 - GND
05 - Out (R)
06 - Return (R)
07 - +5V
08 - KEYED/NOT USED
09 - Out (L)
10 - Return (L)

HD Audio Pinout:
01 - MIC (L)
02 - GND
03 - MIC (R)
04 - Presence
05 - Out (R)
06 - Return (R)
07 - Sense
08 - KEYED/NOT USED
09 - Out (L)
10 - Return (L)

So far I've tried the following pin-to-pin connection:

X-Fi ----> Front Panel Connector
01 ----> 02
02 ----> 09
03 ----> 10
04 ----> 05
05 ----> 06
06 ----> 01
08 ----> 03

All I get with this config is that when I plug headphones into the front port, the volume/power seems to get halved. What I'm trying to do is the following:

1) When I plug headphones into the front panel, the rear output mutes
2) Be able to not have anything plugged into the front panel for the rear to work (I've seen some mods that require you to have an empty connector in the front panel for the cable to work)

If anyone has any suggestions, let me know, I hate to have an X-Fi soundcard, a nice case, and to have the front panel audio connectors be useless. I could just use the onboard audio, but I have an X-Fi, so why not use it?

Thanks in advance

& Oh yeah, my system below is old & out of date, I'm currently in the process of building a new rig and I plan to move my X-Fi to it.

Asus P5Q Pro
Q9550 w/ Actic Freezer 7 Pro
OCZ Platinum Edition 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1000MHz (PC2-8000)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA
VisionTek ATI HD 4870 512MB w/ ZALMAN VF1000 2 Ball VGA Cooler
LG 20X DVD±R SATA / X-Fi XtremeMusic
Antec 300 Case / FSP 600W

 

[ourfpshero]

i made a very ghetto cable for my case and xtrememusic. it doesnt mute the speakers but my speakers have an on/off switch in a control pod so its not an issue. the headphone power doesnt get halved as long as speakers are off.

 

[klipsch4.1]

Well, I have the Klipsch 4.1 (go figure ) and the power still seems to get halved when I turn them off and have headphones plugged into the front panel port.

I don't have a microphone to test the MIC-in port but I'm hoping that should work as well.

It would be nice to be able to plug in headphones, and have the rear output mute w/o halving the power. I have extra materials to make a couple of additional cables, so if anyone would be interested, I might make a couple and either sell them here or maybe on fleaBay or something.

 

[ourfpshero]

pic of the cable- and how much?

 

[kniah]

I made a similar cable for my Audigy 2ZS. I believe it has the same pin out as the x-fi. If your case has an AC97 connector (like mine does), I don't think there is any way to automatically mute the rear panel when you plug in headphones. The pins simply aren't compatible. You could make a simple manual switch to short out pins 3 & 5 on the x-fi, but I think that's the best you can do without changing the ports on your case.

What do you mean by your volume is halved when your headphones are plugged in? That the volume of the headphones is too low? If that's the case, I would decrease the volume of your speakers, and increase the volume in Windows to balance them out.

I am using the same pin connections as you, except I don't have pins 3 & 5 on the x-fi connected (the mute pins). When I had those connected the way you do, my rear panel was always muted. Try disconnecting those if you haven't already.