X-Fi Elite Pro or X-Fi Titanium Pro?

I

iDShaDoW

Limp Gawd
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Mar 13, 2009
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I'm getting my hands on some Klipsch Promedia 5.1 Ultras for really cheap and was wondering.

Would a Creative Labs X-Fi Elite Pro be good for these speakers if I don't have the I/O Console unit? (I'm planning to use the setup for gaming/movies/music. None more exclusively than the others.)

Also, what's the difference between the X-Fi Elite Pro and the X-Fi Titaniums? I don't have a PCIe capable motherboard at the moment but would it be better for me to hold off on a sound card for now until I do get a PCIe motherboard and get a PCIe X-Fi Titanium instead of the PCI X-Fi Elite Pro?

Thanks for any help.

Edit: Oh yea, does anyone know if there's a wall mounting bracket for the center channel speaker? I see that Klipsch has them for the satellites but I have a pull-down projector screen hanging in my room and it'd be nice to mount the center channel above it.
 
There shouldn't be much difference. PCI is still a fine interface for sound cards.

I'd say that, if you are in any way considering a crossfire or SLI setup down the road, then going with the PCIe sound card will be worth it. Expansion slots on those boards, especially regular PCI slots, tend to be fairly scarce, so PCIe is the way to go.
 
How about building one yourself? :D

I'm always one to advocate DIY. Recently got into it myself and it's really fun, but a tad time consuming and sometimes pricey.

However, a wall mount should be easy since you won't have to make it look pretty. It just has to be functional.

Otherwise, I have no idea. Lol.
 
Yeah, that's the thing, I'd definitely make my own if I knew how (I'm still waiting on the speakers to arrive next week anyway so won't know how to go about that til I can take a look at em closely). I might just have to ghetto rig it to the ceiling somehow lol.

GotNoRice said:
There shouldn't be much difference. PCI is still a fine interface for sound cards.

I'd say that, if you are in any way considering a crossfire or SLI setup down the road, then going with the PCIe sound card will be worth it. Expansion slots on those boards, especially regular PCI slots, tend to be fairly scarce, so PCIe is the way to go.
Click to expand...

Yea, I'm just worried about future proofing in a way. Would suck to upgrade to a Core i5 or i7 board eventually and have manufacturers phase out PCI completely in favor of PCIe like they did with AGP slots and have a useless PCI sound card.

I've read about people having crackling/popping sound problems with X-Fi Titaniums, is this a problem with the X-Fi Elites as well?
 
Not sure. I am fairly sure most of those problems have been alleviated. Maybe not all, but most. I just got a long-used X-Fi Platinum Fatality that works perfectly. No problems so far. In fact I'm having more problems with my headphone amp than anything.
 
I see. Alright, bear with me cause this is gonna sound like a really stupid question but I'm learning as I go.

The Promedias don't have their own digital decoder, so the sound card would have to act as that (the DAC), right?

Now... is the DAC for the X-Fi Elite Pro located on the PCI card itself or is that inside of the I/O console? Cause if it's inside the console, then I'd be kind of hosing myself if I just bought the card itself without the I/O console.
 
iDShaDoW said:
I see. Alright, bear with me cause this is gonna sound like a really stupid question but I'm learning as I go.

The Promedias don't have their own digital decoder, so the sound card would have to act as that (the DAC), right?

Now... is the DAC for the X-Fi Elite Pro located on the PCI card itself or is that inside of the I/O console? Cause if it's inside the console, then I'd be kind of hosing myself if I just bought the card itself without the I/O console.
Click to expand...

It's on the card. Also the I/O is supposedly a terrible sound output so most people don't use it anyway.
 
Nice, thanks for the quick response, was reading something on it and you replied before I finished lol.

So the 1/8' mini jack connection from soundcard to the speakers should suffice?

My brother mentioned the SPDIF connector... Without having to waste your time going into too much detail on SPDIF, is there a true need for SPDIF (like would I miss out on sound quality when watching movies or something)?
 
God, someone should sticky a thread that explains SPDIF before we waste anymore man-hours on this goddamn subject. Too bad moderators don't give a shit about the Computer Audio forums or they don't give a damn enough to stick shit because I have notified them before about some threads that give good info.

SPDIF gives out a digital signal. Digital signal needs to be turned analog before being sent to speakers. DAC is a digital to analog converter. Guess what it does?

The DAC plays a big part in sound quality in audio equipment. When you send SPDIF out from your card, you are ignoring the DAC on the card because you are sending out a digital signal. AKA it is not analog yet. If you have a better external DAC (i.e. receiver or DAC or processor), then it's a good idea. Otherwise, it's bad.
 
GotNoRice said:
There shouldn't be much difference. PCI is still a fine interface for sound cards.

I'd say that, if you are in any way considering a crossfire or SLI setup down the road, then going with the PCIe sound card will be worth it. Expansion slots on those boards, especially regular PCI slots, tend to be fairly scarce, so PCIe is the way to go.
Click to expand...

Why no just look at Creative's site?:
http://uk.europe.creative.com/produ...1&subcategory=208&product=17791&nav=0&listby=

http://uk.europe.creative.com/produ...1&subcategory=208&product=14064&nav=0&listby=

The dacs on the PCI X-Fi elite Pro at 116dB vs 109dB at the PCI-E card...the Elite Pro is different from ALL others X-Fi's in that regard, even the PCB is different and has a different layout.
 
I see, thanks for that Atech and Alai.

Now, at the risk of getting some more chewing out...

I've been reading up a lot on modding the X-Fi cards. Other posts on this forum say that the Auzen Prelude has better components. Are the capacitors on the Auzen better than the Jamicons found on the Creative Labs cards?

Overall, would the X-Fi Elite Pro or the Auzen Prelude have the better DAC? Or is that just subjective based on primary use (ie. gaming, movies, or music)?

Trying to figure out now if it'd be worth the trouble of going through the modding process (and risk of damage) to upgrade the X-Fi Elite opamps and capacitors or shell out the extra cash to get the Auzen Prelude (which also has the on-card SPDIF connectors).
 
Well... Creative cards don't do bit-perfect output when you do SPDIF. So if you plan on continually upgrading your audio setup in the future, then I would stick with the Prelude. But that is particularly for music and/or movies. For games, if you care about EAX, stick with Creative.
 
I see, but the Prelude has the X-Fi chipset and supports up to EAX5.0 so that would make it just as good for games too, wouldn't it?
 
Yes, but if you have an external DAC, then EAX has problems going digital out with Prelude. Apparently you have to enable Dolby or something? I wasn't too clear on that.
 
Oh, I won't have an external DAC and will be relying on the one on the soundcard.

I guess, in the end I'm not too worried about SPDIF.

Stupid question again though... will I be able to get 5.1 surround sound to my Promedia's using the 1/8" mini-jack? That's not something that you'd absolutely need a digital connection for right? (Sorry, I'm not too knowledgeable on a lot of this stuff)
 
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