Creative Introduces Sound Blaster X-Fi
Posted by Sachin Garg on 10th August 2005 | Permanent Link
Creative’s new line of product comes with some sleak technologies.
“The CMSS-3D Headphone Expander technology will blow you away. You will think that you are listening to a super high quality surround speaker system, as the sound will seem to come from external speakers instead of headphones pressing right against your ears.”
“The Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic sound card harnesses the full power of the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor to upgrade any existing library of MP3 or any music files to the Xtreme Fidelity audio standard. With the X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity 24-bit Crystalizer, MP3 music and movies are converted to Xtreme Fidelity, which deliver an experience beyond the original CD or DVD recordings.”
“The Entertainment Mode accesses the X-Fi 24-bit Crystalizer, which is driven by the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor. The processor converts audio to 24-bit/96kHz quality using its 136dB virtually transparent SRC (Sample Rate Converter) engine. Then it re-masters and selectively enhances the audio by analyzing and identifying which parts of the audio stream have been restricted or damaged during the dynamic compression stages to 16-bit and then the data compression stage to MP3 or WMA formats. For music, low and high frequencies are enhanced while dynamics are improved, for cleaner, richer sound. For movies, explosions, gunshots and high-impact audio sequences sound more realistic than ever before.”
If lost information can be recreated, does this means that data compression algorithms can be more liberal with what is lost during compression, then artificially recreating the ‘quality’ during decompression?
Read complete press-release here.
August 10th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
Once the information is gone, it’s gone. Just like “unsharp mask” might make a fuzzy photo look “better”, it doesn’t return it to the original. Audio post-processing like this is a marketing gimmick.
August 10th, 2005 at 8:18 pm
Not only is it a marketing gimmick, but also a complete non-issue. We’re moving further and further away from lossy compression of any sort as our disk space and bandwidth expands. I think that our development of lossless compression, like jpeg2, flac/ape/&c and archiving formats will eventually displace any worries about data loss.
August 10th, 2005 at 9:59 pm
Atleast with lossy compression, I feel perceived quality has always been the priority (not the information). It will ofcourse not be as good as original but if space is at premium, maybe encoders which specifically loose the kind of information which can be recreated can make a difference.
Lossless is no doubt a better choice.
September 19th, 2005 at 9:01 am
[...] MP3 format, enabling a more natural audio playback experience. This is similar to what we reported about Creative’s new X-Fi series. However, with users begging for more quality, cheaper/smalle [...]
October 16th, 2005 at 9:05 am
Well I liked this article and found it very interesting. I have read some good reviews like the one over at Toms hardware http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20050818/ . I’m interested in the x-Fi Platinum and I have asked people to post them on a thread i started on the Creative X-Fi Forum http://www.productionforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=4598 . I would prefer to hear what owners say on the Platinum. I would also like to know other good speaker setups I could use for my x-fi
February 1st, 2006 at 11:42 am
[...] Some time back, we talked about soundcards from Creative which advertised similar features. [...]