Creative Labs Sound Blaster Extigy Sound Card
by Creative
Our Price: $329.99
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: CE
See more product details
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: CreativePlatform: Windows
Model: SB0103EX
Product features:
- Hook-up to your PC or notebook with the hassle-free external USB connection
- Experience high-definition audio with 24-bit multi-channel performance with 100dB SNR clarity
- Transform your PC into a home-theater system with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound
- Enrich your listening experience with innovative EAX ADVANCED HD music enhancement tools
- Works with Windows 98 SE, 2000, Me, or XP with USB functionality
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Creative Labs Sound Blaster Extigy Sound Card
Customer Review: Too Many Flaws
Summary: 3 Stars
Great sound is almost a necessity to me, but like most college students, I opted for a laptop instead of a desktop. I felt that the only way to take full advantage of my 5.1 analog surround sound system was to connect my laptop to the SB Extigy. Connecting via USB was more or less a nightmare for me: playing anything through my CD-ROM drive produced loud pops and cracks that noticeably distracts from any music listening or movie watching (the Extigy was the ONLY USB device attached to my laptop at the time, and yes, I did enable DMA for my CD drive). Playing any material with a Dolby Digital stream, even after the movie had been copied to my HD (DivX with AC3 audio) was even a greater disappointment, especially since the Extigy so proudly wears the Dolby Digital logo. As long as I'm playing sound through USB on the Extigy with the Creative drivers, approximately 20% extra processing load is put on my 1.7 GHz Pentium 4-M processor. This extra processor usage is acceptable to some, but definitely not to gamers. My laptop also has an optical-out link, so I hooked up my laptop to the Extigy using a [$] optical miniplug to TOSlink cable.... Virtually all the cracking and popping noises disappeared even when I played DVDs and DivX movies with AC3 audio. However, my Toshiba laptop's optical out port requires my old Yamaha sound drivers - not Creative's. This means that I can't have any EAX sound effects for music or games; it's a slightly disappointing tradeoff, though I'd rather have flawless output than EAX effects.
For those with desktops, don't even consider the Extigy. A PCI Audigy is cheaper and significantly better. For those with laptops without optical out, it's either 2.1 audio from your laptop without the Extigy, or up to 5.1 audio with the Extigy along with occasional loud pops (I would personally prefer clean 2.1 audio in this case). If you own a laptop with optical out, then get the Logitech Z-680. The cost of the Z-680 is just about equal to the cost of the Extigy + the cost of a mid-range analog 5.1 audio system, except the Z-680 has hardware Dolby Digital/DTS decoding built-in, with optical, coax, and analog inputs, plus 505 Watts RMS output (1000W peak! Take that Kiplish). Did I mention that they are also THX multimedia certified? Just icing on the cake.
Do yourself a favor and skip on the Extigy if you can. USB 1.1 has a relatively narrow bandwidth and USB (even Firewire) relies too heavily on the main processor for data transfers. Though Extigy is an interesting product and worth some merits, wait for the next generation of high-end external computer sound cards (or get the Z-680 now!).
Turtle Beach TBS-2214 Ear Force Z6A Gaming Headset with Multi Speaker 5.1 Surround SoundTurtle Beach; Turtle Beach; Turtle Beach; Release date: 2011-08-02; Accessory; Mac OS X; Personal Computer
Best price: $75.99
Price in other shops: