The Best $130 You Will Ever Hear
Written: Aug 27 '02 (Updated Jan 03 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Professional-quality sound, excellent features, remote control, user-friendly.
Cons: Must use a minijack-to-RCA adapter for component hookups (if applicable). False 96kHz/24bit output advertising.
The Bottom Line: For great sound of any genre, the Soundblaster Extigy is the way to go. The quality and feature set is unbeatable for the money.
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| compuwhiz's Full Review: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Extigy Sound Card |
Let me start this review by describing my situation to you:
I, like thousands of other people, am the owner of a laptop computer (a Sony VAIO). The majority of laptops today have only a single analog audio-out port providing stereo sound. The average Joe is perfectly content with just a headphone jack, and most people assume that laptops just aren't made for hi-quality sound. However, some people (like myself) desire more from their laptops.
Until about a year ago, the only solution for upgrading the sound capabilities of a laptop was to buy a costly PCMCIA card designed for professional recording applications (think $500 ). However, Creative Labs heard the pleas for a more consumer-oriented laptop sound card and introduced the SoundBlaster Extigy.
Although I am gearing this review toward the laptop user, the Extigy also makes a great sound card for a desktop computer and a great Dolby Digital stand-alone decoder for PS2/Xbox owners.
Some key features of the Extigy:
* Fully-functional computer soundcard for Microsoft Windows(R) users.
* USB 1.1 connection for both old & new computers
* Lightweight, portable construction (although AC-powered)
* 6-channel analog preamp output for multimedia speakers or Dolby Digital-ready receivers
* Digital DIN output for Cambridge Soundworks speakers (and supposedly can be converted to Coax S/PDIF output)
* Digital S/PDIF Coax input for DAT players
* Digital optical toslink input/output for connection to Digital Receiver, Minidisc recorder, or DAT player
* Line-in, Mic-in, Headphone out connectors on front of Extigy
* MIDI input and output
* CMSS (basically 5 ch stereo, a nice feature)
* Built-in Dolby Digital decoding for analog speakers
* Pass-thru DD/DTS via optical toslink cable
* 3D positional audio and EAX effects for games
* Full tone control (bass/treble) via software driver
* 100db SNR, 96kHz, 24bit (means it has a high-quality electronic processor), gold-plated connections
* Includes PlayCenter 3 (Creative Jukebox software) w/ DREAM (swirling audio), audio scaling (slow or fast without pitch change), and audio-cleanup DSP features
* Minidisc recording software for MP3/WAV transfer (warning, protected content will not copy)
* WAVE recording studio
* Software mixer for different speaker configurations, bass management, sub crossover setting, etc.
* And last, a remote control for controlling volume, playback, DVDs, music library browsing, and video settings.
Well, now that all of the technicalities are out of the way I can talk about setup. Physical setup is easy, assuming that you can read a colorful diagram for connecting the power, USB, speakers, components, etc. Software installation was flawless in both Windows 2000 and XP Professional. Just plug-in the card, let Windows do its detection thing, then pop in the Creative CD to make everything work. (Note: if you use Windows 98/98SE/ME you will want to pop in the CD first, then restart, then plug in the card, then restart) A helpful Tour program is included to help you make the most of the Extigy's features. The default Extigy software installation also adds some software that is useful to the operation of the soundcard.
Creative Audio Mixer allows you to select Automatic, 2-speaker, 4-speaker, or 5.1-speaker modes depending on your setup. It consolidates the volume, balance, fade, tone controls, and mixer volumes into one window for easy adjustment. Additionally, the audio mixer has advanced options that let you control whether the Extigy will decode Dolby Digital itself or pass the signal on to a receiver via optical, control the subwoofer volume and crossover in 5.1 setups, and control the center speaker volume in 5.1 setups.
Creative RemoteCenter lets you setup the Remote Control for use with the Extigy and windows applications. At this time, the remote is NOT programmable to certain keystrokes. However, it should work fine w/ most DVD players and MP3 players.
Creative Recorder lets you record digital music files via Line-in, Mic-in, MIDI-in, Optical-in, or S/PDIF-in. Creative Wave Studio lets you edit/modify WAV files on your computer. Creative Minidisc Center lets you send digital audio to your Minidisc recorder (if you have one). And Creative Diagnostics is there in case anything goes wrong.
I would like to make the comment that once you install the Extigy and its software and verify that everything is working properly, a Firmware / Software upgrade is available for download from www.soundblaster.com. This upgrade enables the customizable subwoofer crossover and the Optical DD/DTS pass-thru that I mentioned earlier.
For those of you who are interested in DTS (Digital Theater Sound), the Extigy will not decode the signal by itself. However, if your DVD player has built-in software DTS decoding the Extigy will send the audio to the correct channels. Also, the Extigy will pass DTS through the optical connection if you have a DTS-compatible receiver.
A comment about CMSS: the algorithms used by Creative Labs are similar in function to Dolby Prologic, but the results are much more satisfying. From just a standard stereo signal, the Extigy will separate most ambient sound to the rear channels and most of the instrumental/vocal sound to the front 3 channels. Unlike Prologic, CMSS does not overload the center channel with all of the vocals; instead it diverts some to the front channels to result in a very pleasing sound. Also, for stereo movies CMSS does a good job at surrounding you with sound.
I have had my Extigy for a year and a half and have sent every kind of audio possible at it. Gaming audio is great, especially if you have a 4/5.1 speaker setup. Music is excellent in regular stereo or in CMSS mode. Movies have never sounded better, especially in Dolby Digital or DTS modes. If you have a difficult time imagining your laptop sounding as good as a home theater, just give the Extigy a run for its money.
Disclaimer: the performance of the Creative Soundblaster Extigy is limited by the quality of the amplifiers and speakers to which it is connected. Use of the Extigy with cheap, generic computer speakers is strongly discouraged. Also remember that the Extigy is not an amplifier; it must be connected to powered speakers. You do not need to buy a 5.1 speaker set to utilize all of the Extigy's benefits. You can easily combine several 2.1 sets to create a better surround system. Just pick up the required adapters at Radio Shack to split the center/sub channel and convert the center channel to stereo.
Recommended companions:
* Klipsch Promedia 5.1 or 4.1
* Logitech Z-560 / Z-680
* Altec-Lansing 641 / ATP5 / 251
My Configuration:
* Creative SB Extigy
* Sony VAIO FX-220 laptop
* KLH R-5100 500w Receiver (6ch input)
* Aiwa SX-NAJ502 Front
* Aiwa SX-C610 Center
* Aiwa SX-R290 Rear
* Aiwa TS-WM6 Subwoofer
Copyright notice: the names Microsoft, Windows, Windows 2000, XP Professional, Creative Labs, Soundblaster, Soundblaster Extigy, CMSS, Dolby, Dolby Prologic, Dolby Digital, DTS, Sony, AIWA, Altec-Lansing, Klipsch, Logitech, and Radio Shack are copyrighted by their respective holders.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 127
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Epinions.com ID:
compuwhiz
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Member: Jeremy Gillow
Location: Melbourne, Florida, USA
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
System administrator and computer information systems graduate student.
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