Customer Reviews
Be Aware: ExpressCard only available on newer notebooks 
2008-07-15
I assumed that my Dell Inspiron 9300 was new enough to use this card, but I was wrong. The 9300 has the older CardBus or PCMCIA type slot. Only after reading about ExpressCard in Wikipedia did I realize I had made a big mistake. It is a newer faster interface that is not compatable with CardBus. Oh Well, maybe it's time to get a more modern computer so I can use my fancy new soundcard!
Works Great 
2008-06-13
I bought this card for one reason - I use my laptop for games, and I am running Windows Vista. The onboard soundcard in my laptop doesn't support any EAX-alike (hardware 3D sound) features, even for only 2 channels. This card supports every last one. If you use Creative's ALchemy software, you can run old EAX titles with full hardware sound, in Vista, when using a Creative card. For games, an absolute must-have.
For music, it's decent. It has the "X-Fi Crystalizer", which is essentially a compressor. It can make some songs sound great, and I'm sure I would use it a lot more if I didn't know how to tweak my music manually. Same goes for movies.
For music production, well, it's a little bit lacking. I can get down to 5 ms delay using ASIO4ALL, but it doesn't seem to have native ASIO nor that one Vista sound interface nobody uses ;-). This is kindof a bummer, but it has more support than my onboard card, so it's good enough.
Overall, the card is very nice. I'm not sure about the value - the current going price is kinda steep - but I don't regret the purchase at all.
amazing 
2008-04-17
I got this sound card and the optional surround sound upgrade kit for about 80 used here from a seller at amazon and its terrific. I haven't written a review in over a year but I felt that I had to for this product.
I had the Creative Notebook ZS soundcard that worked well for my XP machine and when i got a new computer with Vista and installed it, the sound was never the same.
With Xp the sound is rich and detailed, with Vista, it always sounded as if it was a "copy of a copy" -- sort of a washed out sound. The ZS's drivers weren't made for vista and the vista updates for it never worked as should.
The X-Fi card's drivers are engineered for Vista and you can hear it. The sound is rich, detailed and LOUD. Installation went extremely smoothly and there is an built in update engine so you don't have to go to the Creative website and manually update it.
The interface is very user friendly and there are heaps of features that come along with the superb sound.
I highly recommend this product to anyone who is interested in excellent sound.
Unbeatable Practicality in Notebook Sound 2008-01-07
I raise an eyebrow at reviews that contain statements like, "I'm pretty sure they are all defective." My experience with this card has been nothing short of stellar, and others share the same experience.
This card is not marketed as a gaming soundcard, although it will handle games. The main purpose of this card is to give you unparalleled sound for music and movies, and it definitely delivers on both fronts. I am very particular about sound, and couldn't tolerate the electronic noise contamination from my HP Pavilion's on-board soundcard, thus I bought this card.
Using very sensitive in-ear monitors, I could not detect any electronic buzz at any volume level. The card really isolates your sound from all the other electronic fluctuations going on in your computer, and delivers great sound. The software interface is very intuitive, and even has a button that toggles playback through your notebook speakers--a tiny feature, but it shows that real thought went into the product design.
People are already familiar with Creative's EAX and Crystallizer technologies, so I won't review them here, suffice to say they work just fine.
What won me over was the fact that this tiny wonder has -both- optical inputs and outputs, enabling one to connect it to a Dolby Digital decoder (for multi-speaker setups), an external DAC (Digital-to-Analogue Converter), or any permutation of such devices! Furthermore, sound quality output is versatile with both 48Khz and 96Khz master outputs, in 16 or 24-bits.
Besides the optical ports, the dock provides a multitude of connection options.
When considered from a price-to-performance/features point of view, the Xi-Fi ExpressCard is a real winner. Products in this category are already rare, but Creative has put some real thought into this, and it shows.
Please note that this product is incompatible with the following notebooks:
* 1. Fujitsu Lifebook E8210*
* 2. Fujitsu Siemens Amilo A1667G*
*As listed on Creative's Website
Disappointing 
2007-12-02
I assumed the docking module was included, but it is not. It was pictured on the box (I guess Creative has since changed it), and just the sound card is not much use to me. The docking module cost another $35 or so directly from Creative. And the Docking Module seems like a relatively simple thing that Creative could've tacked on to the card for a lot less.
I wanted it to this product so I could set-up my Creative Labs Gigaworks S750 7 Piece THX 7.1 Speaker System with my laptop. I'm running Windows Vista, and it was tricky to find the right settings to make everything work correctly. It was especially tricky to find the settings because the speaker system, which I had long before this card, came with a 4-3 multi-channel cable (no gray "side" plug on one end) instead of a full 4-4 cable. (Another big thumbs-down to Creative.) So I have it set-up as a 7.1 and upmix from 5.1 to 7.1 from the speaker hardware/control pod as a compromise, as no setting can give me the side channels with a new cable.
I don't know much about the subject, but after not finding the docking module in the box, I thought I would be able to use the card's optical-out to connect to the remote/control pod and pipe the multi-channel sound out that way. I don't remember if it was even possible, but it didn't come with a cable to try it.
It would be nice if this was a USB thing I could plug into the back so I don't have another thing sticking out the side on the machine.
Great Sound Card For Music 2007-11-11
EXPRESSCARD SOUND BLASTER X-FI XTREME AUDIO NOTEBOOK
A MUST if you watch movies and listen to music on your notebook! 2007-07-18
Believe me when I say you have to experience Xtreme Fidelity to really appreciate what it does for music and movies. I don't really understand the how "X-Fi" works. A friend tells me it has something to do with the way the Crystalizer repairs the damage that was done to audio and video files during compression. Too much geek speak for me! All I know is that my movies and music have never sounded clearer or more vibrant. Plug in your favorite headphones for an even better listening experience!
If your notebook is basically a desktop replacement, why cheat yourself out of superior audio quality? Get this ExpressCard and start enjoying your music and movies the way they were meant to be heard!
Huge Boost In Audio Quality 2007-07-17
I got this with my notebook last month. I use my notebook to play music in my home office and for music and to watch movies when I am traveling. I didn't use it for the first week I had my new notebook. When I finally did install it my first reaction was a huge "WOW"!
The clarity of the music was what I first noticed. My favorite Nora Jones tunes sounded like I had never heard them before. When I used it on the plane the first time I noticed that I did not have to crank the volume all the way up to be able to hear it.
When I first set it up I played around with the CMSS and Crystalizer audio settings. That seems to be the heart of the sound processor. I thought it might be just a glorified equalizer, but there are separate equalizer settings. I noticed that one one tune ("Thinking About You") I heard a high-hat that I had not noticed before, not matter how much I cranked up the higher end on the equalizer. It's strange that the default setting is with these features off since that is what makes such a big improvement in the music.
The quality didn't seem to be enhanced much when I played CDs. I think that is because the audio is coming directly from the CD and is not being precessed by the sound card, but I'm not sure.
I read another post about problems with gaming. I am not a "gamer" so I can't comment to those, but I can tell you that this sound card rocks the house when it comes to music!
Maybe if they fix it 2007-06-30
Bought this card a couple weeks ago and is quite disappointed, and let's just start off with the docking module. For those who are familiar with the docking module, be aware it is not packaged with the card. Even worse is the docking module is not even available in most countries yet including the u.s. and has no current estimated release date, so 7.1 support of the card is currently useless. The x-fi crystallizer sounds good and so does the 3-d headphone effects thing. Oddly enough games that support x-fi claim the card doesn't support it. It is a x-fi audio card and not a x-fi gaming card and this is probably difference with creatives card though not clearly labeled. x-fi on the cover means x-fi support to me. It does support the eax sound effects which is neat. This card is almost worth getting for the 3-d effects and eax effects IF THEY WORKED. Turning these effects only causes all windows sounds to make weird cracks and pops. In games sounds do the same. Explosions become weird noises. This is a well known problem with x-fi cards. Creative knows its a problem, knows their cards are defective and took them two weeks of emails and drivers reinstalling,optimizing,ect just for them to say my card is defective. Well duh. I'll be returning this if i can. Don't expect a fix for the pops and cracks. I've read a million forums and it seams like a bunch of people are having the same issues with this card(and other x-fi cards) which creative has just been telling people their particular card might be defective. I'm pretty sure they are all defective.
