London; 9th August 2005: Creative (Nasdaq: CREAF) the worldwide leader in audio with over 250 million Sound Blaster sound cards sold to date, announces the future of audio with the introduction of its highly anticipated Sound Blaster X-Fi™ line of sound cards. Powered by the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity™ audio processor, the Sound Blaster X-Fi cards introduce Xtreme Fidelity, an entirely new audio standard for music, movies and games.
“On May 12th of this year we introduced the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor and the Xtreme Fidelity audio standard and the response has been phenomenal,” said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. “People have been contacting us from all over the world wanting to know when they can experience Xtreme Fidelity with MP3 music and games from a Sound Blaster sound card. We gave a sneak preview at e3 in Los Angeles, and the crowds were in awe when they heard the difference that Xtreme Fidelity makes.
“We’re addressing all the excitement in time for the holidays with the introduction of the Sound Blaster X-Fi family of ultra-high-performance sound cards that can dramatically enhance any music or audio, accelerate gaming, and provide an amazing headphone experience. With Sound Blaster X-Fi’s 24-bit Crystalizer™ and CMSS®-3D technologies, all your MP3 music and CD music can sound even better than the original studio recording. 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 … the sound will seem to come from external speakers instead of headphones pressing right against your ears.
“Sound Blaster X-Fi heralds the beginning of a new epoch in audio, where X-Fi enabled audio products will eventually and completely replace the old hi-fi equipment in the home,” continued Sim. “With the arsenal of high-end audio products, technologies and intellectual properties that Creative owns, you can expect Creative to release more and more audio product lines that support this new Xtreme Fidelity audio standard.”
Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro.
The Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro features professional-quality digital-to-analogue converters (DACs) with 116dB SNR, plus an I/O module with a comprehensive selection of connectivity for audio creation and easy-to-use control knobs for the X-Fi 24-bit Crystalizer, X-Fi CMSS- 3D (Creative Multi-Speaker Surround), 3DMIDI, and EAX. The Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro also features 64MB of on-board X-RAM – audio memory dedicated to higher gaming audio quality and performance - in addition to a built-in pre-amp for direct recording plus high-impedance inputs for electric guitars. The ‘top of the line’ Sound Blaster X-Fi solution, the Elite Pro includes all the standard features, application software, power and performance capabilities of the entire family of Sound Blaster X-Fi cards (described below) in one ultimate solution.
Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS.
Designed to meet the performance demands of the world’s best-known professional gamer, Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty™ FPS sound card provides stunning 109dB SNR audio quality, accelerates gaming performance, and includes 64MB of on-board X-RAM for high-performance gaming. With support for EAX® ADVANCED HD™ 5.0, the latest version of the EAX Environmental Audio standard, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS card utilises X-Fi CMSS 3D technology for stunning audio realism over headphones in LAN gaming. The Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS also features a convenient front-facing internal drive bay for easy connectivity, plus the X-Fi IR remote which easily accesses and controls all digital entertainment as well as the X-Fi 24-bit Crystalizer, X-Fi CMSS 3D, 3DMIDI and EAX. In addition to providing outstanding gaming performance, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS includes all the standard features, application software, power and performance capabilities of the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum and Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music.
Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum.
The versatile sound card to complement all digital entertainment experiences, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum sound card includes an internal drive bay with convenient, front-facing input/output connectivity for headphone listening, PC gaming and audio creation. Delivering 109dB SNR audio quality, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum includes the X-Fi IR remote, for easy access to the Entertainment Center software console, which gives access to music, movies and picture slide shows through a slick, streamlined interface. The Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum also includes all the standard features, application software, power and performance capabilities of the Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music.
Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic.
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. With the included Creative MediaSource™ 3 software suite, users can easily SuperRip™ all their digital music permanently to Xtreme Fidelity. In addition, MediaSource 3 allows users to enhance their music content further with single-click access to rich features such as X-Fi CMSS-3D, Smart Cross-Fade and Smart Volume Management. The Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music sound card plays back audio with rich 109dB SNR quality.
Optimised modes for peak X-Fi performance.
Each Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card can direct its power to any of three key modes that are engineered for optimum experiences with music and movie playback, PC gaming or music creation. Each mode is configured to dedicate the processor’s power to supporting the features, quality and capabilities that the user requires.
Entertainment Mode. 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 analysing and identifying which parts of the audio stream have been restricted or damaged during dynamic compression to 16-bit and then the further data compression to MP3 or WMA formats. In music, low and high frequencies are enhanced while dynamics are improved for cleaner, richer sound. In movies, explosions, gunshots and high-impact audio sequences sound more realistic than ever before.
In addition, X-Fi CMSS-3D technology leverages the power of the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor to up-mix audio intelligently into surround sound. It also uses advanced techniques to channel specific audio elements such as voice to the centre channel, with ambience passing to the surrounding channels.
Gaming Mode. The Gaming Mode accelerates PC game play. A completely re-engineered game audio processing engine utilising the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor enables Sound Blaster X-Fi cards to deliver a very impressive and critical performance boost of up to 40 percent in some cases during game play, while simultaneously delivering full audio enhancement effects.
The Creative X-Fi CMSS-3D feature delivers amazingly realistic game audio over headphones. EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 provides support for an unprecedented 128 voices using the X-Fi processor’s hardware, utilising EAX MacroFX, EAX PurePath and Environment FlexiFX technologies to provide a new standard of audio realism in games. The X-Fi 24-bit Crystalizer automatically upgrades existing games to the Xtreme Fidelity audio standard.
Audio Creation Mode. The Audio Creation capabilities of the Sound Blaster X-Fi cards surpass the performance of many professional solutions. The Sound Blaster X-Fi utilises the transparent SRC engine in the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor to convert to and from any resolution at 136dB THD+N. It also provides digital-matched recording capabilities in resolutions from 44.1 kHz to 96 kHz. Musicians who use the Audio Creation Mode offered in each Sound Blaster X-Fi card can enjoy ASIO recording with latency as low as one millisecond with no CPU load, up to eight different 24-bit hardware effects, 24-bit SoundFont® sampling and 3DMIDI.
Xtreme Fidelity: driven by the power of X-Fi.
Xtreme Fidelity sets a new standard for audio by supporting a combination of 24-bit quality, stunning audio clarity (with a minimum of 109dB SNR and up to 116dB in the X-Fi Elite Pro version) and CMSS 3D headphone and surround speaker technology. To achieve the Xtreme Fidelity audio standard, Sound Blaster X-Fi cards draw immense power from the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity processor, which includes more than 51 million transistors and is capable of more than 10,000 MIPS. With 24 times more power than the previous Sound Blaster Audigy® audio processor, the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor uses multiple engines to direct resources dynamically through a unique Ring Architecture, completely changing the way audio is managed for any application.
Further information.
For more information about Xtreme Fidelity, the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor, and Creative’s line of Sound Blaster X-Fi sound cards, visit http://www.soundblaster.com.
