Creative ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook-70SB071000000

EDITCard is still great and also works in W7 (with a bit of tinkering).Keep in mind Win7 crippled more sound stuff so you won't have everything you have with XP,for example 'Record What You Hear' (Stereo Mix). However, you can perform that feat using Audacity,So far, it's the only free audio solution that features the WASAPI host.Original Review Below:---------------------------IMHO pc laptops are CRIPPLED because of the ridiculous fact that you are unable to record line in stereo with native "on board" sound. The only input is a mic and that isn't stereo. BLEH. Those vendors/manufacturers that have the audacity to claim their laptops are "Desktop Replacements" are LYING. They have no ability to record stereo line in and also no [native] ability to record "what you hear" like most other desktop have with even native on board soundcards. These vendors/manufacturers need to be put on notice for delibrately crippling the sound/recording capabilities of these laptops. It's probably because of the greedy riia bunch but at any rate, there is no excuse for this. If you don't add some kind of sound device either via pc card or usb, you will lack some very basic sound/recording capabilities.Enter this add-in card. BINGO, now you have these capabilities. Keep in mind creative doesn't offer ASIO support with the drivers for this card. However, ASIO4ALL will correct that and it's a free solution. It works flawlessly with this card (so far). Sound quality is decent - not spectacular but very decent. It should also increase the volume on your laptop from the onboard.Another really cool thing is that you don't need any of the automatic startup stuff for it to work perfectly. Also, it is smart enough to 'know' when it's installed and when it isn't. No need to disable anything in Device Manager. It will just automatically switch back and forth to your onboard sound or this card depending upon whether or not it's physically installed in the laptop. Using with XP Pro and a Thinkpad and it works excellent. Card/drivers seem resource-friendly. I've played music through it for hours on battery and it seems pretty 'battery friendly' as well.If you don't need the extra [5.1] speaker hook ups you don't need to worry about the add on module 'cause that is ALL it provides. Besides they are about as scarce as hen's teeth and very difficult to find. Shame on creative for not including this with the card.The card is rugged as I've already found that out ;) It comes with a nice case. It seems suspicious that this is no longer being made and I can't help but wonder if it has anything to do with pressure from the riia. I guess they do offer a SB card though so who knows. This X-Fi Xtreme card works fantastic overall and I can't imagine not having this or something else to give me the basic ability *all* sound cards and their drivers *should* give you. I know I'm a whole lot closer to having a true "Desktop Replacement" with this card installed in this laptop.

I've been frustrated with my (Windows 7) laptop for a while now, because the sound card in it isn't worth the plastic it's attached to. This card is the perfect replacement for it. I plugged it into the ExpressCard slot, and Windows auto-detected the card and automatically downloaded the (very large, ~45 Mb) driver and installed it, which took at least 15 minutes total - unusual for a driver install. It came with a disk, but I didn't use it. I assume it contains the XP drivers and the mixer/equalizer program. After I set the default playback/recording devices the the card, I can just plug the thing in and it works perfectly.I am a little disappointed that the surround sound adapter didn't come with the card, but in all honesty, if I wanna watch a DVD in surround sound, I can throw it into my Xbox. Also, the travel case for the card is very nice.

Where do I start. This product is a discontinued model. It doesn't tell you that anywhere. I'm using a Dell Vostro 1510. Windows XP (Any newer OS has 0 support with this item. I read this and heard it direct from a Creative Labs technician.) I'm also using this with a set of Wireless Sennheiser RS120's. (I assure you anything you are about to read is not a reception issue as I can tell the difference and am only feet from the receiver.)This is my experience before during and after my purchase. I have on-board sound and while it was fine for some time and definitely at least worked for videos and movies etc, it left a lot to be desired. Here is an explanation of my default sound setup in the 1510:"Audio:The speaker quality was on par with notebooks of this size and price range. The stereo speakers on the 1510 are located on either side of the keyboard and produces relatively shallow sound with limited range and no bass. You can get the volume loud without much distortion, but the audio coming out of these tiny speakers is less than impressive.This is unfortunate because many 12" and smaller notebooks (such as the HP tx2000z or HP 2133 Mini-Note) have stereo speakers that produce high quality sound with excellent range of highs, middles, and lows. The Vostro 1510 is a budget business notebook, but I'm certain that Dell can do better than this.On the bright side, both speakers are positioned perfectly for directing sound up and towards the user. Also, the headphone out port delivered crystal clear audio to my headphones during the test period."Now as with all laptops, if you haven't ordered a high quality sound and graphic card pre-installed you are stuck with it for the life of the laptop. There just aren't any satisfactory solutions out there to compete with a quality PCI card or pre-installed card. PCMCIA cards, ExpressCard's, and USB all suffer from the same bottle neck transfer issue and are just not suited to properly power music. I was playing both .mp3 and .flac and it's just garbage all around. I really wanted this to work but it didn't and I am too honest to fool myself into thinking it made a satisfactory difference. I feel like I wasted my money and needless to say I will be returning it 1 day after ownership. I only wish to save everyone else the experience of being disappointed as well. This will not solve your problem despite what the inaccurate or over enthusiastic reviews tell you. Most are just "Views" not Re-Views.To sum it up, I plugged the card in, Windows detected it, installed automatically after a medium size download of around 50mb maybe. Plugged my headset in and still no difference over stock. Used CD and installed everything on it then rebooted. Still crap. Updated all software in another huge download using their auto-update which also updated the drivers. Rebooted. Minor improvement, still insignificant and highly lacking in performance. It's as if it just made the garbage sound I already had "smell" better. Some songs I can turn up higher but others I have to turn back down. There is even a noticeable buzzing sound now that you hear when a speaker goes bad that sounds like it is loose or broken. The bass is horrific in that it is lacking in impact totally and also just sounds bad. EQ and EFX* Bass Boost and 3D Surround Features? Forget about it. Useless when it just sounds bad to begin with.*There is a hissing that you hear when a track goes silent and is sometimes noticeable when the track is playing that I was hoping this would cure. I did experience it on my on board sound and a CD Player too so I don't blame it for that, it could be the headphones there. I do know they work because at least on the CD Player I could turn up the volume all the way and hear it clearly despite lacking in bass as well.Pros:-Fit into my expresscard slot with a little room to spare.. I guess this could be a con since it isn't flush but i'm just glad it fit right.-Installation while time consuming and required large file downloads (100-150mb) was flawless. I ended up uninstalling the wave software and Mediasource package as it seemed worthless enough.-Item came neatly packed and with seemingly all new products and packaging all factory sealed. (Ordered the refurbished one since I knew this item wasn't even worth $30 after reading the reviews and talking to tech support before I got it.)Cons:-Audio improvement was marginal if not worse.--Complimentary Earphones that came with item has a label that reads the following:"California Proposition 65 Statement - WARNING: Handling this product may expose you to chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm."Now that's just ****'*** nuts. As a reviewer at the egg site put it, how about a non-mutagenic product please?The earphones do look cool, but I refuse to even touch them to find out and I was busy looking at them through the clear packaging. I mean you'd think when a company knows they are using dangerous materials/chemicals they would recall it completely. Not Creative Labs! They conveniently make use of the resources to save every penny with no regard for their customers whatsoever.As another reviewer said here, Creative is just an all around lousy company. I used to enjoy their PCI sound cards a few years ago and didn't have many gripes about it but really this company isn't just bad, they have gotten worse with time over the years. The only thing they are "Creative" about is their ability to create an endless array of problematic or sub-par products with built in planned obsolescence. I mean even the techs admitted that this product was better than the newer black one. They purposely make the items worse and then better to give you a reason to come back. This is a horrible business philosophy and permanently turns people off to your products. The tech also revealed that all Creative product are discontinued every 3 years. Support for their products is hell. Just try calling them. Right now go try to call them. I bet you can't. Everything tries to direct you back to email. Using a new Contact directory website I found using the popular G search engine I was able to find a working number in the comments there after failing to get through their Extremely irritating broken prompts in the 2 main numbers listed.I wrote this review out of an unbiased honest experience. I have no interest in wasting my time writing this just to "flame". I have better things to do really and I hope if enough people speak up about this company they might get their act together. By the way you only get a 90 Day limited warranty. It's not a year. Why? Because they simply don't stand behind their products and for good reason. It is cheap, ineffective, junk. I have owned speaker systems from them and they worked acceptably. So if anything at least heed my advice for all these external sound cards. The technology just isn't there yet.And next time? Make sure you spring for the best graphic and sound card you can afford on your next laptop. I know I will. I am better off going with a wired USB Headset, at least the Logitech USB set I had last sounded great before they broke. This implies USB must be better than these PCMCIA or ExpressCard options. I wish it weren't the case because I like using the side slot because plugging it in the front jacks jab me when it's on my lap, and having it cleanly installed in the laptop is nice too. Oh well.-Cheers.*Product Update:-2 New issues have arisen. 1st, the item gets extremely hot when not in an air conditioned room with a cooler beneath it. This is an obvious detriment to the laptop since heat is its worst enemy. Second, the microphone jack is useless and does not work. It detects the sound of my voice but plays back muffled. It also disabled the main microphone jack from working despite changing the sound configurations in Windows and simultaneously setting the card to "Play through Windows speakers". This is a major downfall but COULD be a random issue with this one I got being defective. I am fairly sure it is not because the item "works" in every other way and seems new enough but I am being generous to assume it's possible the microphone jack could have been the previously defective issue before it was "refurbished" or in this case, just repackaged nicely. I have already requested my Return Merchandise Authorization. I am still shopping for a satisfying alternative so if anyone can suggest a real solution for my setup I would love to hear it.