Creative Extigy - Editorial

This is my opinion of the Creative Extigy external sound system.

Fact:
The Creative Extigy is a USB 1.1 sound device. It generates sound in the same fashion as any other USB audio device. The drivers, however, give the ability to pass 5.1 channels of audio through the USB connector. The gut hardware is similar to the Audigy card, but the amount of data able to be sent to the device is limited to the USB bus.

It can also operate stand-alone as a Dolby 5.1 decoder.

My Experiences:
I saw this device for $150 at CompUSA and thought it sounded really wicked. I had already purchased the Creative Inspire 5300 5.1 speakers and was able to do 5.1 via the Live! card. But This could do 5.1 decoding on an incoming stream without the computer powered on. I played with this and can say that it works great as a Dolby 5.1 decoder in stand-alone mode. I watched a few DVD with it:) The other extremely KEWL thing is that it can turn a 2 channel audio input and virtualize it to 5.1 channels. I can tell you from personal experience that this works GREAT!! I'm not just saying that.

Before I continue, let me explain some things. First, the ASUS A7V333 motherboard USB in combination with Windows XP does not give the greatest audio quality from the Extigy when it is played directly (i.e. making it the Primary output device). I have MUCH greater happiness with the Live! sending a pure digital SPDIF feed to the Extigy. The bus bandwidth of the PCI Live! gives it an advantage for real-time audio. This is not to dis the Extigy. I am sure that Windows 98SE would be much happier. The main problems I seem to have are not hardware related but the internal kernel scheduler of Windows XP. This can be felt in games as movie clips play and they tend to jerk and sometimes are accompanied with audible pops. These are similar to the problem I have with Dream Station.

What I Like About It

• Will process any incoming stream to 5.1 audio without even needing the computer on.
• Integrates wickedly with the Inspire 5300 speakers
• Lots of input and output connectors.
  • Digital Optical input and output (on front)
  • Line level and Mic input (on front)
  • Mic and main volume controls (on front)
  • SPDIF input (RCA-style on rear)
  • MIDI in and out (2 x 5-pin DIN on rear)
  • Digital output (1/8" jack on rear)
  • Front, rear, and center/sub output (1/8" jacks on rear)
• Will decode Dolby 5.1 digital signal.
• Comes with a remote control! (goopy, but not that useful in a computer room)
• Remote works greate in a living room for volume and stuff (great distance)

What I Don't Like

• Could use a larger software selection (though the base utilities are great)
• Really needed to be USB 2.0 compliant to handle more bandwidth:(
• (Related to above) pops during games (high system usage).

Bottom line, if you are getting this for games, don't use Windows XP. Or don't use this. If you are going to have this thing sit in your living room and use it for a MAME box, it should be great. Especially since you can also plug in the DVD player and have surround sound. There is no law saying that you HAVE to output via the analog jacks. The digital output or the optical outputs all work simultaneously so you really do have choices.

For example, a friend of mine listened to me rave about the coolness of this thing that he ended up buying one for $99 (the price went down) and hooked the optical out into his Kenwood tuner/Dolby decoder and gets excellent 5.1 audio through it via the CMSS (that's the 5.1 vitualization stuff).

A pleasant suprise was the iM Radio Tuner (Creative branded) and has a neat selection of stations. Check out iM networks for more information and the free tuner (Best for broadband).