# Sound blaster Xfi 5.1



## sportflyer (May 2, 2010)

I have on Onkyo NR3007 with Audyssey EQ XT . I think it does quite good job. I would like to go one step further and try to use REW for subwoofer .

Will SB X fi 5.1 sound card work with REW. Laptop is Toshiba running Vista x32.

Tks


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Any sound card that's compatible with your OS, and is full duplex with line inputs and outputs will work. Note that mic inputs can't be used.

Regards,
Wayne


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## sportflyer (May 2, 2010)

The problem is that the specs do not specifically state that this device SB Xfi 5.1 is full duplex. Actually I cant even find the spec fro this device in the Creative Website.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

That card is full duplex, all cards that offer both inputs and outputs are full duplex nowadays.


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## AustinJerry (Apr 2, 2010)

sportflyer said:


> Will SB X fi 5.1 sound card work with REW.
> Tks


I have this sound card, and I have had nothing but trouble trying to get it to work properly. I don't think it has anything to do with REW. Either my card is defective, or the drivers are bad. I have tried both Windows XP and Windows 7.

Symptoms:

- Unable to generate a sound card calibration file. When trying to adjust the levels, after a certain point in the adjustment the levels shoot up too high, resulting in clipping. Seems like there is feedback somewhere. Can't figure it out.

- When I try and calibrate the SPL, the REW level meter shows an SPL level of over 95 dB even when the SPL is not plogged in. Again, looks like feedback, but I can't seem to fix it.

If anyone has been successful getting this card to work, please share with me. I would like to know whether my device is defective.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Generally down to mixer settings, and particularly making sure the "Line In" is muted in the playback levels mixer.


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## AustinJerry (Apr 2, 2010)

With due respect, John, this answer was not useful. I am very knowledgeable with personal computers and settings. Assume for a moment that I have experimented with every possible setting, both at the operating system level, and with the Creative control apps. The card still doesn't work reliably. It is either a driver issue, or a defective card. If it is a driver issue, I was simply alerting the OP to expect issues.


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

JerryMeeker said:


> With due respect, John, this answer was not useful. I am very knowledgeable with personal computers and settings. Assume for a moment that I have experimented with every possible setting, both at the operating system level, and with the Creative control apps. The card still doesn't work reliably. It is either a driver issue, or a defective card. If it is a driver issue, I was simply alerting the OP to expect issues.


Jerry, what part of your original post indicates you have "experimented with every possible setting"? Feedback doesn't happen on its own, and you can easily verify whether the line in is getting fed to the output by connecting the output to your system and talking into the SPL meter. If line in is being fed to the output there are only two paths: monitoring turned on in the soundcard's own mixer software, or the line in level control in the windows mixer not being muted. As for calibrating the REW SPL meter, the reading on the meter is meaningless until you click the button and tell REW what it is supposed to be reading. There is no need to use REW as the signal source for that, your receiver's own test tones would work just as well and eliminate any possibility of feedback in that process.


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## JonP (May 8, 2008)

If you're talking about the X-Fi USB external card... I have one and have been having great results with it and REW.

Needed things to do, make sure you don't have a loopback condition by selecting "line in" rather than "what you hear" as the input... and go into the main Entertainment panel and make sure all the funky 3D effects, Crystalizer, etc.. are all turned off. I went thru a time where it would turn them on each time I powered up, and I had to manually turn them off. Then, for unknown reasons, it started saving my last set state, and I didn't have to set them each bootup. Might have been a result of updating software and drivers, which I did several times since I've bought it.

If you're still having problems... try a full erase and reinstall of the drivers, and go up thru the updates... (skipping all the unneeded stuff like recorders, players, karaoke machines, etc) Other than that, you may have a bad device.

Hope that helps...


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