Creative Labs SB0950 ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook Audio System Review

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(More customer reviews)Unfortunately, the mixed reviews on this product--mixed here on Amazon and elsewhere--delayed my purchase of this product and almost stopped me from purchasing it altogether. Fortunately, in my experience the less than stellar reviews were incorrect. This product has, quite simply, solved all of my audio issues.
My issues were poor volume output and popping/crackling. Sadly, dropping over $1K on a new higher end laptop was not sufficient to avoid having to deal with these annoying audio issues. Both issues were solved immediately with this product. No more popping/crackling and now the volume gets as loud as I want it with plenty of room left to spare. In addition, the quality of the audio is crisper/clearer and more room-filling.
I had also planned on setting up a wireless link to my stereo with the use of an Apple Airport Express module but I just found out that this item works wirelessly with a Creative receiver which costs about $20 less so I will be making that purchase soon as well.
Bottom line I couldn't be happier with this product and I couldn't be more disappointed with my laptop manufacturer for making me purchase it.
p.s. this does work with Windows 7 but I had to download the latest software for free from the Creative site.

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

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(More customer reviews)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


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StarTech.com 2 Port ExpressCard Laptop 1394a Firewire Adapter Card (EC13942) Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased this card to transfer video from my Panasonic Mini-DV camcorder to my laptop computer running Vista. The card works without a hitch and Vista makes it easy to import video from the camera to the computer. I didn't need any software setup at all, it just worked. The 6-pin end of the cable plugs in to the expresscard, and the 4-pin end of the cable plugs in to the camcorder's "DV" port.
One thing that should have been stated in the Amazon description is that a firewire 4-pin to 6-pin cable IS included with this card. (I unnecessarily ordered a separate cable because there was no indication that a cable is included.) In fact Amazon misleads you by stating that this card is frequently purchased along with a separate cable, which implies that a separate cable should be ordered.
Anyway the card works well for me and if you buy it, you don't need to purchase an extra 4pin/6pin cable.

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