When my Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum packed it in a month ago, I was devastated. It would intermittently fail to be detected by the BIOS on boot up and audio would randomly drop out anywhere between 30 seconds and 1 hour after loading the OS.
24-bit, 96KHz AD/DA with 109db SNR and 0.004% THD+N on all channels, for a prosumer card, was amazing 9 years ago and is still decent by today’s standards. It came with a front 5.25” bay I/O module which in combination with the PCI card offered a ton of connectivity – 7.1 channel audio out (3.5mm TRS), Digital I/O, Line In 1, Microphone 1 (3.5mm TRS), Aux In 1 (4-pin Molex), Coaxial S/PDIF In/Out (RCA), Aux In 2 (RCA), Optical S/PDIF In/Out, Midi In/Out, Line In 2 (6.35mm TRS), Mic In 2 (6.35mm TRS) and a d
I’m a big fan of Creative Technology’s sound cards. They command a small price premium, but their entry level sound cards are a tangible improvement on integrated motherboard audio and their high end offerings are the best available for semi-professional use, or when the cost of a dedicated FireWire audio interface made by the likes of M-Audio, EMU and Mackie are unjustified.