MaximumPC 2007 06

B

eing audio purists, we typically piss on products that sit in the midst of
an audio stream and manipulate what the artist intended to create. But
when listening to music played through Creative’s X-Fi soundcards, we’ve
increasingly found ourselves turning on the 24-bit Crystalizer—and liking it!
Creative’s 24-bit Crystalizer converts an incoming audio signal to
24-bit resolution with a sampling rate of 96kHz. This process alone doesn’t
improve audio quality—Creative can’t conjure something out of noth-
ing—but the algorithm employed during this near-real-time remastering
does make the original recording sound remarkably better: To our ears,
instruments and vocals sound more vibrant, punchier, and more “live” when
the 24-bit Crystalizer is engaged.
But we listen to music on everything from digital music players to CD
players to old-fashioned turntables, and it’s not always practical to pipe
these signals through a PC’s soundcard. So we’re pleased to report that
Creative has transplanted the 24-bit Crystalizer (along with a few other fea-
tures) into this stand-alone device, which it has dubbed the Xmod.
So why aren’t we giving the Xmod a Kick Ass award? If you’re using it
with a desktop PC or a laptop, the device acts as a USB audio device with
an external DAC and draws power over a USB cable. If that PC already has
an X-Fi soundcard, the Xmod is redundant. But our real complaint is that
the Xmod requires an AC adapter when used with anything other than a PC,
and Creative expects you to pay an extra 30 clams for one. We really dig the
Xmod, but it would fry our snarlies to pay 40 percent on top of its base cost

to use it with an iPod or a Zen.

We can also do without Creative’s annoying CMSS-3D Virtual and

CMSS-3D Headphone effects. These are designed to widen the stereo field

into surround sound, but when we listened to Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,”

it sounded as though the vocal legend was being flushed down a toilet.

Fortunately, you can easily dial down or entirely defeat the CMSS-3D

algorithms (same goes for the

24-bit Crystallizer).

—Michael Brown

Creative Xmod

Thinking outside the box

9

creative xmod

$80, http://www.creative.com

The Xmod is

equipped with

analog line-level

in, line-level out,

and headphone

jacks and can

also function

as a USB audio

device.

2”

4.5”