Creative Labs Xmod USB Sound Card for PC & Mac

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Amazon.com Price: $29.95 (as of 2010-02-09 12:03:20 GMT) Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.com at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

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Creative Labs Xmod USB Sound Card for PC & Mac

Manufacturer: Creative Labs
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List Price: $84.99
Lowest Sale Price: $29.95
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Product Description

The Creative Xmod USB sound device makes music and movies sound better than studio quality with X-Fi technology. It restores details and vibrance your music and movies lost during compression, making them richer and fuller, and expands stereo sound into virtual surround sound with headphones or stereo speakers. Plus, it works with both PCs and Macs and is truly plug-and-playo software installation neededo you can plug it in and start using it right out of the box.

Product Details

Device Type - Sound card
Interface Type - External
Localization - English
Sound Output Mode - Multi channel

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Customer Reviews

White Noise - Argh.

Review Date: January 22, 2007

Reviewer: P. Chong, Mesa, AZ USA

To qualify, I recently purchased this yesterday for use on my notebook since interference was killing the onboard sound. I planned to use headphones exclusively for this device since the interference isn't as obvious with speakers. I was excited from all the reviews and the fact this was x-fi and all that marketing hoopla.

Let's start off with the good stuff:
I really like the crystalizer - it really made the music sound better. Now the 3D stuff it's iffy. I liked the way it looks and the size. I'm a big ipod fan, so it also helps it was packaged similarly.

The bad stuff:
White noise... I'd describe it as a quiet hiss that can be clearly heard even if nothing is on. Since I use headphones with it (Shure's), the white noise was immediately apparent and helluva annoying. When the music is sparse and quiet, boy oh boy does it get annoying. This is only marginally better than onboard sound since it does get rid of interference, but in the end, that's all it did for me.

I have another older creative usb soundblaster device I'm listening to now since although the sound is flat and less dynamic, it is *much* *much* cleaner. When I'm not playing anything with the old usb device, I can't tell the difference when the earphones are plugged in or not. I'm going to return the xmod and try the soundblaster live 24-bit external usb device, since the one i'm using now only supports 16-bit.

I bought the xmod for home since I use the 16-bit device at work.

XMOD's a must have if you listen to music/movies on your PC or Mac

Review Date: November 9, 2006

Reviewer: Art Corvelet, Perry Hall, MD United States

I've had my XMOD for over a week now and I've been very pleased with my purchase. I saw a demo of this at my local Best Buy store and was immediately impressed by how simple it was to use. I mainly purchased it to improve the sound of my MP3 music on my Dell notebook and it does a great job of that. There are settings you can tweak, but I just turn both sound improvements on and leave it alone. Every song I play through it sounds better. I kept turning it on and off at first to hear the difference, but after a day or so I just left it on all the time. It's hard to describe what it does exactly, but basically my music sounds cleaner. The songs have more punch and crispness. I mainly use headphones and I especially like how it makes the headphones sound like a speaker a few feet away from your ear. I've also played one DIVX movie (Matrix)that I have and it sounds really cool too. You get a real sense of surround audio. When you go back to the movie with XMOD turned off, it sounds flat and boring.

Installation couldn't be easier. I plugged it into my USB port on my notebook and it just worked. You play your music from your PC with XMOD on and it just sounds sweet. It would be nice if Creative included what you need to use this with a portable MP3 player, but for the price I guess I can't complain. I wish the control knob was a bit flatter also. It would fit in the carrying bag better. The one nice thing about the knob being large - it does make a great easy to reach for mute button for when you need to quickly mute your audio.

Overall, XMOD is highly recommended if you listen to a lot of music. It would also make a nice gift. My nephew already came by to check it out and he wants one. Give it a listen and you'll get it.

Great to replace on-board sound

Review Date: July 31, 2007

Reviewer: Zomster, Dallas, TX

I was looking for an external sound card for use at work (since I don't want to install anything internal) since my onboard sound has a humming background noise effect+probably doesn't deliver the sound quality that I could get from a dedicated sound card. I realized it would be too cumbersome for a full blown external and came onto this device.

I think I paid around $60 shipped for it. Worth every penny. Let me elaborate.

I run these through a great set of Sennheiser 280 Pros, and previously HD590s. The 3d effect does not do this device any wonders; when you listen through good headphones, you hear high pitched noises since they pick up all the detail.

However, the x-fi crystalizer effect is EXCELLENT. Although slightly harsh at times, it does wonders to open up and make music sound "full". Again, if you don't have quality headphones, you aren't going to notice as much. I listened to the same music through one of my co-workers crappy cans and it sounded NOTHING like it did on my audiophile grade phones, and it did appear to make little difference when on or off. Additionally, I hear complete silence when I mute my sound, no static or noise whatsoever so I know I'm getting a good quality signal.

So, to that effect, I would say pass on this if you are expecting wonders out of your $15 set of headphones; you will probably be very disappointed. But for those that are serious about getting a very portable improvement to their sound, and have the headphones to back it up, this device will awe and amaze you.

You think your iPod sounds good now? Just wait

Review Date: December 30, 2007

Reviewer: R. Bundy,

Earlier this year I bought a Creative X-Fi sound card for my desktop computer, and it made the sound quality exponentially better. Therefore, I began looking for a portable one for my laptop and iPod. It does EXACTLY what it says it does, it makes sound quality increase beyond belief. Not to mention, my laptop didn't get very loud through headphones, now I can't turn up past the third bar (out of over 10)! I only listened to my music (other than on my desktop) occasionally, now I listen to it all the time through headphones just because of this device. Personally, I only use the Crystallizer for music, but both for movies.

Now for the bad, I picked this up at Best Buy for only $34.99, not $71 like Amazon's current price. The ONLY other downside is that with iPod use, you have to be near a power outlet. However, I'm considering trying a USB Battery Pack such as this one Apple iPod / iPhone Portable Battery Starter Kit to see if the X-Mod can draw power (through its USB cable) from it so that it can be fully portable. It sounds like a lot of equipment but, personally, I think its worth it to listen in the highest quality possible.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY A A/C POWER ADAPTER TO HAVE THIS WORK WITH AN IPOD
The USB cord that comes with the X-Mod can be used with an iPod's A/C charger such as this one: Apple MA592LL/A iPod USB Power Adapter

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Tags: Creative Sound Cards