Creative Labs USB Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Audio System SB1090

I bought this device because I couldn't find a sound card that would fit the Dell Inspiron 580S I got to replace my 5 year old Dell Dimension. I bought the slim chassis machine because it was a real bargain given the video card, a 750 Gb hard drive and 6 Gb of RAM (which I increased to 8 Gb on the cheap) which allowed me to afford the cost of a quad core processor. I had a Creative Audigy sound card in my old computer and, in comparison the sound from the integrated chip set in my new machine was horrible.I only listen to the 32 days of a large variety of music I have collected in iTunes. I don't do games and I don't watch movies. I have a 5 year old set of Creative 2.1 I-Trigue speakers I used with my old computer. The Audigy card drove them very nicely.I plugged the X-Fi Surround into the computer and Windows 7 (64 bit) installed it without a hitch. I downloaded the newer driver from Creative and then installed only the Console -- to get the equalizer. I plugged in the speakers, thanks to the provided RCA adapter, and played the first movement of Vladimir Feltsman's version of Bach's "Italian Concerto," followed by Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London." I was absolutely delighted with the quality of the sound which was much better than that of the Audigy, which was very good. The X-Fi Crystalizer performs as advertised with respect to bringing compressed sound files back to life. I also like the almost ethereal sound of my really nice Sennheiser headphones.I am very satisfied with this little box with the big knob I don't have to use because the I-Trigue volume and bass controller does. It produces sound very close to as good as my daughter's XiFi Titanium card with comparable speakers. There is virtually no difference in headphone performance.I would recommend it without qualification to anyone who needs an external device and has resources similar to my computer. It will get the job done -- very well.

i have this product almost a month now, It work really well until i noticed something was wrong. The message reads (CREATVE SB STREAMING MONITORING UTILITY HAS STOP WORKING) I simply dont know what it means could someone tell me what exactly is telling and i come back to check it later. I install the cd that came with it and updated the software to the newest version , take awhile just to install and update. I am using window 7 ultimate full version . Ok let me tell you about the product, MUSIC is awesome, i have play with it crank up the volume, rock , pop, r$b, and dance music. The GAME is awesome too , i have play several games and it sound great as well. The movie is a little bit of drag, i could hear an echo , and sound is ok but not great. I would give it a 5 star but instead i give it a 3 star not because of the product itself but because of the issue , the problem itself i am having right now. But overall it a good buy if it were no problem occur. come on creative , get your act together.

I'm crying uncle on this one, friends. The delay/echo problem that surfaced in Windows Vista is far worse with Windows 7. Also, according to the DirectX diagnostic program, their drivers are not signed. No wonder they're messing with everything else on the sound card.If you want to use this device strictly to listen to music through your digital entertainment center's speakers using the optical digital connection, you will be quite pleased. However, don't expect Dolby 5.1. This device does not provide Dolby technology.If, however, you want to listen through the earphone output on the device, you will hear all sorts of pops and cracks.Also if you want to use the device to record music on your computer hard drive and need to listen to the monitor, the monitor switch is hidden in the device volume panel (it is a recent software upgrade), in the Mixer function window. There is a small box to the right of the field that says Mic-in/Line-in. Click that box. However, you will notice a horrible delay between what you say and what you hear back through the monitor. This is an absolutely unacceptable engineering flaw.I've communicated with Creative about the problem, and their attitude is "so sad, too bad, get a refund."To summarize, this is great for simply listening to music through your stereo. It is horrible for listening through headphones or when using the microphone/line-in monitor.