Creative Labs Xmod USB Sound Card for PC & Mac
Dec 08, 2009 in
Computers & Software
- Device Type – Sound card
- Interface Type – External
- Localization – English
- Sound Output Mode – Multi channel
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…. More >>
Creative Labs Xmod USB Sound Card for PC & Mac
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5 comments
m/ on December 8, 2009 at 8:18 am
What seemed like a pretty neat idea just falls flat on the floor. The Xmod incorporates two features from the X-fi series. Just two, thats it, nothing else, from what I could tell, it doesnt even have an amp, even if it does, its pretty bad.
The “crystallizer”(the first feature) is like using a winamp plugin such as ‘enhancer’, which is good no doubt, but u can do it at the software level and get a much cheaper solution like Turtle beach Audio advantage micro for less than half the price (which has a digital pass thru and 10 band EQ also).
CMSS(the other feature) has been around for a while now, and I am not a big fan of this virtual surround business. If you have 2 speakers, u are gonna get stereo sound, if you want surround just get a 5.1 set. Infact for a little more money you can get a good 5.1 soundcard and half decent 5.1 speakers.
Then comes the “killer” feature of them all, the LINE IN. The whole point of using this with portable players is defeated when you bring an AC adapter into the picture. To make things worse, it doesnt come with the bundle, u need to buy it seperately. Seriously, who wants the ultra crap creative headphones in the bundle anyway? I wonder if those are a selling point at all.
The only good use of this device would have been to enhance the mp3 players sound like plugins do for winamp and such, but then whats the point if you have to sit next to a wall outlet to be able to do that? Are we missing something here creative??? Wasnt portability the whole point of the mp3 player?
Stay away, unless u r really rich and want to waste money, even then, you can probably find better things to waste it on.
Marcelo Vasquez Guevara on December 8, 2009 at 9:34 am
Line and mic inputs were ok. but audio output never showed up.
don’t waste your money if you’re a mac user
T. F. Hurley on December 8, 2009 at 11:37 am
This item hooks up to a computer and it does provide some, possibly beneficial sound processing when used that way. But the advertising suggests it can be used with an iPod–my primary intended use. It can be, but only if you buy a $35+ AC adaptor, and, being tethered to the wall, it makes the whole concept purposeless for me.
I’m not going to buy the adapter, I am going to take my satisfaction by tossing the unit, as hard as I can, at a brick wall.
A note worthy of considering. I bought a Creative Nomad with a hard drive must be 6+ years ago. The size of a CD player, it had only 4 or 6 GB of drive space, so I’ve moved on since then. BUT IT DID HAVE (still does, I checked) AN EXCELLENT SIGNAL PROCESSING UNIT FAR BETTER THAN THAT INCLUDED IN THIS PRODUCT.
A second note, unless you have a computer built before 1995, it has a soundcard that can handle software up-processing much better than this. An example is DFX for Musicmatch, which costs the princely sum of $10.00
The packaging is splendid, obviously intended to be reminicent of an i-Pod. The packaging is, but what is inside is NOT.
Tom Hurley
CREATIVE LABS: WHY ARE YOU SLUMMING IT WITH THIS pos PRODUCT?
Thomas F. Hurley
M. C. Merida on December 8, 2009 at 1:39 pm
This product is beautifull and can help you to clean your audio, but there are better and chepest options to increase the quality of your MP3 as some winamp plug-ins
Davis III on December 8, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Appears most reviewers are getting good results when using this device to enhace their computer speakers via the USB connection.
I purchased it to improve the sound of my compressed music when played via my MacBook Pro and Airport Express connected to my Yamaha RXV-2400 receiver and Artison Portrait speakers.
I connected it between the Airport Express and the receiver (via the line in and out jacks) and it actually made the sound worse. Added distortion (sibilance) on the high end. Called the Creative Labs hotline and they offered no help. I’m returning it.