The Fatal1ty Gamer Headset is the ultimate headset with a microphone for the hardcore gamer! With the Creative Fatal1ty Gamer Headset, you have all the power, precision and comfort you need for video gaming sessions at your fingertips. Thanks to its user-friendly and lightweight design with generous padding for the headband and earphones, your gaming sessions become much more comfortable! The Fatal1ty Gamer Headset also boasts a noise-cancelling microphone so you can send clear vocal messages to other team mates when you?re playing multi-player games. For the serious gamer, the Fatal1ty Gaming Headset makes the difference between victory and defeat.

Blah, 30 Oct 2008
An okay product. On the plus side it's nice an comfortable, and the mic is quite good. But the bass can be very over the top, and rather annoying at some points. If you like bass, go for this, if not stay well away.

Mmmmm grrr, 29 Oct 2008
I bought these at the weekend when my Logitech's finally gave up the ghost. To say i'm disappointed is an understatement. I know that the quality is meant to be superb and i bought these based on reviews. However, yes they are conmfortable, yes they look the bees knees and yes the sound is brilliant. BUT, anyone sat within 5 feet of you like my wife is when she's trying to talk to her friends online will hear everything from the headset. Soundproof they are not. The ear pieces amplify any and all sound to everyone around them. Imagine someone sat next to you with a cheap headset on listening to music on the train or bus times that by 10 and you'll get an idea.

Superb!, 17 Oct 2008
I bought this item about 2 weeks ago and its superb! Its really lightweight and comfortable. It looks cool too! It sounds really good and the bass responce is great! Sometimes when i wear it for a while, i forgot that its on my head. The detachable microphone is a great idea, because i dont always need it. It's much better than my last headphone because it was really heavy and made buzzing sounds when it played really deep bass. But this doesnt! Its cheap, lightweight, good sound, comfortable, and practical. If you are looking for a great cheap headphone, this is the best choice! SUPERB!!!

-A happy costumer from Hungary :)


Great sound but mic broke., 10 Oct 2008
Some excellent sounding headphones, but sadly my microphone stopped working after about 5 uses. But you can remove the microphone and use it as purely comfortable headphones.

What a headset, 26 Sep 2008
this headset is fantastic. deep bass,comfy (soft padding on the headset), detachable/bendy mic is a good idea. came packaged well in a big box.and was quicker than expected. as long as this headset lasts, it's fantastic and i reccomend it to anyone.

5.1 sound card for amazing surround sound. Ideal for DVD movies and games with 5.1 audio. Compatible with DirectX, EAX, A3D and HRTF. Fully Windows Plug PlayTwo Year WarrantyManufactuer's Warranty: Two Year Manufacturers Warranty....

Blah, 30 Oct 2008
An okay product. On the plus side it's nice an comfortable, and the mic is quite good. But the bass can be very over the top, and rather annoying at some points. If you like bass, go for this, if not stay well away.

Mmmmm grrr, 29 Oct 2008
I bought these at the weekend when my Logitech's finally gave up the ghost. To say i'm disappointed is an understatement. I know that the quality is meant to be superb and i bought these based on reviews. However, yes they are conmfortable, yes they look the bees knees and yes the sound is brilliant. BUT, anyone sat within 5 feet of you like my wife is when she's trying to talk to her friends online will hear everything from the headset. Soundproof they are not. The ear pieces amplify any and all sound to everyone around them. Imagine someone sat next to you with a cheap headset on listening to music on the train or bus times that by 10 and you'll get an idea.

Superb!, 17 Oct 2008
I bought this item about 2 weeks ago and its superb! Its really lightweight and comfortable. It looks cool too! It sounds really good and the bass responce is great! Sometimes when i wear it for a while, i forgot that its on my head. The detachable microphone is a great idea, because i dont always need it. It's much better than my last headphone because it was really heavy and made buzzing sounds when it played really deep bass. But this doesnt! Its cheap, lightweight, good sound, comfortable, and practical. If you are looking for a great cheap headphone, this is the best choice! SUPERB!!!

-A happy costumer from Hungary :)


Great sound but mic broke., 10 Oct 2008
Some excellent sounding headphones, but sadly my microphone stopped working after about 5 uses. But you can remove the microphone and use it as purely comfortable headphones.

What a headset, 26 Sep 2008
this headset is fantastic. deep bass,comfy (soft padding on the headset), detachable/bendy mic is a good idea. came packaged well in a big box.and was quicker than expected. as long as this headset lasts, it's fantastic and i reccomend it to anyone.


Good value, 11 Sep 2008
If you are looking for superb surround sound you wont go wrong with this sound card...for the price it has to be among the best out there!...a very impressive product!

Why settle for basic built-in sound? Your music and movies deserveXtreme Fidelity. Simply connect the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1sound card to your PC or notebook and turn your downloaded musicinto your own personal concert. Watch DVDs or downlo

Blah, 30 Oct 2008
An okay product. On the plus side it's nice an comfortable, and the mic is quite good. But the bass can be very over the top, and rather annoying at some points. If you like bass, go for this, if not stay well away.

Mmmmm grrr, 29 Oct 2008
I bought these at the weekend when my Logitech's finally gave up the ghost. To say i'm disappointed is an understatement. I know that the quality is meant to be superb and i bought these based on reviews. However, yes they are conmfortable, yes they look the bees knees and yes the sound is brilliant. BUT, anyone sat within 5 feet of you like my wife is when she's trying to talk to her friends online will hear everything from the headset. Soundproof they are not. The ear pieces amplify any and all sound to everyone around them. Imagine someone sat next to you with a cheap headset on listening to music on the train or bus times that by 10 and you'll get an idea.

Superb!, 17 Oct 2008
I bought this item about 2 weeks ago and its superb! Its really lightweight and comfortable. It looks cool too! It sounds really good and the bass responce is great! Sometimes when i wear it for a while, i forgot that its on my head. The detachable microphone is a great idea, because i dont always need it. It's much better than my last headphone because it was really heavy and made buzzing sounds when it played really deep bass. But this doesnt! Its cheap, lightweight, good sound, comfortable, and practical. If you are looking for a great cheap headphone, this is the best choice! SUPERB!!!

-A happy costumer from Hungary :)


Great sound but mic broke., 10 Oct 2008
Some excellent sounding headphones, but sadly my microphone stopped working after about 5 uses. But you can remove the microphone and use it as purely comfortable headphones.

What a headset, 26 Sep 2008
this headset is fantastic. deep bass,comfy (soft padding on the headset), detachable/bendy mic is a good idea. came packaged well in a big box.and was quicker than expected. as long as this headset lasts, it's fantastic and i reccomend it to anyone.


Good value, 11 Sep 2008
If you are looking for superb surround sound you wont go wrong with this sound card...for the price it has to be among the best out there!...a very impressive product!

Recommended sound card for laptops!, 24 Oct 2008
I bought this sound card from Amazon to use with my Logitech Z5500 5.1 surround speakers and my HP laptop. I am using the system mostly for high-quality (lossless) music and movies, but never tried with games. At the moment, the sound card simply works with all functions it is advertised for.

The only lie on the advert of this product is the EASE to set it up. Yes, I agree that it is pretty easy to get analog sound from this sound card (taking about 10 minutes or so). But it took me a week to pass "true" digital 5.1 DTS/Dolby sound through TOSLINK optical port of this card from the laptop to the speakers. (For those who care about tackling this SPDIF issue, the trick I figured out is so simple: go to Creative support site, download and install ALL updates available.)

I see some users complain about the CMSS 5.1 sound simulation of the card. Yes, most of the time it works quite okay, but sometime it provides distorted and unbalanced sound when used to upmix stereo to 5.1. But I really don't care much about this CMSS function, as I don't need "fake" 5.1 sound coming from low-quality stereo MP3s but always use high bitrate .dts files or DVDs.

So, if you have a good 5.1 sound system and a laptop, just buy this sound card. It is really cheap though, for the price of about £35.

Excellent, 05 Oct 2008
Bought this last week, arrived 4 days after by royal mail. I am running Vista on my laptop with this kit. Initially I had a little problem how to set it up, but I followed the install CD, updated all the software online and then disabled my on board speaker output. The sounds is good from all of my speakers. Definitely worth the money!!

One thing is that the remote only works with the Creative Entertainment centre (which is like the Windows Vista one), (functions like play pause next etc) except volume up and down, mute, crystalliser and the 3d setting which i dont know really how its works.

WARNING this does not work with Vista, 18 Sep 2008
There is a lag with the sound in Vista when using 5.1. Creative are aware of this, but have not responded or given any indication when it will be resolved. Check the Creative user forum before buying this product.

hmmm, 08 Sep 2008
Right im using this on my Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21M laptop.
This laptop had 2 ports on the soundcard one being microphone and one being headphones. So i bought this external soundcard. My Dolby 5.1 surround sound speaker system has 3 x 3.5mm jacks subwoofer, front and rear. This external soundcard yeh it has ports for them but im not sure if this is hardware of software related but the subwoofer sounds absolutley rubbish for music games and movies using this thing...
Its only now that ive swapped rear speakers and subwoofer ports it sounds relativly good. But then thats surround sound screwed up.

If you use the subwoofer in all the correct labelled ports all your sub would do is grumble or will stay totally silent. Theres only so much of fidderling with the EQ and volume and frequencies with the software. Its taken me about 2 hours to try and set this up and it still sounds awful. I may as well just buy a damn amplifier and plug that up.

Well after finding out i cant use my 360 through it either im just going to send it back if i can. Its not worth £40.01 it should be free. Probably the worst thing ive ever purchased thats made by creative.


Awful for listening to music., 17 Aug 2008
I bought this for £39.99 from our local Argos store (as it was £20 cheaper than on Amazon), as I wanted an external sound card to play back music from my computer
Listening to MP3s through reasonable powered stereo monitors, it's sound really is offensive. You can really hear the poorly implemented psycho-acoustic treatments, ('X-Fi audio enhancements') in operation - boosting/compressing/expanding all sorts of frequencies - which totally screws the equalisation and balance of the original recordings to create a complete mess!
I now think these must be aimed at gamers who want everything to fizz, whizz and bang in their game of choice on cheap computer speakers, while they concentrate on the visuals. However, for any kind of music fan who wants a realistic reproduction of their music, listening on reasonable stereo monitors (as I was), the sound would be laughable if you had not paid for the privilege.

Blah, 30 Oct 2008
An okay product. On the plus side it's nice an comfortable, and the mic is quite good. But the bass can be very over the top, and rather annoying at some points. If you like bass, go for this, if not stay well away.

Mmmmm grrr, 29 Oct 2008
I bought these at the weekend when my Logitech's finally gave up the ghost. To say i'm disappointed is an understatement. I know that the quality is meant to be superb and i bought these based on reviews. However, yes they are conmfortable, yes they look the bees knees and yes the sound is brilliant. BUT, anyone sat within 5 feet of you like my wife is when she's trying to talk to her friends online will hear everything from the headset. Soundproof they are not. The ear pieces amplify any and all sound to everyone around them. Imagine someone sat next to you with a cheap headset on listening to music on the train or bus times that by 10 and you'll get an idea.

Superb!, 17 Oct 2008
I bought this item about 2 weeks ago and its superb! Its really lightweight and comfortable. It looks cool too! It sounds really good and the bass responce is great! Sometimes when i wear it for a while, i forgot that its on my head. The detachable microphone is a great idea, because i dont always need it. It's much better than my last headphone because it was really heavy and made buzzing sounds when it played really deep bass. But this doesnt! Its cheap, lightweight, good sound, comfortable, and practical. If you are looking for a great cheap headphone, this is the best choice! SUPERB!!!

-A happy costumer from Hungary :)


Great sound but mic broke., 10 Oct 2008
Some excellent sounding headphones, but sadly my microphone stopped working after about 5 uses. But you can remove the microphone and use it as purely comfortable headphones.

What a headset, 26 Sep 2008
this headset is fantastic. deep bass,comfy (soft padding on the headset), detachable/bendy mic is a good idea. came packaged well in a big box.and was quicker than expected. as long as this headset lasts, it's fantastic and i reccomend it to anyone.


Good value, 11 Sep 2008
If you are looking for superb surround sound you wont go wrong with this sound card...for the price it has to be among the best out there!...a very impressive product!

Recommended sound card for laptops!, 24 Oct 2008
I bought this sound card from Amazon to use with my Logitech Z5500 5.1 surround speakers and my HP laptop. I am using the system mostly for high-quality (lossless) music and movies, but never tried with games. At the moment, the sound card simply works with all functions it is advertised for.

The only lie on the advert of this product is the EASE to set it up. Yes, I agree that it is pretty easy to get analog sound from this sound card (taking about 10 minutes or so). But it took me a week to pass "true" digital 5.1 DTS/Dolby sound through TOSLINK optical port of this card from the laptop to the speakers. (For those who care about tackling this SPDIF issue, the trick I figured out is so simple: go to Creative support site, download and install ALL updates available.)

I see some users complain about the CMSS 5.1 sound simulation of the card. Yes, most of the time it works quite okay, but sometime it provides distorted and unbalanced sound when used to upmix stereo to 5.1. But I really don't care much about this CMSS function, as I don't need "fake" 5.1 sound coming from low-quality stereo MP3s but always use high bitrate .dts files or DVDs.

So, if you have a good 5.1 sound system and a laptop, just buy this sound card. It is really cheap though, for the price of about £35.

Excellent, 05 Oct 2008
Bought this last week, arrived 4 days after by royal mail. I am running Vista on my laptop with this kit. Initially I had a little problem how to set it up, but I followed the install CD, updated all the software online and then disabled my on board speaker output. The sounds is good from all of my speakers. Definitely worth the money!!

One thing is that the remote only works with the Creative Entertainment centre (which is like the Windows Vista one), (functions like play pause next etc) except volume up and down, mute, crystalliser and the 3d setting which i dont know really how its works.

WARNING this does not work with Vista, 18 Sep 2008
There is a lag with the sound in Vista when using 5.1. Creative are aware of this, but have not responded or given any indication when it will be resolved. Check the Creative user forum before buying this product.

hmmm, 08 Sep 2008
Right im using this on my Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21M laptop.
This laptop had 2 ports on the soundcard one being microphone and one being headphones. So i bought this external soundcard. My Dolby 5.1 surround sound speaker system has 3 x 3.5mm jacks subwoofer, front and rear. This external soundcard yeh it has ports for them but im not sure if this is hardware of software related but the subwoofer sounds absolutley rubbish for music games and movies using this thing...
Its only now that ive swapped rear speakers and subwoofer ports it sounds relativly good. But then thats surround sound screwed up.

If you use the subwoofer in all the correct labelled ports all your sub would do is grumble or will stay totally silent. Theres only so much of fidderling with the EQ and volume and frequencies with the software. Its taken me about 2 hours to try and set this up and it still sounds awful. I may as well just buy a damn amplifier and plug that up.

Well after finding out i cant use my 360 through it either im just going to send it back if i can. Its not worth £40.01 it should be free. Probably the worst thing ive ever purchased thats made by creative.


Awful for listening to music., 17 Aug 2008
I bought this for £39.99 from our local Argos store (as it was £20 cheaper than on Amazon), as I wanted an external sound card to play back music from my computer
Listening to MP3s through reasonable powered stereo monitors, it's sound really is offensive. You can really hear the poorly implemented psycho-acoustic treatments, ('X-Fi audio enhancements') in operation - boosting/compressing/expanding all sorts of frequencies - which totally screws the equalisation and balance of the original recordings to create a complete mess!
I now think these must be aimed at gamers who want everything to fizz, whizz and bang in their game of choice on cheap computer speakers, while they concentrate on the visuals. However, for any kind of music fan who wants a realistic reproduction of their music, listening on reasonable stereo monitors (as I was), the sound would be laughable if you had not paid for the privilege.

Works as well as it claims to, 05 Nov 2008
I read the mixed reviews and decided that I would give this a go anyway, believing that possibly the negative reviews were from users who did not have much patience or technical knowlege. Having said that, you don't need much technical knowlege because it is fairly straight forward. You need at least direct x9 on your computer - but dx10 will also do - I ran it on vista no problem (with dx10). After an hour or so of playing around to find out how everything works, I got it recording my vhs to avi without problem - had to play about a bit with the sound to get that right (in vista) due to humm/hissing - but in the end all fine. I don't use their bundled software - instead I use a nice free little download called 'golden video'. Have not yet successfully converted avi to mp4 yet - losing some of the image length oddly enough - that seems a problem that I need to work on later so I can put vhs to ipod - plus mp4 is about 25% file size of avi of course! One thing you should be aware of, you most likely will need the scart attachment seperately purchased so as to get the lines into your vhs - don't forget you will also need the standard audio (L/R) and video cables as well - both are cheap.
I recommend this product - price and quality are good.

Great Device Once You Get It Working!, 05 Oct 2008
I bought this yesterday at Maplins (because they didn't have Dazzle in stock) and struggled initially to get it working. Help is practically non existent - Plug in device, insert drivers DVD, follow instructions then re-start machine. I did all this and nothing apart from a new icon in the system tray that when clicked gives you simply the option to exit! No other icons, no application, nothing.

After installing the additional software, Cyberlink PowerProducer and PowerDirector, things started to look promising. I ran powerdirector, which detects something is connected, but shows only a blank preview screen although audio comes through fine. I then ran PowerProducer which detects the device and shows a preview - if I have PowerDirector open as well, it also will now see the device!

With the right combination of software loaded, I have been able to record from my PVR (HUMAX), my mini dv camcorder and my old video recorder. I have yet to try the DVD player, but I don't foresee a problem.

Its a great product, that is let down by poorly integrated software and shamefully limited documentation.

Great Value, 31 Aug 2008
I wasn't sure what to expect from this after reading the reviews, but all I can say is if you're thinking about buying it - do it! Was easy to set up, and works extremely well in Vista. Have already used to transfer old VHS video and have also hooked up to my Freeview Recorder without any hassle at all.

Excellent product, 07 Aug 2008
A very good product, well worth the money. I can import video from my digital camera, Sky television, Freeview, analogue television, from my VCR, old DVDs (the latest are too well protected) and commercial VHS tapes. Simple to use. Excellent quality for analogue to digital conversion - much cheaper than buying a DVD combi device. It comes with Power Director 5, but you need to spend £40 to upgrade it to version 7. I use Serif MoviePlus 5 to manipulate content and Windows DVD Maker to burn to disc. Works well with the composite input signal. There is also a Svideo connection. Buy it!

Cheap and cheerful piece of kit, 27 Jun 2008
I bought this not expecting it to work with my 64bit Vista OS (which can be rather awkward) and so I went for something cheap as a tester but expecting to have to move 'upmarket'. No need! It installed easily and works just fine. I'm surprised but pleased. It came bundled with 'Cyberlink power Director v5' as well as a very simple almost automated package called 'Power Producer'. I plug my old Hi8 camera in, press play and hey presto! - the tapes are recorded as mpeg2 files. I did have a bit of a problem with sound recording, but found I'd set my sound card to an incorrect input setting - changed it and off we go. If all you need is a cheap device to help you capture your old home video tapes - try this.

Technical DataAudio Output / TypeSound cardTechnical DataAudio Output / Form FactorPlug-in cardTechnical DataAudio Output / Interface TypePCITechnical DataAudio Output / Sound Output Mode7.1 channel surroundTechnical DataAudio Output / Signal ProcessorCreative X-Fi Xtreme FidelityTechnical DataAudio Output / DAC Data Width24-bitTechnical DataAudio Output / Max Sample RatekHz192Technical DataSystem Requirements / OS RequiredMicrosoft Windows XP SP2Technical DataHeader / Product LineCreative Sound Blaster X-FiTechnical DataHeader / ModelXtreme GamerTechnical DataHeader / CompatibilityPCTechnical DataHeader / ManufacturerCreative TechnologyTechnical DataHeader / Packaged Quantity1

External USB sound system with true 5.1 and virtual 7.1 audio channels for amazing surround sound. Easy installation: Connects instantly to the USB port of your notebook or PC. Supports most universal 3D sound standards for optimal experience of DVD movies and games. Numerous environmental sound and equalizer settings supported to enrich the sound . Powered by USB; no power Adaptor required.Main Features:16 bits, 48 KHz playback and recordingSNR: 102 dBConnections for line-in, microphone and front, rear, su...

Blah, 30 Oct 2008
An okay product. On the plus side it's nice an comfortable, and the mic is quite good. But the bass can be very over the top, and rather annoying at some points. If you like bass, go for this, if not stay well away.

Mmmmm grrr, 29 Oct 2008
I bought these at the weekend when my Logitech's finally gave up the ghost. To say i'm disappointed is an understatement. I know that the quality is meant to be superb and i bought these based on reviews. However, yes they are conmfortable, yes they look the bees knees and yes the sound is brilliant. BUT, anyone sat within 5 feet of you like my wife is when she's trying to talk to her friends online will hear everything from the headset. Soundproof they are not. The ear pieces amplify any and all sound to everyone around them. Imagine someone sat next to you with a cheap headset on listening to music on the train or bus times that by 10 and you'll get an idea.

Superb!, 17 Oct 2008
I bought this item about 2 weeks ago and its superb! Its really lightweight and comfortable. It looks cool too! It sounds really good and the bass responce is great! Sometimes when i wear it for a while, i forgot that its on my head. The detachable microphone is a great idea, because i dont always need it. It's much better than my last headphone because it was really heavy and made buzzing sounds when it played really deep bass. But this doesnt! Its cheap, lightweight, good sound, comfortable, and practical. If you are looking for a great cheap headphone, this is the best choice! SUPERB!!!

-A happy costumer from Hungary :)


Great sound but mic broke., 10 Oct 2008
Some excellent sounding headphones, but sadly my microphone stopped working after about 5 uses. But you can remove the microphone and use it as purely comfortable headphones.

What a headset, 26 Sep 2008
this headset is fantastic. deep bass,comfy (soft padding on the headset), detachable/bendy mic is a good idea. came packaged well in a big box.and was quicker than expected. as long as this headset lasts, it's fantastic and i reccomend it to anyone.


Good value, 11 Sep 2008
If you are looking for superb surround sound you wont go wrong with this sound card...for the price it has to be among the best out there!...a very impressive product!

Recommended sound card for laptops!, 24 Oct 2008
I bought this sound card from Amazon to use with my Logitech Z5500 5.1 surround speakers and my HP laptop. I am using the system mostly for high-quality (lossless) music and movies, but never tried with games. At the moment, the sound card simply works with all functions it is advertised for.

The only lie on the advert of this product is the EASE to set it up. Yes, I agree that it is pretty easy to get analog sound from this sound card (taking about 10 minutes or so). But it took me a week to pass "true" digital 5.1 DTS/Dolby sound through TOSLINK optical port of this card from the laptop to the speakers. (For those who care about tackling this SPDIF issue, the trick I figured out is so simple: go to Creative support site, download and install ALL updates available.)

I see some users complain about the CMSS 5.1 sound simulation of the card. Yes, most of the time it works quite okay, but sometime it provides distorted and unbalanced sound when used to upmix stereo to 5.1. But I really don't care much about this CMSS function, as I don't need "fake" 5.1 sound coming from low-quality stereo MP3s but always use high bitrate .dts files or DVDs.

So, if you have a good 5.1 sound system and a laptop, just buy this sound card. It is really cheap though, for the price of about £35.

Excellent, 05 Oct 2008
Bought this last week, arrived 4 days after by royal mail. I am running Vista on my laptop with this kit. Initially I had a little problem how to set it up, but I followed the install CD, updated all the software online and then disabled my on board speaker output. The sounds is good from all of my speakers. Definitely worth the money!!

One thing is that the remote only works with the Creative Entertainment centre (which is like the Windows Vista one), (functions like play pause next etc) except volume up and down, mute, crystalliser and the 3d setting which i dont know really how its works.

WARNING this does not work with Vista, 18 Sep 2008
There is a lag with the sound in Vista when using 5.1. Creative are aware of this, but have not responded or given any indication when it will be resolved. Check the Creative user forum before buying this product.

hmmm, 08 Sep 2008
Right im using this on my Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21M laptop.
This laptop had 2 ports on the soundcard one being microphone and one being headphones. So i bought this external soundcard. My Dolby 5.1 surround sound speaker system has 3 x 3.5mm jacks subwoofer, front and rear. This external soundcard yeh it has ports for them but im not sure if this is hardware of software related but the subwoofer sounds absolutley rubbish for music games and movies using this thing...
Its only now that ive swapped rear speakers and subwoofer ports it sounds relativly good. But then thats surround sound screwed up.

If you use the subwoofer in all the correct labelled ports all your sub would do is grumble or will stay totally silent. Theres only so much of fidderling with the EQ and volume and frequencies with the software. Its taken me about 2 hours to try and set this up and it still sounds awful. I may as well just buy a damn amplifier and plug that up.

Well after finding out i cant use my 360 through it either im just going to send it back if i can. Its not worth £40.01 it should be free. Probably the worst thing ive ever purchased thats made by creative.


Awful for listening to music., 17 Aug 2008
I bought this for £39.99 from our local Argos store (as it was £20 cheaper than on Amazon), as I wanted an external sound card to play back music from my computer
Listening to MP3s through reasonable powered stereo monitors, it's sound really is offensive. You can really hear the poorly implemented psycho-acoustic treatments, ('X-Fi audio enhancements') in operation - boosting/compressing/expanding all sorts of frequencies - which totally screws the equalisation and balance of the original recordings to create a complete mess!
I now think these must be aimed at gamers who want everything to fizz, whizz and bang in their game of choice on cheap computer speakers, while they concentrate on the visuals. However, for any kind of music fan who wants a realistic reproduction of their music, listening on reasonable stereo monitors (as I was), the sound would be laughable if you had not paid for the privilege.

Works as well as it claims to, 05 Nov 2008
I read the mixed reviews and decided that I would give this a go anyway, believing that possibly the negative reviews were from users who did not have much patience or technical knowlege. Having said that, you don't need much technical knowlege because it is fairly straight forward. You need at least direct x9 on your computer - but dx10 will also do - I ran it on vista no problem (with dx10). After an hour or so of playing around to find out how everything works, I got it recording my vhs to avi without problem - had to play about a bit with the sound to get that right (in vista) due to humm/hissing - but in the end all fine. I don't use their bundled software - instead I use a nice free little download called 'golden video'. Have not yet successfully converted avi to mp4 yet - losing some of the image length oddly enough - that seems a problem that I need to work on later so I can put vhs to ipod - plus mp4 is about 25% file size of avi of course! One thing you should be aware of, you most likely will need the scart attachment seperately purchased so as to get the lines into your vhs - don't forget you will also need the standard audio (L/R) and video cables as well - both are cheap.
I recommend this product - price and quality are good.

Great Device Once You Get It Working!, 05 Oct 2008
I bought this yesterday at Maplins (because they didn't have Dazzle in stock) and struggled initially to get it working. Help is practically non existent - Plug in device, insert drivers DVD, follow instructions then re-start machine. I did all this and nothing apart from a new icon in the system tray that when clicked gives you simply the option to exit! No other icons, no application, nothing.

After installing the additional software, Cyberlink PowerProducer and PowerDirector, things started to look promising. I ran powerdirector, which detects something is connected, but shows only a blank preview screen although audio comes through fine. I then ran PowerProducer which detects the device and shows a preview - if I have PowerDirector open as well, it also will now see the device!

With the right combination of software loaded, I have been able to record from my PVR (HUMAX), my mini dv camcorder and my old video recorder. I have yet to try the DVD player, but I don't foresee a problem.

Its a great product, that is let down by poorly integrated software and shamefully limited documentation.

Great Value, 31 Aug 2008
I wasn't sure what to expect from this after reading the reviews, but all I can say is if you're thinking about buying it - do it! Was easy to set up, and works extremely well in Vista. Have already used to transfer old VHS video and have also hooked up to my Freeview Recorder without any hassle at all.

Excellent product, 07 Aug 2008
A very good product, well worth the money. I can import video from my digital camera, Sky television, Freeview, analogue television, from my VCR, old DVDs (the latest are too well protected) and commercial VHS tapes. Simple to use. Excellent quality for analogue to digital conversion - much cheaper than buying a DVD combi device. It comes with Power Director 5, but you need to spend £40 to upgrade it to version 7. I use Serif MoviePlus 5 to manipulate content and Windows DVD Maker to burn to disc. Works well with the composite input signal. There is also a Svideo connection. Buy it!

Cheap and cheerful piece of kit, 27 Jun 2008
I bought this not expecting it to work with my 64bit Vista OS (which can be rather awkward) and so I went for something cheap as a tester but expecting to have to move 'upmarket'. No need! It installed easily and works just fine. I'm surprised but pleased. It came bundled with 'Cyberlink power Director v5' as well as a very simple almost automated package called 'Power Producer'. I plug my old Hi8 camera in, press play and hey presto! - the tapes are recorded as mpeg2 files. I did have a bit of a problem with sound recording, but found I'd set my sound card to an incorrect input setting - changed it and off we go. If all you need is a cheap device to help you capture your old home video tapes - try this.

Good Enough For My Laptop!, 30 Oct 2008
Some of the reviews on here are just silly, this external sound card for £20 does what it says on the tin, it works on a Windows Vista Laptop fine..(the drivers come on the disk), you can hook up 5.1 speaker systems to it, not sure if it supports 7.1 properly. The reason i bought this sound card is because I couldnt go another song not hearing any bass from my laptop speakers, all the 6 speakers work fine.

To summarize buy this if your looking for a simple improvment from your laptop speakers, ofcourse your gonna need the speaker system, I purchased the Sweex 5.1 thing and thats good enough for me
Cheers

You get what you pay for: a cheap sound card, 18 Jan 2008
I generally agree with ShineBella - the instructions are all wrong, check the internet. Apart from that, there were no set up problems, The driver included is quite good too. In fact, when it wants to work the sound card works well too, but at roughly £20 it is just a cheap sound card and I'm not the only one to complain here of a crackling which kicks in after a couple of hours of the sound card being in operation. Up to this point it sounds nice, but once the crackling starts all other sound is drowned out and you need to restart the computer to regain sound which is very annoying if watching a film. My verdict? Low price, low quality - a waste of money. Don't be stingy, pay the extra £15 for a Creative sound card that won't die on you.

Not worth the box it came in..., 26 Dec 2007
I needed a new soundcard as I had just purchased a 5.1 setup. As I already parted with alot of my hard earned money for the speakers I didn't want to pay much more for a soundcard. BIG mistake.....

After about 30 mins, if you are listening to music or watching a film it will speed up by more than double the speed and crackle. The only way to stop it is to close WMA or the program your watching your film on or listening to music on and re-open it. You can imagine how annoying this is when your half way through a film or having to get up every 30 mins to keep closing and re-opening WMA and other programs.

Now I have just disconnected it and changed my speakers to a 2.1 setup instead to avoid it until I get a new soundcard. At the time I paid £12 for it and I still DON'T think that was worth it. So it's definately NOT worth the £24 i see it's being sold on here now, but i guess I got what i paid for.

If you want a cheap soundcard, do NOT get this one. Save up some money and buy a better one because you will only end up buying a new one anyway, I wish I had done so.

It's only saving grace is its easy installation, but what's more important is it's easy de-installation

Poor, but the cheapest soundcard i could find, 21 Dec 2007
When this soundcard does what it is supposed to do it does it well, however, when listening to music/watching films etc the speakers randomly crackle very loudly, the video or music skips, changes speed and when a media player is left on for a while they occassionally completely switch off.

The only reason i bought it was because it is cheap, and then i realised i got what i paid for.

dodgy, 11 Sep 2007
i recieved my external surround card and from the start i experianced problems with it. it would randomly make the music or film play quickly and then go all crackly.
when i contacted trust they didnt want to know.
i would reccomend spending a little more on something more reliable.

Overview: Creative's Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! brings incredible gaming audio to any computer anywhere! Designed just like a USB stick it plugs into a PC to bring you incredible X-Fi headphone surround and maximum realism thanks to its EAX Advanced HD support. Its 1GB memory stores the installation software and lets you save your game settings and levels. Ideal for LAN parties it supports hundreds of titles under Windows XP and Vista - and even fits on your key ring for maximum portability! The Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! is the fast and easy upgrade to Xtreme Fidelity. Xtreme Fidelity sound card in compact USB stick format. X-Fi CMSS-3D for incredible surround sound with headphones. X-Fi Crystalizer enhances gaming audio MP3 music and DivX sound tracks. EAX Advanced HD support ensures maximum audio realism in hundreds of games under Windows XP and Vista. Built-in 1GB memory stores installation software (no CD required) plus game settings. Fits on your key ring for convenient use at LAN parties and cybercafés.

Blah, 30 Oct 2008
An okay product. On the plus side it's nice an comfortable, and the mic is quite good. But the bass can be very over the top, and rather annoying at some points. If you like bass, go for this, if not stay well away.

Mmmmm grrr, 29 Oct 2008
I bought these at the weekend when my Logitech's finally gave up the ghost. To say i'm disappointed is an understatement. I know that the quality is meant to be superb and i bought these based on reviews. However, yes they are conmfortable, yes they look the bees knees and yes the sound is brilliant. BUT, anyone sat within 5 feet of you like my wife is when she's trying to talk to her friends online will hear everything from the headset. Soundproof they are not. The ear pieces amplify any and all sound to everyone around them. Imagine someone sat next to you with a cheap headset on listening to music on the train or bus times that by 10 and you'll get an idea.

Superb!, 17 Oct 2008
I bought this item about 2 weeks ago and its superb! Its really lightweight and comfortable. It looks cool too! It sounds really good and the bass responce is great! Sometimes when i wear it for a while, i forgot that its on my head. The detachable microphone is a great idea, because i dont always need it. It's much better than my last headphone because it was really heavy and made buzzing sounds when it played really deep bass. But this doesnt! Its cheap, lightweight, good sound, comfortable, and practical. If you are looking for a great cheap headphone, this is the best choice! SUPERB!!!

-A happy costumer from Hungary :)


Great sound but mic broke., 10 Oct 2008
Some excellent sounding headphones, but sadly my microphone stopped working after about 5 uses. But you can remove the microphone and use it as purely comfortable headphones.

What a headset, 26 Sep 2008
this headset is fantastic. deep bass,comfy (soft padding on the headset), detachable/bendy mic is a good idea. came packaged well in a big box.and was quicker than expected. as long as this headset lasts, it's fantastic and i reccomend it to anyone.


Good value, 11 Sep 2008
If you are looking for superb surround sound you wont go wrong with this sound card...for the price it has to be among the best out there!...a very impressive product!

Recommended sound card for laptops!, 24 Oct 2008
I bought this sound card from Amazon to use with my Logitech Z5500 5.1 surround speakers and my HP laptop. I am using the system mostly for high-quality (lossless) music and movies, but never tried with games. At the moment, the sound card simply works with all functions it is advertised for.

The only lie on the advert of this product is the EASE to set it up. Yes, I agree that it is pretty easy to get analog sound from this sound card (taking about 10 minutes or so). But it took me a week to pass "true" digital 5.1 DTS/Dolby sound through TOSLINK optical port of this card from the laptop to the speakers. (For those who care about tackling this SPDIF issue, the trick I figured out is so simple: go to Creative support site, download and install ALL updates available.)

I see some users complain about the CMSS 5.1 sound simulation of the card. Yes, most of the time it works quite okay, but sometime it provides distorted and unbalanced sound when used to upmix stereo to 5.1. But I really don't care much about this CMSS function, as I don't need "fake" 5.1 sound coming from low-quality stereo MP3s but always use high bitrate .dts files or DVDs.

So, if you have a good 5.1 sound system and a laptop, just buy this sound card. It is really cheap though, for the price of about £35.

Excellent, 05 Oct 2008
Bought this last week, arrived 4 days after by royal mail. I am running Vista on my laptop with this kit. Initially I had a little problem how to set it up, but I followed the install CD, updated all the software online and then disabled my on board speaker output. The sounds is good from all of my speakers. Definitely worth the money!!

One thing is that the remote only works with the Creative Entertainment centre (which is like the Windows Vista one), (functions like play pause next etc) except volume up and down, mute, crystalliser and the 3d setting which i dont know really how its works.

WARNING this does not work with Vista, 18 Sep 2008
There is a lag with the sound in Vista when using 5.1. Creative are aware of this, but have not responded or given any indication when it will be resolved. Check the Creative user forum before buying this product.

hmmm, 08 Sep 2008
Right im using this on my Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21M laptop.
This laptop had 2 ports on the soundcard one being microphone and one being headphones. So i bought this external soundcard. My Dolby 5.1 surround sound speaker system has 3 x 3.5mm jacks subwoofer, front and rear. This external soundcard yeh it has ports for them but im not sure if this is hardware of software related but the subwoofer sounds absolutley rubbish for music games and movies using this thing...
Its only now that ive swapped rear speakers and subwoofer ports it sounds relativly good. But then thats surround sound screwed up.

If you use the subwoofer in all the correct labelled ports all your sub would do is grumble or will stay totally silent. Theres only so much of fidderling with the EQ and volume and frequencies with the software. Its taken me about 2 hours to try and set this up and it still sounds awful. I may as well just buy a damn amplifier and plug that up.

Well after finding out i cant use my 360 through it either im just going to send it back if i can. Its not worth £40.01 it should be free. Probably the worst thing ive ever purchased thats made by creative.


Awful for listening to music., 17 Aug 2008
I bought this for £39.99 from our local Argos store (as it was £20 cheaper than on Amazon), as I wanted an external sound card to play back music from my computer
Listening to MP3s through reasonable powered stereo monitors, it's sound really is offensive. You can really hear the poorly implemented psycho-acoustic treatments, ('X-Fi audio enhancements') in operation - boosting/compressing/expanding all sorts of frequencies - which totally screws the equalisation and balance of the original recordings to create a complete mess!
I now think these must be aimed at gamers who want everything to fizz, whizz and bang in their game of choice on cheap computer speakers, while they concentrate on the visuals. However, for any kind of music fan who wants a realistic reproduction of their music, listening on reasonable stereo monitors (as I was), the sound would be laughable if you had not paid for the privilege.

Works as well as it claims to, 05 Nov 2008
I read the mixed reviews and decided that I would give this a go anyway, believing that possibly the negative reviews were from users who did not have much patience or technical knowlege. Having said that, you don't need much technical knowlege because it is fairly straight forward. You need at least direct x9 on your computer - but dx10 will also do - I ran it on vista no problem (with dx10). After an hour or so of playing around to find out how everything works, I got it recording my vhs to avi without problem - had to play about a bit with the sound to get that right (in vista) due to humm/hissing - but in the end all fine. I don't use their bundled software - instead I use a nice free little download called 'golden video'. Have not yet successfully converted avi to mp4 yet - losing some of the image length oddly enough - that seems a problem that I need to work on later so I can put vhs to ipod - plus mp4 is about 25% file size of avi of course! One thing you should be aware of, you most likely will need the scart attachment seperately purchased so as to get the lines into your vhs - don't forget you will also need the standard audio (L/R) and video cables as well - both are cheap.
I recommend this product - price and quality are good.

Great Device Once You Get It Working!, 05 Oct 2008
I bought this yesterday at Maplins (because they didn't have Dazzle in stock) and struggled initially to get it working. Help is practically non existent - Plug in device, insert drivers DVD, follow instructions then re-start machine. I did all this and nothing apart from a new icon in the system tray that when clicked gives you simply the option to exit! No other icons, no application, nothing.

After installing the additional software, Cyberlink PowerProducer and PowerDirector, things started to look promising. I ran powerdirector, which detects something is connected, but shows only a blank preview screen although audio comes through fine. I then ran PowerProducer which detects the device and shows a preview - if I have PowerDirector open as well, it also will now see the device!

With the right combination of software loaded, I have been able to record from my PVR (HUMAX), my mini dv camcorder and my old video recorder. I have yet to try the DVD player, but I don't foresee a problem.

Its a great product, that is let down by poorly integrated software and shamefully limited documentation.

Great Value, 31 Aug 2008
I wasn't sure what to expect from this after reading the reviews, but all I can say is if you're thinking about buying it - do it! Was easy to set up, and works extremely well in Vista. Have already used to transfer old VHS video and have also hooked up to my Freeview Recorder without any hassle at all.

Excellent product, 07 Aug 2008
A very good product, well worth the money. I can import video from my digital camera, Sky television, Freeview, analogue television, from my VCR, old DVDs (the latest are too well protected) and commercial VHS tapes. Simple to use. Excellent quality for analogue to digital conversion - much cheaper than buying a DVD combi device. It comes with Power Director 5, but you need to spend £40 to upgrade it to version 7. I use Serif MoviePlus 5 to manipulate content and Windows DVD Maker to burn to disc. Works well with the composite input signal. There is also a Svideo connection. Buy it!

Cheap and cheerful piece of kit, 27 Jun 2008
I bought this not expecting it to work with my 64bit Vista OS (which can be rather awkward) and so I went for something cheap as a tester but expecting to have to move 'upmarket'. No need! It installed easily and works just fine. I'm surprised but pleased. It came bundled with 'Cyberlink power Director v5' as well as a very simple almost automated package called 'Power Producer'. I plug my old Hi8 camera in, press play and hey presto! - the tapes are recorded as mpeg2 files. I did have a bit of a problem with sound recording, but found I'd set my sound card to an incorrect input setting - changed it and off we go. If all you need is a cheap device to help you capture your old home video tapes - try this.

Good Enough For My Laptop!, 30 Oct 2008
Some of the reviews on here are just silly, this external sound card for £20 does what it says on the tin, it works on a Windows Vista Laptop fine..(the drivers come on the disk), you can hook up 5.1 speaker systems to it, not sure if it supports 7.1 properly. The reason i bought this sound card is because I couldnt go another song not hearing any bass from my laptop speakers, all the 6 speakers work fine.

To summarize buy this if your looking for a simple improvment from your laptop speakers, ofcourse your gonna need the speaker system, I purchased the Sweex 5.1 thing and thats good enough for me
Cheers

You get what you pay for: a cheap sound card, 18 Jan 2008
I generally agree with ShineBella - the instructions are all wrong, check the internet. Apart from that, there were no set up problems, The driver included is quite good too. In fact, when it wants to work the sound card works well too, but at roughly £20 it is just a cheap sound card and I'm not the only one to complain here of a crackling which kicks in after a couple of hours of the sound card being in operation. Up to this point it sounds nice, but once the crackling starts all other sound is drowned out and you need to restart the computer to regain sound which is very annoying if watching a film. My verdict? Low price, low quality - a waste of money. Don't be stingy, pay the extra £15 for a Creative sound card that won't die on you.

Not worth the box it came in..., 26 Dec 2007
I needed a new soundcard as I had just purchased a 5.1 setup. As I already parted with alot of my hard earned money for the speakers I didn't want to pay much more for a soundcard. BIG mistake.....

After about 30 mins, if you are listening to music or watching a film it will speed up by more than double the speed and crackle. The only way to stop it is to close WMA or the program your watching your film on or listening to music on and re-open it. You can imagine how annoying this is when your half way through a film or having to get up every 30 mins to keep closing and re-opening WMA and other programs.

Now I have just disconnected it and changed my speakers to a 2.1 setup instead to avoid it until I get a new soundcard. At the time I paid £12 for it and I still DON'T think that was worth it. So it's definately NOT worth the £24 i see it's being sold on here now, but i guess I got what i paid for.

If you want a cheap soundcard, do NOT get this one. Save up some money and buy a better one because you will only end up buying a new one anyway, I wish I had done so.

It's only saving grace is its easy installation, but what's more important is it's easy de-installation

Poor, but the cheapest soundcard i could find, 21 Dec 2007
When this soundcard does what it is supposed to do it does it well, however, when listening to music/watching films etc the speakers randomly crackle very loudly, the video or music skips, changes speed and when a media player is left on for a while they occassionally completely switch off.

The only reason i bought it was because it is cheap, and then i realised i got what i paid for.

dodgy, 11 Sep 2007
i recieved my external surround card and from the start i experianced problems with it. it would randomly make the music or film play quickly and then go all crackly.
when i contacted trust they didnt want to know.
i would reccomend spending a little more on something more reliable.

Marvelous Device!, 17 Oct 2008
It's an easy to use and great sounding device. I was looking for something that sounds great but in a small form factor for portability. The portability and sound quality cannot be matched. It almost sounds as good as the desktop Fatality version I own. It also carries with it 1GB of storage and the software installed on my Toshiba Vista laptop and was ready to go in seconds. I don't need more channels than the two stereo ones because I bought it for listening to music and watch TV shows so I am quite happy. It includes a USB extension cable preventing breakage in the USB socket when you accidentally tilt your laptop. It also comes with not bad sounding earbud headset with a mic.

Enjoy the power and the pleasure of digital mixing with the DJ Control MP3, a real DJ mixing platform with a range of controls, faders and 2 "scratch" decks to create your own music and host your evenings.Mix MP3 files easily with the DJ Control MP3 using the 2 jogwheels and progressive crossfader and mix 2 samples on the same controller.Rock the dancefloor with the DJ Control MP3 and Virtual DJ software.

Blah, 30 Oct 2008
An okay product. On the plus side it's nice an comfortable, and the mic is quite good. But the bass can be very over the top, and rather annoying at some points. If you like bass, go for this, if not stay well away.

Mmmmm grrr, 29 Oct 2008
I bought these at the weekend when my Logitech's finally gave up the ghost. To say i'm disappointed is an understatement. I know that the quality is meant to be superb and i bought these based on reviews. However, yes they are conmfortable, yes they look the bees knees and yes the sound is brilliant. BUT, anyone sat within 5 feet of you like my wife is when she's trying to talk to her friends online will hear everything from the headset. Soundproof they are not. The ear pieces amplify any and all sound to everyone around them. Imagine someone sat next to you with a cheap headset on listening to music on the train or bus times that by 10 and you'll get an idea.

Superb!, 17 Oct 2008
I bought this item about 2 weeks ago and its superb! Its really lightweight and comfortable. It looks cool too! It sounds really good and the bass responce is great! Sometimes when i wear it for a while, i forgot that its on my head. The detachable microphone is a great idea, because i dont always need it. It's much better than my last headphone because it was really heavy and made buzzing sounds when it played really deep bass. But this doesnt! Its cheap, lightweight, good sound, comfortable, and practical. If you are looking for a great cheap headphone, this is the best choice! SUPERB!!!

-A happy costumer from Hungary :)


Great sound but mic broke., 10 Oct 2008
Some excellent sounding headphones, but sadly my microphone stopped working after about 5 uses. But you can remove the microphone and use it as purely comfortable headphones.

What a headset, 26 Sep 2008
this headset is fantastic. deep bass,comfy (soft padding on the headset), detachable/bendy mic is a good idea. came packaged well in a big box.and was quicker than expected. as long as this headset lasts, it's fantastic and i reccomend it to anyone.


Good value, 11 Sep 2008
If you are looking for superb surround sound you wont go wrong with this sound card...for the price it has to be among the best out there!...a very impressive product!

Recommended sound card for laptops!, 24 Oct 2008
I bought this sound card from Amazon to use with my Logitech Z5500 5.1 surround speakers and my HP laptop. I am using the system mostly for high-quality (lossless) music and movies, but never tried with games. At the moment, the sound card simply works with all functions it is advertised for.

The only lie on the advert of this product is the EASE to set it up. Yes, I agree that it is pretty easy to get analog sound from this sound card (taking about 10 minutes or so). But it took me a week to pass "true" digital 5.1 DTS/Dolby sound through TOSLINK optical port of this card from the laptop to the speakers. (For those who care about tackling this SPDIF issue, the trick I figured out is so simple: go to Creative support site, download and install ALL updates available.)

I see some users complain about the CMSS 5.1 sound simulation of the card. Yes, most of the time it works quite okay, but sometime it provides distorted and unbalanced sound when used to upmix stereo to 5.1. But I really don't care much about this CMSS function, as I don't need "fake" 5.1 sound coming from low-quality stereo MP3s but always use high bitrate .dts files or DVDs.

So, if you have a good 5.1 sound system and a laptop, just buy this sound card. It is really cheap though, for the price of about £35.

Excellent, 05 Oct 2008
Bought this last week, arrived 4 days after by royal mail. I am running Vista on my laptop with this kit. Initially I had a little problem how to set it up, but I followed the install CD, updated all the software online and then disabled my on board speaker output. The sounds is good from all of my speakers. Definitely worth the money!!

One thing is that the remote only works with the Creative Entertainment centre (which is like the Windows Vista one), (functions like play pause next etc) except volume up and down, mute, crystalliser and the 3d setting which i dont know really how its works.

WARNING this does not work with Vista, 18 Sep 2008
There is a lag with the sound in Vista when using 5.1. Creative are aware of this, but have not responded or given any indication when it will be resolved. Check the Creative user forum before buying this product.

hmmm, 08 Sep 2008
Right im using this on my Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21M laptop.
This laptop had 2 ports on the soundcard one being microphone and one being headphones. So i bought this external soundcard. My Dolby 5.1 surround sound speaker system has 3 x 3.5mm jacks subwoofer, front and rear. This external soundcard yeh it has ports for them but im not sure if this is hardware of software related but the subwoofer sounds absolutley rubbish for music games and movies using this thing...
Its only now that ive swapped rear speakers and subwoofer ports it sounds relativly good. But then thats surround sound screwed up.

If you use the subwoofer in all the correct labelled ports all your sub would do is grumble or will stay totally silent. Theres only so much of fidderling with the EQ and volume and frequencies with the software. Its taken me about 2 hours to try and set this up and it still sounds awful. I may as well just buy a damn amplifier and plug that up.

Well after finding out i cant use my 360 through it either im just going to send it back if i can. Its not worth £40.01 it should be free. Probably the worst thing ive ever purchased thats made by creative.


Awful for listening to music., 17 Aug 2008
I bought this for £39.99 from our local Argos store (as it was £20 cheaper than on Amazon), as I wanted an external sound card to play back music from my computer
Listening to MP3s through reasonable powered stereo monitors, it's sound really is offensive. You can really hear the poorly implemented psycho-acoustic treatments, ('X-Fi audio enhancements') in operation - boosting/compressing/expanding all sorts of frequencies - which totally screws the equalisation and balance of the original recordings to create a complete mess!
I now think these must be aimed at gamers who want everything to fizz, whizz and bang in their game of choice on cheap computer speakers, while they concentrate on the visuals. However, for any kind of music fan who wants a realistic reproduction of their music, listening on reasonable stereo monitors (as I was), the sound would be laughable if you had not paid for the privilege.

Works as well as it claims to, 05 Nov 2008
I read the mixed reviews and decided that I would give this a go anyway, believing that possibly the negative reviews were from users who did not have much patience or technical knowlege. Having said that, you don't need much technical knowlege because it is fairly straight forward. You need at least direct x9 on your computer - but dx10 will also do - I ran it on vista no problem (with dx10). After an hour or so of playing around to find out how everything works, I got it recording my vhs to avi without problem - had to play about a bit with the sound to get that right (in vista) due to humm/hissing - but in the end all fine. I don't use their bundled software - instead I use a nice free little download called 'golden video'. Have not yet successfully converted avi to mp4 yet - losing some of the image length oddly enough - that seems a problem that I need to work on later so I can put vhs to ipod - plus mp4 is about 25% file size of avi of course! One thing you should be aware of, you most likely will need the scart attachment seperately purchased so as to get the lines into your vhs - don't forget you will also need the standard audio (L/R) and video cables as well - both are cheap.
I recommend this product - price and quality are good.

Great Device Once You Get It Working!, 05 Oct 2008
I bought this yesterday at Maplins (because they didn't have Dazzle in stock) and struggled initially to get it working. Help is practically non existent - Plug in device, insert drivers DVD, follow instructions then re-start machine. I did all this and nothing apart from a new icon in the system tray that when clicked gives you simply the option to exit! No other icons, no application, nothing.

After installing the additional software, Cyberlink PowerProducer and PowerDirector, things started to look promising. I ran powerdirector, which detects something is connected, but shows only a blank preview screen although audio comes through fine. I then ran PowerProducer which detects the device and shows a preview - if I have PowerDirector open as well, it also will now see the device!

With the right combination of software loaded, I have been able to record from my PVR (HUMAX), my mini dv camcorder and my old video recorder. I have yet to try the DVD player, but I don't foresee a problem.

Its a great product, that is let down by poorly integrated software and shamefully limited documentation.

Great Value, 31 Aug 2008
I wasn't sure what to expect from this after reading the reviews, but all I can say is if you're thinking about buying it - do it! Was easy to set up, and works extremely well in Vista. Have already used to transfer old VHS video and have also hooked up to my Freeview Recorder without any hassle at all.

Excellent product, 07 Aug 2008
A very good product, well worth the money. I can import video from my digital camera, Sky television, Freeview, analogue television, from my VCR, old DVDs (the latest are too well protected) and commercial VHS tapes. Simple to use. Excellent quality for analogue to digital conversion - much cheaper than buying a DVD combi device. It comes with Power Director 5, but you need to spend £40 to upgrade it to version 7. I use Serif MoviePlus 5 to manipulate content and Windows DVD Maker to burn to disc. Works well with the composite input signal. There is also a Svideo connection. Buy it!

Cheap and cheerful piece of kit, 27 Jun 2008
I bought this not expecting it to work with my 64bit Vista OS (which can be rather awkward) and so I went for something cheap as a tester but expecting to have to move 'upmarket'. No need! It installed easily and works just fine. I'm surprised but pleased. It came bundled with 'Cyberlink power Director v5' as well as a very simple almost automated package called 'Power Producer'. I plug my old Hi8 camera in, press play and hey presto! - the tapes are recorded as mpeg2 files. I did have a bit of a problem with sound recording, but found I'd set my sound card to an incorrect input setting - changed it and off we go. If all you need is a cheap device to help you capture your old home video tapes - try this.

Good Enough For My Laptop!, 30 Oct 2008
Some of the reviews on here are just silly, this external sound card for £20 does what it says on the tin, it works on a Windows Vista Laptop fine..(the drivers come on the disk), you can hook up 5.1 speaker systems to it, not sure if it supports 7.1 properly. The reason i bought this sound card is because I couldnt go another song not hearing any bass from my laptop speakers, all the 6 speakers work fine.

To summarize buy this if your looking for a simple improvment from your laptop speakers, ofcourse your gonna need the speaker system, I purchased the Sweex 5.1 thing and thats good enough for me
Cheers

You get what you pay for: a cheap sound card, 18 Jan 2008
I generally agree with ShineBella - the instructions are all wrong, check the internet. Apart from that, there were no set up problems, The driver included is quite good too. In fact, when it wants to work the sound card works well too, but at roughly £20 it is just a cheap sound card and I'm not the only one to complain here of a crackling which kicks in after a couple of hours of the sound card being in operation. Up to this point it sounds nice, but once the crackling starts all other sound is drowned out and you need to restart the computer to regain sound which is very annoying if watching a film. My verdict? Low price, low quality - a waste of money. Don't be stingy, pay the extra £15 for a Creative sound card that won't die on you.

Not worth the box it came in..., 26 Dec 2007
I needed a new soundcard as I had just purchased a 5.1 setup. As I already parted with alot of my hard earned money for the speakers I didn't want to pay much more for a soundcard. BIG mistake.....

After about 30 mins, if you are listening to music or watching a film it will speed up by more than double the speed and crackle. The only way to stop it is to close WMA or the program your watching your film on or listening to music on and re-open it. You can imagine how annoying this is when your half way through a film or having to get up every 30 mins to keep closing and re-opening WMA and other programs.

Now I have just disconnected it and changed my speakers to a 2.1 setup instead to avoid it until I get a new soundcard. At the time I paid £12 for it and I still DON'T think that was worth it. So it's definately NOT worth the £24 i see it's being sold on here now, but i guess I got what i paid for.

If you want a cheap soundcard, do NOT get this one. Save up some money and buy a better one because you will only end up buying a new one anyway, I wish I had done so.

It's only saving grace is its easy installation, but what's more important is it's easy de-installation

Poor, but the cheapest soundcard i could find, 21 Dec 2007
When this soundcard does what it is supposed to do it does it well, however, when listening to music/watching films etc the speakers randomly crackle very loudly, the video or music skips, changes speed and when a media player is left on for a while they occassionally completely switch off.

The only reason i bought it was because it is cheap, and then i realised i got what i paid for.

dodgy, 11 Sep 2007
i recieved my external surround card and from the start i experianced problems with it. it would randomly make the music or film play quickly and then go all crackly.
when i contacted trust they didnt want to know.
i would reccomend spending a little more on something more reliable.

Marvelous Device!, 17 Oct 2008
It's an easy to use and great sounding device. I was looking for something that sounds great but in a small form factor for portability. The portability and sound quality cannot be matched. It almost sounds as good as the desktop Fatality version I own. It also carries with it 1GB of storage and the software installed on my Toshiba Vista laptop and was ready to go in seconds. I don't need more channels than the two stereo ones because I bought it for listening to music and watch TV shows so I am quite happy. It includes a USB extension cable preventing breakage in the USB socket when you accidentally tilt your laptop. It also comes with not bad sounding earbud headset with a mic.

rubbish on vista, 01 Sep 2008
This is not what I thought it was, its little use unless you can listen to the track being cued, you can only do this if you have a 5.1 sound card which most laptops dont have.

waste of time

nice bit of kit, 25 Feb 2008
If you want to start making mixes but cant afford turntables then this is for you. Im using mine for tracks i havent got on vinyl and it works great. I would recommend more RAM than the minimum system requirements because on 256KB it can be a little stubborn and jam for example: when turning the eq knobs but on 1GB RAM it works great.

The Herc Mk2, 14 Jun 2007
You could get away with using Virtual DJ without the amazing Hercules Control but when it comes to reducing volume on 1 deck whilst upping the bass on the other and all knob twiddiling in between then a Control unit is a must.

The Herc or MK2 as it is known is quite small and easily portable and includes a carry strap. It is also very light.

I have Windows Vista on my new PC so had to download the latest drivers and also the latest version supplied with the software V3.4.

Once up and running it took me no time to get used to it although at first I did hit the jog wheels by accident but have learned from that. Being able to loop, play effects and play samples from the control makes for great mixes and ones that would just be impossible with vinyl.

If you want a nice cheap and easy way to create your own mixes or even if you are a pro and are fed up carting about boxes of 12" then this is for you.

Maximum performance ... maximum immersion! Creative's Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium is the essential audio upgrade for maximum PC gaming and entertainment. Whether you use Windows XP or Vista its PCI Express design guarantees total compatibility plus hardware-accelerated EAX 5.0 and OpenAL support for maximum gaming performance. With X-Fi CMSS-3D for accurate and immersive 3D positional audio even over headphones this card will give you the edge over the competition! THX certified it also features onboard Optical I/O and real-time Dolby Digital encoding for single cable connectivity to your surround sound decoder. The supplied PowerDVD software works with X-Fi technology to let you play Dolby and DTS movies in incredible surround sound over headphones or speakers. Sound Blaster X-Fi PCI Express chipset is designed for the latest PCs. Hardware-accelerated EAX 5.0 and OpenAL gaming for ultra-realistic cinematic in-game audio. Creative ALchemy software restores EAX surround sound to Windows XP games under Windows Vista. Delivers accurate and immersive X-Fi CMSS-3D surround sound over headphones for on-line or late-night gaming sessions. On-board optical I/O with Dolby Digital real-time encoding for single cable connection to your surround sound decoder. UAA (Universal Audio Architecture) design ensures maximum compatibility under Windows Vista. PowerDVD software plays Dolby Digital or DTS movies in incredible surround sound over headphones or speakers. THX certification assures high-fidelity results and low-latency ASIO drivers also make this card ideal for the music enthusiast. Technical Specifications 24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96kHz sample rate 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96kHz to analog 7.1 speaker output 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192kHz to stereo output 16-bit to 24-bit recording sampling rates: 8 11.025 16 22.05 24 32 44.1 48 and

Just plug the Instant Music into a USB port on your computer andyou are ready to begin recording from any analog audio source intothe most popular digital audio formats available such as MP3 WAVand WMA (Windows Media 9 Audio) and AAC. Once in a digi

Blah, 30 Oct 2008
An okay product. On the plus side it's nice an comfortable, and the mic is quite good. But the bass can be very over the top, and rather annoying at some points. If you like bass, go for this, if not stay well away.

Mmmmm grrr, 29 Oct 2008
I bought these at the weekend when my Logitech's finally gave up the ghost. To say i'm disappointed is an understatement. I know that the quality is meant to be superb and i bought these based on reviews. However, yes they are conmfortable, yes they look the bees knees and yes the sound is brilliant. BUT, anyone sat within 5 feet of you like my wife is when she's trying to talk to her friends online will hear everything from the headset. Soundproof they are not. The ear pieces amplify any and all sound to everyone around them. Imagine someone sat next to you with a cheap headset on listening to music on the train or bus times that by 10 and you'll get an idea.

Superb!, 17 Oct 2008
I bought this item about 2 weeks ago and its superb! Its really lightweight and comfortable. It looks cool too! It sounds really good and the bass responce is great! Sometimes when i wear it for a while, i forgot that its on my head. The detachable microphone is a great idea, because i dont always need it. It's much better than my last headphone because it was really heavy and made buzzing sounds when it played really deep bass. But this doesnt! Its cheap, lightweight, good sound, comfortable, and practical. If you are looking for a great cheap headphone, this is the best choice! SUPERB!!!

-A happy costumer from Hungary :)


Great sound but mic broke., 10 Oct 2008
Some excellent sounding headphones, but sadly my microphone stopped working after about 5 uses. But you can remove the microphone and use it as purely comfortable headphones.

What a headset, 26 Sep 2008
this headset is fantastic. deep bass,comfy (soft padding on the headset), detachable/bendy mic is a good idea. came packaged well in a big box.and was quicker than expected. as long as this headset lasts, it's fantastic and i reccomend it to anyone.


Good value, 11 Sep 2008
If you are looking for superb surround sound you wont go wrong with this sound card...for the price it has to be among the best out there!...a very impressive product!

Recommended sound card for laptops!, 24 Oct 2008
I bought this sound card from Amazon to use with my Logitech Z5500 5.1 surround speakers and my HP laptop. I am using the system mostly for high-quality (lossless) music and movies, but never tried with games. At the moment, the sound card simply works with all functions it is advertised for.

The only lie on the advert of this product is the EASE to set it up. Yes, I agree that it is pretty easy to get analog sound from this sound card (taking about 10 minutes or so). But it took me a week to pass "true" digital 5.1 DTS/Dolby sound through TOSLINK optical port of this card from the laptop to the speakers. (For those who care about tackling this SPDIF issue, the trick I figured out is so simple: go to Creative support site, download and install ALL updates available.)

I see some users complain about the CMSS 5.1 sound simulation of the card. Yes, most of the time it works quite okay, but sometime it provides distorted and unbalanced sound when used to upmix stereo to 5.1. But I really don't care much about this CMSS function, as I don't need "fake" 5.1 sound coming from low-quality stereo MP3s but always use high bitrate .dts files or DVDs.

So, if you have a good 5.1 sound system and a laptop, just buy this sound card. It is really cheap though, for the price of about £35.

Excellent, 05 Oct 2008
Bought this last week, arrived 4 days after by royal mail. I am running Vista on my laptop with this kit. Initially I had a little problem how to set it up, but I followed the install CD, updated all the software online and then disabled my on board speaker output. The sounds is good from all of my speakers. Definitely worth the money!!

One thing is that the remote only works with the Creative Entertainment centre (which is like the Windows Vista one), (functions like play pause next etc) except volume up and down, mute, crystalliser and the 3d setting which i dont know really how its works.

WARNING this does not work with Vista, 18 Sep 2008
There is a lag with the sound in Vista when using 5.1. Creative are aware of this, but have not responded or given any indication when it will be resolved. Check the Creative user forum before buying this product.

hmmm, 08 Sep 2008
Right im using this on my Sony Vaio VGN-FZ21M laptop.
This laptop had 2 ports on the soundcard one being microphone and one being headphones. So i bought this external soundcard. My Dolby 5.1 surround sound speaker system has 3 x 3.5mm jacks subwoofer, front and rear. This external soundcard yeh it has ports for them but im not sure if this is hardware of software related but the subwoofer sounds absolutley rubbish for music games and movies using this thing...
Its only now that ive swapped rear speakers and subwoofer ports it sounds relativly good. But then thats surround sound screwed up.

If you use the subwoofer in all the correct labelled ports all your sub would do is grumble or will stay totally silent. Theres only so much of fidderling with the EQ and volume and frequencies with the software. Its taken me about 2 hours to try and set this up and it still sounds awful. I may as well just buy a damn amplifier and plug that up.

Well after finding out i cant use my 360 through it either im just going to send it back if i can. Its not worth £40.01 it should be free. Probably the worst thing ive ever purchased thats made by creative.


Awful for listening to music., 17 Aug 2008
I bought this for £39.99 from our local Argos store (as it was £20 cheaper than on Amazon), as I wanted an external sound card to play back music from my computer
Listening to MP3s through reasonable powered stereo monitors, it's sound really is offensive. You can really hear the poorly implemented psycho-acoustic treatments, ('X-Fi audio enhancements') in operation - boosting/compressing/expanding all sorts of frequencies - which totally screws the equalisation and balance of the original recordings to create a complete mess!
I now think these must be aimed at gamers who want everything to fizz, whizz and bang in their game of choice on cheap computer speakers, while they concentrate on the visuals. However, for any kind of music fan who wants a realistic reproduction of their music, listening on reasonable stereo monitors (as I was), the sound would be