Creative launching x-fi mp3 player

[nate el bueno]

this got me pretty excited :)

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=17811&WT.cg_n=Campaigns&WT.mc_id=15752#

[Maarchk]

Maybe this is a silly question but i thought ogg or flac solved the problem of being compressed and lossless? How can you uncompress an mp3 or any other lossy format and get back lost information? Or does this expand out lossless formats ?

I guess i don't quite get it. Can you translate for me Nate? :)

[ArkiStan]

i think it's kinda like upscaling DVD players. it's fills in the lost information based on "guesstimation," but it's supposedly done pretty convincingly.

[Maarchk]

i think it's kinda like upscaling DVD players. it's fills in the lost information based on "guesstimation," but it's supposedly done pretty convincingly.

That makes sense. Tell us how it works if you get it Nate.

[Airencracken]

Maybe this is a silly question but i thought ogg or flac solved the problem of being compressed and lossless? How can you uncompress an mp3 or any other lossy format and get back lost information? Or does this expand out lossless formats ?

I guess i don't quite get it. Can you translate for me Nate? :)

Ogg Vorbis is still lossy, but higher quality than mp3.

FLAC is lossless.

[InfiniteNothing]

Sounds like BS. You can't repair information that isn't there. It would be like guessing and what the texture of the bricks in Super Mario Bros is like.

I'm not sure there's a better guess at what the raw MP3 data indicates than already what the technology uncompressed to. I have a hard time believing it would be noticeable. Lastly, the part about "moves a conventional left/right earphone stereo source away from your ears" sounds like it takes the music away from what the artist intends. If the artist wanted the music to sound spacey, they'd master it more spacey no?

[Devhux]

If anyone else here has used an X-Fi, then you'll know exactly what to expect.

For those who haven't however, the effect is noticeable if you listen for it, but it won't make a bad MP3 sound good. If you flip the Crystalizer off and on, you'll notice a bit better clarity, but again, it's not all that much.

Of course, many MP3 player buyers use substandard headphones, in which case the X-Fi features will do absolutely nothing except drain your battery quicker.

In other words, for an MP3 player this feature is almost pointless.

[nate el bueno]

I wouldn't be buying this for quite a while, as I have some college to pay for. I am not fully briefed :) on the way x-fi works, but I believe there are 2 parts to Creative's technology. There's the whole mp3 repair, which is supposed to add the clarity, and then it also brings the sound to the front, which is more "immersing". Now, I have no idea what this would sound like in an mp3 player, but I know that on my computer, it sounds incredible. I have the cheapest x-fi card, and I could tell the difference when I first moved the slider bar on the windows volume and heard the little ding. The other x-fi product I've listened to is the headphones by Creative. I would never drop 300 for headphones, but I work at Fry's and they have them on display. Again, there is definitely an improvement to the sound, as Creative's Aurvana Live headphones are right next to the x-fi's for comparison. From the pictures online that I've seen, the x-fi headphones should be shipping with some much higher quality earbuds than most people are used to, so I think this should sound pretty good. Again, I am no guru on this tech; I am just relaying what I have experienced.