Creative Sound Blaster Extigy

Richard Price
26 February 2002

There must be a special place in hell for the person who invented these clumsy, generic PC cases. I hate opening them up — screws get lost under the motherboard & rattle — that’s why I like the new Extigy an external sound card from Creative.

It is the easiest sound card installation I have ever done. Plug it into a USB port, run the installation software, reboot the system and the Extigy becomes the “primary” sound card.

Most new motherboards now come with onboard sound cards as do notebooks, but it is nothing compared to the Extigy’s 24-bit/96kHz audio capability and innovative technology.

There is no need to uninstall or remove the old sound card either. When the Extigy is disconnected the system simply reverts to the old audio device.

So, there is no reason why that company notebook with DVD drive used during the day for PowerPoint demonstrations, cannot double up as your home entertainment system.

While the Extigy connects easily to a PC or notebook via a USB port it can operate just as well as a stand-alone unit.

The unit has some comprehensive audio connectivity options and supports coaxial and optical SPDIF, can be connected to DVD players, personal audio players (MD, CD, MP3) or games consoles.

The Extigy supports MIDI and has MIDI In/Out ports. Budding pop-stars can plug in guitar and microphone to turn the Extigy into a mini-jamming station.

High-end, professional musicians may be unimpressed (there are better, more expensive external sound cards on the market), but the Extigy provides enough grunt and versatility to satisfy everyone else.

The Extigy has the same sound processing chip as Creative’s Audigy sound card. What many people may not realise is that E-mu and Ensoniq (leading developers of digital audio products) are owned by Creative most of their innovative technology ends up in Sound Blaster products.

The Extigy is a bit bigger than I was expecting (4 x 21 x 20cm), but is very light, and can used vertically or horizontally.

Being an external box makes it a lot easier to reach the connections without having to mess around behind the PC case. For added convenience there is also a remote control.

Unfortunately the Extigy is not a power amplifier and needs to be hooked up to powered speakers or a power amp. A decent set of Dolby 5.1 speakers would be ideal for the full surround-sound effect.

The CMSS (Creative Multi-Speaker Surround) feature mixes old-fashioned stereo content to 5.1 channels, so don’t throw out all those old VHS tapes just yet.

Creative has also thrown in a suite of software applications. PlayCentre 3 supports audio CDs, MP3, WMA and AC-3 formats and can be used to rip, convert, play, enhance, organise and burn CDs. A diagnostic tool checks if the Extigy is functioning properly. Other applications include a MiniDisc Centre, Recorder and Mixer. Budding DJs can mix compilations with MixMeister.

I don’t know why Creative took so long to produce an external sound card, and hope later versions of the Extigy support Firewire.

Price AU$399
www.australia.creative.com

By Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com

For information on getting a product reviewed email richard@energyme.com