Creative X-Fi 24bit Crystalizer

[XiFF]

Hi,
I'm one of the lucky owner of a Creative X-Fi card, and I must say I'm very very impressed with what they did to the X-Fi series. What I want to know is if there is any mp3/mp4 encoding application which makes use of this feature or can make something similiar? Thanks in advance

I used to think Audigy 2 was good enough but after reading the reviews from several sites, I decided to get this baby and see it for myself. And it was worth every penny :)

[Slogra]

I believe only the creative software that comes with the card makes use of it.

But i wouldn't use Crystalizer, it just compresses the dynamic range and it makes up some high frequencies that weren't there before. There are plugins for Winamp which do about the same, so you don't need to buy a X-fi for that.

If you want to listen to quality sound then rip CDs to a lossless format like FLAC and turn off that Crystalizer and all other DSPs (and buy a good headphone or speakers).

[ursamtl]

I believe only the creative software that comes with the card makes use of it.

But i wouldn't use Crystalizer, it just compresses the dynamic range and it makes up some high frequencies that weren't there before. There are plugins for Winamp which do about the same, so you don't need to buy a X-fi for that.

If you want to listen to quality sound then rip CDs to a lossless format like FLAC and turn off that Crystalizer and all other DSPs (and buy a good headphone or speakers).

My understanding is Crystalizer is that it actually expands dynamic range not compresses it! It works something like Voxengo's amazing Transmodder plugin by identifying transients and basing its processing on them. I haven't heard it myself, but the reviews I've read have been quite positive. I have played with the Transmodder demo and, with the right settings, it can work wonders.

As for Xiff's original question, to my knowledge there's no way of implementing this in software as Crystalizer is hardware based. Transmodder can certainly help but as you pointed out, the best way to enjoy quality music is never to compress it in the first place. Other than the damage MP3s due to high frequencies, their biggest victim is dynamic range.

Regards,
Steve.