Summary:
A very good card, but be careful about the hype! You might end up spending a lot more money than you need to.

Summary:
This sound card from Creative Labs is the most versatile card in its price range(100 dollars or less)on the market available today. It has an assortment of features that appeal to both the gamer and musician. The processor on this sound card is capable of producing high quality midi synthesized instrument sounds,(up to 64 meg soundfonts), and adding 3D reverb effects to any audio source through two speakers, four speakers, or a Dolby Pro Logic home theater system.(Live Surround they call the home theater setup at Creative Labs) The X-Gamer also has an SPDIF digital out connector for those who would like to hear it in all its digital glory up to a CD quality frequency of 48 kilohertz.(The connector is 3.5mm, like a headphone jack. To connect to any device, including a Dolby Digital receiver, with a coax(rca) type digital connector all you need to do is get a 3.5mm to standard rca adaptor for about 2 or 3 bucks at Radio Shack) The standard array of analog inputs is also included like line out, line in, microphone etc. They are 3.5mm as well like a headphone jack and gold plated too.(A nice touch)Thanks to Creative Labs and its Liveware program this sound card is readily upgradable without getting any new hardware. The people at Creative Labs reprogram the processor and you download the updated drivers from their Soundblaster Live website.(www.sblive.com) Now that is what I call customer service. Free software upgrades for all Soundblaster Live owners. That's not the end of it. Creative Labs also has hardware upgrades for the Sound Blaster Live X-Gamer like an optical digital I/O board that gives the X-Gamer compatibility with devices with optical digital inputs and outputs. You can, at your option, purchase the Live Drive, a device that comes with the Soundblaster Live Platinum, that connects to the front of your PC where you would have your CD Rom drives. That adds a ridiculous amount of digital inputs and outputs if that is your cup of tea. As you might have guessed those hardware upgrades are not free but at least they are available. There is no sound card on the market that is more versatile than the X-Gamer for the price and there is no sound card in the price range with such a promise of being future proof. This card has found a permanent residence in one of the PCI slots on my computer's motherboard.

Summary:
Wow... I just spent $100 on a video card! I really needed a video card, I hope this was a smart choice. Well, Installation was easy enough, I hope its as good as they say. Hey! This rocks! One nice sound card, maybe this is what I needed, I guess its time to install the software now... Over 100Mb!!!! For a sound card? This better be good! Ok, installation complete, time to restart... Oh no! Is it thundering outside? I'd better shut the power off... No way!!! That was my sound card!!!! Lemme tell ya, the SoundBlaster live is one of the ebest PC upgrades you can get! I used to think that although you needed sound its quality didnt really matter, man was I wrong! I went from a second rate brand 16bit soundcard right to a SoundBlaster Live! and you dont know the importance of sound until you've travelled that road. My recommendation to anybody would be to go for it, this card rocks and is well worth the extra $$$

Summary:
Ok. So soundblaster STILL makes the best sound cards. Bar none. This card blows away the competetion in everything, including processer usage, which got annoying with older aureal cards.

Summary:
I must admit that this card is the most
impressive of sound cards that i've either
heard of, or tried. Installing it was easy,
testing it was even easier. The 3D effects are
excellent, especially in racing games, like
NASCAR racing. The MIDI effects are AWEsome,
(like it's ancestor, the AWE-64), and the
overall performance of the card rocks the house.