Creative Sound Blaster Update

Well, I received my “Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Go! Pro USB Audio System with THX SB1290” this morning and just finished setting it up on my computer.

Let me preface this post by telling you that I’m a bit disappointed in today’s sound. Ever since the world decided to go digital instead of CD, I feel like I’ve been let down. I can’t seem to find the clarity I used to hear. But I’m working on it. Perhaps I just need to work harder. I don’t know.

The small device I received today looks like something I could put on my key chain – and that’s exactly what the manufacturer suggests. They’re like, “Bring it with you where ever you go!” I don’t know about that. All I want is better sounding music. I’m getting tired of the garbled voices coming through my speakers.

Okay, here’s what I did to set this thing up.

– I plugged it in and plugged my speaker wire into it. I wanted to see if I could get away with that. Nothing. I started playing something and all I got was sound out of my laptop speakers.
– I installed the CD and tried to install the drivers and application. Nothing. All that did was freeze and I had to shut down the installer.
– I went to the “Creative” website and downloaded the same software that was allegedly on the CD that came with the package.
– I installed the software. It required two reboots of my laptop, which I find oh so extremely annoying, especially since I usually have about 15 windows open.
– After all this, I still got no sound from the speakers hooked up through this little device. I decided to go to my control panel and click on “Hardware and Sound.” From there, I clicked on “Sound” (Windows 7) and chose the “Speaker – SB X-Fi Go! Pro” as the device I’d like to use. All of the sudden, I got the sound I was looking for.

I think it sounds better. This device comes with a nice little application that lets me fool with the sound setting. It has an equalizer and different effects. I’m not sure I’ll ever get them right, but they’re there nonetheless.

What I’m finding is that the sound coming through the laptop and then through the receiver I have hooked up doesn’t sound all that great – still. It sounds better than before, but still not great. When I hook my nice new headphones up to the device, things sound great. When I listen with the same headphones through the receiver, things sound even better. I’m thinking my old house speakers are the culprit.

Please don’t let me go down this road.