Creative 70SB095000004 24-bit 48KHz ExpressCard Interface ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook

Pros: Well my laptop's 3.5mm jack was damaged and I was looking for a express card to usb,than I found this Creative X-Fi for notebook,I have read some reviews and thought of taking a shot.I was pretty excited when I got it,and when I started using it for the first time I was totally amazed!! Read no further reviews this is one of the best sound card I would say.
Pros:
->Easy to instal-just plug and play
->no extra drivers necessary-includes in CD comes with it.
->full control of the sound you get
->it boosted the sound coming from my headphones dramatically,with almost able to hear from deep bass to high pitch sounds.

Cons: ->well I am little disappointed with the sound coming from my laptop speakers after installing the sound card.
->you should know exactly how to control it,plenty of options(I consider it as a con as everyone who use might not have knowledge of how to exactly use the features through creative control panel)

Other Thoughts: "make sure to use the express card from selecting it from the playback devices in your volume control."
Buy will full confidence you wont regret it---that's my thought

Pros: Would be good if it had worked

Cons: I have used the Creative products in the past
and have found I always had to update the
drivers online. I tried this one in two different laptops
with any success.

Other Thoughts: Creative was not much help. Very disappointed to
say the least.

Pros: The audio out worked. It sounded alright at first... Crisp, and clean. (keeping in mind that I'm the type that isn't satisfied with anything less than "perfect")
The line in worked alright, WHEN you could actually get something to plug into it.

Not to mention, it looks nice...
It was a bit smaller than I pictured as well.

Cons: The only problem with the audio output, the sound dropped out intermittently...
I also noticed that there were no Bass/Treble controls... (no mixer to speak of) within the device's control panel.

Still not sure whether it was a hardware issue, or just software though.

The line in was a beast to try to plug anything into, it snapped the tip off of one of my TRS (3.5mm) jacks. took me forever to remove that, but at least i was able to remove it without voiding the warranty.

And then the worst bit of all, When trying to RMA the card, NewEgg decided to charge me for the replacement, rather than taking full responsibility for the defective product.
it cost me approx. 1/8th of the price of the card to have it replaced...

Other Thoughts: Eh, where do i start... The card IS okay, i'm just guessing that i happened to get my hands on one of the... "Bad" ones of the bunch, so don't get me wrong there.

With a perfectly functioning card, i would say this would be a good option, though I've heard rumors that audio is proccessed via software, rather than on-chip... I've not noticed a difference in performance on my laptop... But that's a different topic completely.
So, overall, good card, if you manage get your hands on a functioning one...

I'm just mainly disappointed by NewEgg's service for this run... though the connector breakage didn't make me too happy either.

Pros: Sleek, small form-factor, won't take up too much room, as Notebook don't have much space

Cons: Lacks Windows 7 64 bit Support....come-on Creative, write some updated drivers for this device

Other Thoughts: The X-Fi Notebook Express Card is NOTHING like it's predecessor ( the old PCMCIA one) it lacks the needed driver support for what runs in today's notebooks, most everyone now-a-days is using WIN 7 64 bit, this could be a GREAT card with some current updated drivers, my Creative USB-Surround pro 5.1, sounds WAY better than this, so for now, I've put this card back in the box, and I'll wait for the Win 7 64 bit driver support, hopefully it will be a lot better.........

Pros: slight improvement in sound quality over on-board sound

Cons: driver issues, every time my laptop went to sleep the drivers decided that i only wanted sound out of my right speaker and no sound out of my left speaker, oh and it decided that i want my system volume maxed out. way too much work to restore these settings every time i sleep my laptop.

Other Thoughts: i did notice some sound quality improvement, not enough to make it worth the trouble though. not an actual sound card though, uses your processor for all the work so no performance increase.

Pros: sounds better than generic laptop sound cards, most of them. that's for sure.
nice smooth black finish.

Cons: not ideal for music creation, box even states it. thing is way too laggy after instant music playback.
the audigy 2 ZS notebook was faster than this.

Other Thoughts: runnin' on core 2 duo laptop

Pros: The drivers and software for this card are absolutely horrid. The installation disc is loaded with bloatware. Be very careful of what you choose to install. If you are using vista or 7 do not install the drivers on the included installation disc. Go to Creative's website and download the newer drivers there. The original vista drivers caused both software and hardware errors and crashes on my laptop after being installed. Only after installing the updated drivers and many a headache was I able to use it stably.

Cons: This card offers very little improvement over onboard sound. This is not an actual soundcard, the processing is done through software. The only thing actually handled in the card physically is the stereo I/O and the wireless feature. The wireless feature can't be used without purchasing another expensive part from creative for your speakers, so it will probably never be used by most people. Because the sound processing is done through software and not hardware there will be no improvement in cpu utilization over onboard sound. The card is limited to stereo out and mic in, no surround sound or digital outputs.

Other Thoughts: I was very disappointed to find that the creative audio control panel and console are severely stripped down versions of their desktop cards. The EAX effects and x-fi CMSS-3D done through software on this card are not the real thing and are virtually useless. The options for EAX in the control panel include presets like amphitheater, jazz club, opera hall, theater, etc. but nothing for the integrated EAX effects in the games I play. Unlike the desktop cards, the audio console does not have separate "gaming" and "music" modes or the option to save custom profiles. On this card the two are grouped together into a single "entertainment" mode. Again, as others have said, don't buy this card if you are looking to improve audio in games. The equalizer is the only useful part of the audio console. Overall this is not worth the price tag.

Pros: Unfortunately, the mixed reviews on this product--mixed here on Newegg and elsewhere--delayed my purchase of this product and almost stopped me from purchasing it altogether. Fortunately, in my experience the less than stellar reviews were incorrect. This product has, quite simply, solved all of my audio issues.

My issues were poor volume output and popping/crackling. Sadly, dropping over $1K on a new higher end laptop was not sufficient to avoid having to deal with these annoying audio issues. Both issues were solved immediately with this product. No more popping/crackling and now the volume gets as loud as I want it with plenty of room left to spare. In addition, the quality of the audio is crisper/clearer and more room-filling.

Cons: None whatsoever.

Other Thoughts: I had also planned on setting up a wireless link to my stereo with the use of an Apple Airport Express module but I just found out that this item works wirelessly with a Creative receiver which costs about $20 less so I will be making that purchase soon as well.

Bottom line I couldn't be happier with this product and I couldn't be more disappointed with my laptop manufacturer for making me purchase it.

p.s. this does work with Windows 7 but I had to download the latest software for free from the Creative site.

Pros: * greatly improved audio quality compared to on-board audio (on a Lenovo Thinkpad X200, which admittedly has a disgraceful amount of built-in hiss).

and *that* is a big pro, since that is what this card is all about.

Cons: * vast array of bloatware and unnecessary complexity added to audio setup (hey i just want to listen to better quality music through my speakers, and just tell me how to easily record stuff - isn't that the primary objective of a sound card?)

* setup is not explained as easily as it should - after software and card installation sound was still coming out through the on-board audio on a Lenovo Thinkpad X200. why exactly did i install 100mb of software add-ons then? :) disable stuff in devices and reroute stuff in audio setup, but there should be an easy guide.

* you pay a lot for features you are unlikely to ever use, and the important features are thus hidden and somewhat inaccessible.

Other Thoughts: my main thought is that Creative made this unnecessarily complex. the audio merits of this little card are indisputable - the sound quality is SO much better than the onboard alternative. but if you are like me, and what you want to do is *simply* listen to music through audiophile earbuds (Shure)... why all the bloatware? while all the unintuitive steps in simply re-routing audio? why all the silly mandatory bells and whistles (hundreds of artificial sound effects, huge menu options) that muddle the basics?
note to creative - simply give me the easy options to reroute the audio without the bloatware. i just want to listen and record with the superior SN and resolution of this card.

Pros: Subjectively, this card is a decent improvement over on-board sound in my gateway 7811fx, and provides for less "ear strain" over longer listening periods. The plastic adapter makes for a snug fit in my expresscard 54 slot.

Cons: No 5.1 support = lameness.

I find the wireless feature worse than useless. It's a laptop, if you want your music in another room just pick it up and take it there.

The Creative Console Launcher software is severely gimped from the desktop version. I have an x-fi in my desktop and the "recording mode" feature has come in quite handy for quick single track recording. I was sad to see this feature missing from the x-fi notebook edition.

Recording is capped at 48KHz. I would have liked to have seen 96KHz.

The included headphones have a sticker that says, "WARNING: Handling this product may expose you to chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. WASH HANDS AFTER HANDLING."

Wow, that sticker really makes me want to use these. My kids might be tarded, I might get tumors in my ears, and my organs might fall off...but at least I'll have some Creative headphones. How about a non-mutagenic version please...

Other Thoughts: I would not have paid full price for this product. I got it new on clearance for forty-five at a local retailer whose two word name starts with "Best". That's about the value I would give it.

At $90 I feel it's a bit feature-stripped and anemic to be worthy of it's price tag. At $45 I feel content with my purchase. At $90 retail the included software really should have been better.

I've always been pretty loyal to the Creative camp, but I do believe this will be my last Creative purchase.

And seriously, those headphones are staying in the package. But, then, I don't need them anyway as I use a pair of Klipsch Custom 3's. They'll probably mutate me, too, but at least they didn't warn me they would, right ;P