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JUNK, not worth $130. $25 Maybe.
Buy this if you want to do a "fatal1ty" on your wallet.

shared line-in needs adapters that are not included
no optical out
no digital out

Most of the features date back to 1999 or before that. i.e Live!

It seriously has no digital out? WTF?

The VIA ENVY24 solutions are cheaper and they apparently have more features.

no Toslink?

The HT Omega Striker is at $80 retail is a better deal IMO.

awarded a 9/kick axx by maximumpc on 5/9/07.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/creative_labxfi_xtremegamer_fatal1ty_pro

If you read our original review of the X-Fi way back in November 2005... We ended up recommending its cheaper sibling, the X-Fi XtremeMusic instead.

Fast-forward a year and a half... and you�ve got the XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional Series priced at $130 less than the original. But does the X-Fi age like a fine wine or a punch-drunk palooka? For Creative, it�s pure vino!

Unlike the other two boards we tested here, the X-Fi continues to use a true DSP with �10,000 MIPS of power.� We don�t know how true that 10K figure is, but in our tests, the X-Fi remains the boss, especially when compared to the CMI8788, which is nothing more than a glorified I/O chip. In FEAR with graphics options cranked down and audio options cranked up to emphasize soundcard performance, the X-Fi led by 10 percent across the board. However, if C-Media ever releases multithreaded audio drivers, the day of the DSP will likely fade.

Of course, a good soundcard isn�t just about frame rates. In close listening using reference-quality earphones, two Maximum PC editors favored the X-Fi�s bottom-end push while listening to a variety of 24-bit audio.

We also give the edge in gaming fidelity to the X-Fi, as the subtle audio cues in games (in particular, Battlefield 2) stood out with this card... Most top games today support Creative�s OpenAL initiative, which is the only way to get hardware-accelerated positional audio in Microsoft Vista.

Although we think the X-Fi is the best of the cards tested here for general PC use, the real-time Dolby Digital encoding of the two ... [Truncated]

Yes. It does do hardware EAX. But if you're getting a card hampered by shitty features just get the Gamer version, not the Fatal1ty version.

I don't think they make the X-Fi XtremeMusic anymore. I have one. It has everything except the almost totally unused XRAM and the stupid fatali-T (I can spell like a moron too) brand name.

I have no use for the digital IO myself. It's plugged into Swans analog speakers and it sounds pretty decent.