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Creative Labs Xmod now shipping

by Laurie A. Duncan Dec 2nd 2006 at 9:00AM

When you hear the name "Creative Labs" you automatically think "Mac," right? Yeah, sure you do. Well Creative wants to change that and they are so confident they can win your hearts and minds that they've not only started shipping a new X-fi audio adapter that requires no drivers, works right out of the box with your Mac and plugs into any available powered USB port - but they're laying out some serious cash for a booth at the upcoming Macworld, too. And just look at that box shot on the right it just screams "I love Mac users! HONESTLY I DO!!!" I think they really mean it. If it weren't for that huge knob in the middle, I'd have easily mistaken that for a 1st gen iPod shuffle.

The audio adapter in question is called the Xmod and it makes some pretty heady claims that have me a bit skeptical, but I will reserve judgment until we actually get our hands on one. The Xmod is true plug and play and it is Mac compatible out of the box, provided you have an available USB port (and I am assuming it has to be a powered port, so keyboard hubs are out) and are running Mac OS X 10.4 or later. It claims to enhance the audio quality of your MP3s to "beyond studio quality," making audio sound more vibrant and replacing what's naturally lost during the MP3 compression process. It also claims to give you surround sound on any stero speaker or headphones connected to your Mac. It accomplishes all this using an audio standard that they call X-fi Xtreme Fidelity, which you can read more about here.

I am 100% in favor of having the best audio quality possible, whenever possible, although I honestly don't play a lot of music directly from my Mac. Still, I can't help but be skeptical about how well an $80 USB device can accomplish these lofty goals. The good news is that we here at TUAW HQ will have our hands on one soon so we can see for ourselves just how well the Xmod lives up to the Xmarketing. We'll keep you posted!

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When you hear the name "Creative Labs" you automatically think "Mac," right? Yeah, sure you do. Well Creative wants to change that and they...
 

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Galley

1. I use the GigaWorks T20 speakers pictured on the Xmod packaging with my MacBook. They are pretty much the greatest speakers ever made.

2. I also had an X-Fi card with my PC. Did it make a difference? Yes.

3. With that being said, the best way to enhance your music is the Volume Logic plug-in for iTunes (at least once the iTunes 7-compatible version is out). Think of it as "real-time remastering" which is well worth $20.
http://www.volumelogic.com/

December 03 2006 at 8:22 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kaneda

I'm testing this device. It's plug and play but needs fine tuning in speaker configuration to work correctly.
The sound with music i better but no breathtakin.

Very good news instead for movies with a spacialisation of sound with simulated 5.1 surround sound

December 02 2006 at 6:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
vega

Bull5hlt!!!

Studio standard = 24 bit / 48 or 96 k being played on $3000+ speakers

CD standard = 16 bit / 44.1 k

Mobile standard = for me, AAC 192kbps stereo with VBR which is not even 16bit/44.1

What they have is a crappy EQ built into a Chinese DSP chip. I doubt they even use Bur Brown. If you want cheap, get a BBE. At least they have been doing it awhile and it will sound better on rock stuff. Creative makes crap.

December 02 2006 at 4:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Piotr Malecki

This isn't the first Creative product that is truly "plug-and-play".

I have a Creative USB Soundblaster MP3+ (bought it to give my iBook a line in) and all I have to do is connect it and change the default audio output in System Preferences (no driver install, no other configuration and no reboot). It gives me 1/8", RCA and optical digital inputs/outputs. (The Windows based software that gives features like "bass-boost" doesn't work but I don't really care about those features anyway.)

Although it is good that Creative is making their software for both Windows/Mac. - I wonder if this was a condition of Apple giving them the $100M settlement.

December 02 2006 at 4:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=290245
nice, its 53$ there, with free shipping.

December 02 2006 at 4:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Thomas

Anyone know how the sound from this thing compares with the effects of iWOW, Sound Logic, or OSS3D? Is it just doing the same sorts of things in hardware that they do in software?

December 02 2006 at 3:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jeep

You can send sound through the USB port or the line in port, so you should be able to use it with anything inc the Airport Express. If you use the line in, you need a separate power adapter.

December 02 2006 at 3:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Sham The Sam

Anyone know if this would work with the Airport Express?

December 02 2006 at 3:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jules Stoop

The pseudo 3d-thing sounds really annoying. The other - loudness type - effect sounds pretty decent. At least, as far as I could hear from the examples on their site.

December 02 2006 at 2:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bingo

Bet it doesn't work with V1 Soundsticks, right...?

December 02 2006 at 1:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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