Filed under: Accessories, Audio, Hardware
Hands on with the Creative Xmod and the Mac
I'm in love with the Creative Xmod. It's this little white box that hooks up to your computer by USB. And it turns your plain ordinary headphones into a virtual 5.1 surround sound system. I used it to watch my copy of Cars. I tell you, those race cars were racing around and through my head. That's how cool the virtual localization was.
The box works by creating virtual speakers that surround your ears. Yeah sure, your headphones only have two real speakers, but somehow the engineers at Creative have figured out how to localize sounds by using advanced digital signal processing that even takes the physics of your head and the shape of your ears into account. It wasn't exactly like being in a theater and really feeling the sound effects with your whole body, but it took the sound experience up to a whole new level of listening.
The XMod hooks right into your Mac via USB. It then grabs any audio playing through the system and runs it through its built-in filters. You hook up a pair of earphones or speakers to experience the effects. The virtual 3D surround sound works particularly well with both movie playback and gaming.
There are two output jacks on the unit. One for headphones, one for speakers. That's because the physics of headphone playback seem to differ from the physics of speaker playback. With headphones, each ear hears a separate and distinct signal. With speakers, there's no head stuck in the middle and there are cross-over sounds because your ears can hear both outputs, so the virtualizer has to take that into account.
In addition to the virtual CMSS-3D speakers, the XMod also offers a Crystalizer feature. The Crystalizer restores a good deal of the dynamic range that gets squeezed out during MP3 compression. It produces deeper bass sounds and clearer voices, providing a clearer, better defined signal for playback. This worked great with compressed, clean audio, like the compressed WMA signal from my Zune. (I know, you're cringing to read that. But it really made a huge listening improvement.) It worked less great with "home audio". I listened to several rough and noisy podcasts and the Crystalizer just enhanced the worst bits of the noise. So you'll want to pick the right times to switch this bit on. You can enable and disable both the 3D and Crystalizer features via switches at the side of the Xmod unit.
If you want to step up your Mac audio to the next level, but you don't want to spend a lot of money on sound cards and speakers, the Creative XMod is a great way to get a lot of bang (and crash and boom and kapow) for your buck.
Thanks J.-M.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ed Hollingsbee said 8:17AM on 12-14-2006
How does this compare to Dolby Headphone? Does this thing decode 5.1 surround? I currently have another creative device (http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=437&subcategory=438&product=11430) and wondered (apart from being USB) how this compares....
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tr said 9:20AM on 12-14-2006
because i was wondering (and i'm sure others may be), the Xmod is on sale for $59 (reg $79) until Dec 17 at the Creative online store.
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Chris said 9:30AM on 12-14-2006
So it plugs in via USB, which strongly suggests that IT is the sound card, so everything stays digital right up until the output of the Xmod (rather than it "grabs any audio playing through the system"). I've had a look at the Creative site, and nothing there suggests it can be used with an analog source, so how does it work with a Zune? I'm confused...
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Erica Sadun said 12:32PM on 12-14-2006
Yes, you can plug in an analog source like the Zune or a Microphone and use it with the unit. In fact, on older PowerMacs without a built-in Mic jack, you can use this like you would the iMic. Yesterday, I connected to Skype via the Xmod.
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jxn said 10:10AM on 12-14-2006
so basically its a DAC? i wonder if anyone has tried hookin this thing up in parallel to a headphone amplifier? any better results?
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Brandon said 1:02PM on 12-14-2006
Now that's a great gift idea, and just in time for Christmas. I think I'll have to "self-gift" that one! Sometimes a new product comes out and you say, "Now why did it take so long to create something so cool like this?"
Thanks for sharing your find!
-Brandon
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macbooker said 1:52PM on 12-14-2006
Its powered thru USB? Can it be used off of a Macbook running on battery, or does it need AC power?
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Jack said 10:38PM on 12-14-2006
I'm listening to it right now, in fact. I got it for $32 at buy,com with google checkout. I don't get much of a 3D effect (perhaps due to the placement of my speakers relative to where I sit) but it really does "restore" a lot of the high-pitched stuff lost in compression. Almost too crisp, sometimes. It certainly runs off a Macbook on battery--I'm doing that right now! The usb power is a bit of a pain, though; I'll probably end up getting an ac adapter so I can just plug a line-out into it (for my ipod).
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Jonathan said 9:22AM on 3-12-2007
Ooooo That would be nice for sharing movies with my 4-year-old son, or my wife.
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MacConvert said 11:01AM on 3-12-2007
Cool! I'm in
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Craig Lewis said 11:05AM on 3-12-2007
I bet it would sound good with the iPod Hi-Fi speakers.
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Chris said 1:42PM on 3-12-2007
Wow, I'm diggin it. I don't need to be spending anymore money that I don't have though.
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caoimhin said 7:31PM on 3-13-2007
I'd take one for free :) but otherwise it's optional.
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Jon Smithe said 6:30PM on 3-12-2007
heck I am in=lol
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Willy Yu said 6:25PM on 3-13-2007
I am from Manila, can I?
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Kevin W. Eaches said 9:05PM on 3-12-2007
Hey, I could use that. I bet it would really enhance the funky 70's background music of my pron...uhh.. documentary collection. Yeah...
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Andrew said 9:26PM on 3-12-2007
i want one
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James said 11:34PM on 3-12-2007
This seems like a really great product. I would be curious to read about the technology it uses to simulate surround sound 5.1
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Tony said 10:10AM on 3-13-2007
Very cool, surround sound in headphones!
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Avery Z Chipka said 1:18PM on 3-13-2007
I want one
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