Creative has officially launched the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 which connects to a PC and is powered via the USB 2.0 interface. It’s mainly intended for PC laptop owners and is equipped with gold plated connections as well as an optical output.
Of course, there is support for 24 bit Crystalizer and CMSS-3D functions as well as EAX Advanced HD 4.0, OpenAL, and not to forget ALchemy in Windows Vista. Drivers are also offered for Windows XP and there is still USB 1.1 compatibility although it adds limitations (Surround 16-Bit/48kHz instead of 24-Bit/96kHz 5.1). The Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 will be available at the end of the month in Asia. In Singapore the price will be S$99 or roughly 55€ if we take into account the difference in taxes.
