Two premium gaming devices endorsed by gaming fanatic Fatal1ty.
Products Reviewed:
X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Soundcard
Fatal1ty MKII Headset
Sponsor and Manufacturer: Creative
Price:
£106 – X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Soundcard
£69.99 – MK II Headset
Vision has always been an important factor in our lives. Without it we don’t imagine. Film, television and computers have become paramount in raising our awareness of the visual sense. So much so that it seems sound has taken a backseat.
Visual effects inspire people. Movies and games are a great example of this. Take James Cameron’s Avatar that has recently launched on DVD/blu-ray. Ask anyone what they find so fascinating about this movie and they are sure to tell you of the visual effects. Just as you are transported into Pandora through the visual paradise, it is once again vision that dominates here. A lot of importance is placed on this aspect of entertainment but there are other senses that should be concentrated upon too.
It is with this review that we will be delving into this alternative aspect or sense that seems to have been forgotten. It’s time to consider what we hear.
When you take a look at soundcards there are only a select few that dominate the market. Creative have been around the longest and seem to take precedence over the other brands in this category – ASUS and Auzentech. Today we will be taking a look at a sound card and headset endorsed by a gaming superstar named Jonathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel – who has an abundance of victories under his belt. We’ll see if these products really do enable you to achieve greater heights of victory or whether Fatal1ty is just a clever marketing ploy to get you to spend money.
X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Soundcard – Features
• 24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96kHz sample rate
• 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96kHz to analog 7.1 speaker output
• 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192kHz to stereo output
• 16-bit to 24-bit recording sampling rates: 8,11.025,16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz
• ASIO 2.0 support at16bit/44.1kHz,16-bit/48kHz, 24-bit/44.1kHz 24-bit/48kHz and 24-bit/96kHz with direct monitoring
• Enhanced SoundFont support at up to 24-bit resolution
• 64MB of X-RAM
• Connectivity
o Mic In/Line In
o Headphone/Front Left & Right Speaker Output
o Side Left & Right Speaker Output
o Center/Sub Output
o Rear Left & Right Speaker Output
o Optical Digital SPDIF Output
o Optical Digital SPDIF Input
o Intel HD Front Panel Header
o X-Fi I/O Drive connectors
Warranty
• 1 year limited hardware warranty
X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional Soundcard – Closer Look
The X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional comes in a standard looking box, inside there isn’t a great deal of extras which is a little disappointing considering the price tag is quite big for a soundcard. It would have been nice to see a bundled game or something to compliment the card. Inside you get a quick start guide, driver disc and the sound card.
Taking a look at the card for the first time fills me with anticipation. The PCB is encased in a rather sleek looking metal cover that has circular incisions throughout. It certainly looks menacing, typically characterising the gaming genre. Besides giving some added protection to the PCB this cover doesn’t really serve any other purpose than to add character to the X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty. On this cover there are two engraved logos, a red Fata1lty branded one on the face and an illuminated logo on the edge – this lights up signifying the card has power.
Which leads to the PCIe plug. You will notice that this is PCIe x1 – however this is compatible with x6, x8 and x16 sockets too, so if like me, you do not have a PCIe x1 on your motherboard, you can always use another PCIe socket on your motherboard.
Moving to the expansion outlets there are some recognisable ports here. There is support for 2.1, 5.1 and 7.1. Here are the ports you get:
• Line in
• Headphone/Front Left & Right Speaker Output
• Side Left & Right Speaker Output
• Center/Sub Output
• Rear Left & Right Speaker Output
• Optical Digital SPDIF Output
• Optical Digital SPDIF Input
• Intel HD Front Panel Header
• X-Fi I/O Drive connectors
MK II Headset – Features
• Headphones
o Driver Units: 40mm Neodymium Magnet
o Frequency Response: 20Hz ~ 20kHz
o Impedance: 32 ohms
o Sensitivity (1kHz): 105dB/mW
• Microphone
o Microphone Type: Noise-Cancelling Condenser
o Frequency Response: 80Hz ~ 16kHz
o Impedance: <2.2kohms
• Cord
o Cord Length: 8-foot/2.5m Oxygen-Free Copper cable
o Input/Output Plugs: 1/8inch (3.5mm) gold-plated stereo mini plugs
Warranty
• 1-year limited hardware warranty
MK II Headset – Closer Look
The Creative Fatal1ty MK II headset comes in a similarly styled package to the Titanium soundcard. There is plenty of information to inform you of what features this headset has, but just like our soundcard, there are no extras inside. The only thing inside the box is the MK II headset and detachable microphone.
Just by looking at the MKII it’s fairly apparent that this product is directed towards the gamer. If the looks aren’t distinguishable – the technical features surely must be. Dual 40mm Neodymium drivers, in-line volume control, detachable microphone (with noise cancellation). The MKII has a nice exterior, the outside of the ear cups have a perforated red mesh that sets the headphones off nicely. On the left ear cup we have a microphone jack for the detachable mic to slot into.
Taking a look at the ear cups on the inside reveals a softly cushioned set of pads, the shape is a little different from conventional headphones in that they are not circular but rather more shaped like the ear.
The cable running from the headphones has an in-line volume control that allows you to not only alter volume on the fly but mute the mic if needed. Apart from these features there isn’t a great deal else to point out. In the next stage, I will be putting both products to the test. We’ve looked at the finely designed hardware of each component now its time to see if they both give out good quality sound, and more importantly do they compliment one another?
Testing
Audio is always a hard one to analyse and record due to the fact that the results I am to hereafter report are quite subjective. Unlike graphics cards, sound cards do not output viewable results such as Frames Per Second (FPS) etc. There are no applications to document results.
The sound card I am to analyse may be quite difficult to benchmark but the headset has attributes such as the comfort and usability that I can report, so this is a little easier. Nevertheless, the outcome from testing should still give you a good indication as to whether this bundle is going to offer high-quality feedback.
The testing of both the Creative Titanium Fatal1ty soundcard and headset will be tested in games, music and movies to ascertain the overall performance. This testing will be done over a period of 3 hours.
Test Set-up
Intel Core i7 920
ASUS P6T Deluxe
12GB GeIL EVO ONE DDR3
Sapphire HD5870
CM HAF 932 Full Tower Case
Software
Windows 7 64-bit
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Colin McRae DIRT 2
Windows Media Player 12
PowerDVD
Installing the card under Windows 7 64-bit is fairly straight forward. It just needs to be physically installed. Windows 7 already has drivers ready. I did try installing the drivers off Creative’s driver database, but had quite a bit of hassle getting them to install. Checking various forums around the web reveals that Creative drivers are generally quite troublesome and they aren’t highly favoured at all.
Gaming
With both devices being predominantly gaming orientated, this particular testing stage is important. To test, I fired up some of my favourite games – Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Colin McRae DIRT 2. Using both the sound card and headset in collaboration really does boost audio quality. As a simple test I used onboard sound and the difference in quality was significantly better. There are that many features to take advantage of, I enabled X-Fi CMSS-3D when playing these games which amplifies the sound, providing yet more realism by simulating virtual surround. Coupling both Creative products together gives your audio platform that edge. The tones are crisp, fluid and I couldn’t compliment it any higher.
Music & Movies
Both our products on review may be primarily gaming devices but it’s to music and movies we now turn. Gamers generally don’t only use their systems for gaming but music and movies too. Movies and games use similar tones so in this aspect, both devices work brilliantly. This duo adds some phenomenal atmosphere, almost as though you’re in the cinema. Even hooked up to a set of 2.1 speakers the Fatal1ty Titanium soundcard shines, providing some superb bass tones. With regards to music, both Creative products work well together and offer some quality audio feedback. A pleasing improvement over onboard sound.
Conclusion
It goes without saying that at the very pinnacle of Creative’s intentions with this bundle are to bring you a unique audio experience, and they achieve just that.
Perhaps one of the least of gamer’s priorities is the audio side of things. It’s usually the mouse, keyboard, CPU, memory and graphics card that are of concern. Integrated audio has significantly developed over the years, and whilst you may think that audio output from your motherboard is suitable, you can get so much more from a standalone soundcard. With features like EAX 5.0 and CMSS-3D on the X-Fi Fata1lty Titanium Professional you will sit back and be mesmorised by the tones entering your ears.
On the comfort side of things, the Fatal1ty MKII is amongst one of the most comfortable headsets I’ve tested. Traditionally, the earcups on a headset are round but the earcups on the MKII are designed in the shape of the ear. This helps by keeping the memory foam in the correct place.
Both Creative products work hand in hand to deliver a thrilling bit of kit.
Sound can transport you to a place, send tingles down your spine, make you aware that something or someone is near, warn you of danger, and probe your senses. Having spent time absorbing the effects of this package, it has changed my opinion about sound. No longer will I rely upon onboard sound and disregard the presence of the importance of sound in the world of entertainment – specifically gaming. A thoroughly rich experience – this package will definitely assist you on the battlefield.
So there you have it. Both products compliment each other very well and I would highly recommend both. For this reason, both products receive the Gold Award.
Pros
+ Both products look sleek
+ Very comfortable headset
+ Superb audio feedback
+ Compatible with all PCIe sockets
Cons
– Both should come with bundled extras (games etc)
– Drivers can be flaky
