I just found this response comment on the official CL Facebook page post, where they announced the product.

"Latency, firmware hiccups, driver weirdness… it’s all on our radar. This project? We’re treating it like a clean slate. No bloated software. No fluff. Just real performance that actually respects the user.
We're aiming for low-latency, high-quality, and genuinely useful. If we can help bring back some of that lost gaming audio glory along the way... well, that’s the plan."

This sounds a lot like a potential X-Fi 3.0 situation, so we'll have to wait and see what pops up on the Kickstarter.

There is something really ominous about a fallen 90's hardware brand using Kickstarter to fund a project. On top of the typical sketchiness hardware kickstarters usually suffer from.

If they implement hardware accelerated EAX (accessed via OpenAL and ALchemy) I'd be interested.

Would be nice to have that on Win11 for older games that otherwise work fine on that OS. From memory, GOG's updated versions of The Witcher and F.E.A.R. would fall into that category.

"Latency, firmware hiccups, driver weirdness… it’s all on our radar. This project? We’re treating it like a clean slate. No bloated software.(...)"

HDA and UAC 2.0 are mature, reliable, ubiquitous and supported on both Windows and Linux.

Latency is not an issue with WASAPI exclusive mode (or even good old ASIO) under Windows or in Linux with ALSA + Jack (or the now more mature Pipewire).

It looks to me like Creative are trying to find WTH they actually want to do AND finance it rather than having a clear vision in need of financing. And even if they do have a vision, it does not necessarily mean they have any kind of a point. For their sake, I hope that I am wrong.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-09-16, 14:56:

If they implement hardware accelerated EAX (accessed via OpenAL and ALchemy) I'd be interested.

Would be nice to have that on Win11 for older games that otherwise work fine on that OS. From memory, GOG's updated versions of The Witcher and F.E.A.R. would fall into that category.

That would be nice, but that wouldn't really be a new thing. Also, is doing EAX in hardware really a plus at this point ?

Assuming hardware EAX is useful, a warmed up PCIE X-FI based design could do it. If they want to do it over USB, it might be more challenging and more practical, though not exactly earth shattering either.

Well, we obviously already have over-powered GPU Audio hardware with AMD and Nvidia that can and will do 3D audio and everything else that Creative's latest products can do and the industry/marketplace hasn't adopted audio hardware capabilities over the quick and easy gaming headset audio and 3D audio software options, so I'm at a loss as to what CL hopes to achieve.

RetroGamer4Ever wrote on 2025-09-16, 15:18:

Well, we obviously already have over-powered GPU Audio hardware with AMD and Nvidia that can and will do 3D audio and everything else that Creative's latest products can do and the industry/marketplace hasn't adopted audio hardware capabilities over the quick and easy gaming headset audio and 3D audio software options, so I'm at a loss as to what CL hopes to achieve.

Relevance and avoiding eventual bankruptcy are my best guesses.

EDIT:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/creative-techn … -022116326.html EDIT2: yes, this smells of being both AI generated and very generic, but if the figures and observable trends are to be trusted, they appear like they have been burning through their cash reserves.

Well the old X-Fi could use some improvements, couldn't it? Supposedly none of drivers for their Audigy / X-Fi lines play with some new security features in Windows. I bought an Audigy Rx some time ago, despite the driver dating to 2022, sound is sometimes garbled after resuming from sleep. Easily fixable by testing the other speaker config in Windows, but still, something I haven't had an issue with onboard since forever.

CMSS 3D could also be better. No experience with X-Fi specifically and I didn't see this talked about much, but at least with Audigy + CMSS 3D + in-game music, it just sounds off. I can understand virtual surround over headphones is not easy to get right and some compromise has to be made, but if better results could have been achieved with OpenAL Soft (for my ears at least), well you know where I'm going.

Their OpenAL implementation can also be considered quirky in some ways. I wonder though, is OpenAL API still considered these days for handling sound in games or is it more of a thing of the past?

UCyborg wrote on Yesterday, 19:14:

Well the old X-Fi could use some improvements, couldn't it? Supposedly none of drivers for their Audigy / X-Fi lines play with some new security features in Windows. I bought an Audigy Rx some time ago, despite the driver dating to 2022, sound is sometimes garbled after resuming from sleep. Easily fixable by testing the other speaker config in Windows, but still, something I haven't had an issue with onboard since forever.

CMSS 3D could also be better. No experience with X-Fi specifically and I didn't see this talked about much, but at least with Audigy + CMSS 3D + in-game music, it just sounds off. I can understand virtual surround over headphones is not easy to get right and some compromise has to be made, but if better results could have been achieved with OpenAL Soft (for my ears at least), well you know where I'm going.

Their OpenAL implementation can also be considered quirky in some ways. I wonder though, is OpenAL API still considered these days for handling sound in games or is it more of a thing of the past?

If Creative now feel they now need a kickstarter and a public consultation about what their customers want, after years of selling audio products and getting customer feedback, I have extremely low expectations.

Oh how mighty has fallen. I don't see how this kickstarter campaign will grab widespread attention, outside of really hardcore Creative fans.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-09-16, 14:56:

If they implement hardware accelerated EAX (accessed via OpenAL and ALchemy) I'd be interested.

They most likely won't. Because it's much easier to emulate it in software. And they are not targeting Windows XP users anyway.

Whats it actually going to be? A sound card or software solution?

"Firmware hiccups" indicate that it's going to be a hardware product. Realistically, probably something USB related. Modern PCs in general don't have any room for a separate audio card.

Anyway, Creative hasn't produced anything interesting since X-Fi Titanium HD. And no, Audigy Rx was just a lazy cash grab for asian markets.

Trying to build a brand on PC audio cards in 2025 is like trying to build a brand on selling air to fill your home with so you don't suffocate.

Interesting. Did the AE series just get forsaken or ignored completely or something? Or do they not count, for some reason...

I've been using a Sound Blaster AE-7 since it came out and it WAS kinda buggy when using any of the fancy bells/whistles. The software and driver seems to be locked-in now and I really love it. It can drive 250Ohm headphones just fine and latency is pretty damn low. The analog "test" I preformed (inadvertently) was playing records through the computer. Not perfect, like a direct phono-to-amp setup (of course), but it does pretty good. ANY other device leaves me with a notable amount of delay between sound happening and sound amplifying (both passing through and headphones).

I am interested to see what they're brewing over there, but it probably won't be in my radar, because I really do like the AE-7 and my brother has an AE-9 and it's absolutely a beast, totally want.

I expect a basic 1 channel audio interface. targeted at streamers. the kind that emu created for them back in the day before audio interfaces were cool.

Major Jackyl wrote on Yesterday, 22:23:

Interesting. Did the AE series just get forsaken or ignored completely or something? Or do they not count, for some reason...

I was wondering that too. I was just looking at the AE line the other day whether to replace my Sound Blaster Z.

I am not the CEO of a huge tech company (I know, everyone is surprised), but this is probably what they should be focusing on before they completely tank the company with a failed hardware kickstarter:

Realistic 3D audio simulation tech (using some existing API, like OpenAL) that can be licensed to game developers and hardware manufacturers.

No one wants a sound card anymore... erm... even though I'm still using a Xonar DX in my main rig... but yeah, most people don't want a sound card anymore. They want features that make them go "ooo, ahhhhh..." and that means SOFTWARE.

Call the tech something catchy with "SoundBlaster" prominently displayed, add a 3dfx-like startup video to games that want it.

Along with the "SoundBlaster ___" badge would be some kind of certification that they have worked with the developer to ensure that the devs actually care about how the game sounds and are making proper use of the resources available.

This badge could also be put on hardware devices... like USB DACs that have good specs, low latency, etc.

Why I think this is what should be done: They completely killed off innovation by crushing all of the competition by 2001. The apparent result was a completely uninteresting PC audio market that ended up being almost entirely wiped out when Microsoft axed hardware accelerated DirectSound3D. If it had been a strong and actually growing market still in 2003-2006, this may never have happened. Regardless of exactly what caused what, the stagnation of PC 3D audio means that 25 years later we're still relying on user-made mods and a handful of random games (out of tens of thousands) to actually implement unique audio features.

I mean... it's 2025. I can play a game that implements hardware accelerated path tracing and completely murders GPU performance for what is often not that significant of a visual improvement, but no part of my PC is accurately calculating the occlusions, reflections and reverb of audio in that same 3D space?

Imagine what our games would sound like if that RT hardware was being used for sound instead.

Nope. You have to play cutting edge (/s) games like REPO to get proximity voice chat and environmental audio effects. Or download some Minecraft mod for an outdated version of the game to get the kind of effects that Aureal accelerated in hardware 26 years ago. Why isn't that just part of all games by now?

Creative should have been the company to push for this stuff. Why are we not seeing "Creative: The way it's meant to sound." at the startup of games to indicate that a game is going to sound mind-meltingly immersive?

Whoops. Sorry for the rant. 🤣

Imagine to our surprise it was an AWE32 with full SPDIF out and SDCARD wavetable slot.

It is a strange announcement considering there really hasn't been a stop to their development of PC audio solutions.

I have the SB X4 and have been using it for 2-3 years. It's pretty excellent. If you have headphones that they've profiled for the SXFI function, I think it sounds amazing.