Are you sure the card doesn't only have line output with no amplification on the card itself?

Those cards were marketed to people with 2.1-7.1 setups. And you'd connect headphones to the Live Drive in the front of the computer.

I just tested each individual channel with an older Roccat Kave 5.1 headstet. It is obvious that some channels are quiet and other are overly loud. I did this test through putting the output in 5.1 mode

Do you have X-Fi I/O Drive connected?
Re: X-fi Elite Pro no sound in Windows XP

It's not connected, but I don't think that's going to impact me. I tried some more and booted into a live linux distro, when I use the Roccat Kave headset, I do get acceptable sound levels (still slightly on the quiet side, but acceptable) but now I get some channels to be overly eardrum shattering levels loud with oversteered sound and pop. If I set the drivers to 5.1 in Windows with this amplified headset, I do get similar results including the blow your eardrums level sound on the center and rear right channels.

Are these two cards dead/defect? :'(
I still have an old Audigy (1) on the attic I could use, but I was so much looking forward to maxing out the EAX levels on my Windows XP machine, I just can't keep buying X-Fi's hoping one would work...

First of all, for protocol.
All Creative audio cards (yes, remember, Auzen and Onkyo were also released on the X-Fi chip) have a very weak voltage regulator of -5 V for amplifiers.
Audigy - LM79L05 - 100 mA
X-Fi PCI - the same
X-FI PCI-e - Chargepump, 60 mA
With the exception of the only Titanium HD stereo card, there is 1 A.
They were not physically designed to work with multi-channel headphones.

But if you really want to burn the card:
- check the 5.1 sound built-in into the motherboard.
- equalize the channel volumes using the "Speaker Calibration" mixer from Creative.

That's quite a detailed perspective, thanks Shevalier! However, now I'm concerned about all the pops and cracks in the other channels. As I want to use the 5.1 EAX possibilities in the end (I'm just using headphones every now and then).

My Multi-channel headphone has a built in a amplifier, hence why I used it for testing and simulating my 5.1 speaker setup (Logitech Z-680), so yes my concerns have slightly shifted now, because the explosive sounds are making that impossible now.

You don't need fancy multi-channel headphones for EAX.

Just use a decent quality pair of regular stereo headphones (e.g. something from Sennheiser) and turn on X-Fi CMSS-3D Headphone mode in the Creative Console Launcher. The card will take care of the positional audio by itself. Just make sure that MacroFX and Elevation Filter are set to Auto.

Thanks Joseph_Joestar! And while I agree it may confer a sense of spaciousness, I want to combine the EAX effects with the exact directionality and sound positioning that my 5.1 speaker setup provides, so having the card in full working order is kind of important to me. 😀

I have tried EAX games both with a 5.1 speaker setup and a pair of decent quality headphones with X-Fi CMSS-3D turned on. For me, the latter provides better positional audio, by far. Especially in terms of elevation, i.e. sounds that come from above or below you.

Unfortunately, I find wearing headphones for extended time periods to be uncomfortable, so I don't use them all that often. But the audio experience is superb.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2025-08-26, 08:57:

I have tried EAX games both with a 5.1 speaker setup and a pair of decent quality headphones with X-Fi CMSS-3D turned on. For me, the latter provides better positional audio, by far. Especially in terms of elevation, i.e. sounds that come from above or below you.

Unfortunately, I find wearing headphones for extended time periods to be uncomfortable, so I don't use them all that often. But the audio experience is superb.

Above you recommended Sennheiser.
Are they even uncomfortable for you?
Open-air (not closed-back!) with oval ear pads made of velour or foam, in which the ear fits completely - quite ergonomic.
Something like 560S.
Well, 120 ohms doesn't load the X-Fi's line outputs. (600 ohms would be even better, but that would be very quiet.)

shevalier wrote on 2025-08-26, 10:49:

Above you recommended Sennheiser.
Are they even uncomfortable for you?

I don't have a pair of Sennheiser headphones at the moment, but I did use them in the past, and they were great. Right now, I'm using a somewhat worn down HyperX Cloud II headset, which isn't all that good by any means. But since I rarely use headphones anyway, I'm too lazy replace it.

My issue is not really related to ergonomics, but rather that the extra weight (of any headphones) causes my neck muscles to tense up, which eventually leads to stiffness and pain. Old man problems and all that. 😁

If you are looking for lightweight headphones, I can recommend this IEMs.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/inde … m-review.50534/
I bought them for myself and I like the way they sound.
But in-ear headphones hurt my ears. 🙁

shevalier wrote on 2025-08-26, 07:35:

- check the 5.1 sound built-in into the motherboard.
- equalize the channel volumes using the "Speaker Calibration" mixer from Creative.

I now activated the "HD Audio" sound on the motherboard (https://www.soyocn.net/2019/0731/2643.html) (which I got working under Windows 7 of my multiboot, but not under Windows XP of my multiboot). Those sound levels are normal indeed.
I also tried using my Soundblaser Audigy and it was 1 big "hiss fest". Are all these soundcards malfunctioning? That seems highly improbable. 🤔

ChAoS Overlord wrote on 2025-08-26, 16:54:

shevalier wrote on 2025-08-26, 07:35:

- check the 5.1 sound built-in into the motherboard.
- equalize the channel volumes using the "Speaker Calibration" mixer from Creative.

I now activated the "HD Audio" sound on the motherboard (https://www.soyocn.net/2019/0731/2643.html) (which I got working under Windows 7 of my multiboot, but not under Windows XP of my multiboot). Those sound levels are normal indeed.
I also tried using my Soundblaser Audigy and it was 1 big "hiss fest". Are all these soundcards malfunctioning? That seems highly improbable. 🤔

I even got interested myself and looked through some reviews.
Roccat Kave 5.1 analog - these are not 5.1 headphones.

These are 4 + vibration.
USB - not a pure analog amplifier, but a mixture of an analog processor and some USB HID device (emulation of the volume control and other things via mouse/keyboard)
There may be a mismatch of levels (Creative - 2V RMS, on-board sound - 1V RMS). There may be a conflict between the HID and Creative drivers.
There may be aconflict between audio effects when mixing 5.1 to 4.1
you'll try to connect Logitech in Direct mode.
All the "magic" of Creative sound cards is in their DSP, that is, they need to be connected "purely analog", without any post-processing.
Otherwise, what will happen in the end - no one knows.