AndreaColombo86 wrote on 2026-02-26, 10:28:

- It does not seem to have any X-RAM.

Why did you decide that?

- I can’t find a definitive answer as to whether this card supports CMSS 3D.

There are no sound cards on the X-Fi chip that do not support CMSS3D.

shevalier wrote on 2026-02-26, 10:58:

AndreaColombo86 wrote on 2026-02-26, 10:28:

- It does not seem to have any X-RAM.

Why did you decide that?

I couldn’t find any mention of it in the card’s specs I could find 😅

Thanks for the answer 😊

If I'm not mistaken, what this sound card really lacks, as does the Titanium HD PCI-e, are drivers for Windows XP.
Otherwise, it is a full-fledged, top-of-the-line X-Fi.
It supports all of Creative's technologies available at the time of X-Fi.

On my Windows 10 rig I still have my X-Fi Titanium HD installed, but I mostly listen to everything on my headphones connected to an USB DAC. The odd thing is, on Windows 10 the DAC seems to somehow acquire the X-Fi processing. If I use RightMarks 3DSound, select the DAC as the output, it will let me enable EAX4 (3Dsound doesn't have EAX5 tests) and I will hear the relevant effects (like occlusion). I'm not sure, if CMSS-3D Headphone also works this way. But for gaming it essentially lets me use any power hungry or high impedance headphones with a serious DAC + headphone amp combo.

The headphone amp on the Onkyo isn't bad, but it might struggle to drive low-sensitivity or power hungry headphones.

GL1zdA wrote on 2026-02-26, 11:38:

The headphone amp on the Onkyo isn't bad, but it might struggle to drive low-sensitivity or power hungry headphones.

I doubt that it could be worse than the ‘so-called headphone amplifier’ in the Titanium HD.
Nowadays, it is difficult to call the JRC4556 OPAMP with a 64-ohm resistor at its output a headphone amplifier. 🙁

PS. I have this (TiHD) card, and I still use it with Windows 11.

My headphones (Focal Utopia) aren’t really hard to drive, so I assume the Onkyo would have no problem with them.

I’m using an external DAC/Amp with my modern machine, but I don’t really play old games on it so lack of EAX isn’t a big deal. I do miss CMSS 3D, though.

AndreaColombo86 wrote on 2026-02-26, 12:14:

My headphones (Focal Utopia) aren’t really hard to drive, so I assume the Onkyo would have no problem with them.

I’m using an external DAC/Amp with my modern machine, but I don’t really play old games on it so lack of EAX isn’t a big deal. I do miss CMSS 3D, though.

Finally, someone will connect decent headphones to X-Fi. 😀
For modern PCs, you can purchase AE-5/7/9.
They support some EAX and Virtual Sound features.

shevalier wrote on 2026-02-26, 12:48:

Finally, someone will connect decent headphones to X-Fi. 😀
For modern PCs, you can purchase AE-5/7/9.
They support some EAX and Virtual Sound features.

The implementation of EAX and Direct Sound 3D is different on the non-EMU10K/EMU20K cards (like the CA0106 based X-Fis, Creative USB cards and AE series). It is software based on what Creative acquired with Sensaura. The results are slightly different and people tend to prefer the hardware version. There are some videos on Youtube where users compare the various DirectSound3D implementations, I highly recommend IDrinkLava Youtube channel.

shevalier wrote on 2026-02-26, 11:52:

PS. I have this (TiHD) card, and I still use it with Windows 11.

I would probably too, but my system is too old, and I didn't want to run an unsupported configuration, so the Win10 PC gradually became another retro PC while I've moved to Linux on my main system.

AndreaColombo86 wrote on 2026-02-26, 12:14:

My headphones (Focal Utopia) aren’t really hard to drive, so I assume the Onkyo would have no problem with them.

By the way, could you share your impressions after that?
The magic of X-Fi is that some users believe that having it in their computer is enough to make even Bluetooth headphones sound different.

According to the review, Focal makes very specific but high-tech headphones.
Their drivers are simply amazing -large magnet, hole in the middle, soft suspension, open acoustic design.
A true classic in high-end headphone engineering.
However, the same cannot be said about the resulting frequency response and distortion.

I am not sure about the original Onkyo drivers, but Daniel K's x-fi support pack (which works on Xp) supports the Onkyo among others. So if you are able to purchase it (even better for a reasonable price as you mention) go for it without hesitation. It's the best x-fi soundcard ever produced, followed by the Titanium HD, the Audiotrack Prodigy 7.1e and the Auzentech ones.