XFi Titanium, W764Pro, Hollow/Flat sound

They are hacked drivers, and there was controversy a couple of years ago concerning them and Creative. Nevertheless, they solved problems I was having at the time that Creative, at least then, was not resolving.

Thank you for the suggestion 1Bowtie. I think that's pretty much what I did on my initial install. Or are you saying that by removing the card initially during OS install wll do the trick?

So far I have done the following, doing a complete uninstall each time. Even so far as to rebooting into safe mode after uninstalling and using driver sweeper for creative drivers.

- Windows 7 Automatic Update (this installs the latest base drivers and autoupdate feature directly from Creative)
- Full CD Install
- Full CD Install followed by Full Web Update
- Minimum CD Install - drivers and cclauncher only
- Full Support Pack 2.5 Install
- Full Support Pack 2.5 Install followed by Full Web Update
- X-Fi Titanium driver version 2.17.0008 only
- X-Fi Titanium driver version 2.17.0007 only
- X-Fi Titanium driver version 2.17.0008B only

(I also have reseated the soundcard and attempted turning off onboard sound.)

As far as I know there are no other driver versions for the X-Fi Titanium card.

I have read of a gazillion errors for people with almost every version. Ironically I have had absolutely no install errors or random errors pop up. And it has functioned with every driver version. It's just the quality is poor. Like night and day from two days ago. Like that surround switch just isn't being hit on those old headpones. (just an anology as i'm using Sennheiser HD 595s).

Well, I installed the card on an up to date XP system I have. Installed the drivers on cd, worked like it should. Night and day compared to my W7 system right now.

Is there a way to run drivers in compatability mode?

I dread another OS reinstall. But may if that would fix it.

I checked my Newegg purchase records, under the specifications of the card it does not say there is support for Windows 7, only XP and Vista. Although I have had the card working perfectly up until 2 days ago on my W7 system. This my contradict the driver specifications on Creative's site which indicate W7 is supported.

I think either way this is my last Creative purchase.

Well. I did another OS reinstall, deleted partition and full clean install.

I removed the sound card beforehand and disconnected the internet connection. I then did the clean OS install. I installed Mobo chipset drivers only. Restarted to complete that. Then I turned the computer off, installed the soundcard and turned the computer back on. Windows 7 recognized the card, but could not connect to the internet to install any drivers. It did appear to do something as I got the usual new hardware icon in the task bar. Still it was only recognized as a generic audio device in the device manager. I then proceeded to do a minimum software install with the CD the soundcard came with. I restarted when I was prompted. And it works.

So apparently, with W7 having internet access and autodownloading the drivers almost instantly it would not work. The way I bypassed that was not having internet access.

I am now doing Windows Updates and am somewhat dreading a potential conflict. But we will see.

Anyhow, Youtube sounds wonderful, my CD's sound wonderful. I will post back after all the Windows Updates to confirm everything is working.

And a big thank you to everyone for helping me with suggestions and potential fixes.

Things like this make me realize what an audiophile I tend to be, I have come to depend on sound quality to enjoy all my games and music.

I know where you're coming from with the dread, wondering if it will somehow become skewed with a later update or something. But usually when the Audigy I had was right it was good to go unless I did a rebuild, then trouble could arise again simply doing the first install. Still, I'm not sorry for leaving Creative behind.

Anyway, glad it sounds great again and hope it stays that way for ya.

The best build sequence with a Creative card is the old trusted one of installing a card at a time as you say. I've found with this Xonar card that everything can be installed in the box, then install Windows, then your drivers in any order, i.e. video driver first, or sound first, it doesn't appear to matter. Awhile back I upgraded the video card leaving the sound card in and it went without a hitch, something I was never able to do with the Live! or Audigy cards. One of the reasons I've been sold on this Xonar.

Looks like that dread was not misplaced. The hollow-like sound came back. In fact I think that after doing a side by side comparison, the XP system still sounded better. It was just that I was listening to sound that was poor and even a slight jump seemed better. It took redownloading some games and jumping in before it started to become even more apparent. Especially as a long time FPS veteran. I think if I continue I could eventually get it working, but there is a point where it's no longer worth the trouble.

I hit up newegg and ordered an ASUS Xonar STX. I read reviews and haven't come across the same user feedback about nightmarish drivers. I value the sound for my games, it adds enough to the experience that I cannot really enjoy gaming without a certain amount of quality. And I think that switching to something that will hopefully be more user friendly is going to make me much happier.

Anyhow, thanks again for the help.

Bummer on the sound problem returning. Sometimes our best efforts don't resolve things with a given part and it's best to move on.

Hope the Xonar works out great for you. Let us know.

Update, because I can't stand those threads that the OP never responded on whether they got it fixed or not.

Ordered the Xonar Essence STX, ended up doing another OS install, because at that point why not. I had the same echo problem with the Xonar. At first I didn't know if it was the card, the drivers, or one of it's various setting. But with 3 different headsets and testing every potential setting possible, from crappy to nice, they all had the same hollow echo sound. I tried 3 different official drivers and an unofficial driver, uninstalling, then booting into safe mode and deleting what was leftover of the drivers with driver sweeper, then installing. Still the same problem. I then tried both cards again on an older XP system I have, it could have been the motherboard or something else, but the sound quality was not where it should be (although it was better than the W7 I use as the main machine). At this point I was just confounded. I know I missed detailing a number of different setup attempts and the like. I think the solution may be singular to my setup. I built the computer myself, and know that most prebuilt systems are tested. Because of that I can't say this would work for anyone else.

But the solution for me was:

Taking out the GPU, making sure all the drivers were gone, and placing the sound card in by itself. Then I simply let W7 do it's first update, ran the autoupdate for Creative, installed just the newest CCLauncher, and it was working. Apparently something happens for my system when the GPU is placed in the machine first. I think it could potentially be W7 doing it's auto-install. Maybe it's the Creative drivers not liking the GPU installed. I really don't know and don't have the expertise to say. But what I do know is that it worked and is back to how it should sound.

I have not tested the Xonar card yet, I'm relaxing a bit after finally getting it working. Maybe tomor I'll give the Xonar card a run through and see if it works (or maybe sounds better).

Anyhow, thank you again for the help and suggestions. I tried everyone of them.