Aside from the slightly larger, ever-more-fingerable TFT screen, the X-Fi 2 supposedly adds improvements to sound quality, which are down to murky machinations inside Creative's X-Fi audio processing system, as well as TV-out, which is particularly useful considering the player's generous video codec support. The rest of the specs are more or less unchanged: There's an FM radio, built-in mic, a microSD expansion slot, and syncable calendar, task list, contacts and RSS reader apps. It actually looks like the player has lost a feature since v1 too, since the prior model's Wi-Fi access is nowhere to be found. Not that it ever did much, but still.

Anyway, price! It's pretty low, considering what you get: It's 230 for the 32GB model, $180 for the 16GB and $130 for the 8GB. The highest price point seems like a dig at the iPod Touch, and it could be a clever one: The two players offer completely different things, and if you want to do more than play music and videos, the iPod is the clear choice. On the other hand, if that's all you want to do, a 32GB touchscreen PMP makes a case, if not a particularly strong one. It's available for preorder now, and should ship within a few weeks. [Creative]

The Price: $150 for starter kit with SB Wireless and one receiver; $130 for the GigaWorks T20W wireless speakers

The Verdict: I like wireless streaming, but I hate headaches that come from wireless devices that try to do too much. Sonos alone meets my satisfaction when it comes to an insanely micro-manageable whole-house audio system. But if you just want to send audio from point A to point B (and points C, D and E) without running a bunch of wires, Creative's newest take on it makes sense.

What you get in the starter kit is a dongle for your Mac or PC, and a single receiver with 35mm or RCA stereo jacks. You can buy additional receivers, or you can buy speakers with the receiver built right in. The sound is great—I don't hear any weird digital compression. Range-wise, I was able to carry it throughout the house without losing more than a momentary blip of connectivity, so you shouldn't have a problems in (or out of) a normal-sized house.

I wouldn't call this a "smart" distributed audio system. It's pretty blunt force. All the hardware comes pre-paired (hence the need for a dongle at the PC end, despite the use of Wi-Fi), and it basically streams USB audio—whatever's playing on your computer—to points around the house. You can configure and control up to four "zones" using software for the Mac or PC, or you can just use "broadcast" mode to send the same audio to every point. There's a remote control for the receiver, but it's limited to play and pause of iTunes. (Instead, you could use the iPhone/iPod Touch Remote app.)

The Inevitable Comparison to AirPort Express:
From a cost perspective, comparing this to AirPort Express is a little murky: AirPort Express costs $99 a piece, requires an audio system but no dongle for your computer. If you wanted to have three of them around your house, at different music or home theater systems, you'd pay $300. You'd need those audio systems, and even then, you probably wouldn't want to plug one in outside.

With the same computers and music libraries, Creative gives you a few more options. It's not cheaper, up front: You're out $150 for the dongle and first receiver. Adding two more receiver modules at $70 a piece gets you close to that $300 mark. But you can have 4 zones, and even more receivers in "broadcast" mode, so the more you add, the cheaper it could get overall. (Apple doesn't guarantee AirTunes reception to more than three Express units.) I think Creative should lower the price of receivers to $50 each, to get competitive, but let's face it, I have no idea what that would do to their profit margins, if there are any.

It's really the speaker and the iPod dock that make this thing different from the AirPort Express. Buy the speakers for $130—in a bundle with the dongle for $200 even—and you have a standalone audio receiver that you can take outside when you're BBQin' and a really nice pair of computer speakers that you can use wirelessly or directly plugged in.

Forget your computer and the SB dongle entirely, and pair the $130 wireless speakers or $70 receivers with the $250 Cambridge SoundWorks MovieWorks HD, which doesn't just have HDMI out for videos, but an integrated wireless interface that works just fine with these accessories.

The Caveats:
Despite having "iTunes" in the name, it sends all your computer's audio to the speakers or receiver. That means that you can be chilling to your iTunes when suddenly the annoying sound of an IM breaks your reverie. (It also means you can play audio from other programs—say, a movie in VLC—it's not all bad.)

It doesn't output audio at a fixed line level, but at whatever volumes your computer and iTunes are set at. If the system volume is cranked, you could experience distortion. It's not a defect, it just means you have to pull down one or the other (or both) volumes to 2/3 strength, then turn up the sound at the receiver end.

I said the hardware comes pre-paired, and for the most part, it works right out of the box. If it doesn't, I find holding down the "connect" button on the side of the dongle for like 5 seconds really helps. The one major conflict is that the dongle and the MovieWorks HD are not exactly friends. They both do the same thing, so having both is not necessary (but not verboten either). If you do, you may find yourself mashing that "connect" button a lot. [SoundBlaster Wireless, GigaWorks T20W Speakers; Cambridge SoundWorks MovieWorks HD]

In Brief:

Easy to set up

Lots of options, including powered speakers with built-in wireless receiver

Excellent sound quality, even streaming from one side of the house to another

Starter configuration is not cheaper than AirPort Express

Occasional device pairing issues, when using multiple Creative X-Fi accessories

Since it's all just USB audio out, you may have to play with system volume settings to avoid distortion

According to leaked specs, the nine-point pad will offer users the option of instant messaging on Windows Live or Yahoo Messenger in a phone-style typing schema. The device will also use wireless to share media between home networked computers and access an internet-based media pool, called a Public Home Server.

The player is named after Creative's X-Fi audio technology, which restores lost data in compressed music files to create concert-like audio effects. Users can turn to two X-Fi options—Crystalizer makes audio richer and clearer, and Expand repositions the music to sound like it's coming from in front of you, simulating listening to a live performance on stage. Check out the manual:

[epiZENter]

We're not too sure why Creative wouldn't want their old products having proper cross OS support implemented. Sure, they do provide beta drivers, but word is they aren't to stable, plus we're guessing their newer, shinier and more expensive replacement devices have something to do with it. Frankly, those won't sell if some asshole is putting down his own, backward compatible drivers to bring old hardware up to speed. Checkout what Creative had to say below:

Daniel_K:

We are aware that you have been assisting owners of our Creative sound cards for some time now, by providing unofficial driver packages for Vista that deliver more of the original functionality that was found in the equivalent XP packages for those sound cards. In principle we don't have a problem with you helping users in this way, so long as they understand that any driver packages you supply are not supported by Creative. Where we do have a problem is when technology and IP owned by Creative or other companies that Creative has licensed from, are made to run on other products for which they are not intended. We took action to remove your thread because, like you, Creative and its technology partners think it is only fair to be compensated for goods and services. The difference in this case is that we own the rights to the materials that you are distributing. By enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, you are in effect, stealing our goods. When you solicit donations for providing packages like this, you are profiting from something that you do not own. If we choose to develop and provide host-based processing features with certain sound cards and not others, that is a business decision that only we have the right to make.

Although you say you have discontinued your practice of distributing unauthorized software packages for Creative sound cards we have seen evidence of them elsewhere along with donation requests from you. We also note in a recent post of yours on these forums, that you appear to be contemplating the release of further packages. To be clear, we are asking you to respect our legal rights in this matter and cease all further unauthorized distribution of our technology and IP. In addition we request that you observe our forum rules and respect our right to enforce those rules. If you are in any doubt as to what we would consider unacceptable then please request clarification through one of our forum moderators before posting.

Phil O'Shaughnessy
VP Corporate Communications
Creative Labs Inc.

Unlike other Bose competitors such as Sony, Panasonic and JVC, who have gone with discounted pricing, Creative decided to attack Bose at the QuietComfort 2 pricepoint of $299. It's apt, since they are about the same size (yes, bulky), and run on AAA batteries (two as opposed to the Bose's one). They are as comfortable, with large cushioned earcups, and when they ship, they will come with a connector that works with iPhone, no adapter required. (I do not know yet if these will officially be designated "Works with iPhone" but they will "work with iPhone."

Though I haven't done a side-by-side comparison with Bose, or tested Creative solo in the requisite airplane environment, Creative's noise-cancelation technology sounds like it will do the trick. Overall, the sound quality is terrific, with rich, clear bass and if anything a too-bright high end. Clarity is not a problem here.

When I asked Creative reps how they could compete without lowering the price, they mentioned X-Fi, the company's proprietary audio DSP technology. One component is the Crystalizer, intended specifically to flesh out overly compressed MP3 files. The Crystalizer makes extra sense in the intimacy of headphones, and I could definitely hear an improvement when I toggled the feature on.

The final X-Fi feature is the CMSS (Creative Multi-Speaker Surround) processor, intended to spread out the audio and create a virtual surround environment. This is one of those things that depends on the taste of the listener. It changes the mix of the music significantly, but some would argue that by simulating a natural listening environment it is actually doing the track justice. If you can't tell, I am still on the fence about CMSS.

All in all, it's a great product. I still think Creative should have priced it at $250, if only to send a message to Bose that high quality doesn't have to mean exorbitant profit margins. Then again, it's fascinating to watch Creative fighting hard to maintain a premium brand in the ultra-discounted world of knock-offs.

Phew. Snappy name, eh? So snappy there's no room on the headline for a bad pun. Lucky you, I say. Anyway, this is a new ExpressCard/54-compatible sound card that uses Creative's X-Fi Crystallizer and 3CMSS-3D technology to give your laptop surround sound. There's a 7.1-channel speaker docking module and all this creamy white goodness (which raises the question: if it's only Windows-compatible, why did they do it in white?) will cost you $106 from late May. – Ad Dugdale

Creative "XFi" of XCard/54 Correspondence [PC Watch through Google Translate]

Product Page [Via Technabob]

Creative X-Fi for Notebooks [Notebook Review]

The Z600 includes two wall-mountable speakers and an 8-inch subwoofer. I kind of lied—it includes a dock for Creative's line of Zen players, but it also includes auxiliary inputs so you can plug in that iPod if you feel so compelled. It will be available on November 24 for $400. A bit pricey, but X-Fi is the bee's knees, yo. – Travis Hudson

Creative X-Fi Sound System Z600 [newlaunches]