Sometimes it’s easy to subjectively compare sound cards—the differences just jump right out and hit you over the head.  But with Auzentech’s HDA X-Plosion 7.1 compared to Creative’s X-Fi XtremeMusic, I had quite a difficult time.  I can say that both sound cards are more alike in sound than just their respective uses of an X in their names. Of the few subtle differences audible, the biggest is that the X-Plosion is even brighter in character than the X-Fi, which I thought was bright sounding when I compared it to Terratec’s DMX 6-fire.

A-B testing was done with Foobar2000 v0.9.2, with the kernel-streaming plug-in, on a broad range of music, from classical to classic rock.  Extra care had to be taken to adjust levels because the X-Plosion isn’t as loud as the X-Fi with the Grado SR-125 headphones.  Levels are very important, since most folks will hear louder as being better, which is not the case.  I also realize my music tastes are quite different than most, so you'll want to listen to a X-Plosion with your music and judge for yourself.

Black Sabbath—Paranoid

Yeah, it’s an old favorite CD, ripped to ~218kbps (VBR) mp3 using LAME 3.92.  Because the recordings are so bare and the levels are somewhat sane (that is, no clipping), you can really hear what’s in the recording.  I listened to the first five songs on both cards.  On War Pigs/Luke’s Wall, for starters, it was the drums that I was most keened into.  The X-Plosion brought out nice, tuneful and crispy cymbals, showing that it is slightly brighter, but never harsh, in overall character.  But, the X-Fi matched it and upped the ante with a sweet, glowing sound.  Yeah, sorry, sweet and glowing.  Perhaps it's better to say, cleaner, more accurate harmonics and partials.

On Planet Caravan, a quiet acoustic number, it was apparent that the X-Plosion has less sense of depth, which usually translates into less stereo separation on paper.  Ambient sounds, like room reverb, were just about equal, with the X-Plosion just shy of the details that the X-Fi provides.  For example, there is a riff that is played in the right channel and its echo ripples across to the left channel.  With the X-Plosion I could count them to 5 before it got lost in the mix, and on the X-Fi I could count them all the way to 7 echoes, just before the riff started again.  Both cards produced startling rhythm from the hand drums, with excellent timbre, and induced fits of drumming on the desk by yours truly.

Moving along...

Radiohead—OK Computer

From something sparse to something quite dense, a ~254kbps (VBR) mp3, No Surprises is an achingly beautiful song.  The clean texture of the song is a mixture of guitars, xylophone, drums, voice, and the ground-pounding bass.  The X-Plosion did jolly well indeed.  The sound was neutral enough that there were several moments of reaching out and touching the texture before my eyes.  The X-Fi has quite a bit of bass response, and in this song, it was actually overwhelming the other instruments as compared to the X-Plosion.

Run-D.M.C—Raising Hell

Going back to the Golden Age, and speaking of bass, it’s Dumb Girl.  When played on even modest speakers, this song will make you dizzy and slightly queasy with the long, lingering kick drum.  Now, the X-Fi is a ringer with its bigger bass, but the X-Plosion didn’t give an inch, and held together quite well.  The X-Plosion's brighter character brought out a nice, crispy treble, which made the song for me, conjuring up long forgotten memories of bump-trucks and hydraulic suspension.  Ahhh.  Is Big Daddy Kane still in the building?

Stevie Wonder—Songs In The Key Of Life-Vol. 1

We should all listen to more Stevie Wonder.  In a moment like the Santa Cruz sound card, I let the album run, waiting to hear what the next song will bring.  The album's mix is slightly dark, and the X-Plosion is neutral enough to show that.  Oddly, the X-Fi showed the same problem as with Radiohead, the bass can sometimes overwhelm other instruments, in this case the vocals.  On Village Ghetto Land, Stevie’s voice would sometimes become intelligible when the accompaniment swelled.  This wasn’t a problem with the X-Plosion and kept Stevie’s voice front and center.

While not providing the highest levels of fidelity, the X-Plosion 7.1 is still excellent for pure music playback.  The sound character is slightly brighter than our X-Fi, but somehow doesn’t present quite as much detail.  Bass was also not as deep as the X-Fi, but depending on the source files being played, it could be a good thing.  Overall, listening with headphones on the X-Plosion 7.1 is very enjoyable.