Modes
The X-Fi can be configured to run in gaming, entertainment, and audio creation modes. These modes cover the three most common usage scenarios for a sound card, and switching between them is as easy as clicking the driver control panel. Switching modes resets the X-Fi and retargets its computational resources at a short list of features most commonly associated with the mode in question, all without the need for a reboot. Here's a quick rundown of the features available in each mode:

Creative refers to the X-Fi's mode-switching capacity as an Active Modal Architecture (AMA). The feature choices for each mode make sense, too, especially since switching between modes takes only seconds.

The X-Fi's gaming mode is optimized for—you guessed it—gaming. In this mode, the X-Fi is capable of starting hardware voices ten times faster than the Audigy2. Users get hardware acceleration for up to 128 DirectSound and EAX Advanced HD 5.0 voices, and OpenAL is also supported.

Entertainment mode is geared towards movie and music playback, and it's all about upsampling and upmixing content using the 24-bit Crystalizer and CMSS-3D. This mode also supports DVD-Audio playback, and gives users compatibility with Dolby Digital ES and DTS-EX.

Designed for would-be producers and musicians, the X-Fi's audio creation mode may be the least popular of the three. In this mode, the X-Fi supports ASIO at 24 bits and 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96kHz with no CPU hit. According to Creative, ASIO 2.0 latencies are as low as one millisecond.

Audio creation mode also supports 3D spatialization for MIDI, allowing for multi-channel MIDI creation. The mode allows up to eight hardware-accelerated effects to be applied to any audio stream moving through the card, and 24-bit sound fonts are also supported. Users are even given some control over the X-Fi's SRC; the X-Fi's internal sampling rate can be switched between 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96kHz, and users can enable a bit-accurate playback mode that bypasses the SRC, the 24-bit Crystalizer, the equalizers, and the card's smart volume management features.

Software extras
Creative's audio drivers are notorious for feature bloat, but the X-Fi's drivers are rather well behaved in that respect. Creative offers a performance install option that only gives you the essentials, including the base drivers and the audio control panel. Most users probably won't need anything beyond this performance install, but there are a few extras you might want to consider adding to the mix.

The first extra you might want to consider installing is Creative's MediaSource player, not for its playback capabilities, but for Super Rip. Super Rip leverages the 24-bit Crystalizer and CMSS-3D to rip CDs to 24-bit/96kHz multi-channel WMA Pro and WMA Lossless formats, and is a handy feature if you're a fan of the X-Fi's upsampling and upmixing capabilities. MediaSource can also convert existing recordings, including MP3s, to high-bitrate, multi-channel WMA formats.

Curiously, the X-Fi's DVD-Audio playback capabilities aren't tied to the MediaSource player. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, since you can install the DVD-A playback app without having to install MediaSource. The X-Fi's updated DVD-Audio player has a slicker interface than the player Creative includes with the Audigy2, but the new version doesn't appear to offer any significant new features over its predecessor.

Another of the X-Fi's enticing software extras is the THX control panel, which, among other things, lets users calibrate playback to take into account the distance, level, and angle of each attached speaker.

We've only touched on a handful of extras here, but there are plenty of other extras on the X-Fi install CD. At the very least, every X-Fi user should install the DVD-Audio player and experience the aural glory of a 24-bit/96kHz multi-channel DVD-A recording.