Creative Xtreme Fidelity claims to make MP3's beat CD quality

May 18, 2005

Since the very first SoundBlaster PC soundcard, Creative has always aimed to be a step ahead when it comes to high end consumer sound cards. Now, they have released the Xtreme Fidelity Audio Processor, which they claim to process MP3 and CD music back to 24-bit, resulting in sound superior to even the original CD recording, thus bringing it closer to the quality of Super Audio CD and DVD Audio. If you copy, please show your appreciation by linking back to cdfreaks.
The Xtreme Fidelity features a 24-bit DAC, minimum SNR of 110dB and multi channel sound experience on headphones. Its processor is capable of 10k+ MIPS, or 24 times the performance of its predecessor. For gamers, this means that with less audio processing load on the CPU, more processing is spent on the game itself thus leading to faster refresh rates as well as the advantage of more realistic audio. For DVDs and other surround sound movies, it can process multi channel surround sound to give multi-speaker experience on pretty much any pair of headphones.

Finally, for musicians and desktop audio recording, the Xtreme Fidelity features down to one millisecond ASIA recording latency with no CPU load. Its SRC engine features audio resolution transcoding from 44.1 kHz to 96 kHz at near transparency with 136dB THD+N.

Creative Technology Ltd., a worldwide leader in digital entertainment solutions for PC users and the creator of Sound Blaster, announced two major breakthroughs in audio technology: Xtreme Fidelity, the new standard in audio, and the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor. The combination of Xtreme Fidelity and the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor provides dramatic improvements to the recording and playback of MP3 music, accelerates and improves PC game play, enhances listening experiences for movies, and improves the capabilities, performance and quality of audio creation.

Xtreme Fidelity
Xtreme Fidelity sets a new standard for audio by supporting a combination of 24-bit quality, stunning audio clarity with a minimum of 110db SNR and the new CMSS (Creative Multi Speaker Surround) 3D headphone and surround speaker technology. Consumers will be able to upgrade their existing CD and MP3 music to the Xtreme Fidelity standard, using applications that can run on the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor. Being able to upgrade an existing library of music to Xtreme Fidelity differentiates it from other high-end music standards such as DVD-A and SACD, which offer limited selection and require consumers to repurchase their music in that specific format. When consumers upgrade their CD or MP3 music to the new Xtreme Fidelity standard, they will be able to experience.

Read the full article here.

From what I recall, it is impossible to get 'lost' audio content after performing a lossy compression. Examples include transcoding 96 kHz 24-bit audio to 44.1 kHz 16-bit audio and then again to a 128kbps MP3 encoded track. If this is the case, it is interesting to see Creative's claim to remaster MP3's back to quality similar to DVD Audio / Super Audio CD, or at least exceed CD quality.

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Source: Music Industry News Network