The Register's got the dirt on the pricing & the release of Creative's next generation line of sound cards, the X-Fi. There will be four models, including an obligatory (these days) Fatal1ty version. The top-of-the-line X-Fi Elite Pro will set you back a cool $400. Yikes. Put one of those bad boys together with a 7800GTX, & you're already dropping a G on your next system without even touching a processor...

"All four are based on the X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity audio processor, which Creative introduced last May. The 51m-transistor chip provides 24 times as much processing power as the Audigy processor, Creative said. The system uses 24-bit quantisation running at 96kHz, and pushes the signal-to-noise ratio to between 109bB and 116dB."