I suspect the default seeing the equalizer enabled with all sliders at the center for mid range as well as other settings would need to be changed in order to see(or hear) the best results. What are the speakers rated for? Are those a small pair of stereo, 2 1/2, 5.1, or 7.1 there?
The default is 2 1/2 on the X-Fi line of cards. You then select the correct setting for the speakers you have. If the mixer's levels are all the way up for the Windows mixer as well as the Creative sound mixer and you crank the volume all the way up on the speakers that would be no surprise of hearing a high level of distortion if the nedia played besides the Windows sounds wasn't clean.
What brand of speakers are you running there anyways?
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