okay, spent a few hours tonight riding behind and driving both the Mastercraft X-Star and X-45.
The X-45 drives and handles like an SUV, the X-Star like a sports car. The ballasts were completely full in both boats...The X-Star's wake had a better pop, was cleaner and steeper. The X-45 had a "rampy" wake. The X-45 handled chop MUCH better than the X-Star. The X-45 had much more room for lots of friends.
In summary, if you want a pure wakeboarding boat, the X-Star is your choice, the wake IS that much better! Really. Anyone who says, "oh, they are almost the same...blah blah blah" is DEAD wrong. X-Star has a better wake every day of the week and twice on Sunday. The X-45 is better for rough water and a larger group of folks. That's the scoop - pick your poisen - what's most important? If you need some spacious on big water, go with the X-45. If all you care about is "the perfect wake" then the X-star is your boat.
Since we put 140 hours on our boat during the previous 12 months with mostly wakeboarding, I guess we're going with the X-Star!
Enjoy the lake.