# Creative Sound Blaster Z Sound Card



## Frederik S (Jan 23, 2013)

Creative's long awaited new line of sound cards is here. Today, we take a thorough look at the new entry-level model called "Sound Blaster Z". The sound card comes equipped with the new Sound Core processor and Creative even bundles it with a decent microphone.

*Show full review*


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## Xenturion (Jan 29, 2013)

Solid review. I've been thinking about a SoundCore based card for a while now, but I can't pull the trigger for one simple reason; they dropped support for 7.1 analog speakers in the move from the X-Fi series. I find this particularly amusing because the 7.1 analog speakers I want to use are Creative brand, the same set I've used since my Sound Blaster Audigy Value, nearly 8 years ago now. I had an Audigy 2 ZS after that, and then a Rocketfish Branded X-Fi-driven card when Creative was a little slow to adopt functioning Vista drivers for my A2 ZS. Eventually, I just bought four 3.5mm Male-to-Male Audio Cables to replace the proprietary Creative cable on my 7.1 speakers and use my onboard Realtek.

The gaming market didn't really go the way Creative seems to have expected it to. EAX, while somewhat popular for a while there, has largely disappeared in titles as of late. A lot of their technology hinges on developers actually implementing it. And I think the general gaming public puts a lot more emphasis on visuals than they do audio, lessening the incentive for developers to bother with it. That and on-board solutions have improved leaps and bounds above even just a few years ago. 

I love the concept of a quad core sound card, though, and if they eventually implement 7.1 again in future models, I'd probably give them another shot.


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## dj-electric (Jan 29, 2013)

"Driver suite is memory intensive at over 80 MB RAM"
I don't see any problem here, wer'e not at the year 2003 anymore


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## Sasqui (Jan 29, 2013)

Nice review... noticed on page 4, the last two dialog images are swapped.


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## btarunr (Jan 29, 2013)

I completely agree about the unnatural gain. My SB Recon3D has a similar problem. Creative attempted to substitute a proper OPAMP circuitry with brute gain on its headphones jack. Anything above 20% software volume is intolerable, and quite some fidelity is lost at that volume. The line-out jack is too weak for my cans. The front-panel jack uses a cheap ribbon-cable between the card and the jack. Creative's approach to the headphone amp jack is similar to Realtek's recent attempts at compensating for its cheap sub 90 dBA SNR CODECs with high gain. Most recent Creative cards are not for audiophiles at all.


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## Paramount (Jan 29, 2013)

*nice review but*

very nice review ..the sound core 3d is the same that found in previous disappoint gen Recon3d..so the Z series the same hardware with software tweaking 
i dont want to buy sub 100 $ sound card does not support 7.1 surround ! Asus have better option like Xonar DX.


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## McSteel (Jan 29, 2013)

...and I wouldn't call G-Luxon nor Fujicon "pretty standard" - they're utter shit. But this card is geared towards busting eardrums, and not audiophiles, so it was to be expected.


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## natr0n (Jan 29, 2013)

There is nothing going on;on that card. Like a fancy car stripped to nothing. All I see is a shroud with 2 leds.


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 30, 2013)

I know Windows 7 is still the main cheese around here but I wish this test was done in Windows 8. Other than that it was a great review! Thanks.


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## m1dg3t (Jan 30, 2013)

How this card rated a 9 is beyond me.


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## DerekStorm (Jan 30, 2013)

How do they have the money to keep on going with this kind of product portfolio?


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## droopyRO (Jan 30, 2013)

So is this a reason to upgrade from this ? http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx 10x


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## Major_A (Jan 30, 2013)

I owned an Audigy MP3+ PCI and vowed it would be my last Creative card.  Several years later I was in Circuit City when they were closing the doors and against my better judgement picked up an X-Fi Titanium Fatality.  I have since renewed my vow that this will be my last Creative soundcard. I still believe that they make decent hardware but their software is pure CRAP.


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## jagd (Jan 30, 2013)

What happened to hardware sound with win 8 ? There were articles about hardware sound comming back before win8 launch but no information since than .Was it about tablets or desktops ?

No it is not ,i would not upgrade to any recon 3D based card  droopyRO .



droopyRO said:


> So is this a reason to upgrade from this ? http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx 10x


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## Frederik S (Jan 30, 2013)

TheMailMan78 said:


> I know Windows 7 is still the main cheese around here but I wish this test was done in Windows 8. Other than that it was a great review! Thanks.



I think I will go dual boot for a while just need a bigger SSD 120 GB is not enough for two OS + game and applications 

Cheers,
Fred


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## Frederik S (Jan 30, 2013)

m1dg3t said:


> How this card rated a 9 is beyond me.



The card performs well for the price and has a few novel features and a well implemented microphone and EQ system. It is good enough to drive most headphones and headsets.

Main issue is the insane gain of around 10x (estimated I have a O2 with 6.5x gain and the SBZ has more) which is just absurd with today's headphones. A gain around 2.5x to 4x would probably be ideal. 

I hope this makes sense.

Cheers,
Fred


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## Frederik S (Jan 30, 2013)

btarunr said:


> I completely agree about the unnatural gain. My SB Recon3D has a similar problem. Creative attempted to substitute a proper OPAMP circuitry with brute gain on its headphones jack. Anything above 20% software volume is intolerable, and quite some fidelity is lost at that volume. The line-out jack is too weak for my cans. The front-panel jack uses a cheap ribbon-cable between the card and the jack. Creative's approach to the headphone amp jack is similar to Realtek's recent attempts at compensating for its cheap sub 90 dBA SNR CODECs with high gain. Most recent Creative cards are not for audiophiles at all.



I agree here it is far from optimal and it is the main real issue with these cards. If you plan on using them with a set of very high impedance headphones it might be a pro, but I doubt that many die hard gamers will do that. 

Cheers,
Fred


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## Fourstaff (Jan 30, 2013)

So is there a pain free way to reduce the gain?


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## TheMailMan78 (Jan 30, 2013)

Frederik S said:


> I think I will go dual boot for a while just need a bigger SSD 120 GB is not enough for two OS + game and applications
> 
> Cheers,
> Fred



No I understand man. I get ya. My point was more because of drivers and the new OS. I don't know if you remember Creative and the Vista debacle.

Again the review was great. I just would like more info for us Windows 8 adopters.


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## RejZoR (Jan 30, 2013)

Actually even the modern systems can't keep up with proper 3D sound. Play any EAX 4.0 or EAX 5.0 title and you can clearly see a performace difference between X-Fi and onboard soundcard.
The lagged game feel was so annoying i couldn't play much with the onboard.

But i'd really wish Creative would make a proper APU (Audio Processing Unit), bump up the specs a bit (256 3D sounds wouldn't hurt) and push EAX a bit more. All the software 3D positioning engines are rubbish and i miss the EAX 4 already in most of modern titles. Hell, most of them sound and feel a lot better if you use ALchemy on them though it doesn't work on all of them.


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## Scrizz (Jan 30, 2013)

The only card for me to even think about switching to would be the ZxR.
I like my Titanium HD


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## Frederik S (Jan 30, 2013)

TheMailMan78 said:


> No I understand man. I get ya. My point was more because of drivers and the new OS. I don't know if you remember Creative and the Vista debacle.
> Again the review was great. I just would like more info for us Windows 8 adopters.



I totally get it and I remember all Creative driver shenanigans


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## Am* (Jan 30, 2013)

Good review. A couple of things though:

One of the unsung heroes on these cards is the Dialog Plus feature for me. I can't see any review anywhere supporting this feature and I feel this is pretty overlooked. I do not watch any movie without it, because it makes the dialog that much clearer.



> Creative includes a new quad-core sound processor on its Sound Blaster Z series cards. The processor can basically handle all the signal processing you might want. True hardware acceleration only works with ALchemy supported titles, but it is highly overrated since any modern PC will easily handle the miniscule load generated through the audio of games.



I have to disagree completely with this statement. I tried playing several games with EAX software processing and it was absolutely terrible. CPU usage on cores would randomly spike to unreasonable levels, which in turn causes sound stuttering, delayed audio, etc. To add insult to injury, it sounded worse than onboard with muddled sound due to the driver latency. I would like to add that these cards work nearly flawlessly with any EAX enabled game in Windows 7 -- I cannot say the same for my Xtreme Gamer, at least not in Windows Vista/7/8.



btarunr said:


> I completely agree about the unnatural gain. My SB Recon3D has a similar problem. Creative attempted to substitute a proper OPAMP circuitry with brute gain on its headphones jack. Anything above 20% software volume is intolerable, and quite some fidelity is lost at that volume. The line-out jack is too weak for my cans. The front-panel jack uses a cheap ribbon-cable between the card and the jack. Creative's approach to the headphone amp jack is similar to Realtek's recent attempts at compensating for its cheap sub 90 dBA SNR CODECs with high gain. Most recent Creative cards are not for audiophiles at all.



Getting the right settings out of these cards takes a lot of messing around with the equalizer. I have about 4 different gaming profiles, 3 different movie profiles and 7 different music profiles. Having the right one with the right task makes all the difference between a good and a terrible sound. Oh, and turn off THX TruStudio Pro when listening to music, especially with headphones, because they will ruin the sound of any song on anything other than speakers. 

Your last sentence I don't get at all -- I don't ever remember these being marketed as audiophile-grade cards, so the complaint seems unfair. These are a hassle-free GAMING AUDIO upgrade from on-board audio with the best game compatibility -- that's it. This may not sound like much, but Xonar have nothing that can compare to this thing in terms of compatibility -- anybody that has used any Xonar's horrible GX emulation knows that for a fact.



droopyRO said:


> So is this a reason to upgrade from this ? http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx 10x



Unless you're running XP, most definitely yes.



Major_A said:


> I owned an Audigy MP3+ PCI and vowed it would be my last Creative card.  Several years later I was in Circuit City when they were closing the doors and against my better judgement picked up an X-Fi Titanium Fatality.  I have since renewed my vow that this will be my last Creative soundcard. I still believe that they make decent hardware but their software is pure CRAP.



It's the other way around now. This is the most hassle-free sound card I've ever had and I've gone through several Xonars -- but it's definitely not the best sounding for anything other than games, by any means.



RejZoR said:


> Actually even the modern systems can't keep up with proper 3D sound. Play any EAX 4.0 or EAX 5.0 title and you can clearly see a performace difference between X-Fi and onboard soundcard.
> The lagged game feel was so annoying i couldn't play much with the onboard.
> 
> But i'd really wish Creative would make a proper APU (Audio Processing Unit), bump up the specs a bit (256 3D sounds wouldn't hurt) and push EAX a bit more. All the software 3D positioning engines are rubbish and i miss the EAX 4 already in most of modern titles. Hell, most of them sound and feel a lot better if you use ALchemy on them though it doesn't work on all of them.



I totally agree. Comparing software emulated EAX to hardware-accelerated EAX is like comparing Nvidia's PhysX on a CPU vs on a dedicated GPU. 


P.S. if these sound card had a blue colour casing I'd seriously consider moving up to a ZX/ZXR from my Recon3D Fatal1ty (I'm wondering just how much of an improvement these are compared to my Recon3D). And for God's sake Creative, either dim the stupid LEDs, completely get rid of them, or use tri-colour ones and let us decide the colour co-ordination and brightness level through the driver inside our rigs.


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## m1dg3t (Jan 31, 2013)

Frederik S said:


> The card performs well for the price and has a few novel features and a well implemented microphone and EQ system. It is good enough to drive most headphones and headsets.
> 
> Main issue is the insane gain of around 10x (estimated I have a O2 with 6.5x gain and the SBZ has more) which is just absurd with today's headphones. A gain around 2.5x to 4x would probably be ideal.
> 
> ...



It may indeed perform well but the score is out of line, maybe a 7 or 7.5 at best but definately no 9, just being realistic 

I know you gotta keep samples coming in but don't muddy the waters, please


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## RejZoR (Jan 31, 2013)

I have an Auzentech X-Fi Forte but we haven't got any driver updates for ages and i'm really into trying something new again. But i'm unsure what to think of. Raw SNR is on the Forte's side but everything else might be better on a new card.

From the charts, all Z cards are the same, only difference are the extras (daughter card, desktop dock or microphone). And the ZxR supposedly has higher SNR. But i have no use for the daughter card and it would be a waste of 180 EUR if i'd only use half of it anyway...

I'd really need to hear it myself to tell the difference, these reviews don't really tell you much. It's a shame that no one puts enough effort to accurately compare soundcards. For me, sound is far more important than graphic cards, but since the whole audio part of the gaming is pretty much stagnating, it's really crappy time for me. If anyone remembers the days of Aureal Vortex and Creative competition knows what i mean. And the sound evolution was the greatest back then up to EAX 4.0 when it pretty much stopped dead. Ppl would be more into all thi if someone actually cared about it. But it seems like Creative doesn't give a damn either. For no reason, EAX was imo one of the most ground breaking things in gaming audio. System Shock 2, Thief and NFS3 without EAX wouldn't even nearly be what they were with it. A skin crawling symphony to the ears.


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## Nordic (Jan 31, 2013)

I upgraded from my onboard realtech 892 to an asus xonar dg for $10. I was super impressed by how much better everything sounded. I can't imagine these expensive sound cards to be that much better... are they? I think I would have to hear it to believe it.


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## RejZoR (Jan 31, 2013)

For stereo audio it doesn't matter. All you need is good raw audio performance (basically good DAC's and as little interference).

Gaming however is a different thing. I used to have XONAR Essence STX which was by specs absolutelly fantastic soundcard. Music and movies were great, but 3D sound positioning in games was horrible. I couldn't tell in UT2004 where the enemies are, what was above me was on the same level as me or vice versa, couldn't hear rockets properly and it all sounded like a horrible mess. Same for CS:S. I was so pissed i bought the super expensive X-Fi Forte at that time and never looked back. It works so well i got accused of wallhacking several times and all i did was hear enemies making noises on the maps. And since X-Fi chip renders sound position so well on speakers or headphones you can precisely pinpoint enemies. And without any silly Scout modes.


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## Nordic (Jan 31, 2013)

RejZoR said:


> For stereo audio it doesn't matter. All you need is good raw audio performance (basically good DAC's and as little interference).
> 
> Gaming however is a different thing. I used to have XONAR Essence STX which was by specs absolutelly fantastic soundcard. Music and movies were great, but 3D sound positioning in games was horrible. I couldn't tell in UT2004 where the enemies are, what was above me was on the same level as me or vice versa, couldn't hear rockets properly and it all sounded like a horrible mess. Same for CS:S. I was so pissed i bought the super expensive X-Fi Forte at that time and never looked back. It works so well i got accused of wallhacking several times and all i did was hear enemies making noises on the maps. And since X-Fi chip renders sound position so well on speakers or headphones you can precisely pinpoint enemies. And without any silly Scout modes.



I just can not imagine a sound card doing that. Keyword imagine.


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## RejZoR (Jan 31, 2013)

Trust me, it can. Enhanced HRTF algorithms used by Sound Blaster cards. The way how soundcard renders positional audio. The tech introduced with X-Fi chips was the Elevation filter and MacroFX which also takes into account height of the sound and distance from the head. Try listening something above you and the same sound below you (in real life). It sounds different. Same applies when sound is behind you. And MacroFX made massive difference for objects very close to the listener. Like rockets flying pat your head or cars overtaking you... And thats where Sound Blaster cards simply shine.

I don't know how exactly they do it but they do it incredibly well. And i'm afraid of losing that with never cards because that would just plain suck. Only onboard that came close was the nForce MCP years ago. Realtek and ADI Soundmax was sort of ok but not the same by far.


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## Nordic (Jan 31, 2013)

RejZoR said:


> Trust me, it can. Enhanced HRTF algorithms used by Sound Blaster cards. The way how soundcard renders positional audio. The tech introduced with X-Fi chips was the Elevation filter and MacroFX which also takes into account height of the sound and distance from the head. Try listening something above you and the same sound below you (in real life). It sounds different. Same applies when sound is behind you. And MacroFX made massive difference for objects very close to the listener. Like rockets flying pat your head or cars overtaking you... And thats where Sound Blaster cards simply shine.
> 
> I don't know how exactly they do it but they do it incredibly well. And i'm afraid of losing that with never cards because that would just plain suck. Only onboard that came close was the nForce MCP years ago. Realtek and ADI Soundmax was sort of ok but not the same by far.



On windows 7?


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## Ra97oR (Feb 1, 2013)

I do that with my STAX and Essence ST without any "enhancement". Really depends on the headphone end for positioning.


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## [H]@RD5TUFF (Feb 3, 2013)

It seems a stand alone sound card still has some gain left in it. Any chance we could get a review of the ZxR?


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## KingPing (Feb 5, 2013)

RejZoR said:


> Trust me, it can. Enhanced HRTF algorithms used by Sound Blaster cards. The way how soundcard renders positional audio. The tech introduced with X-Fi chips was the Elevation filter and MacroFX which also takes into account height of the sound and distance from the head. Try listening something above you and the same sound below you (in real life). It sounds different. Same applies when sound is behind you. And MacroFX made massive difference for objects very close to the listener. Like rockets flying pat your head or cars overtaking you... And thats where Sound Blaster cards simply shine.
> 
> I don't know how exactly they do it but they do it incredibly well. And i'm afraid of losing that with never cards because that would just plain suck. Only onboard that came close was the nForce MCP years ago. Realtek and ADI Soundmax was sort of ok but not the same by far.




 This was what surprised me most when i first used my X-Fi Titanium, the positional audio was awesome, then switched to a Titanium HD and i was shocked,  it is  the best of both worlds, positional audio + awesome sound quality, i really love this sound card. 

 I would like that daughter board on the ZxR to have 5.1 or 7.1 analog connections, it's the only reason i have a XONAR DX along the Titanium HD, once you get used to sound cards the onboard sounds like crap.


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## SaltyFish (Feb 6, 2013)

I agree with RejZoR that it'd be nice to get more detailed sound card reviews. I wish the review did a comparison of the Z-series with the older Recon3D sound cards. It would show how much (or how little) the new sound cards have progressed.

The features are still a bit lean since the X-Fi days, but that's not entirely Creative's fault (they're still responsible for a lot; they killed Aureal, their last major competitor, and then didn't much to drive the PC audio market). The rest of the blame goes to Microsoft for dropping support for hardware audio acceleration in Vista (7 followed suit). That effectively finished off audio in PC gaming. I've read conflicting reports that Windows 8 is restoring it. Anyone know if this is true?

For those interested in reading up more on PC audio, here's an informative link:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/593050/


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## dogchainx (Feb 6, 2013)

I bought a Sound Blaster Z (base model) off Amazon.  I'm coming from a Titanium X-Fi that's had some driver issues and popping. I'll post back with my findings later this weekend.


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## RejZoR (Feb 7, 2013)

SaltyFish said:


> I agree with RejZoR that it'd be nice to get more detailed sound card reviews. I wish the review did a comparison of the Z-series with the older Recon3D sound cards. It would show how much (or how little) the new sound cards have progressed.
> 
> The features are still a bit lean since the X-Fi days, but that's not entirely Creative's fault (they're still responsible for a lot; they killed Aureal, their last major competitor, and then didn't much to drive the PC audio market). The rest of the blame goes to Microsoft for dropping support for hardware audio acceleration in Vista (7 followed suit). That effectively finished off audio in PC gaming. I've read conflicting reports that Windows 8 is restoring it. Anyone know if this is true?
> 
> ...



Thats not true. WinVista and Win7 still have fully functional HW audio. It's just that no one seems to give a flying fart about it for reasons unknown.

Few major problems:

- EAX not being marketed and pushed anymore by Creative even though it's a fantastic technology
- OpenAL was left to rot because of the above reason
- soundcards are now going backwards, i mean some quasi quad core processor and all it does is process some stupid voices!? C'mon, every CPU can do that

I really miss the days when nearly every game released had EAX. And those were the good days of crawling skin and shivers up our spines when we were listening to in-game sounds.
Today, it's all based on some lame ass pathetic software engines that have nearly zero audio realism. With EAX you at least knew when you were in the freakin sewers and when you were in a cave or a carpeted room and all connected with excellent 3D sound positioning. Today they just add some pathetic filters that simulate that and they all sound like absolute crap. Whoever played System Shock 2 with initial EAX versions knows what i'm talking about. Or NFS3 from 1998. The EAX made driving through tunnels a real joy where you could listen to a howling engine noise. Or the incredible storm thunder. I still can' forget the experience of driving Lamborghini Diablo through Lost Canyon track at night and with rain. Constant rain and water sound under my wheels and an incredible thunder with lightnings. Experience that didn't happen ever again with newer NFS games even though they all had better graphics. Or the Half-Life 1. I was playing Black Mesa Source not long ago and even though graphics were buffed, it lacked the awesome sound experience that i had back in the 1999 with my Sound Blaster Live!. And for me, game with shitty sound is like a game played on lowest graphic settings for most of you.

It's really sad how everything is going for fancy visuals but no one is giving a damn about the sound. Someone at Creative would need 2 hours of work to point out the difference in side by side comparison examples. And trust me, ppl would want that.


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 7, 2013)

Hmmm, is it worth replacing my STX with one of these I wonder.


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## Frederik S (Feb 7, 2013)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Hmmm, is it worth replacing my STX with one of these I wonder.


Definitely not. The STX is equally capable although it is missing some of the gaming related  features of the SBZ. 

Sound quality wise they are close but the headphone amplifier on the STX is better even though it has a high output impedance. Plus the STX has adjustable gain which is a very neat feature.


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## RejZoR (Feb 7, 2013)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Hmmm, is it worth replacing my STX with one of these I wonder.



If you're a gamer, then anytime. I used to have STX and it was absolute crap for gaming. That GX2 or whatever it was was useless. Either it BSOD-ed the game or it was all messed up. And 3D sound positioning was very bad along with buggy ASUS drivers that were no frequent than Creative ones in terms of releases.

Then again, you can take ZxG and you basically get best of both worlds, making it a better option. Only downside really is the price...

Or maybe wait for Auzentech to release their Core3D based soundcard with high end components. Thats also one of the options.


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 7, 2013)

the thing is, I dont exactly use the headphones amp on my STX anyway, and i doubt I ever will.


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 9, 2013)

Well I decided to order one of these anyway, I hope its better then the DS3D GX mode that Asus offers. If i dont like it I can always get a refund.

my STX might be great but I really dont need the headphone amp on it and even the unified drivers on it arent working so great as they were before.

hopefully this will put an end to audio clipping, crashing and audio anomalies in older EAX titles.


I'll be sure to let you guys know what i think


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## dogchainx (Feb 10, 2013)

So, I had a chance to play Borderlands 2 and watch a few movies (tv-stereo and DTS movies).

I got the base model. I don't need the highest-end inputs, and the ACM is redundant for me.

I went from a Titanium X-Fi PCI-E to this.  I was expecting to have buyer's remorse, but nope.

Popping is gone, no driver issues (yet), and sound with SBX OFF is actually quite a bit clearer than my old X-Fi.  Borderlands 2 has a sharper sound to it, with sound effects coming through clearer on my headphones and my Z5500's.

I have my headphones hooked up at the same time as my Z5500's.  WHY ON EARTH WASN'T THIS A FEATURE ON ALL OF MY SOUND CARDS BEFORE!?  I can easily switch from headphones to speakers and back with just three mouse clicks. Very cool.

In the end I spent $100 on a soundcard.  Very well worth the upgrade. I really thought sound couldn't get better, but I was wrong.

I'll be testing out BF2 and a few older games that need OpenAL,etc. and edit the post.


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## Prima.Vera (Feb 10, 2013)

RejZoR said:


> If anyone remembers the days of Aureal Vortex and Creative competition knows what i mean. And the sound evolution was the greatest back then up to EAX 4.0 when it pretty much stopped dead. Ppl would be more into all thi if someone actually cared about it. But it seems like Creative doesn't give a damn either. For no reason, EAX was imo one of the most ground breaking things in gaming audio. System Shock 2, Thief and NFS3 without EAX wouldn't even nearly be what they were with it. A skin crawling symphony to the ears.



Oh yes, I remember not the days of Aureal, Sensaura 3D or EAX wars, but I also remember very clearly the days when Creative SB 16 was introduced. It was a revelation for games and music, something more like 3Dfx was for 3D video cards. The sound was so much good compared to existing crappy sound cards back then. Then a couple of years later when the first Unreal was released, I remember it playing it on a Voodoo2 video addon card with Aureal 2 sound card, and a brand new 4.1 sound set, and it was....well, f*king unreal!!! Is unbelievable how games nowadays sound so MUCH WORST than games more then 10 years ago. I pity the young gamers of our time, they didn't experience what true 3D sound really means.


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## TheGuruStud (Feb 13, 2013)

I noticed there's no DPC latency readings (idle, in use, and equalizer enabled).

This is the most important if you're trying to game (crap drivers will make gaming impossible).


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## ThE_MaD_ShOt (Feb 13, 2013)

RejZoR said:


> If anyone remembers the days of Aureal Vortex and Creative competition knows what i mean.


I also remember the days of Aureal and Creative. Aureal laid down a good ass whooping on creative for a while. I just finished a win98 build for myself and used one of the Vortex 2 Sq2500 soundcards I have for it. The sound in games is truly amazing.


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 13, 2013)

well.... My Creative Z Arrived, fucking peice of junk. would not output any audio to the right channel in analogue.

Didnt bother trying DDL/digitalout as i didnt buy the card for that purpose.

Returning the card in the morning, hopefully I'll have one before the weekend is over.


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## Jurassic1024 (Feb 13, 2013)

Major_A said:


> I owned an Audigy MP3+ PCI and vowed it would be my last Creative card.  Several years later I was in Circuit City when they were closing the doors and against my better judgement picked up an X-Fi Titanium Fatality.  I have since renewed my vow that this will be my last Creative soundcard. I still believe that they make decent hardware but their software is pure CRAP.



Pro version driver and software work fine here.

1 - X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro driver v2.17.0008
2 - Creative Console Launcher 2.61.35


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## Jurassic1024 (Feb 13, 2013)

Prima.Vera said:


> Is unbelievable how games nowadays sound so MUCH WORST than games more then 10 years ago. I pity the young gamers of our time, they didn't experience what true 3D sound really means.



LMAO.  If you say so.  Meanwhile in Battlefield 3 (my main game of choice) with a 5.1 setup...


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## TheGuruStud (Feb 13, 2013)

Jurassic1024 said:


> Pro version driver and software work fine here.
> 
> 1 - X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro driver v2.17.0008
> 2 - Creative Console Launcher 2.61.35



I would just use PAX drivers.


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## RejZoR (Feb 13, 2013)

Jurassic1024 said:


> LMAO.  If you say so.  Meanwhile in Battlefield 3 (my main game of choice) with a 5.1 setup...



You know, having 5.1 setting means absolutely nothing. I could stick 20.2 speaker setup back in 2001, so it would be 4 times better than your 5.1. Or would it?

I've played BF3 and it wasn't anything special. Sound wasn't bad but compared to System Shock 2 sound, not comparable by a mile. All the environment effects sound too synthetic in modern games and that ruins everything where in older ones with proper EAX support, it was just amazing.


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## CiroConsentino (Feb 14, 2013)

Am* said:


> I would like to add that these cards work nearly flawlessly with any EAX enabled game in Windows 7


hi, are you talking about the Z series card ? If that's true then it's a relief since I still play a few games with OpenAL / EAX effects.


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 14, 2013)

I think I love this card.... even if it does use Alchemy to bring EAX back to the game. Compared to the Asus Xonar audio cards Ive owned this is just leagues ahead when it comes to gaming.

tbh, now that i think about it. I dont know why I ever left creative in the first place. I used to own an XFi Titanium Fatality Pro card but it died then i decide to give Asus a go.... worst decision I ever made.


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## ZakkWylde (Feb 15, 2013)

feel like selling your asus card?


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 15, 2013)

ZakkWylde said:


> feel like selling your asus card?



Yes as a matter of fact - Providing you want to pay shipping to CA from the UK


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## ZakkWylde (Feb 15, 2013)

What do you think it would be all together?


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 15, 2013)

No idea - but for that distance Id definitely get a courier to deliver instead of letting the postal service handle it.

Where abouts in CA are you? theres a good chance that shipping will just kill any deal i make and it would probably be cheaper buying from NCIX or newegg


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## ZakkWylde (Feb 15, 2013)

yhpm, figure its worth asking anyway


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## btarunr (Feb 15, 2013)

Fourstaff said:


> So is there a pain free way to reduce the gain?



Use a third party headphones amp that's connected to the card's line-out (analog), or TOSLINK (digital).


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## Nordic (Feb 15, 2013)

FreedomEclipse said:


> I think I love this card.... even if it does use Alchemy to bring EAX back to the game. Compared to the Asus Xonar audio cards Ive owned this is just leagues ahead when it comes to gaming.
> 
> tbh, now that i think about it. I dont know why I ever left creative in the first place. I used to own an XFi Titanium Fatality Pro card but it died then i decide to give Asus a go.... worst decision I ever made.



Well, if I ever do upgrade from my dg, I think I will go to creative just by what you just said.


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 15, 2013)

james888 said:


> Well, if I ever do upgrade from my dg, I think I will go to creative just by what you just said.



Ive owned a Xonar D2X and STX.

If you are a gamer the only way to go is Creative or with a brand that uses Creative tech in their cards like Auzentech.

I would stick to the Xonar if my rig  was just for music/movies - for this application there is no better sounding soundcard for the job.

Asus's EAX emulation is really terrible.

Granted that no games are made with EAX anymore but games still SOUND better with the creative then the Xonar(s)


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## Nordic (Feb 15, 2013)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Ive owned a Xonar D2X and STX.
> 
> If you are a gamer the only way to go is Creative or with a brand that uses Creative tech in their cards like Auzentech.
> 
> ...



Well I decided to take a leap of faith and by my xonar dg for $10. I could not believe how much better everything sounded. The guns in world of tanks had a awesome sounding boom compared to the thud that my stock audio had. This computer really is only used for gaming.

Is creative, say the card of this review, that much better than what I have?


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 15, 2013)

I would say so, the DG is definitely a budget orientated card. Its very cheap but it sounds great for music/movies which is why its such a good budget buy. for gaming and especially games that rely or feature EAX or directional audio (surroundsound) then the Creative is more accurate at producing them correctly.

to simply put it Xonar cards can be a small nightmare when it comes to gaming.

Ive been a Xonar user for years and i stuck by Asus hoping their drivers would improve things but the truth is, driver updates are so rare and updates never fix gaming related issues or problems regarding the EAX emulation.

Even the modded drivers in my sig are better but they still cant improve it to the same level as the creative when it comes to gaming.

This SB-Z would make a good upgrade.


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## Nordic (Feb 15, 2013)

In fact, I do use the drivers in your sig.


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 15, 2013)

well if you got some disposable income loitering about - this is a good time to spend it  you wont know how good it really is till you try it.


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## Jay (Feb 21, 2013)

*Tally up another Creative endorser!*

I really wish Creative would come out and educate their potential customers.  I think they are hesitant to reach out because of the possible backlash from those silly reviewers and supposed enthusiast gamers that keep repeating the same crap over and over until enough new gamers believe it.  When not for ignorance, then for spite.

     For years now I keep hearing the same regurgitated nonsense about how great gaming audio quality is with onboard sound and there's no reason to buy audio cards anymore.  Yet more regurg I see quite often is the claim certain Xonar cards are equal to, or better than, Creative cards, for gaming.  Guess what?  I have partial hearing loss in one ear and half deaf in the other.....yet even I can notice immediately the difference between onboard quality vs the real thing.  I don't care if the onboard chip is from Creative IT WILL NOT BE AS GOOD AS THE REAL THING, PERIOD.  Maybe one day that will change, but not today and not tomorrrow either.

     I've been gaming on PCs for over thirty years and trust me, I've tried nearly every combination out there at one time or another.  The real truth is most casual gamers don't even know how to adjust settings or the proper way to install/update drivers.  Many of your favorite enthusiastic forum members are just that...enthused, and not well versed in all things PC.  It has to be a seemless experience for them of plugging in the card, clicking on the driver install and not much else beyond that.  Anyone familiar with hardware and software beyond assembly and user interface understands that it's not always so simple.  Settings must be adjusted according to the intended use both in-game and through Creative software.  Different games require different adjustments, same as graphics/visual quality.  Maybe if some of these gamers spent even half as much time fiddling with audio quality as they do overclocking their GPU and adjusting image quality then they might change their tune.  But they must be educated first.

     If not for the SB Live! (and console commands, muhuhuhaha) I'd never have been much good at competing in say, Quake, TFC, CS on any of the big clan servers.  Just plugging in the card and installing the drivers was a MAJOR improvement back then, but not good enough.  Those seeking out methods to gain advantage found the console to be useful for increasing footstep sounds even further and disabling other sounds.  What did help were console commands which allowed for this type of adjustment to be made in-game and were not known to most gamers then, and still aren't today.  You see, at competitive levels of gaming every advantage counts.  Hearing footsteps alone isn't good enough if you can't tell from what direction they come from.  And here is where Creative comes in to play.  They are practically spoon-feeding this ability to gamers today with very little adjustments necessary other than game-specific settings.  It's all on the game developers at this point to add these features in.

You don't need to be an audiophile or hardware guru to enjoy these advantages.  You simply need to read, read, and read some more.  Try to understand audio technology in the way you think you understand PC hardware in general.

Don't go hog wild on a gaming build, spending two weeks getting your CPU overclock 'stable', another week on the GPU overclock, and then no time at all spent on the audio end other than installing the driver, plugging in the cans and hoping for the best.

lol?


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## FreedomEclipse (Feb 21, 2013)

audiophiles dont need gimmicks such as 'scout mode' - Also general consensus is that Asus Xonar cards sound better for media use and Im not the only individual who shares this opinion, you could go on Guru3D and they would say the same thing,

Asus trips over their own feet by making this great sounding soundcard then not putting the necessary support behind it. Have you ever been to Asus's soundcard forums?? Its a user-to-user based forum and there are barely a handful of Asus reps that use the forum and those that do rarely interact or reply with the other members let alone reply to threads where people are having issues with their Asus soundcard.

youre lucky to get driver updates once a year, DS3D GX (EAX emulation) is a complete joke and either breaks the game, causes audio clipping & sound anomalies in games or just totally crashes the game all together.

I think that Asus Xonar reviewers generally get paid off to lie to the public about how great the cards are especially when it comes to gaming. Lets face it. hardware audio acceleration i.e. directsound no longer exists because Microsoft killed it off and the whole selling point of having a creative soundcard or at least a soundcard dedicated for gaming has long since gone out the window.


I played Killingfloor with Hardware+3D turned on with my creative card. the difference in sound was night and day, no more audio clipping and everything just sounded more full and crisp especially when it came to sounds of SMGs going at full auto.

There are still a lot of games out there that support EAX/DirectSound that almost EVERYBODY with a steam account either owns or plays religiously, titles like L4D 1&2, CS:S. TF2, Killingfloor - etc etc 


So for the reason that Asus Xonars are just totally poo poo when it comes to gaming. Creative is definitely the way to go. but for great audio fidelity when it comes to music and other media - Xonars cannot be matched.

I love my music, and having owned a Xonar D2X and STX - they were a real joy to listen to when i played my music.

However, I am a gamer and I believe that the Creative SB-Z is quite a balanced card in general. it sacrifices that ultra high audio fidelity for a better gaming experience. Thats not to say that the SB--Z sounds shit when it comes to music and movies, It does an amazing job. but not to the same high standard as the Xonars.


Its all about picking the right card for your needs. I would never recommend a Xonar to a fellow gamer. Even though directsound is dead theres is something about Creative cards that still does things right when it comes to supporting older titles.


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## igyb (Mar 30, 2013)

*eax*

With alchemy will the zx be able to play eax 5.0 and earlier sound in windows 7? Or do I have to stick with xfi for that?


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## FreedomEclipse (Mar 30, 2013)

Alchemy will work.


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## igyb (Mar 31, 2013)

FreedomEclipse said:


> Alchemy will work.



Will it also work with older EAX titles in winxp (I dual boot) ?


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## FreedomEclipse (Mar 31, 2013)

And why would you need it for XP? xp supports directsound. The only reason Alchemy came about was because Microsoft removed directsound from every OS after vista


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## igyb (Mar 31, 2013)

FreedomEclipse said:


> And why would you need it for XP? xp supports directsound. The only reason Alchemy came about was because Microsoft removed directsound from every OS after vista



Sorry I meant will the Sound Blaster Zx still process all EAX 1.0-5.0 in xp?


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## RejZoR (Mar 31, 2013)

If there are even drivers for WinXP, then yes.


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## Muhad (Nov 16, 2014)

I just received this sound card.

Stupid question, there are three speaker output jacks, which ones do what?


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## McSteel (Nov 16, 2014)

They're all line-out jacks, and you can (re)assign their function as you wish from Creative's SB control panel. By default they're front, back and center/woofer speakers.


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## Muhad (Nov 16, 2014)

Thanks McSteel!


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## Muhad (Nov 21, 2014)

I just purchased the SBZ card and use it with Sennheiser headset and the sound is awesome.


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