Creative Announces Sound Blaster X4 Sound Card

[Uskompuf]

Creative Technology today announced the launch of the Sound Blaster X4, the upgraded successor to the well-received Sound Blaster X3 which sports nifty new smart features and better connectivity. The latest USB DAC features both discrete and virtual surround sound powered by Sound Blaster, the award-winning Super X-Fi headphone holography and Dolby Digital Live to deliver the ultimate movie, gaming and music audio experience. With the new SmartComms Kit (for Windows) offering auto-mute and two-way noise cancellation, the Sound Blaster X4 makes online communication easy and fuss-free for users working from home. In addition, the Sound Blaster X4 also comes with a plethora of connectivity options and convenient controls for a hassle-free set-up right out of the box, making it the ideal all-in-one audio upgrade for PC, Mac, PS5, PS4 and Nintendo Switch users.





Audio Knockout with Super X-Fi

The Sound Blaster X4 features the game-changing Super X-Fi technology, which garnered 23 best-of awards at CES 2019-2020. It recreates the soundstage of a premium multi-speaker surround system in headphones, and personalizes it for a natural listening experience. Users will be able to enjoy a transformative audio experience that offers greater surround envelopment, depth, immersion and spatialization effects - like in a real cinema, a gaming battlefield or a concert hall.

The Sound Blaster Signature

The renowned Surround Virtualization technology, developed with more than 30 years of Sound Blaster's audio expertise, is yet another highlight for the Sound Blaster X4. It enhances the spatial information of the incoming audio and optimizes it to offer users a complete and immersive auditory experience, up to 7.1 discrete and virtual audio channels.

For Windows users, the Sound Blaster X4 features Dolby Digital Live encoding to transform audio content to this acclaimed multi-channel surround sound standard in real-time.

The Sound Blaster X4 comes equipped with the capability to drive studio-grade headphones of up to 600Ω with 114 dB audio clarity and 24-bit/192 kHz high-resolution playback.

For Simpler yet Smarter Communication

With the all-new SmartComms Kit, the Sound Blaster X4 serves as a versatile sound card that can offer users a simpler yet smarter way to communicate online. The VoiceDetect Feature allows users to speak freely without worrying about the mute button as the mute status switches based on voice detection — the microphone gets unmuted instantly when the user's voice is detected and is muted automatically when no further speech is detected. There is no need to meddle with any buttons, and users can stay focus on the conversations without any disruption.

On top of that, the two-way noise cancellation feature also works to reduce unwanted static background noises during online calls at both ends — NoiseClean-in for incoming audio and NoiseClean-out for outgoing audio — to deliver crystal-clear communication. Whereas, the CrystalVoice technology works to enhance the voice for clearer recordings and in-game communications. For users looking to explore more interesting features, the Voice Morph can offer that fun element as it changes the user's voice into different characters and accents with a list of tuned profiles.

These features are all conveniently accessible and customizable through the all-new Creative app, which is a new software platform available on both desktop and mobile with an integrated user interface across Creative's products.

Versatile Connectivity

Fitted with a newly added optical/line-in port, users have a more comprehensive range of options to connect the Sound Blaster X4 to multiple audio devices, from external microphones and headsets to PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and even the multi-channel speaker systems to instantly upgrade the audio quality and transform one's desktop setup into an one-in-all audio hub.

Fuss-Free Controls

The Sound Blaster X4 offers users hassle-free controls with a sleek turn knob design and an elevated look and feel compared to its predecessor. It is also fitted with dedicated buttons for Audio Balance, Audio Mode selection, Super X-Fi mode, as well as a speaker (Line-out) and headphones switch button to make it easier to toggle between devices.

Users can also easily control the volume levels between two audio sources with the Audio Balance feature on PC, Mac, PS5, or PS4. Once the setup is done, users can simply adjust the volume mix on the volume control knob by turning the knob left to right, and vice versa— a feature that will come in handy for users during conference calls while listening to music or podcasts, or while communicating in-game with teammates.

The Sound Blaster X4 also comes decked out with customizable EQ modes —Music, Movies, and Footsteps Enhancer—each of them specially tuned to enhance audio for different types of content to deliver the optimal audio experience.

With excellent audio performance, greater connectivity options, and smarter features, the Sound Blaster X4 is the perfect all-rounder sound card to work, learn and play from home with.

Pricing and Availability

Sound Blaster X4 is attractively priced at S$219 and is available at Creative.com.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[noel_fs]

for that price you can get khadas tone 2 pro which would be about a trillion times better

 

[CityCultivator]

for that price you can get khadas tone 2 pro which would be about a trillion times better

Indeed the device you provided is much better, with some real quality output impedance, compared with this 10Ohm output impedance wannabe amplifier. (and worse, the headphone amp part appears to be the same as the previous version (X3), which cannot push serious power to high impedance headphones)

Some (somewhat) good points:
A sound blaster device though is not bought just for the hardware, but for the software, which when it work, can be very interesting.
That above device is not only for headphones, it is useful for multichannel device owners. If someone has a multichannel system, and do not want to invest in the hassle of HDMI (empty screen), and also have an OK headphones, this device (could) fulfil those needs in a better bundle.

But at 219USD, its better to get the X3 if using on PC, it has similar capabilities as the X4, only without the SmartComms software.
And for consoles, the GC7 will be better and cheaper.
And if someone want pure audio quality, with untouched audio, steer clear of Creative, get something from other manufacturers.

 

[Camm]

A sound blaster device though is not bought just for the hardware, but for the software, which when it work, can be very interesting.

Thought i'd chime in, I have a Topping D90/A90 stack, but I still have a X3 running thru a pair of Beyerydynamic MMX 300's for gaming duty, mostly for the DSP functions for gaming, but also because of ease of use for gaming. Sure, I'd get better sound quality running it thru the A90 (and I technically can by piping Optical out the X3 into the D90 but for gaming, the sound quality is fine). And honestly, it isn't a bad unit even for music, if you got it on special and were okay with its limitations.

But yes, I must admit, the GC7 & now X4 update not having any update to amplification or to the DAC feels a bit rich.

 

[Caring1]

It's not really a sound "card" as that implies it is connected into a slot on the Motherboard, not a USB port.

 

[CityCultivator]

It's not really a sound "card" as that implies it is connected into a slot on the Motherboard, not a USB port.

They could have called it a sound interface, or something like that, but then I think regular users might not even understand what that does.

But yes, I must admit, the GC7 & now X4 update not having any update to amplification or to the DAC feels a bit rich.

The X4 does not even have the hardware DSP support for SBX and SmartComms, the GC7 does have those. Why so much expensive compared to the X3, I do not see why.

And on Mac, the software provides less features compared to the X3.