Creative Announces Sound BlasterX AE-5 Audiophile-grade Gaming Sound Card

[Ferrum Master]

At least Realtek drivers worked most of the time. But again, you keep diving on 'why should have Microsoft NOT fixed a gigantic security vulnerability'?

Cmoon report it. I will vote you up as rest of the TPU.

I actually have mixed feelings about realtek never giving full driver release notes, and their livehood during various hardware combos, it haven't worked for all clients I've helped in recent time. I understand the mandarin barrier considering experience with the issues in Atheros beta CPU products... but at least give it on that language.

It doesn't change the fact about this product. It's really short on HW base, you came out of the blue complaining, so make us at ease and let us solve it in an adult manner. Blaming one side or other wont help bit.

 

[Mistral]

So basically, no need to change my venerable Auzentech Forte?

 

[eidairaman1]

Should be 7.1

 

[Prima.Vera]

Should be 7.1

X-Fi was the last one to support analogs for 7.1. Now you can only buy an expensive Home Theater system and digitally connect it to it via HDMI. Oh wait! This card doesn't have HDMI....
So you are stuck with the crappy TOSLINK who cannot even do Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, or more than two channels of PCM audio.
Told you, those cards are a terrible downgrade from previous generations.

 

[evernessince]

When audio is of shite quality like in games, you need a processing system that buffs the whole thing. It's why I laugh every time any company brings out the most highest end crystal clear angelic pure soundcard that just outputs the audio and highest quality. Which in case of games with compressed audio means you're selling an oxymoron...

Well first, Creative's Sound Processor does not "Buff" the music, it only applies effects like surround sound and bass enhancement.

I've played allot of games and a large majority of them have higher quality sound the your average mp3. Most MP3s are engineered to be listened to outside or on the go and thus have to compromise Dynamic range and sound quality. No such limitation is in place for games.

 

[evernessince]

You think USB doesn't have noise? It does and a lot. Coupling with an end amp will screw the noise floor up, USB is a really noisy thing also... only solution is also to use an additional device an USB isolator(and it costs a lot, I have one, without it you cannot do any kind of measurements at all). If you use headphones only it is not really needed. If it is even a cheaper device feeding from the USB 5V rails... then oh gosh...

Each device and solution has their trade offs, you have to analyze each of their own, you cannot generalize all internal cards are bad and USB is the holy grail or vice versa - it's all gray.

USB is digital, literally impossible to have noise. If you are hearing noise over USB it is either your DAC (there is a DAC in your sound card), AMP, or your headphones.

If you have a cheap PSU, you can hear a variance if the voltage is fluctuating too far out of spec but this by definition isn't noise. Then again, if this is happening then you have a tirefire of a PSU and need to replace it before it takes your computer with it.

 

[sutyi]

I wouldn't touch this with a 10-feet barge pole, still having night terrors from Creative drivers...

 

[bug]

After all that you still didn't address the main problem - drivers running in Ring0 are fucking terrible from both a stability and security perspective.

Could it have been handled better? Sure. But wasn't like Creative really gave two fucks about ensuring that functionality continued to work within the constrains of WDDM 1.2 either.

Iirc with the pre-Vista stack we didn't have per-application/stream volume controls either.

 

[Totally]

I'll never understand why people seek out studio grade amps and dacs, to power their crappy $400(relatively speaking and being generous here) pc speakers/heaphones.

 

[Octopuss]

Realistically, how many issues do you have with it? I have Sound Blaster Z and I have ZERO issues with it from day 1.

Me? Zero. I have classic stereo setup with every stupid effect disabled in the driver control panel, and with all the junkware that comes with the driver uninstalled.
I do however visit (well, used to) Creative forums from time to time, and the number of problems people have or had with the card is not insignificant.

cpu speakers

...what?

 

[Totally]

...what?

meant pc speakers it's 4am

 

[Octopuss]

lol

 

[Frick]

I'll never understand why people seek out studio grade amps and dacs, to power their crappy $400(relatively speaking and being generous here) pc speakers/heaphones.

Because it makes a difference I suppose? Also, define "studio grade" when you define "crappy" as $400. A friend recently bought speakers for €3500 or thereabouts (to go with his excellent Yamaha amp, I forget the model); compared with that most consumer grade stuff is crap, but compared to truly high end stuff even his setup is not "good". Which is why audiophiles are almost as annoying as jazz fans and neoclassical shredders: the only thing they ever have to say about anything is how terrible everything i really is.

 

[RejZoR]

Just because something costs more, it's not necessarily better. But that's the typical thing "audiophiles" go after. The same folks who cry about "audio quality" in games and totally ignore 3D positioning aspect of it. No one gives a donkey's dung if sound output is crystal clear when you can't even tell from where it's coming from. I've had Xonar STX, the highest end soundcard available at the time and I sold it because 3D audio positioning was horrendous. Especially the elevation image. Couldn't tell if it's below, same level or above me.

I have to also confirm and agree that Core3D ecosystem has it a bit worse than X-Fi. X-Fi had by far the best 3D positioning I've ever heard. It's a shame Creative didn't build on that. X-Fi was really powerful audio processor.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I don't mind a very nice sound card. I'm more worried about creative's mega-awful software support

Has it been awhile for you? Creative has been very aggressive in keeping W8.1 and W10 drivers and software (where needed) up to date. I've got Soundblaster Z's and Soundblaster X-Fi that that operate perfectly and both sound great. No hiccups or problems or crashes.

 

[bug]

Just because something costs more, it's not necessarily better. But that's the typical thing "audiophiles" go after. The same folks who cry about "audio quality" in games and totally ignore 3D positioning aspect of it. No one gives a donkey's dung if sound output is crystal clear when you can't even tell from where it's coming from. I've had Xonar STX, the highest end soundcard available at the time and I sold it because 3D audio positioning was horrendous. Especially the elevation image. Couldn't tell if it's below, same level or above me.

I have to also confirm and agree that Core3D ecosystem has it a bit worse than X-Fi. X-Fi had by far the best 3D positioning I've ever heard. It's a shame Creative didn't build on that. X-Fi was really powerful audio processor.

I know you love 3D positioning, but that's not necessarily what an audiophile is typically after. Music is almost exclusively stereo. And there you need clarity above all else. Even if you care about positioning, clarity is still important. Of course, the ones that don't use HiFi speakers won't ever hear the potential noise from the case, so using an internal sound card is perfectly fine for them.
In short, many people give "a donkey's dung if sound output is crystal clear when you can't even tell from where it's coming from".

Edit: There are also those that think good sound=loud sound. Those won't be bothered with sound detail much either.

 

[ERazer]

Just because something costs more, it's not necessarily better. But that's the typical thing "audiophiles" go after. The same folks who cry about "audio quality" in games and totally ignore 3D positioning aspect of it. No one gives a donkey's dung if sound output is crystal clear when you can't even tell from where it's coming from. I've had Xonar STX, the highest end soundcard available at the time and I sold it because 3D audio positioning was horrendous. Especially the elevation image. Couldn't tell if it's below, same level or above me.

I have to also confirm and agree that Core3D ecosystem has it a bit worse than X-Fi. X-Fi had by far the best 3D positioning I've ever heard. It's a shame Creative didn't build on that. X-Fi was really powerful audio processor.

want 3D positioning then try open back headphones, with my setup i can pin point where the shots coming from or if someone sneaking up in the bushes.

 

[RejZoR]

I know you love 3D positioning, but that's not necessarily what an audiophile is typically after. Music is almost exclusively stereo. And there you need clarity above all else. Even if you care about positioning, clarity is still important. Of course, the ones that don't use HiFi speakers won't ever hear the potential noise from the case, so using an internal sound card is perfectly fine for them.
In short, many people give "a donkey's dung if sound output is crystal clear when you can't even tell from where it's coming from".

Edit: There are also those that think good sound=loud sound. Those won't be bothered with sound detail much either.

And what is "good sound" ? Sound is such subjective thing it's impossible to measure it. I use my specially crafted EQ's that can be found on my webpage. Is it "good"? I don't know. I like it and a lot of people seem to share the same opinion even though they don't use same soundcard or speakers.

For gaming, I'm striving for deep bass, because that gives the game depth and cinematic feel. I like to spice high frequencies to intensify effects like sparks, water noises and weapon sound details like metal effects on reloading etc, but not too much because I don't want guns to sound too harsh when fired.

 

[bug]

And what is "good sound" ? Sound is such subjective thing it's impossible to measure it. I use my specially crafted EQ's that can be found on my webpage. Is it "good"? I don't know. I like it and a lot of people seem to share the same opinion even though they don't use same soundcard or speakers.

For gaming, I'm striving for deep bass, because that gives the game depth and cinematic feel. I like to spice high frequencies to intensify effects like sparks, water noises and weapon sound details like metal effects on reloading etc, but not too much because I don't want guns to sound too harsh when fired.

Sound perception is indeed subjective. But good sound is easy to define: it's sound that matches the original source as closely as possible.

 

[RejZoR]

Which, unless games start using WAV or FLAC again, will never happen...

 

[hyp36rmax]

I own a Schiit Stack Magni 2 Uber and Modi 2 Uber Amp/DAC. Why would I want to get one of these? Enlighten me.

 

[bug]

Which, unless games start using WAV or FLAC again, will never happen...

Ok, I see now...

 

[Frick]

Which, unless games start using WAV or FLAC again, will never happen...

Tangential, but here's where iTunes and especially Tidal comes in. We're talking games I know, but I sort of hope it will spread to games. IIRC for a while it looked lile people started to care about quality more (or maybe it was my perceptiol that changed), but then they didn't.

 

[Red_Machine]

I use an Audigy Rx, in conjunction with my onboard (card for speakers, onboard for headphones). I've been using Daniel_K's custom drivers for years, and now that Creative no longer provide driver updates I expect that the card will become progressively more unusable as time goes on. Sucks, really.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I was just wondering the other day when we're gonna get new soundcards. I'm probably one of rare few who get excited over new soundcards this much. 122dB, 32bit 384kHz DAC's, niiiice. And for 150€, it's not that bad. Plus, it has RGB. Everything any audio enthusiast ever wanted from a soundcard It'll happen that I'll probably have new soundcard before I'll have a new graphic card hehe

I am SOO with you. Time to upgrade my SB!