Microphone Input Performance

The Creative Sound Blaster X3 is equipped with a line input and a microphone input. Creative again doesn't mention the exact ADC chips they use, but they do give us their specs. Both inputs support 24-bit/192 kHz bit depth/sample rate. The ADC chip has a dynamic range of 115 dB and a total harmonic distortion of 0.0004%. To test the microphone input of the Sound Blaster X3, I used the Antlion ModMic Uni.

This sample was recorded after I set the microphone gain to 100% and left all its other features (Microphone Boost, Voice Clarity, and Voice Morph) off.



As you can hear, the microphone input sounds clean and natural—that's as good as the Antlion ModMic Uni can sound in its raw form—but it's a bit quieter than expected. As I was unable to push the microphone gain any further, I had to resort to using the Microphone Boost feature, which isn't necessarily a popular choice. Here's a sample I recorded while keeping the microphone gain at 100%, but with the Microphone Boost feature turned on.



The microphone is now more than loud enough. In fact, after activating Microphone Boost, you should lower its gain to make the background quieter and get a great overall result. With the gain set to 85% and boost activate, the overall result is great. Listen to the following sample.



Should you want your background to be even quieter, you can further lower the microphone gain until you find what works best.

For comparison, here's a sample I've recorded after plugging the Antlion ModMic Uni into an integrated sound card. My motherboard (ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula) is equipped with a good audio chip, the SupremeFX S1220.