Introduction

Creative recently introduced several interesting external USB sound cards, such as the excellent Sound Blaster GC7 (reviewed here). Still, a lot of us have been waiting for a more audiophile-oriented showing from the company. This has now officially materialized, in the form of the Sound Blaster X5, a device that could really use a better name, as this way, it's destined to be compared to the Sound Blaster X4 (reviewed here) and the Sound Blaster X3 (reviewed here). While these are good external sound cards in their own right, the Sound Blaster X5 is a different beast altogether, both in terms of design and performance.



In essence, the Creative Sound Blaster X5 is an external USB sound card based on a dual DAC, dual-balanced headphone amplifier concept. It looks more like a hi-fi DAC/headphone amplifier combo device than an external sound card that we're used to seeing from Creative, but looks are deceiving: with a 3.5-mm microphone input, and a software suite packed with DSP effects, equalizer presets, and microphone filters, this is indeed a fully stacked sound card. For good measure, Creative added Bluetooth connectivity, a 4.4-mm balanced headphone output, analog (RCA) and optical (TOSLINK) inputs and outputs, and even a unique USB Type-A audio host port, which can be used for connecting external USB speakers, headsets, microphones and wireless receivers. Platform support includes PC and Mac computers, as well as PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

Specifications

The Package

With a white-and-gray color scheme, the packaging of the Creative Sound Blaster X5 looks unassuming. The box depicts the device from several angles and covers its key features and technical specifications. The package contents are listed and drawn on one side of the box.


Inside you'll find the Sound Blaster X5 sound card, a quick start guide, some additional warranty and product registration paperwork, and three cables: a 1.5-meter USB-C to USB Type-A cable, a 1.5-meter optical cable, and a 2-meter 3.5-mm to RCA stereo cable. All three cables have a decidedly cheap look and feel; audiophiles will scoff at their very sight.