Review on Creative Blaster Audigy Performance Headphone by Samantha Bryant

The Sound Blaster/Audiology FX PCIe sound card is really great at this price point. I only use it with a 2.1 speaker system, but it clearly supports 5.1 systems along with some customization options. The sound is clear and spacious - it's almost unbelievable that this sound quality can be achieved at such a low price. A few installation/configuration notes: I'm using Windows 10 and therein lies the problem. It is clear that this sound card has been in production for several years - long before Win10. I used the installation CD-ROM that came with it. This is a waste of time and confusion. Just follow the link: [.] and download the latest Windows 10 installer package, unzip it and you're done. The included CD is for Windows 7, 8 and more. When I used the CD-ROM, it got stuck at several stages in the installation process. When you finally do, you'll still be directed to the link I posted (above). Good. We installed a sound card with the appropriate Win10 drives - yes! You will notice that you now have the FX Control Panel icon installed in the quick launch. (If you can't see it, expand the quick launch bar and there it is!) The default map is for the 5.1 system. As I mentioned earlier, I'm using a card with a 2.1 speaker system. So we must choose the settings that will bring the maximum benefit to the users of the 2.1 system. So let's get started: 1) Open the Audiology FX Control Panel (one click for me) 2) Select the "Speakers and Headphones" tab 3) Select "Stereo". (Remember the default map is 5.1) 4) Check the "Full range" box (front left and right) 4) Run the test. Much luck? Almost finished! Now select the "Mixer” tab in the Effect Control Panel. 5) Move the "Speakers" slider all the way to the right (all the way) 6) In the "Balance/Settings" window: L, R and Sub sliders all the way to the right 7) Move C, LR and RR all the way down Left. Equalizer Tab: The default setting is Flat. That's exactly what you want. Leave it alone if you want music to play as it was recorded (or closer to that ideal). One last step to check out before exiting the effects panel entirely. Look at the top right corner of the Effects panel. See the little arrow (or whatever it's called)? Open this arrow. Make sure that "Audiology starts when Windows starts" is selected (it should already be set that way). That should work. I hope this helps you avoid my mistakes. TO UPDATE. After learning how to enter the Dell XPS BIOS (F2 key), I quickly found the option to toggle the sound on and off. After disabling the built-in sound chip and restarting the PC, the SQ improved significantly. It took me some guts to get into the BIOS.