Review on 🔉 Enhanced Sound Blaster AE-7 PCIe Sound Card, Quad-Core Processor, 127dB DNR ESS SABRE-class 9018 DAC, Xamp Discrete Custom Bi-amp, Discrete 5.1/Virtual 7.1, Dolby, DTS Encoding - Black by David Norwood

The hardware may be great, but the software can have trouble installing. I had a Creative Sound Blaster Recon 3D card. great card. but the Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 should be a big step forward. Got hardware from Revain, uninstalled old software, turned off computer, replaced old sound card with an AE-5, plugged everything back in, started computer. Installed AE-5 and . the sound was only in the front L / R channels. Tests have shown that the rear L/R speakers and C/Sub speakers received a signal within the card but did not go to the amplifier feeding the speakers. Creative support, after much troubleshooting, decided the card was defective, so I sent it back to Revain and ordered a new one. Got a new card and the same problem. After further troubleshooting with Creative Tech Support, they finally said I should either install the card on another computer (I think the goal was to verify that the card worked on another computer) or reformat my hard drive and reinstall all software on my computer. I declined. After I sent them the system information file, Creative decided that the old Creative Recon 3D software had left bits in the Win10 registry that were interfering with the functionality of the new Creative AE-5 software. They didn't have a chance to clean it, they stated that editing the registry is problematic and beyond their capabilities. word of warning. Some users who want to use their 5.1 speaker system may encounter issues that Creative Technical Support cannot resolve. If you're using the AE-5 with headphones or a 2.0 speaker system, you'll probably be fine. If the card you're replacing is a non-Creative brand, you might be fine. Some creative software may be removed more completely. For many people, this card can work well. But it didn't work for me. And the fault was entirely in the Creative software. Which Creative Support can't solve except using ridiculous and unacceptable solutions.