11/10 I have been using it since the age of 14 paired with a Pioneer receiver and Yamaha acoustics. I can't say a single bad word. If you need a sound to listen to music and occasionally play - take the Soundblaster, you won't regret it! Has some pros: Excellent sound, one of the best in its class. Price / quality is beyond praise. I plugged it into a free port, installed the software and forgot. Got cons: NOT cons, but features: 1. Not everyone will understand the software right away, but if…

Previously, there was Creative X-Fi, but after the upgrade due to the lack of a PCI-E bus, I had to buy this card. I didn't notice any difference to my ears. But from the built-in (by the way, not the worst), on which I had to sit for some time, it differs significantly, as if I had taken cotton wool out of my ears, and volume and clear positioning appeared in games.

Why did I buy this you ask? My partner asked the same question. I, like many people, buy a "barebones" computer and later upgrade it. My mood has improved lately. Most people think my motherboard has onboard sound, why should I? For the same reason, there's a difference between a computer that's fine and one that becomes extraordinary with updates like this. The sound quality of this card is truly phenomenal. Lows, highs and everything in between sound amazing. Now I'm going from the built-in…

Thank you for this sound card. I have a nice 5.1 surround sound system that I bought about 8 months ago. Only requires surround sound input via HDMI or SPDIF (optical). Unfortunately, my graphics card does not transmit surround sound via hdmi (only 2ch/stereo) and my mobile device's SPDIF output does not support it either. After a lot of work, research and even trying other sound cards I finally got this one. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get this to work. (In the "Sound"…

Before you buy, ask yourself if you're willing to pay $100 for a ten year old sound card. The enclosed CD contains the Windows 7 software. The manual refers to Windows 7 and 8. There is no mention of 10. Apparently because it was produced, packaged and on the shelf a long time ago. And the price has never gone down. Does it work on Windows 10? Yes, it seems to be working fine. You have to live with all the old-fashioned installers and software. And you have to wonder if it will continue to be…

When I switched on this card for the first time, the sight hurt me. The red LEDs in it are so bright. I bet if I took my computer outside at night the International Space Station would see it. It wouldn't be so bad if the rear end of the metal cover was covered, but it stays open and lets the red light bounce right in your face. See image. There is also no way to turn them off. I had to remove the cover and wrap both with black tape. Even then there is still light bleeding. A few weeks and so…

Edit: I tested this and my headphones with my Bass Mekanik 5.0 CD. It really helped set up the sound, especially the bass. This brings me back to the days of car radios lol. I just wanted to add that there are several interesting settings in the Sound Blaster Control Panel app under the SBX Pro Studio tab including Surround, Crystalizer and My Favorite Bass. The Bass setting allows you to use a crossover and this helps to clean the bass a lot. I set it to 80Hz. Many songs have a lot of…

Thank you for this sound card. I have a nice 5.1 surround sound system that I bought about 8 months ago. Only requires surround sound input via HDMI or SPDIF (optical). Unfortunately, my graphics card does not transmit surround sound via HDMI (only 2ch/stereo) and the SPDIF output of my mobo does not support it either. After a lot of work, research and even trying other sound cards I finally got this one. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get this to work. (In the Windows 10…