Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus Pure Edition SABRE32 Ultra-Class 32-bit/384kHz PCI-e Gaming Sound Card and DAC with Dolby Digital and DTS, Xamp Discrete Headphone Bi-amp, 122dB SNR, RGB LED Strips

I have usually run an internal Sound Card on my P.C.s, as they were ALWAYS better than the onboard Motherboard outputs, and today is no exception. In the past, I have stayed away from Creative due to their "bloated" drivers, but decided to try the AE-5 Plus on a new rig I built. Despite the 130 Mb download for the AE-5 drivers, (really?), the fundamentals of this Sound card are really good. I am sure the AE-7 and AE-9 sound better, but I am actually pretty impressed with the AE-5 plus. I streamed some High Fidelity FLAC videos off of YouTube, (Classical Music), and the sound resolution is very impressive. You can hear the individual instruments on the sound stage with great clarity, and better than some other sound cards I have used in the past. For my desktop, I am running these through the Klipsch 2.1 speakers, or my Sennheiser headphones. There is enough power output on the speaker output to power up my headphones, so I have not used the dedicated headphone output yet. In gaming, I am getting nice directional sound, and excellent clarity. There seems to be very little if any audible distortion. I know the current thinking is to have your DAC outside the computer, using a USB connection, but I am sticking with an internal PCIe sound card for now. No, it is not my Cambridge Audio amplifier good, but for my computer, the AE-5 plus seems pretty great thus far. I do not regret this purchase, even with bloated drivers. It is WAY better than any motherboard sound I have experienced, and I have had a few of those. No, I did not hook up the auxillary RGB lighting strips, but the lit AE-5 Plus on the Sound Card looks nice. You if really like to listen seriously to your music collection running WAV. files on your computer, or you like a more realistic sound in gaming, the Creative AE-5 plus is a good choice. Just make sure you have decent speakers to take advantage of the clarity. It has to work as a system. Glad I made this purchase.

Since I had my first computer always the reference in sound was Sound Blaster, even the most basic Creative’s card used to be far better than the integrated sound on motherboards. My first card was a PCI 128, then in new builds I had an Audigy SE, next bought a refurbished X-fi Titanium (the normal one) which after more than 13 years of service, I decided to replace when I noticed that my not-so-cheap dongle DAC had better sound quality. After reading a lot and watching my budget, I decided to go for the Sound BlasterX AE-5, which had similar SNR than my dongle DAC. Once I got the card installed in my system, I clearly noticed the big difference in sound, even better than my dongle DAC. One thing I didn’t understand was that it couldn’t go beyond 96KHz, until I learned a new term: “Direct Mode”. Then I realised that this mode goes up to 32bit 384KHz, but without the 5.1. I think I’m ok whit that. I don’t play games so much, but I like experimenting the effects of this cards in my games. I know there are other alternatives if you want good sound mainly for listening to music, but “Creative” and “Sound Blaster” are planted in my brain because was de best option in sound since my first PC builds. For me, this card (AE-5 Plus) sounds great for music, and this has shown to me the true power of Crystalizer effect that comes with Creative sound cards, which gives more life to compressed music. This card is not for music production, it’s for gaming, listening music and home cinema (or DVD/Blu-ray concerts in 5.1). Now I feel my speakers need to be replaced for some better option, because this sound card can give more in terms of sound quality.

This is a solid sound card, and it’s worked extremely well for me. The sound quality is excellent—paired with my SteelSeries Arena 7 setup, it really shines. I’m not claiming it’s audiophile‑grade, but as someone who loves music and wants a great everyday listening experience, this combo has been fantastic. The LED strips work flawlessly and can be customized through the software with different colors and patterns. The card itself feels well‑built, not cheap, and you don’t have to baby it into the PCIe slot. It also includes an optical out, which is what I use for the Arena 7s. I tested the optical output on my motherboard for comparison, and there was a noticeable difference—this card handled higher volumes better and sounded cleaner overall. That said, onboard audio has come a long way, so whether you ‘need’ a dedicated card really comes down to personal preference. For me, I like the card, and I’m glad I added it to my setup.

I have an ASUS Z690 motherboard which is supposed to have incredible onboard audio, well let me tell you it is utter garbage. After hours, even days of dealing sound cutting out, random static noise and trying to get proper 5.1 sound, I gave up and bought this card on recommendation from someone on the AV forums. This card was a breeze to install, and solved all the problems I had been having with my ASUS motherboard. Not only that but the supporting software for this card is excellent and works very well. There is a bit of a learning curve to it and some of the settings aren't very clearly explained, but I was able to get everything configured to my liking after only a few minutes of tinkering.

Snyggt ljudkort som jag gärna hade behållit eftersom jag har tidigare haft både Sound Blaster Z och ZxR som har presterat väldigt bra (när de funkade). Däremot har jag alltid haft problem med Creative mjukvara för ljudkort. Fruktansvärt buggigt. Jag köpte den vita versionen eftersom jag har en helt vit dator och hoppades på att deras nya produkter fungerar bättre. Problem 1: LED strips som jag fick med ljudkortet fungerar dåligt. Inte ens om jag kringgår ljudkortet och kopplar dem direkt till moderkortet så lyser bara några av dem (2st med ljudkortet, ca 10-15 med moderkortet). Problem 2: HUR kan mjukvaran vara så dålig?! Sound Blaster Command buggar som in i helvete. Så fort jag startar den så stängs ljudkortet av och vägrar fungera till jag startat om datorn. Kör jag Command igen så släcks ljudkortet. Kom igen Creative, fixa problemet någon gång? Både Z och ZxR strular som fan med tidigare mjukvara. Eftersom jag har en helt vit dator så finns det inte många val, får bli externt ljudkort, dock aldrig mer Creative ljudkort.

Super easy to install and get up and running and fantastic sound quality compared to on board If you may need one you must get one! Fantastic card and great to see the Soundblaster cards still on the go after many years

المنتج جيدا جيدا ولكن كان هناك صعوبة الاعدادات ولا يوجد شرح مفصل مرفق مع الكرت

La differenza rispetto al chip di serie della scheda madre, anche top di gamma, si sente. Ovviamente se avete delle "cassettine" audio la differenza non la sentirete affatto. Ma chi acquista una scheda del genere sicuramente è un amante della qualità audio e avrà già a disposizione delle casse acustiche decenti, o perlomeno delle cuffie adeguate. Come qualità audio c'è di meglio ma chiaramente si dovrà spendere delle cifre notevolmente superiori. Nel complesso comunque è una buona scheda audio che migliora, e non poco, qualsiasi chip audio standard delle schede madri, anche delle più costose.

Sieht klasse aus, sehr guter Ton, man hört schon, dass die Karte besser ist als der Onboardsound. Die mitgelieferten LED Strips sind auch klasse.