Creative Sound Blaster Z

Advantages: For the price, you can hardly find anything better with the CS4398 DAC. Which, by the way, was used in the former top-end Creative X-Fi Elite Pro sound card. And it cost at one time, from 11 to 14 thousand rubles at the old rate - 35 rubles per dollar. I use entry-level studio monitors AXELVOX TR-88A with this sound card. Although these monitors cost only 11-12 thousand rubles per monitor (at the old dollar rate), for their price they produce amazing sound, with a Sound Blaster Z sound card. The sound is very detailed. In games for example, I heard new sounds in detail. I get pleasure straight. I used to have X-FI at home, the cheapest one without a processor. The difference between them, as expected, is amazing. And I really unlocked the potential of my monitors. For example, editing the same audio tracks has become an order of magnitude more comfortable. Now, as before, I do not strain my ear to hear the frequency that I need when working with the equalizer or when tracking the details I need in the sound for editing. That is, everything has become clearer. I think there is nothing more to write about this sound card, since a lot has been written before me. Yes ... the sound is really juicy, detailed. The bass is tight and deep at the same time. The bass isn't humming. Excellent operation in the sound card. It's called Stereo Direct. As I understand it, this mode means direct sound output to the amplifier, bypassing the operating system filters. That is, this means - minimal impact on sound from the OS. Let me just remind you that I described my opinion with studio monitors. And this is completely different. Even hi-fi systems cannot be compared to them. Not to mention low-budget speakers. And by the way ... at my work in the cinema there is a sound system for 700 thousand rubles (35 per dollar). Believe it or not. I have a better sound at home than at work. The only thing that is better in sound at work is the presence of infrasound due to the high-quality sub, which is 2/3 of my height. But in terms of detail at home, the sound is smarter!

Disadvantages: Light bulb! The red sun started up in my system unit! Who came up with the idea of ​​making it non-disconnectable ?! There are trolls at Creative! 0_0

Comment: Previously, there were still problems due to the drivers for this card - the "microphone level" dropped from 100% to 67% every time the computer was restarted. In some sound editors, when using ASIO, the sound suddenly began to distort. With the latest drivers - August 2015, ALL THESE PROBLEMS ARE GONE! Drivers do not crash, no matter what you pick from the settings in the driver panel.Everything became VERY stable. Personally, I have ZERO problems! Switching from acoustics to headphones occurs automatically, without any errors. He stuck his ears in, the studio monitors went out - the sound in the headphones. He pulled out the plug of the headphones, the studio monitors were cut in - the sound in them. I have been using the card since summer 2013. I highly recommend this sound card for purchase. The best, most likely, has not yet been given - in its stability and versatility! If you need great, detailed sound in games, in music, in movies, in working with sound - take this card. For 7 years I have been professionally working with sound in the area of ​​television, on this DAC CS4398. He's wonderful! Especially with the latest drivers! My settings in the sound card driver panel: SBX PRO STUDIO - everything is off. CRYSTALVOICE - everything is off. SCOUT MODE - off (just boosts mid and mid-high frequencies). SPEAKERS / HEADPHONES - Configuration ... Stereo Direct, full range speakers enabled. The rest is all off. CINEMATOGRAPHIC EFFECT - “No encoder”. Everything is off. MIXER - well, here is your preference. EQUALIZER - off. Since I have studio monitors. ADVANCED FUNCTIONS - depending on your configuration. My settings in the OS control panel - sound> playback devices: ADVANCED tab ... Default format. 24 bit, 48000 Hz. Exclusive mode both checkboxes are on. All programs and players that reproduce sound must be configured in the same way - 24 bit, 48000 Hz. Thank you all for your attention. (:

Advantages: Great sound (see comment on how to turn it on). Not buggy software. Price.

Disadvantages: All audio converters distort the sound too much. For those who are not in the subject - read the comments.

Comment: 1) It is very important to know that a good DAC only handles the Front Out output. This is the third 3.5mm output (in the middle of the 3.5mm). This is where it is better to connect the front speakers or headphones. This is not written anywhere, and I only found out about it months later. 2) Together with the sound card, Softina is installed, in which you need to switch the operating mode ("Speakers \ Headphones") to DIRECT STEREO. Otherwise, there will be no good sound (read the disadvantages). This disables all SBX audio conversion functions and goes directly to the speakers for pure, original sound.

Advantages: set. works. does not ask for bread.

Disadvantages: a couple of times the driver shell hung.

Comment: bought in the spring of 2014. to replace X-Fi, which after 8 years of work began to behave strangely - to click and rustle. and there were already problems with the drivers for X-Fi. in general, I bought this simple, without additional devices, blaster Z. installed, dumped the drivers. that's all. Well, I conjured up a little with the settings, turned off all the bells and whistles and additional processing. I end up with a sound that I like. I like games, I like movies, I like music. never regretted the purchase.

Advantages: - Good sound - No interference - Abundance of inputs / outputs - Does not require additional. power supply - workmanship - presence of a microphone - price

Disadvantages: - Clicks in the columns when turning on / off / restarting the computer - Poor setting of the card in the application software

Comment: I suppose, like many others, when replacing a computer, I was faced with the choice of a sound card, I would gladly leave my beloved SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio, but the new motherboard has no PCI slots, and the pci-e version of Xtreme Audio unfortunately does not contain X -Fi chip and has a different sound. In general, he hesitated for a long time between Asus and Creative, among other things, it was necessary to have analog outputs for 5.1, and without any adapters there (as in the ZXR), but immediately directly to the minijack, and of course, so that it sounded no worse than my previous one: ).Considering the large number of negative reviews about the background in the cards from Asus, the choice fell on the Sound Blaster Z. By the way, for those who do not need an external module, I recommend buying the Z, since the ZX has an absolutely identical sound chip from CS and there is no point in overpaying. So, what can we say, the card is quite decent, it sounds very, very good, no noise, interference or other negative is observed (review about the RTL version), there are no problems with the drivers either, I installed the latter from the site, everything works correctly. Objectively compared to the X-Fi, the SBZ has better sound. Much better, especially in Surround mode, the channel layout is just wonderful. But there is also a small minus, kudazh without it. This card (by default) has too few highs, and as luck would have it, my front speakers with high ones are also in trouble, so the sound turns out to be a little muddy, as a result, everything has to be adjusted by software with an equalizer and crystalizer, it becomes quite tolerable, but this has its own nuances. Also, the disadvantages include clicking when starting and shutting down the system, and whoever advises there (reinstalling drivers / OS / DirectX, setting pci-e x1 to 2.0, etc.), nothing helps. In fact, this may not be considered a disadvantage, but if there is something to compare, it is hardly possible :) In general, the Creative Sound Blaster Z sound card is a good purchase and justifies all expectations, despite small disadvantages.

Advantages: Detail, convenient driver, headphone output on the rear panel, support for ASIO playback with the latest driver.

Disadvantages: LED backlighting, no separate volume control for headphones and speakers, as well as quick switching from the context menu in the tray.

Comment: I switched to it from X-Fi Titanium, all audiophiles will forgive me) Compared to it, the sound became cleaner, more pleasant. Of the minuses, only very much! bright backlight, but it's fixable) All the rest can still be fixed by software.

Advantages: sumptuously!! after installing this product, I realized that the realtek built-in, on which I had previously listened to music for more than 3 years, is simply nothing !! the sound was reborn, the settings are amazing, the speakers and headphones sang in a new way !! depending on the quality of sound recording and films, you can adjust the sound quality using the volumetric sound and the so-called crystalizer, if speech is hard to hear, then turn on scout mode, if you need to slightly correct the speech, you can use the inclusion of dialogue plus ... in the sbx pro studio settings /

Disadvantages: there is no such!! just remember that when switching from speakers to headphones, you must definitely turn down the volume, the amplifier on the card is amazing, it will hit your ears very painfully !!

Comment: I definitely recommend buying! excellent price / quality ratio, I listened to rock / deep purple / pink floyd / smoke / ten cc and more and noticed that there were instruments that were not there before, the classics are great, just turn on the equalizer for the classics and remove the bass in the sbx settings pro studio and you will be happy !!!

Advantages: Great sound, design, great software, red backlighting.

Disadvantages: Didn't find

Comment: I bought a card to replace my "Creative Audigy SE", what can I say friends, the difference in sound is significant. I did not regret the money spent for a second. The sound is really good, clean and pleasant, the music does not "crumple" in a heap. The bass is great. A separate conversation about headphones. Look, I had no idea that my headphones can produce such a beautiful and pure sound, it's just a fairy tale. My verdict is definitely to take. Special thanks to Yandex Market, you are great. ...

Advantages: Before it, there was an X-Fi XtremeMusic card, after installing Z, the sound became clearer and more detailed, the effect of a higher-level DAC CS4398 instead of CS4382, a very effective appearance of the card with backlight, a high-quality microphone with the function of adjusting the width of the microphone beam is included.

Disadvantages: Probably a little overpriced.

Comment: Creative this time, after the not very successful Recon3D series, got an excellent line of sound cards

Advantages: High quality sound. An excellent microphone that comes with it. Weight of required connectors. Just great drivers! Beautiful backlit appearance for those with transparent cases.

Disadvantages: I haven't found it for myself yet. And in this price category, I think they are not (I took it for 2990 rubles).

Comment: Took this sound card a week ago to replace the old Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer. The old one was enough for me. In principle, there were no complaints about her. If only the drivers. But I wanted to make myself a present for the new year and the choice fell on her. The first impression is very good. And that's good. The sound has changed for the better (most of all I was worried that everything would remain as it was). The sound has become a little more spacious and there are more low and mid frequencies. The highs remained at about the same excellent level. The difference is heard immediately and is quite significant. I tested the sound on my Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones and Microlab Solo 5C speakers. Well, the drivers are generally a separate conversation after what Creative had before. Everything is easy and understandable to install and also works easily and clearly. I'm surprised that someone has problems with them. Even read various reviews. Everywhere they write the same as I do now. If anyone has problems, then look for them in your system. Since there are no problems at all. A nice bonus is a separate microphone included in the kit, which also looks stylish. The microphone is pretty high quality. I love to play online games (WOT) and communicate with people not through a headset, but through a microphone and acoustics. That for me this is also a useful bonus. Conclusion - a very good sound card. Who sits on the building block take unambiguously. There are, of course, those who write that there is no difference with the installation. The ears are different on everyone's head))). I myself have one of the best audio codecs on my ASUS P8P67 DELUXE motherboard - Realtek ALC889. And the difference with him is huge. I'm not even talking about cheaper codecs. As I wrote above, there is a difference even in comparison with the old Creative X-Fi line. Happy choice!

Advantages: Sound quality, software is intuitive and in Russian, not large size, built-in amplifier, I was very pleased with the voice change function (a trifle but nice), workmanship, switching the sound source (speakers / headphones) occurs in the program with one button, there are many settings and functions.

Disadvantages: until I found it bought just yesterday)))

Comment: After purchasing a sound card, I obsessed how the sound differs from the built-in sound. The fact that the choice fell on this card is not a bit sorry, I don’t regret any extraneous sounds whatsoever muffles everything completely (there was a problem of noise / interference, or from the case, or something else that was not clear, when playing online, the problem was solved after installing zvukovuhi) in the absence of a signal in the headphones, the silence as in the bunker is generally super not that there was a constant noise before. The amplifier works with a bang, you have to set the system volume to 18-23. Even the usual listening to online radio sounds different in terms of the enhanced bass clarity of the music. The only thing that strained this software after updating to a newer version was not Russian, so I did not update it, leaving what was on the disk in the kit. I hope they can add the Russian language later (then I will update). Outputting a separate sound card is simply necessary if you want good sound. I regret not paying attention to the sound before. I recommend this sound card.