Why Sound Cards Are Important in 2019!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Today we explore the Soundblaster AE-9 PCIe sound card and why products like these need to exist in 2019! We do a comprehensive microhpone test with XLR and 3.5mm inputs and do a subjective analysis of its' audio delivery capabilities. Enjoy!
Buy items in this video from Amazon at the links below:
Creative AE-9 Sound Card: geni.us/Creati...
Creative AE-7 Sound Card: geni.us/Creati...
Learn more about the Corsair HydroX: bit.ly/HYDROXS
Subscribe ► bit.ly/SubHWC
Review unit provided free of charge by Creative. This video is sponsored by Lian Li & Corsair. As per Hardware Canucks guidelines, no review direction was received from manufacturer. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Gear list (Available on Amazon):
Main Camera - geni.us/SONYA7III
Main Lens - geni.us/Tamron...
Main Camera Mic - geni.us/RODEMIC
Second Camera - geni.us/GH5w1260
$700 Camera (Panasonic G7) - geni.us/24nm
Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 - geni.us/dLL
Cinevate DUZI Slider - geni.us/1Hwt
AKG C314 - geni.us/6o9
AKG C 568 B - geni.us/1D2S
Zoom H5 - geni.us/2LUm
----------------------------------------------------------
Our full site: bit.ly/Hardwar...
Join Our Forums: bit.ly/HWC_Forums
Follow us for more updates!
Twitter bit.ly/HWC_Twi...
FaceBook bit.ly/HWC_Fac...
Instagram bit.ly/HWC_Ins...
-----------------------------------------------------
Neighborhood friendly reminder: You don’t need phantom power for the dynamic mics. Keep up the great work.
Funny to find you here :)
so rode podmic will work fine in this soundcard????
what is your opinion on the ae-9, please? ty!
second neighborhood friendly reminder: the “I” in EMI stands for interference. keep up the great work.
i dont get it. for 220, you can get a separate dac and amp that would absolutely destroy the quality of these sound cards.
lol i was going to say the same shit
It also adds to bullshit on your desk, sound cards are better because it's integrated into your system without any extra garbage on the desk.
@@atvkid0805 not a problem when you have big desk 👀
Honestly I’ll say this before someone kill me. If you use a headset, don’t even bother buying an amp/dac. First things first, get a decent headphone, then an amp and finally a dac.
@@MrBruscoL get a wife man
Obviously too improve the sound quality on MS Paint!
😂 it works wonderfully with my RTX card. The only way to paint 🎨
-D.
nothing like listening to ms paint on some top end senheiser headphones
Like for the bees in Minecraft.
@@HardwareCanucks Until there is no Shielded+Balanced DAC+AMP with THX AAA Technology, Sound card around, i recommend Buying the ENOG2 Pro DAC (link it to the OPTIC output on your motherboard) then link an THX AAA™ 789 Linear Amplifier to the Fully balanced DAC.
i saw ur comment on another video like 5 mins ago on a different channel too
I've always used SoundBlaster sound cards in my systems, since 2004, and I've always been pleased with the audio quality and control I have over the sound with them.
I think my old card was the Audigy 2 ZS.
My current card is the Recon3D Champion. The Champion came with a 5.25 inch bay panel that I used for headphone passthrough for a long time before switching to USB headphones.
I still use the sound card for my 5.1 Logitech Z-5300e system.
There are always those people who hate on Creative for one reason or another, bad experiences with certain products or just a desire to feel superior in some way, but I've always had good experiences with the cards I've personally selected.
I still got the 2 ZS
@@dvdr866 Nice! I've since built a new rig and put the Sound Blaster Pro-Gaming AE-5 Plus in it. To my surprise, it actually sounds better than the Recon3D in addition to looking better in my first build with a tempered glass side panel.
I used to use sound cards but every time there was an OS upgrade I lost compatibility in Windows. USB interfaces are a little better in this respect.
yep fuck creative and their overpriced shit. Garbage company don't waste your money on them.
*laughs in Universal Audio*
I hate USB I don't know why but I hate them beside smartphone printer mouse and keyboard and flash drive beside these I see no use to them
@@mankindanddestiny7798 USB sound cards use the standardized interface so they end up working better for longer under any OS. It's not 100% but its way better then a PCI style card. Don't know why you hate USB seem silly.
@@seanholmes8290 it's just like that I hate this fragile external port and the example for this is wifi adapters and you know how much horrible USB wifi adapters are in speed compared to Pcie one
and that ladies and gentleman
is why you run an external dac, no pcie soundcard
+1 you beat me to it, i been running dacs for over a decade as i am a sucker for my hifi. And thus i always felt this is really a pointless debate , dacs blow away sound cards and they outlive ur pc with ease.( and is not bound to 1 device sort of dependant on ur dac) just fyi my first dac was really just a curiosity thing so i tried a musicstreamer( that was the name of it) the device was like 120 euro and blew me away, i am pretty confident there are no sound cards that compare for the money. ( i dont care for 3d sound since i prefer a stereo setup since most music is recorded to be played this way. tldr music>games>movies so dac>soundcard unless u disagree on the order of things u might want to look intot he subject
@@MathijnvanderHeijden Also, the "3d sound" is always faked in some way through software it will never be true 3D. First you need drivers to power it, not those cheap headsets that Razer and hyperX make (which tbh for gaming they're fine but horrible for anything resembling sound quality if you actually work with it) which only have 2 drivers (maybe 4 if they're feeling fancy but work as hybrids) or those "7.1 systems" it's all just to resemble 3D but it will never be true 3D or surround sound. Pure stereo is the way to go to be completely honest. Want 3D sound? Get true dedicated 7.1 systems or some high end cinema crazy sound system that actually has drivers dedicated to each segment of the audio waves.
Take it one step further and use a DAC that supports Optical. I've been having problems with EMI when gaming, but since I switched from USB to Optical those problems are no more. No matter how good onboard audio or soundcards have gotten, still no option if the noise floor is just too high!
Thanks for the heads up, looking for better sound quality and was initially looking at a sound card. What dacs would you recommend? Thanks mate
Fucking preach it bro, fucking preach!
It's only important if the sponsor money says so
Not sponsored by creative
@@Jay-Dee like all companies they sent it to him for free for a review but yeah no the video is not sponsored.
@@peterdozal8825 That's called "sponsorship".
LeCharles07 lmao no it’s not, it’s just like how movie critics get to see films for free or food critics get free meals. You wouldn’t call those reviews sponsorships. When these tech reviewers get stuff for free for review they often have to give the product back after a few days, so it’s not like they are really incentivized to say good things. Also if it was sponsored you wouldn’t see him criticizing the product at all, but he did on a few occasions and he even pointed out other better products, soooo. It’s also illegal to take a sponsorship deal and not disclose it, possibly getting hit with tens of thousands of dollars in fines and losing all credibility just for one secret sponsorship post is in no way worth it.
So yeah saying this is sponsored is fucking dumb lol
@@peterdozal8825 Suppliers are less likely to provide their products to more critical reviewers. It's not a black and white difference, but it colors the reviews because of the conflict of interest.
Got the Ae 7... amazing sound !!
Back in the days I had Sound Blaster sound cards.
Now that I have a new computer, the sound that came out on me headset wasn’t good.
After I installed the Ae 7, it’s awesome !
I have one too but the embedded eq is not as good as Eq Apo.
This sounds like a 15 minute advertisement
Sadly it does
It is
used to be a really good chanel ,now biased too much sad :(
@Elloli What you are saying is literally bullshit. The advertisement is literally in the end with corsairs water cooling. I have the AE-9 and I love it. It can sound better than any 200 dollar+ amp/DAC combo or separate. If you read what it has inside and what it is good for then maybe you can come back and tell everyone here that you just brainwashed everyone who read your comment. Soundcards will probably replace everything in the future anyway so I guess you'll have to stick to your old-fashioned way.
Huh? He was quite clear on the downsides when it comes to audio recording, and strongly stated the Sennheiser GSX 1000 is a better option. Methinks you're trying too hard to be edgy and cynical...
I was gifted a Sound BlasterX Pro Gaming AE-5 for free, my buddy bought one off Amazon and they sent him two, so I got a $150 card for free. Well worth it.
They aren't, buy an external USB DAC or multiple external USB DACs, or just buy a MiniDSP
Creative usually does not make good audio devices, sometimes they get it right but rarely, Just take a look at Z Reviews videos about cretive products and you will know what I'm talking about. Or send me a PM, I'd be glad to help you out with really high end audio solutions maybe for less money.
facts !
Not to mention the zxr audio canal swapping issue that hasnt been fixed to this day (audio swaps from left to right etc during gaming)
at this price, we can get a better DAC, better amp, and better audio interface, lol
Any dank dac you would recommend?
@@exitioregem8466 m-audio 2x2 around £75 in uk you get phantom power, studio speakers plugs, xlr and tsr connections for intruments, mic and dj grade headphones.
350 bucks for sound card and it doesn't even have game port. So dissapointed.
It's probably not even compatible with a Gravis Ultrasound.
And no RGB so that's a no-no from me.
Yea, I remember the times when you want to plug in your game controller(joy stick). You need to have sound card with game port.
@@dreadavis9751 Even better if you had the MIDI Y cable and an external YAMAHA!
89 people old enough to understand this
*They are not.* Stop shilling. DAC are cheap and common, they are everywhere.
Why would you reply to the clickbait title. He said it's an option that INCLUDES mic inputs/various features that a normal dac/amp don't have which quite frankly would be useful for a lot of people. Choices are very limited in this category so that explains the price tag but hopefully sennhieser or whoever introduces a cheaper product
You get them today for their effects package like Headphone surround, dynamic range compression, voice enhancement, etc. that work with all audio on your computer - not just specific programs. If you don't care about those features or don't know what they're for, then yes, just running an external DAC and AMP is fine. But if you want those DSP features (that are calculated on the actual sound card and not your CPU) and you don't mind having your analog section in the computer, the Soundblaster cards are good... although over-priced.
I hate how everyone is DAC this, DAC that. DACs are useless when you have a 5.1 speaker system for your surround sound. I rarely use headphones. Surround sound speakers are SO much better. Now if we can only get a 5.1 output through the S/PDIF in Windows 10 without hacks I'd be happy. That's why I've been seriously considering sound cards again.
@@jookm Unless you use Dolby Digital or DTS encoding, surround sound over spdif is impossible. If you use surround sound speakers, just use your GPU's HDMI output for uncompressed multi-channel PCM to your A/V receiver or DAC (if it supports it).
@@umeng2002 Oh hell no. GPU sound is terrible. GPU manufacturers don't give a damn about sound quality. The quality of sound that comes out of your speakers is dependent on every part of the process. Why would you start the process on something that only exports sound as an afterthought?
Translation: “Sound card company convinced me that I need their product”
Translation: "Sound card company paid me so that I need their product"
Realtek killed them. A mere chip company. Lol
@@pattrickmerete What the fuck are you saying?? Read up specs/performance benchmarks and you'll come back here with a changed opinion. Maybe if you tried it you'd think different. I have the AE-9 and all I can tell you is that this thing is overkill. Especially if you game and listen to spotify or whatever. I paired this with my DT 990 pros and a T.bone SC400 xlr mic.
Troll comment....don't like, don't buy. I thought it was a fair review and wished it was less fair as I'm not second guessing my decision to get one of these.
@phillip martin it is even better than a modi magni stack. It has bi amps and xlr input. It also has better overall components.
In all honesty, if people are really taking notice of EMI inside a PC then just get a USB or optical sound card. I am not saying this is a bad sound card, actually for what it offers for the price it is quite good but to be honest for the money you can easily get a Topping D30 or D10 and a Focusrite for an microphone. Both of those together comes to less than this sound card.
My thoughts as well. That's the whole point of external DACs and mixers.
Yes, I find it funny that people are bashing this product for "poor sound" when the majority of them have yet to audition the product. Based on its technical specifications, it should be an excellent sound card. Whether it can compare with an external DAC + amp at a similar price point is another thing altogether. But this runs an ESS 9038; it is a good DAC chip.
$200 to $400!? That's going to be a tough sell, especially with that terrible audio quality. I'll stick with my Focusrite Scarlett Solo and onboard audio.
Smsl su8 + magni 3 cost you $300 and they’re definitely better than a “gaming” soundcard
For $200-400 you can simply by a receiver from a big name brand like Yamaha or Pioneer. If you don't want that, you can get something from Sennheiser. All of these will perform far-and-away better.
@@MrBruscoL this. lol
At $400 you can buy a newly released 3rd Gen Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 (8 inputs, 4 outputs). But you really don't need a lot of I/Os unless you're into audio recording (a.k.a. making music).
So either Scarlett Solo or Scarlett 2i2 is already fine (priced at $110 and $160 respectively). The only difference are the former having only separate XLR and 1/4" jacks for inputs, while the latter having two XLR combo jacks (which you can plug in either XLR or 1/4" jacks).
The only amp you'll ever need is the massdrop thx AAA 789
i had a creative x-fi and sounblaster zx and i will never buy a creative soundcard anymore.
the driver support is very bad and also the software. after a big windows update you will get no driver updates and you are forced to buy a new soundcard.
i now use a external DAC.
My X-fi has a new driver for Windows 10 1903 so yes they do still get driver updates for newer windows.
@@Montisaquadeis Right; I've never had the loss of driver functionality/support people are talking about here, so either I'm lucky....
Same experience here...
@@Montisaquadeis Same here, however I did have to faff around for about half hour after updating to 1903 to get sound working again, I think that's just cos I updated Windows too early
Wrong, still use my X-fi Titanium working flawlessly on windows 10. New drivers and all working.
I'm rocking a SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Champion Series sound card from 2008 in my build right now and I'm pretty happy with it. The card is still working with Windows 10 over 10 years after it's release! And it sounds way better than the "Supreme FX" audio on my Asus motherboard, it drives my Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250 Ohm cans without issue.
External sound cards (preferably with an AMP) are a better choice than an internal sound card. External sound cards are usually referred to as "DACs" (Digital to Analogue Converter), rather than "sound cards" but they are sound cards. You just won't have the same kind of interference issues or concerns because it doesn't have to sit inside your case next to your other hardware, and they're also very easy to move from one PC to another. You will also usually have external volume control and some other controls on it, which I think is nicer than having to adjust the volume through software.
So many PC gamers stuck with stereo DACs which are only good for music listening but can't do true 5.1/7.1 surround sound which makes a huge difference in terms of immersion in games and movies and can sometimes give an advantage.
It depends on the tech you have. For e.g my argons absolutely shit on any astro/kraken/turtlebeach headphone even with a 'surround sound' setting.
If you truly wanted an 'advantage' you would manually EQ your stuff and completely kill bass/raise treble first
@@shilmardepedro7229 True surround sound (5.1/7.1) give an advantage in competitive shooters. And for exemple in racing games and space sims you can hear your engines in the rear speakers where they're supposed to be, which gives more immersion as well. I have to search very hard to find a game that doesn't natively supports the 5.1/7.1 audio configuration in my game library. Even console players enjoy true surround sound more than PC gamers. Most people on PC are simply skipping a feature they paid for.
@@Patrick73787 My bad i assumed you meant surround sound for headphones which is mostly a gimick in itself because of advertising. Speakers would be amazing when set up properly
"im gonna be quiet so you can hear tha noice floor"
me sitting less than a meter from my 7 fan Air 540 setup with RX 480 and a slightly underpowered cpu cooler, that sounds like a drone
"Yeah thats really loud"
why in the lord's name anyone would want 7 fan case :O
@@Cypeq people who have something like an AMD vega 64 (my friend has a vega 56 and 7 140mm fans so the GPU never goes above 55°C - I have no idea how)
@@peppa1492 we'll ok this just confirms 7 fans is an absolute overkill. 55 degrees on GPU is not necessary xd
@@Cypeq mostly yes, but not always. If the GPU runs cooler, then it's usually quieter (with some minor fan tuning), and most importantly the GPU fans don't spin as much, so they should last longer.
@@peppa1492 good point, easier to replace case fans for sure.
I'd argue for external DACs vs Sound cards since they avoid the noise by being outside of the case entirely. I personally have an XLR Audio Interface I use for recording that doubles as a DAC.
The last Windows 10 build broke my Auzentech X-Fi Prelude, and when I fell back to onboard audio I DEFINITELY could tell a difference. I was so glad to find somebody had updated DanielK's drivers for the new Windows build and I could get my Auzentech working again (albeit the unsigned driver part always worries me). Problem with sound cards nowadays is the support - Microsoft really doesn't care to keep them running, and frankly the sound card companies don't seem to care about having working drivers out there past the moment they decide to sell the last one of that exact model.
I fell u. I Have a Bravura
Sound blaster Z and 5.1 speakers here! Absolutely amazing surround sound in games and movies! Dimitry, here's a tip free of charge: install ut2004 with all its patches, install community bonus pack, install sound blaster xfi patch, configure original music, play dm tydal, experience surround nirvana
Currently running a soundblaster Z card in my system. I love the sound and haven't had a problem with the drivers.
lucky you
I LITERALLY DON'T GET WHY PEOPLE HATE ON SOUNDCARDS!!!. I have the AE-9 with my DT 990 pros and an XLR mic. And I can't tell you. It is really easy to set up and the software is amazing and fun to play around in. The DAC it uses is really really good compared to 100 dollar amp/DAC combos. I almost get deaf over 50% volume on high gain with my hard to drive DT 990 pros. I have no issues whatsoever with my XLR mic plugged in. No hissing, it just sounds nice and clear(Recorded in audacity).
Also. My favorite setting is crystalizer. It is basically EQ behind it all and some processing but it makes it sound really nice. Punchy explosions. Smooth treble and mids stay really good.
Just buy an entry level recording audio interface like a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Or the Behringer UMC22 which is much cheaper.
@@joel3029 but not as good in amp quality!
@@BassBoostingBrony then buy an amp too and still have it be cheaper
lol USB mics are decent too, especially for gaming, i got mine for like 30 bucks...still leaves 370 for a decent amp and dac to blow this out the water. ahahahah. schiit magni 3 plus your choice of DAC. smsl, and topping make decent usb dacs.
@@dozer32__ yea they are decent. but not as futureproof as a good xlr.
Some of my mics i have since 98 and they work perfectly fine. not gonna say that usb mics are gonna be the same
I bought an EVGA nu audio sound card for $200 a few months back to get rid of an interference issue I was having. It sounds great, doesn't take up desk space, has no interference, and it can drive nearly any headphone out there. I've been super happy with it. Paired with Amazon Music Unlimited HD and my IEMs, the detail in music is totally nuts.
A lot of people clown on sound cards these days, but there's nothing wrong with using one. A buddy of mine is a professional sound engineer, and he has told me as much-- in fact, he recommended a sound card over an external DAC/amp.
ZxR still good for me, no upgrades needed here.
Topping D10+ JDS Atom, Topping DX3pro or newly Fiio K5 Pro will be the end game for any type of computer headphone audio...
I've got the Topping D10 & the Monolith Liquid Spark, and I'm very satisfied with my setup
An better and cheaper alternative for this m-audio 2x2 , phantom power and you can plug studio speakers in as well, for 75£ on amazon.
Of course, the sound quality and amplification is better on a 75£ budget interface. Of course dude. Cut them some slack since you probably can't afford it.
Yadda yadda yadda, if you're interested in quality audio, your money would be better spent on a Topping DX3 Pro, a D10+JDS Labs Atom, or a Schiit stack. The only thing lost would be a microphone input.
Also, clearly it would simply be better to use an external DAC/amp setup to avoid EMI in the computer.
Schiit Hel, microphone input restored.
Sound Blaster always was a love-hate relationship for me, they make great hardware then always drop the ball on the drivers. So many times I have to hack around to get there devices running.
The best card to buy is 4 years after release, after this there is no problem with software.
Until there is no Shielded+Balanced DAC+AMP with THX AAA Technology, Sound card around, i recommend Buying the ENOG2 Pro DAC (link it to the OPTIC output on your motherboard) then link an THX AAA™ 789 Linear Amplifier to the Fully balanced DAC.
That AE-9 is a love letter to fans but not to said fans' bank accounts. $350 with one XLR and no balanced outputs? Surely.
Add all the electrical noise, humming/ground Loop and Driver Problems ...
sound cards are EXTREMELY important and a perfomance change from day to night in games like Path of Exile, where the majority of the fps drops come from processing all the sound effects and not from the lack of graphics power.
having a sound card takes the load from cpu from processing all the sound effects and dropping the fps and game perfomance while doing so
not a lot of people know this, but if youre playing a game and the fps drops in certain scenarios with lots of sounds effects, odds are, its your cpu trying to cope with the sound and graphics at the same time
imo, every gamer should have a sounds card, and give room for the cpu to focus on the main tasks and let the sound card deal with all the sound effects
8:13 the robot voice reminds me of using Ventrilo via Dialup back in 2003.
Dial up in 2003? You poor soul
@@rene.s.s mom used to turn the wifi off at night, I used dialup after 830p until around 2008 😂
Go with audio interfaces or DACs that take USB or optical. No coil whine, better drivers, and better sound even with a 50 dollar behringer
I have a Schiit external DAC, but even via USB I get issues.... I think optical out to DAC is best....
please make a videos with all the differences between o11 dynamic and o11 xl from lian li.
Seriously? There's enough on here already. Summary: Coming out on the 26th, it's a great case for $60 extra. Dimensions ~ 513mm Vs. 446(H), 471mm Vs. 445(L) and 285mm Vs. 272 (W) . Front panel- Rest button!!! and RGB control, 2x usb 3.0 at the bottom for mouse, keyboards or drives( keeping cabled devices out of the way and for users who have sore shoulders lol. A bracket for Bottom Fans/Radiator, giving you and extra 2 inches of air distro. A separate Reservoir bracket which mounts next to Mb grommets. Finally you have 10-12 mm extra for even the biggest Air coolers, where my Cryorig wouldn't fit. Also all water blocked gpu's fit now as well ! No Vertical gpu interface in the included price - $199.00. This is separate as one would expect.
I've still got my Xonar Essence STX ii, custom OP-AMPS. Love it and will never get rid of it.
I have that it decimates the onboard audio, I have it connected to a Dayton audio APA 150 with a pair of mission speakers
if HC thinks FLAC files automatically sounds good = have no clue. How is the FLAC mastered? Ripped from a CD? How was the CD mastered? This is a huge problem today with digital music since most companies that sell digital music master their files with a way to much bass. Compression / lossless actually don't have as much to do with sound quality. So should we take the rest of this review seriously?
So you mean must an Original file from studio recording ?
I'm pretty impressed with the audio quality in games on my MSI motherboard. If I want something better for music I will buy an external DAC so I can use it with multiple devices. Paying this much for an internal soundcard in 2019 is mental.
I only use the soundboard for Spdif passthrough to my receiver.
No need for a soundcard.
I bypassed all these audio problems by using a Parasound P6 pre-amp and A21+ power amp. And yeah, at those prices I understand this is not an option for most people, but I do get excellent audio from the PC - which is my main media hub.
Remember when sound cards mattered? Pepperidge Farms remembers.
Why he is using Phantom Power with the Sennheiser?? He even said that it's a dynamic mic.
"It's a cardioid dynamic microphone, so doesn't need phantom power. Just make sure your recorder/system can provide sufficient gain for its output level"
Just buy a good external DAC and never look back. No crappy drivers with bloatware, no interference, etc. Grab some good speakers and you are set.
I have a £60 Soundblaster Z in my PC to service my surround system via its digital connection. The sound is excellent.
I do have a quality external DAC from my music making days so I can compare.
DAC cannot do true 5.1/7.1 surround sound and you wil also lose on functionalities.
@@Patrick73787 While that may be the case, the sound quality of a good DAC and quality speakers will be better. It's just what you like. I've used sound cards for 25+ years. I have used old Creative cards, HT Omega, Asus, etc. and my last one was the Sound Blaster AE-5. In my experience my current DAC is clearer, no bloatware drivers, no need to enable this and setup that, and it gives the sound as it should be.
In the end, it's all about what you want and how much you are willing to drop in sound. No matter what you pick, if you have crappy speakers/headset, it will be crappy sound. As for me, I will never go back to internal sound cards.
Hey @hardwardcanucks. Don't use 48v phantom power with your MD46. Most dynamic microphones do not require 48v power. The MD46 does not. This is probably why you were getting a bunch of noise.
For the past several years I have used a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z. It still puts out good sound. I have to admit that I lost some bass in my hearing due to outgoing friendly field artillery and enemy artillery landing near me.
Still rocking my ZX-R with a set of 300 Ohm Beyerdynamic cans and still happy af with it for gaming.
Never had an issue with software or drivers on windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10.
Hey man, I just have an OT question for you...
It seems you switched your NLE to D.R. from P.P. And the camera quality also seems to have changed a bit. The skin is looking much more gradual and nicer. Is it bcz of BMPCC4K?
If yes, how is your experience for shooting in that system and how is your editing experience?
Is it better than P.P.?
How hard is Braw to run on a basic editing system.?
What codec you shoot in? & What are your typical size for the complete single project?
And can we expect a video on this new change?
I have a creative sound blaster z and i have no issues with that sound card till now.(it work flawless).
That noise coming from GPU isn't a new phenomenom. Had the same thing on AsRock X99 Extreme3 on-board audio with GTX 980 and 1080. Pitch synchronised with framerate in games. Most audible in menu, when framerate is very high. Zero noise with a PCI-E sound card.
XLR input made me super interested in this card, if I ever need something better than ModMic 5. Too bad I already have another sound card.
Yeah I get zero noise from eithe the AE-5 SoundBlasterX or the Asus Essence STX II sound cards. I just ordered the AE-9 and am looking forward to using DDL and DTS for my speaker system as well as the Headphone AMP.
The problem isn't the line noise. It is because the sound cards don't have a back plane and the GPU fan is directly causing this issue especially on the 20 series cards. Try putting something between the GPU and the sound card and see if the audio noise improves.
15 minutes video and i still don't know if this thing can even do 5.1 surround sound.
I got an Edifier S760D ... and i use a decade old Asus Xonar D2X for it, because it has an awesome featureset that even beats my 2 year old 350€ Asus Motherboard.
All the UA-camrs act like everybody is just using Headphones. Nobody even bothers to actually test onboard sound when reviewing motherboards, nothing beyond what is written on the box anyway, what does the software look like, what featureset does it come with... nope, nada.
There was a DTS setting for the card. That is only relevant to surround sound.
I have that exact same soundcard, it runs great with the non-official drivers.
I think this Sound Blaster card can only output 5.1 via the digital outputs (TOSLINK optical), it doesn't have 5.1 via 3.5mm jacks.
I have a Sound Blaster ZxR, it does true 5.1 audio which is great in games and movies. These AE-7 and AE-9 also deliver 5.1 surround sound
Im also using the d2x😂
who cares for 5.1 ? Where is the 7,1 info?
Driver support is what eventually drove me away from discrete sound cards. Dealing with Creative in Windows was a pain, and now that I'm 100% in Linux it's just impossible. Onboard is good enough for my uses (games, compressed music, web, movies) and I don't have to worry about electric noise anymore.
The only reason to get a sound card is for special use cases and specific I/O needs. If not just use onboard or get an external dac/amp if the onboard is faulty.
Phantom power with a dynamic mic FTW.
I now have a SB Recon 3D that resolved audio pops and cracks I was experiencing in Windows with multiple audio sources running on dual monitors. Even when I had an old Audigy 2ZS, it was way better than the onboard audio. For both self built PC's I have used for the last 15 years, the creative cards have been an improvement over the ASUS onboard audio. I am a general enthusiast, not an audiophile, but I have owned and operated my own karaoke/dj business so, I can certainly tell when something sounds bad and I have never had problems with SB drivers. I have had more than my share of issues with Microsoft f'ing things up with my rigs. Now that I am venturing into gaming and streaming though, the AE9 seems like the perfect solution since I use my karaoke dynamic mics in place of any crappy headset mic. I look forward to getting an AE9. When I upgrade to a nice condenser mic, looks like I will be ready!
Good video!
But, using phantom power with dynamic microphones introduces additional hum to the recorded sound. Condenser microphones need phantom power. Dynamic ones, do not.
I agree, it is a difference in how the mic sounds too, slightly, for the tests I've done with my audio interface
interesting, I didn't know that
The SoundBlaster AE-9 looks like a good deal, really commend them for that setup. I currently have Scarlett 2i2 for XLR inputs (used to also be my DAC for balanced outputs) -> AntLion ModMic or Massdrop Mini Mic; Massdrop Grace SDAC balanced -> Masdrop Cavalli Liquid Carbon X -> Sennheiser HD800s
I have AE- 5 and difference compared to onboard audio is very noticeable
I'm here thinking about buying that card
Freddie Alejandro you won’t regret it. Sound is so much clearer, really separated. Better than the best onboard audio. I have asus crosshair VII x470 mobo and I can hear the difference.
@@_neuromanser_ yeah im gonna buy it today its 125 bucks on amazon ,i always lloved creative soundcards gonna pull the trigger on that one
@@AmateurTroll69 For that price you can get something from schiit audio that will be better, have better support, and won't suffer from noise from inside your case, being an external dac/amp
I also have that sound card. It is good. People are talking about software like your constantly changing the software on a day to day basis. Get a life. Most people dont have space on their desks for a dac and many people dont want to hassle with pulling their headphones directly off their desks. There is a real reason to buy sound cards. Im making a video soon about all this stuff.
FINALLY! Someone who can explain why I get digital noise interference through active monitors plugged in via my motherboard.
If you have active studio monitors and are using the onboard DAC, you're doing it wrong. Get a USB DAC.
Yeah bois. Condenser mic's benefit from Phantom power as they rely on Voltage :)
The hiss from the Dynamic mic is most likely excess voltage going to ground.
Another great option could be Magni (headphone amp) and Modi (DAC) stack from Schiit Audio for $200. They have less features (no surround sound stuff)(these are just for outputs and do not have any inputs) but the Modi does not need a driver. They are designed to be simple plug and play.
Thx bro I will look into it
Creative drivers might as well be synonymous with spyware. Not only that, but I've rarely had less stable drivers from a hardware manufacturer. On three different windows versions in the last decade on three different soundcards, Creative's drivers crash games left and right. Disable their drivers, and ta-da! No more crashing.
Realtek Audio and Sonic Suite give me constant headaches. Maybe Windows based audio drivers and software are just that flaky across the board?
Ok let me just say I love the AE5 and for the money it's a total weapon, but the software is fucking cancer. It's so unstable the best option is to set the thing up in direct stereo at the highest quality and uninstall or just stop all Creative services entirely. It's depressing but this is obviously the corners cut to get those prices where they are. I have used the previous version on the G5 in Windows 7 and this new version in Windows 10, it's all awful, all the time and at no point was it ever not awful. Don't expect updates to save you here, they ain't comin.
I've owned one of these Audio Cards since 2020 it's excellent absolutely gets the job done All in one convenient package I highly recommend this product I always turn off the SBX when using a headset because it doesn't sound very good especially for games but when I switch the audio to speakers the SBX sounds great the built-in XLR mixer is also a nice touch as well no need to buy a whole separate audio board or anything like that Just plug it in and you're ready to go obviously it's not perfect but the overall package and not having a bunch of external stuff all over your desk is really nice and it's also cool to have expansion slots filled up in your computer
One reason why i prefer to use USB DAC mic's, and a UBS dac Headphones.
I was getting tired of dealing with noise.
I can definitely recommend the Blue Snowball, and Blue Yeti.
For the headphones i use the HyperX cloud2
I have Blue Yeti, awesome mic, but would not recomment for tge price. Snowball is better option.
For headphones, i have Fiio e10k dac/amp and Hifiman Sundara planar magnetic headphones (god they are awesome.) But need to get amp with more power now 😂
GG Next stop blue yet has a horrible price
I have the AE5 with a DT770 pro 250ohm. Sound experience is totally amazing. People really missing a lot. My RTX 2080 making extreme coil whine and i hear none. Virtual surround is easily the best.
People should buy better monitors, soundcards, headphones, speakers instead of top gpu or cpu.
External usb dac like focusrite 2i2 and you are done. For speakers get monitors like yamaha hs8's, mic i use a samson q2u, and headphones a dt770pro
I still use a Creative X-fi Extremegamer PCI soundcard paired with my Logitech X-530 theya re both from roughly the same era so it makes sense they go well together. My headphones are ran through a FiiO E18 as well for both desktop and mobile phone listening
Creative sponsors many UA-camrs these days.
I used to be a Sound Booster fanboy, but the reason I switched to on-board audio is not that motherboard sound quality improved. It's that the stability of Sound Blaster drivers did not improve.
No they are not, as for creative, they are so bad at making drivers... And i am saying these because most motherboards that cost more than 150e have a decent soundcard
Haha no. Good luck powering any hard to drive headphone with that xD. I can tell you, a hell of a difference with and without my AE-9 on my dt 990 pros. Also their drivers are practically flawless now.
Wow. I have ALWAYS wondered what was causing my audio interference. It's a loud electrical buzzing sound in games and in other applications and if the screen is really bright it becomes quite annoying. Sometimes I can hear the hard drives working through the speakers somehow and I can also hear the mouse cursor moving. It goes from silent, to subtle to quite outstanding. Thanks so much for the insight! I subscribed! (now to figure out how to get rid of this issue).
Can you make a video about decent quality AFFORDABLE external AMP/DACs?
SMSL makes really good and cheap ones.
Best part is that everything is in one device, you can connect also mic to it, because often if you got different devices, like connect mic to built in while using external headphones, you got hissing sound a lot
Why are you using phantom power on for a dynamic microphone?
This is the real question here. No lie. Dynamics don't need or want phantom power.
@@dukrous there are adapters using phantom power to boost gain without decreased quality (cloudlifter/fethead phantom)
@@mm-rw3hi but thats not the way its used in the video
it just digital amps it up. not analog what something like the cloudlifter or any other micpre would do
I was asking myself the same thing. I'm not sure if he was doing it to let us hear the hiss???
interesting indeed
So, ''Why Sound Cards Are Important in 2019!'' exactly? Like someone else said, this is just an ad for a product, straight and simple.
My Asus STX Essence 1 is still working fine :p
Same here.
I only ever had issues with Creative Sound Blaster cards. Their drivers were absolute rubbish, I imagine they still are. I'm currently using an Asus Xonar D2X and have been for several years. Works fine, drivers haven't failed me since they're open source and the sound is fine.
when talking about sound cards everybody focuses on mic and headphones. wish you would have talked about surround sound. i have Z906 5.1 speakers. i don't use mic or headphones. would have been nice if this review covered all users.
Good point!
the thing with sound is that unlike graphics, we only care enough to record and reproduce it, not create it from scratch, so a encoder-decoder will do, its a solved problem since the mid 2000's because in terms of audio we already reached what 400 pixels per inch looks like to the eye today
Loved the video , not the product but I must say you had put some serious effort in testing that sound card.
Just a reminder that you only need those headphone pre-amps if you already own a pair of pro headphones that require that impedance level to function properly. You're really fine with your direct headphone out if you're already working with something that was designed for gaming or casual use in the first place.
Creative should have made a external soundcard this would have eliminated the noise issue.
Funny thing is thare are cards out thare that use creative x-fi chip that eliminate emi that are internal like the onkyo pci se300
I was gifted the Sound Blaster AE-9 by me for only 305 euros. Can't wait to test it for my 3090Ti rig.
"So one technical advantage when using a sound card is that audio is hardware accelerated on a processor that is on a sound card and not by your CPU, therefore it could give you some framerate advantage in games."
At this point I've started questioning everything you say because this is obvious misinformation. What are you, living in 2006 or what? To quote Creative from their website: "As part of a major re-architecture of the audio subsystem from Windows Vista™ and above, Microsoft has made the radical decision to remove the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) for DirectSound and DirectSound3D. The HAL is the layer found on earlier Windows Operating Systems that enabled an audio accelerator such as the Sound Blaster to provide DirectSound3D applications with hardware-accelerated audio."
Yeah Einstein, Microsoft had killed off the primary API for hardware accelerated sound and then the only contemporary API fully capable of this was Creative's OpenAL which then hastily proceeded to decline as very few games utilized it for several reasons, including the fact that it worked only with Creative sound cards which weren't the only brand that people had in their PCs. This lead Creative to cutting out hardware accelerated sound capabilities since Recon3D PCIe which preceded the Sound Blaster Z series. The last Creative sound card with proper hardware acceleration support is X-Fi Titanium. Any Creative sound card after that uses software emulation through the Creative drivers for old EAX/OpenAL support and I assure you it's worse than proper hardware acceleration because software mode uses simplified interpolation algorithms for processing the medium and high frequencies to save on CPU loads.
Use external sound card. Focusrite 2nd or 3rd gen. Also check if your microphone is dynamic or condenser. ONLY CONDENSER NEEDS +48V or Phantom power. Buy yourself dynamic ribbon microphone and plug in with phantom and see what happens ;) Also the noise is from the phantom on dynamic microphone.
So, Im not crazy, I have always hear my mouse cursor and HDD in my headphone. Thanks !
I still own a lot of older creative PCI cards and to this day even with third party drivers on windows 10 they sound amazing have an old Audigy 2 ZS card I use in a system and it sounds amazing still to this day over a lot of modern onboard solutions, shame PCI is dying as I would keep using the cards I have but sadly all modern systems are PCI-E only
Surprised to see you recommend an internal solution that expensive - the best way to avoid interference is a USB based solution and I'm pretty sure you know that being a sound guy as you are. There are plenty of very competitive options if that's the price band.
Anything soundcard/amp/dac/good around 100$?
Hey, I'm buying beyerdynamic DT 1990 pro's soon and was thinking about using the ae-7 soundcard and the dac that comes with it. I'm unsure whether or not I'll need an external amp anyway because I'm unsure whether the ae-7 dac supports 3pin mini XLR and I literally cant find the information anywhere, please help :(
@@GGray1 I'm interested in that too, did you get any solution?
@@Javi360flip i did, soundcards suck. get an external dac amp / combo. i recommend jds labs the element II its perfect for the beyerdyamic dt1990s. also if youre planning on using them for streaming / gaming then i would recommend the goxlr if you csn get your hands on one they can drive 250 ohm impedance well too
@@GGray1 thanks!!! I'll do it
All you need is this ( Philips SHP9500 )and (Behringer Xenyx 302USB Premium 5-Input Mixer with Mic Preamp and USB/Audio Interface) done
but... optical audio and de normal JACK.. DOESN'T support DOLBY ATMOS... i use the HDMI of my 2080 ti to listen my games, i conect the HDMI to a ONKYO dolby atmos amplifierplifier
That's not the fault of the Soundcard though, it's a limitation of the SPDIF Standard used by the optical connector itself. Currently the High-End Sound Standards like Atmos are only supported over HDMI. Technology Connections recently had a Video that explained the SPDIF limitations better. But long story short: It's a roughly 4 decades old standard that reached it's limits even before Atmos was introduced.
Microsoft f***ed us hard with Windows Vista when they killed DirectSound and stuffed that Universal Audio Architecture through our throats. I'm actually amazed Creative is still around.
Nice and fair review. Happy with my Sound Blaster ZxR that I bought in 2015. I currently have it plugged next to my 2 RTX 2080s SUPER NVLinked. It sound very well and can do true 5.1 surround sound which DACs can't do. Sound is as important as graphics.
If you want a good audio interface for an honest price look at the Focusrite 2i2, it wont have any added noise, it'll work with every OS and any type of configuration of hardware. Its also 170$ and has been trusted by Music professionals and the game developers that focus on the audio side of the projects. It can power any microphone and any type of headphones and external speakers with absolutely no issues.
7:54 you sound like Jordon Peterson if he inhaled helium haha
I'm still gonna say external>internal aound cards/DACs/amps.
And for that price I could get a lot of varying external hardware
I switched from Creative to a UMC404HD (which i'll admit is overkill for a gaming rig) but the sound is top shelf
the last thing il buy in this world is a sound card
why ?
@@scoutsoldier7139 it costs more than my monitor and i dont think its worth the price
@@tomeryud Yeah, it's fucking expensive. Totally not worth the price
If you get to choose a prize, another nvidia card (if you already have one) for SLI vs AE-9 soundcard, which will you choose?
@@poinguan nvdiq card and than sell it and buy a monitor ;)
Always use external audio cards, as audio doesn't ever require more than usb2 speed, because you will be able to use your audio card on a laptop if you need and because the distance will prevent some electrical interference, especially if you have high-voltage demanding graphics card and/or cpu.