Are you guys for real? Number 4 card is a card from 2002!! Well rehashed for 2010s. It Audigy2 in a nut shell. Do your own research and testing before putting it out. You clearly have no idea of sounds cards. Z is ok, but it is terrible with EMI produced by modern GPUs under load (just measure the output using righmark when GPU is under the load esp the 2000s or 3000s series from Nvidia). AE-5 has been designed with an extra shielding in mind that these GPU put out on the PCIe bus. So that card performs much better with strong EMI noise inside your case. The EVGA Nu is the best consumer sound card in terms of components, the new PRO has been upgraded to offer 7.1. Its rather exe and sounds almost too perfect, my pref would be AE-5. It is very good but not too good. The thing that you need to make people aware is that on board audio is good and in fact very good if you don't have high load GPU pulling 250W+ of power. So for listening to music, movies etc etc you will not be able to tell them apart even with high-end speakers. The benefits come under heavy GPU load. If you want the best avoid USB cards (esp the front header connector) and use external DAC + Separe Headphone amp. Night and Day difference. That setup in not that exe, just google Sh!t DAC (they are from California). For 99 you can get DAC.
I wish you had have talked about the ‘cons’ in your narration and not just listed them at the end of each review. For example in the first one, you said: Software issue. What issue? Is it significant? How does the software compare to other cards on the list? In the last review you said ‘nearly obsolete’? Why? How can the best card be obsolete? How long has it been out on the market compared to other cards? Is it using outdated hardware, software? These thing should really have been explained.
ive bought my SBZ in 2013 march so yes it is obsolete. also does not work with linux at all. I had to remove the card and use the onboard audio because every now and then the sound gets distorded and stop working.
I read many oppinions from owners of creative Blaster Z who decided to take an upgrade and buy the AE5-Plus,and all of them said AE-5 plus is better at all. No idea why you decide to put creative Blaster Z in a higuer position, when creative customers said AE-Plus is much Better.
Please tell me how the EVGA and Soundbalster AE-5 plus card is lower then the soundblaster Z? Thier dac and amp are way better which is kinda the only reason you should buy a soundcard.
@Techfluencer I wonder did you check specs of those cards before creating this video? It could be MISLEADING at best! Sound Blaster Z is old and far behind AE 5 and EVGA ...
I think he means that this cards where made years ago... soundcard companies are a sleep, they make the worst software and don't get new products at all... but still soundcards are better than the ships on the mobo so...
Creative are THE worst company for supporting their products with software, and firmware, upgrades - I expect they're getting close to the end of their product run and when that happens they will stop offering updated support for new OSes.
Unfortunately Creative Labs driver support is atrocious. The "Software/windows" issue should be a major one, this is the by far dominating OS for these very cards.
I had z97 gaming 5 motherboard and i can say Creative virtual surround sound is the best experience i had with budget and mid end heaphones but you are right i use old realtek driver for being able to use sound blaster cinema 2 software.
Hi, I bought the HeadSet Corsair Void Elite Wireless Wireless Gaming Headset 7.1 , can I use some of these sound cards wirelessly ?! Or are there own sound cards for wireless headset ?! My motherboard is the MSi Pro X299 already has 7.1 sound support , is it better to use a sound card ?! Or is it not worth it ?!
I built my own computers since the late 80s/early 90s. I used sound cards for decades. But a couple things happened: one, the quality of on-board sound improved, and two the drivers and software for sound cards didn't. On top of that, beefy modern graphics cards generate a lot more electrical noise inside the case. Say what you will about on-board sound, but those RealTek drivers are rock solid. They just work, and you never have to think about them. The software that comes with sound cards require constant fiddling and still cause system instability. Then with the 2000 series of Nvidia graphics cards, the inside of a computer case got a lot more noisy, so the sound improvement you get from a discreet sound card is less as you're going to get some baseline noise in either case. As I get older, I'm just not willing to put up with the nonsense from sound card software anymore, even if I still watch videos about sound cards out of pure nostalgia.
I have the soundblaster Zx and I am constantly getting audio channel switches which I am told is caused by the latest versions of Windows 10 and the drivers from Creative. They have not improved and was looking for an alternative card.
Laptops often lack the PCIe interface that can be found on a PC motherboard. That being said, there are plenty of USB soundcards that you can get for your laptop.
@@Techfluencer i did try Focusrite 2 3rd generation but i did not see any improvement in voice. Also laoptop audio interfaces do not have any cpu, and if they have it will be too expensive such as Apollo sound cards. Therefore i thought maybe connecting the pc sound card to laptop . But do not know the name of the connector. Any idea? Thanks
Because nobody buys them! Not realising it'll gains them 5-10fps more in the gaming too! Since it'll offloaded the audio from the cpu to the card instead 😂😂
This video is not at all good. What makes the Sound Blaster AE Audio Cards good is the bit-depth and sample-rate. Bit-depth is basically how much detail you can get from an audio signal in terms of amplitude (vertical). Sample-rate is how many data points there will be for an audio signal per second (horizontal). Having 32 bits of depth and 384,000 samples per second will give you very high-quality audio. Integrated sound on a motherboard usually maxes out at 24 bits of depth at 48,000 samples per second or less. Even if the audio you're listening to wasn't made for that bit-depth or sample-rate, the software should do interpolation, basically to predict the missing data. Of course, having audio originally made for that bit-depth and sample-rate will obviously be better.
Your list is bizar. For sure the evga nu is number 1 at the moment. And your mixing really old cards with newer ones. Criteria and specs and price and performance should be listed on why you grade something. This mostly confused me.
I am using a setup with an audio interface, that wipes the floor with all of these, especially the No 1 spot, supposedly „designed for live streaming“. I’m sorry, but for live streaming, the set of requirements is vastly different from what this sound card even can do, let alone doing it good. Granted my equipment is above and beyond in terms of pricing.
@@killervampir Yes that counts. You defo need a good dac/amp to get the most out of that. So yea the Soundblaster ae5 or that EVGA one will be great for that, you also have allot of external options (schiit makes great ones)
Why lie that you test all of this equipment when clearly you don't, and repeatedly reword the fact that all off-board sound cards have driver issues? The fact you can't even reply to any of these comments either is a clear indicator of how you carry yourself. Thanks for nothing!
All SoundBlaster cards have terrible driver support. Most just about wirek on Windows 10, but Linux is a major problem. EVGA seems lacking when sound quality when compared to ANYTHING else, and is little better than Realtek onboard sound. The EVGA is only good if your using a motherboard without onboard audio. Asus, the cards look dull, but sound great. Shame they cant put as much love into the Motherboards sound circuits. Oh and Nahimic is an absolute nightmare, only way to use Nahimic is to download it from the Windows Store, as you can never tell whether your getting the right version from downloads.
I have an old Creative X-Fi Fatality Card, it does have Windows 10 drivers but they are outdated. There's an unofficial pack which works amazingly. It's listed on Daniek_K's blog and I cannot recommend it enough over the old Creative drivers.
Have it and love it but I'm considering something internal just to reduce wires and for more input options. Otherwise it's awesome. Very noticeable difference vs no card.
@@Techfluencer I literally had the the same thought. I have the MSI X570 Unify. Doing my first pc build and I'm wondering if sound cards or an external dac are worthwhile. Thanks
Either external or internal but I found a significant difference when I started using one on my x550. I have an external G6 but am considering an internal soundcard.
Exept for sound quality, you know the reason you buy a sound card. If you want no software features you're better off buying an extrenal dac and amp like the shiit stack
nah used cost less then sound card. I got some vintage hitachi and it sound perfect as a stereo, my amp is used onkyo mini hifi. But its true you can buy best most expensive dac but if you got shitty speakers and amp it sound like ass. Thats why sometimes better get decent budget dac and good speakers/headphones and amplifier.
Audio will sound just as good even if it's been a long time. They still sell the Sennheiser HD600 even tough it was released in 2006 or the sony mdr-7506 that was released in 1991 and they're still pretty damn good
Personal experience? Noooooo..... Web research. That is as good as I to say plug into a fruit blender gives 100% better vocal than a sound card. Back out now guys.
nah . they are great cards . driver support is kinda iffy i agree. Creative is the only cards to offer Dolby Digital Live and DTS connect and sound great
@@gamesthatmatter9374 really.... I used to have all kinds of issues with audio cards.. I went to the BOSE USB and never looked back.. although .. i might want to try a proper sound card.
@@gewglesux creative sound cards sound great but i think they dont work well with ASUS mainboards.... i had 2 internal and have random pops. i have to restart my pc to fix it...
@@gamesthatmatter9374 Thanks for the reply. I starting a build and it's been a while since I even used a sound card because of waaay back in the early days I had issues conflict issues..I've been using the Bose USB companion speakers for like 20 years 2:1.. I've decided with this build to go back to a regular Sound CARD... I hope I haven't made a mistake.
Are you guys for real? Number 4 card is a card from 2002!! Well rehashed for 2010s. It Audigy2 in a nut shell. Do your own research and testing before putting it out. You clearly have no idea of sounds cards. Z is ok, but it is terrible with EMI produced by modern GPUs under load (just measure the output using righmark when GPU is under the load esp the 2000s or 3000s series from Nvidia). AE-5 has been designed with an extra shielding in mind that these GPU put out on the PCIe bus. So that card performs much better with strong EMI noise inside your case. The EVGA Nu is the best consumer sound card in terms of components, the new PRO has been upgraded to offer 7.1. Its rather exe and sounds almost too perfect, my pref would be AE-5. It is very good but not too good. The thing that you need to make people aware is that on board audio is good and in fact very good if you don't have high load GPU pulling 250W+ of power. So for listening to music, movies etc etc you will not be able to tell them apart even with high-end speakers. The benefits come under heavy GPU load. If you want the best avoid USB cards (esp the front header connector) and use external DAC + Separe Headphone amp. Night and Day difference. That setup in not that exe, just google Sh!t DAC (they are from California). For 99 you can get DAC.
I wish you had have talked about the ‘cons’ in your narration and not just listed them at the end of each review. For example in the first one, you said: Software issue. What issue? Is it significant? How does the software compare to other cards on the list? In the last review you said ‘nearly obsolete’? Why? How can the best card be obsolete? How long has it been out on the market compared to other cards? Is it using outdated hardware, software?
These thing should really have been explained.
ive bought my SBZ in 2013 march so yes it is obsolete.
also does not work with linux at all. I had to remove the card and use the onboard audio because every now and then the sound gets distorded and stop working.
I read many oppinions from owners of creative Blaster Z who decided to take an upgrade and buy the AE5-Plus,and all of them said AE-5 plus is better at all. No idea why you decide to put creative Blaster Z in a higuer position, when creative customers said AE-Plus is much Better.
Please tell me how the EVGA and Soundbalster AE-5 plus card is lower then the soundblaster Z?
Thier dac and amp are way better which is kinda the only reason you should buy a soundcard.
i agree. soundblaster z is end of life. no drivers coming for windows 11
@@joepro42 it works on windows 11 just fine.
@Techfluencer I wonder did you check specs of those cards before creating this video? It could be MISLEADING at best! Sound Blaster Z is old and far behind AE 5 and EVGA ...
On the cons of creative sound blaster z, what do you mean by almost obsolete??
I think he means that this cards where made years ago... soundcard companies are a sleep, they make the worst software and don't get new products at all... but still soundcards are better than the ships on the mobo so...
Creative are THE worst company for supporting their products with software, and firmware, upgrades - I expect they're getting close to the end of their product run and when that happens they will stop offering updated support for new OSes.
@@gordowg1wg145 yes... had this card also..useless with win 10
Unfortunately Creative Labs driver support is atrocious. The "Software/windows" issue should be a major one, this is the by far dominating OS for these very cards.
Same for asus
I had z97 gaming 5 motherboard and i can say Creative virtual surround sound is the best experience i had with budget and mid end heaphones but you are right i use old realtek driver for being able to use sound blaster cinema 2 software.
Will it have better SQ if u connect optical output from a sound card to AV receiver vs from nvidia rtx hdmi output? Thanks
yes absolutely better SQ and your receiver will be able to decode DD an DTS via optical.
What about stx ii?
Its a decent sound card for the price.
7:53 First time I heard "Pristine" pronounced that way lol
Hi, I bought the HeadSet
Corsair Void Elite Wireless Wireless Gaming Headset 7.1 , can I use some of these sound cards wirelessly ?! Or are there own sound cards for wireless headset ?! My motherboard is the MSi Pro X299 already has 7.1 sound support , is it better to use a sound card ?! Or is it not worth it ?!
Wireless headsets don't require a sound card.
@@Techfluencer ok tanks better for me 😁
I built my own computers since the late 80s/early 90s. I used sound cards for decades.
But a couple things happened: one, the quality of on-board sound improved, and two the drivers and software for sound cards didn't. On top of that, beefy modern graphics cards generate a lot more electrical noise inside the case.
Say what you will about on-board sound, but those RealTek drivers are rock solid. They just work, and you never have to think about them. The software that comes with sound cards require constant fiddling and still cause system instability.
Then with the 2000 series of Nvidia graphics cards, the inside of a computer case got a lot more noisy, so the sound improvement you get from a discreet sound card is less as you're going to get some baseline noise in either case.
As I get older, I'm just not willing to put up with the nonsense from sound card software anymore, even if I still watch videos about sound cards out of pure nostalgia.
Can sound cards also interface with the PCI express slot, on the MB? or are those only made for a Video Card? thanks! great vids!
Yes this sound cards also interface with the PCI express slot, on any MotherBoard.
Some people call me the space cowboy
Bro. These aren’t video cards or for video cards. They are pci-e dedicated sound cards, only way to use them is pci-e slot.
@@Bluman2 lolol
I have the soundblaster Zx and I am constantly getting audio channel switches which I am told is caused by the latest versions of Windows 10 and the drivers from Creative. They have not improved and was looking for an alternative card.
i have the ae5 plus
@@gamesthatmatter9374 and AE series got channel swapped, the only way I can prevent it is always stick to 2.0 channel (also AE5+ here)
@@ahha6304 never got channel swapped -_-
@@gamesthatmatter9374 you use 5.1?
@@ahha6304 yeah . DTS codec + optical cable
Was the ae-9 not even made during the time of the vid or something
A g the zxr?
why no creative ZXR???😃
I have a sonos arc.
Should I purchase a sound card even tho my motherboard is a 570?
No, the dac's in mobo's are fine (especially high end ones) it's mostly the amplification that's the problem
Hi,
Are you aware of any internal sound card with built-in amplifier and background noise reducer below 50 USD?
Unfortunately proper sound cards are expensive. Creative Labs sell USB sound interfaces for well under $50 though.
@Techfluencer Thanks, is there a way to connect pc soundcards to laptop?
Laptops often lack the PCIe interface that can be found on a PC motherboard. That being said, there are plenty of USB soundcards that you can get for your laptop.
@@Techfluencer i did try Focusrite 2 3rd generation but i did not see any improvement in voice. Also laoptop audio interfaces do not have any cpu, and if they have it will be too expensive such as Apollo sound cards. Therefore i thought maybe connecting the pc sound card to laptop . But do not know the name of the connector. Any idea? Thanks
You can check out the V8 Sound card on amazon.
It works with plenty of laptops and quite easier to set up.
@@Techfluencer v8 sound card has no processor or cpu built inside it. Isn't it a cheap quality sound card?
Why the best card in the list is almost obsolete ??
Because nobody buys them! Not realising it'll gains them 5-10fps more in the gaming too! Since it'll offloaded the audio from the cpu to the card instead 😂😂
This video is not at all good. What makes the Sound Blaster AE Audio Cards good is the bit-depth and sample-rate. Bit-depth is basically how much detail you can get from an audio signal in terms of amplitude (vertical). Sample-rate is how many data points there will be for an audio signal per second (horizontal). Having 32 bits of depth and 384,000 samples per second will give you very high-quality audio. Integrated sound on a motherboard usually maxes out at 24 bits of depth at 48,000 samples per second or less. Even if the audio you're listening to wasn't made for that bit-depth or sample-rate, the software should do interpolation, basically to predict the missing data. Of course, having audio originally made for that bit-depth and sample-rate will obviously be better.
which kind of OS problems does the Creative Sound Blaster Z have?
None mines working great with the newest drivers from Creative under Windows 10
I am constantly getting audio channel switches
@@howardatkinson8958 i am getting the same kind of buggy weirdness from this card and i came here looking for a better solution
only issue i had was the dolby codec packs missing due to stupid automatic windows updates. after some registry tweaks it was working fine
@@adamgrant1787 Sound Blaster Z , cea mai stabila sub Windows 10
0:32 thank you. Now i need an ear doctor, not a sound card
What card is better g6 or ae5 plus for gaming from speakers?
G6- usb sound card will have less interference
@@anoone4026 but poor power suply
@@MikeleKonstantyFiedorowiczIV why is that?
@@LawAbidingSociopath69 energy from usb port vs energy taked from pci-e port
@@MikeleKonstantyFiedorowiczIV but i dont use pci-e port so its okay?
Your list is bizar. For sure the evga nu is number 1 at the moment. And your mixing really old cards with newer ones. Criteria and specs and price and performance should be listed on why you grade something. This mostly confused me.
I want to buy one sound card for my B450 aorus ELite....Which do you prefer? I dont care about money i want a good sound card for my games
You can use this one.
Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus Pure Edition
geni.us/CreativeSoundBlasterX
Does some of this Cards have an Stereomix to stream on Capture Card?
AE-5 does
I have a Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus sound card and it has no software problems.
audiophile joining the group
I am using a setup with an audio interface, that wipes the floor with all of these, especially the No 1 spot, supposedly „designed for live streaming“. I’m sorry, but for live streaming, the set of requirements is vastly different from what this sound card even can do, let alone doing it good. Granted my equipment is above and beyond in terms of pricing.
So if you have like a msi x-570 godlike a sound card isn’t worth it?
If you don't use it with audiophile headphones then no
@@Fayknol does 6xx count?
@@killervampir Yes that counts. You defo need a good dac/amp to get the most out of that.
So yea the Soundblaster ae5 or that EVGA one will be great for that, you also have allot of external options (schiit makes great ones)
Why lie that you test all of this equipment when clearly you don't, and repeatedly reword the fact that all off-board sound cards have driver issues? The fact you can't even reply to any of these comments either is a clear indicator of how you carry yourself. Thanks for nothing!
the sound blaster Z sounds amazing tbh. but driver support for dolby digital is shit
yes ..had this card also.useless
@@dannyvdmoo which card you mean ? Z or AE5 plus ?
@@gamesthatmatter9374 Z
to me the best technology that will be handy for future sound card is the ability to chill and refrigerate the whole systems in future generations
huh?
ahahahha
All SoundBlaster cards have terrible driver support. Most just about wirek on Windows 10, but Linux is a major problem.
EVGA seems lacking when sound quality when compared to ANYTHING else, and is little better than Realtek onboard sound.
The EVGA is only good if your using a motherboard without onboard audio.
Asus, the cards look dull, but sound great. Shame they cant put as much love into the Motherboards sound circuits.
Oh and Nahimic is an absolute nightmare, only way to use Nahimic is to download it from the Windows Store, as you can never tell whether your getting the right version from downloads.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Not true I have the Sound Blaster Z with Windows 10 and I haven't had one problem the newest drivers work fine
I have an old Creative X-Fi Fatality Card, it does have Windows 10 drivers but they are outdated. There's an unofficial pack which works amazingly. It's listed on Daniek_K's blog and I cannot recommend it enough over the old Creative drivers.
I stopped using sound blaster cards 10 years ago because of the horrible driver support. Shame because they used to be the gold standard.
@@TygerByte i Got 2 creative usb cards and no problem with drivers on windows 10
How about sound blaster g6?
Have it and love it but I'm considering something internal just to reduce wires and for more input options. Otherwise it's awesome. Very noticeable difference vs no card.
Hey I have x570 motherboard, so do i need sound card?
can you say the model name of your motherboard.
@@Techfluencer I literally had the the same thought. I have the MSI X570 Unify. Doing my first pc build and I'm wondering if sound cards or an external dac are worthwhile. Thanks
Either external or internal but I found a significant difference when I started using one on my x550. I have an external G6 but am considering an internal soundcard.
Thanks bro. From india
So nice of you
Anything is better than anything Creative has.
Asus, HT Omega, M-Audio, hell even a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, is way better than this junk! 😁
absolutely not . Creative is the only company to offer dolby/dts surround in games/movies for dedicated sound cards
Exept for sound quality, you know the reason you buy a sound card. If you want no software features you're better off buying an extrenal dac and amp like the shiit stack
I came here for music making not games.
Thank you brother 👍👍👍👍👍
Welcome
Creative is still on top.
without good speakers sound card is useless. good speaker set cost like 3080 12gb.
nah used cost less then sound card. I got some vintage hitachi and it sound perfect as a stereo, my amp is used onkyo mini hifi. But its true you can buy best most expensive dac but if you got shitty speakers and amp it sound like ass. Thats why sometimes better get decent budget dac and good speakers/headphones and amplifier.
he is indian how i knew this is by when he said pristiiine
Some of these are so old......
Yeah. But they are still the best one you can use today.
Audio will sound just as good even if it's been a long time. They still sell the Sennheiser HD600 even tough it was released in 2006 or the sony mdr-7506 that was released in 1991 and they're still pretty damn good
AE-7 the best
Agreed.
Can manufacturers pls stop putting led everywhere on hw that does not need a stupid light? It's like nyan cat vomit ffs...
Excessive RGB can be quite annoying.
Personal experience? Noooooo..... Web research. That is as good as I to say plug into a fruit blender gives 100% better vocal than a sound card. Back out now guys.
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
TOTALLY WRONG!
Thanks for your feedback.
These are all no good nowadays, the video cards are to big and cover the pcie slots
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
I wouldn't buy Creative sound cards, they lie and cheat. Terrible business prectices. Go for the EVGA or Asus cards.
nah . they are great cards . driver support is kinda iffy i agree. Creative is the only cards to offer Dolby Digital Live and DTS connect and sound great
@@gamesthatmatter9374 really.... I used to have all kinds of issues with audio cards.. I went to the BOSE USB and never looked back.. although .. i might want to try a proper sound card.
@@gewglesux creative sound cards sound great but i think they dont work well with ASUS mainboards.... i had 2 internal and have random pops. i have to restart my pc to fix it...
@@gamesthatmatter9374 Thanks for the reply. I starting a build and it's been a while since I even used a sound card because of waaay back in the early days I had issues conflict issues..I've been using the Bose USB companion speakers for like 20 years 2:1.. I've decided with this build to go back to a regular Sound CARD... I hope I haven't made a mistake.
@@gewglesux get a creative sound card who has dolby+ dts support. ex ae5 plus
Like how the best one listed is also, "almost obsolete", which is NOT a good recomendation in my book.
Thanks for your feedback.
asus xonar??? top 5 cards ??? 😂😂😂😂😂😅🤣🤣🤣