Sound blasterx AE 5 plus problems

Chrish_1

Chrish_1

Chrish_1

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Hi all,

I've just installed this sound card into my PC and I'm using it along with a AKG 702 headset.

When playing escape from tarkov the left and right sound channels will randomly swap over. So I hear footsteps etc from my left in the right earcup and sound from the right in my left earcup. Also I hear sound from behind me in front, and sound from in front behind.

I can fix this by changing from headphones to speakers and back again in the sound blaster command software, but this is only a temporary fix until it happens again.
I'm also using direct mode in the command software.

Has anyone else had the same issues when using this soundcard, or have any ideas what is causing it?
 
There are a bunch of hits on Google for channel swapping issues such as: https://www.reddit.com/r/SoundBlasterOfficial/comments/mj9im3/sound_blaster_ae_5_channel_swap_issue/

EDIT: Quite a lot of mention of it being a bug with AMD CPUs/chipset and Creative drivers - I've never had it with my Intel setups and my AE5.

No idea what is causing it but direct mode and gaming can cause some complications if you have other software trying to use audio as well, especially if some of the Windows sound enhancements are active.

For optimal compatibility in the advanced sound properties for the audio device try 24 bit, 96000Hz instead of a higher quality level if it is set higher, disable the exclusive mode options and disable sound muting in the communications tab.
 
Thanks for the reply, I've read a bit more about this issue on reddit and it does seem to be an issue with the AMD x570 chipset and using a geforce gtx 3000 series video card. Lots of people been having the same issue. (1) Creative Labs sound card channel swapping *FIX* : SoundBlasterOfficial (reddit.com)
I'm using a x570 meg ace and a gtx 3080.
I had already disabled the exclusive mode options in windows.
Seems like the only fix is to force PCI gen 3 mode for the PCI slots, shouldn't really need to do this but I cant see AMD fixing this as it seems like its been a issue since the x570 motherboards were released.
 
Chrish_1 said:
Also I hear sound from behind me in front, and sound from in front behind.
Click to expand...
That's definitely not sound card issue:
In direct mode it won't do any processing for headphones, but just "blindly" passes out what left/right channel signal Windows audio stack gives it.

And if using Tarkov's headphone output mode (binaural) it's only that game audio renderer where that front/rear mix up can happen.

So what are the game sound settings and Windows soudn settings you're using?
 
Tarkov is set as binaural audio, in windows sound settings its set as stereo speakers.
I don't think its a problem with tarkov as when testing playback in sound blaster command the left and right channels are some times inverted. Though its quite easy to fix by simply switching to speakers then back to headphones which sorts it out for a while.
 
Could be multiple problems.

Because of shape of head+pinnae differs notably from ahead and behind, sound source ahead has different binaural cues on both left and right channel than sound source behind.
Meaning left and right channel getting swapped really can't swap front and rear cues.
To accurately change also front and rear cues would require game's audio renderer to "turn virtual dummy head microphone" 180 degrees.
(which is the case if both left/right and front/rear cues are reversed simultaneously)


So start experimenting by changing things, which could affect to audio path.
Like don't use that direct mode.
If you don't enable any of sound card's processing options, only thing done is volume control and equalizer if used.
You could have sound card and Windows in 7.1 configuration and get original two channel audio from source.
(for as long as you don't have any effects in Windows audio settings)


And left/right problems are known to happen with any sound card.
So that could be just Windows being buggy as hell and Microsoft not caring a bit.
https://www.windowsphoneinfo.com/th...-realtek-left-right-balance-bug-win10.312121/
 
A quick update for this, updating my motherboards bios to the latest version seems to have fixed the channel swapping issue.
I've not had it happen for about 3 days now, so hopefully the issue is solved.
 
Hello everyone, computer tech here.

I think I may have solved a possible cause behind many of the issues people experience with the AE-5 and AE-5 Plus sound cards. There seem to be several different problems reported with these cards. The original poster here has a slightly different issue, but I believe it may stem from the same root cause. I personally had a different problem with the card—my audio kept switching between stereo and 5.1 mode.

Of course, this may not be the fix for everyone, but I believe this particular issue could cause the card to behave in many strange ways.

While troubleshooting, I noticed that many users experiencing similar problems had comparable system configurations—similar CPUs, chipsets, NVMe drives, etc. Not always identical, but often very close.

In my case, my NVMe drive was also behaving oddly. The operating system itself worked fine, but whenever I launched certain games, the PC would essentially crash. At the same time, my new Sound Blaster AE-5 Plus would have random audio issues.

After digging deeper, I discovered that my CPU System Agent voltage was borderline low under no load. On AUTO settings, it was set to 0.95V, which in my opinion is too low. I manually adjusted it in the BIOS to 1.15V. Since CPU VCCIO voltage is also related to PCIe communication, I set that to 1.10V as well.

And voilà—all of my problems disappeared. My M.2 SSD started working properly again, the AE-5 sound card issues vanished, and the entire system became stable.

In my experience, the higher your RAM speed, the more likely it is that low VCCIO and System Agent voltages (CPU SA) can cause instability with devices that use PCIe lanes.

Important: I do not recommend exceeding these voltages, and you may not even need to set them this high. These values are still within safe ranges, but the best approach is to increase them gradually—by 0.05V or 0.1V at a time—and test system stability. Once you find a stable point, stop there.

These voltages apply to Intel CPUs only, and the naming may differ depending on the motherboard manufacturer. AMD systems have similar voltage settings, but you’ll need to research the equivalents for your specific CPU model.

Intel CPU SA → AMD SoC Voltage
Intel VCCIO → AMD Memory Controller / IOD Voltages

In my case, only the CPU SA (System Agent) voltage was noticeably low, but I manually adjusted both settings just to be safe. While working as a computer technician, I’ve seen many issues caused by motherboard voltages being left on AUTO.

I hope this post helps someone.
 
Very interesting, good info. Just for reference whats your motherboard, bios ver. and ideally full spec, just in case that should be relevant.
Thanks for the update

Welcome to the forum also :)
 
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