Sound Cards ? or my Creative ZXR is broken *replacments

ViRuS2k

ViRuS2k

ViRuS2k

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ok guys my creative zxr that i have had for ages, i loved the sound quality it produced ..
but unfortunatly my watercooling system sprung a small drip leak that was undetected for ages and not noticed the drips proceeded to drip onto my sound cards ribbon cable and then dripped into the contacts of the sound card and eventually the card shorted out and does not product audio anymore so i need a replacment.

is there anything out there that is better than the ZXR in sound quality i was looking at the Creative Sound Blaster X AE-5 (Black) RGB Gaming Sound Card

as i have heard it has better audio than the ZXR but im curious is there anything out there thats better :)
 
I have never like my ZxR its flat and may find it the same till they spent a lot of money on modding git.

I today would be looking at the X3 but it has not DTS support (ticked nearly all the boxes for me) and I do not fancy the AE7 or AE9.
 
ViRuS2k said:
is there anything out there that is better than the ZXR in sound quality i was looking at the Creative Sound Blaster X AE-5 (Black) RGB Gaming Sound Card
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While latest SB Z drivers are few months old, I would expect ZxR to start moving to lower priority support phase with all these Sound BlasterX AE cards out.
And for headphone output wise ZxR just isn't worth the price with that TPA6120 based output with its mediocre output impedance.

What kind connectectivity you need/what you use card for?
If just headphones external Sound BlasterX G6 would have enough connections for that (+direct control buttons for features) and would avoid future water damage risk.
Unless roof of your house started leaking...

Though for headphone gaming/movie watching Creative has been disappointingly slow in bringing head shape customizable HRTF tech to sound cards.
(listener's head shape affects to left/right ear signal differences brain uses to process sound source location)
Sound Blaster X3 is only one with it and like number suggests, it's not high end analog circuitry components wise.
And looks like Creative isn't yet even going to fill gap between it and old Sound Blaster X7.
(only fashion stuff shown in CES)
 
i went for the AE5 just to test it out, as i need a sound card ASAP lol
should get some testing done at the weekend, i will be driving 2 heatsets astro A50`s for gaming and music and movies will be my trusty 8 year old Senhieser HD650`s :)

I dont really need dolby digital live and dts connect cause to get those i can just use the spdif out on my z370 gaming 7 motherboard to get dolby and dts to my cinema system and if i need to watch movies from pc with AE5 it still lets you decode dolby and dts just not through spdif but i have like i said other means for that ;)
 
Space Monkey said:
How are you finding the sound card, sounding better than the ZxR?
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yes for sure better quality than the ZXR i had before it, more clarity and better bass production and detail in the highs and lows. are slightly better in the middle
im really impressed, also the software is much improved over the ZXR software, i really had problems on windows 10 with the ZXR software talking a horrendous amount of time to open and use the command center + connect 2 software installed loads up instantly....

the only thing that im missing is spdif out`s digital live and dts live but thats only if you want to get those formats to play in a cinema system or the like but for viewing all formats work when playing bluerays and music from within windows.
but i fixed that issue with the output spdif from my z370 motherboard or graphics cards hdmi to get those formats to my external system ;)

also that scout 2.0 is pretty cool for a novelty most people say its crap but there are games that it does work very very well with ;)

overall im impressed, my next sound card in the future will be the Ae9 or anything that comes out thats newer than that in the next few years but for now i made the right choice in getting the Ae5 :) its a fantastic card. just make sure you have the quality headset to back up the quality the card produces or you might fine its not that different... now i just wonder if there is even higher opamps for this card out there ;) as the sound could probably be even better with higher end amps.
 
ViRuS2k said:
my next sound card in the future will be the Ae9or anything that comes out thats newer
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Certainly no sense to buy any more expensive one at least until they come with also head shape customizable HRTF besides fixed HRTF.
For headphone gaming accuracy of HRTF to listener's head plays big part in immersion.
And besides doing also other design errors that "upstair's guy" forgot to standardize human head shape.
Though suspect those Astros just mutilate binaural sound.
While HD650 with its music enjoyment tuned inaccurate "warm" sound is far from ideal for binaural sound, at least it isn't cheap Chinese gaming trinket.

Stereo content like music forgives insanely lot inaccuracies in reproduction without sounding bad fast.
But with binaural sound accuracy of headphones makes it or breaks it.
And those As(s)tros are more likely toward breaking it into head in bucket sound.
 
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