The Sound BlasterX AE-5 Owners' Club

Would this be good to use with a sound bar? I’m going to be using my pc with a Samsung 49mu6400 4K tv with the Samsung hw-ms650 sound bar with the optional wireless rear speakers(swa9000s).
 
fowler002 said:
Would this be good to use with a sound bar? I’m going to be using my pc with a Samsung 49mu6400 4K tv with the Samsung hw-ms650 sound bar with the optional wireless rear speakers(swa9000s).
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Like most PC based optical outs, it only supports 2 channels, I don't believe it has Dolby Digital or better encoding to support surround if that was your intention.
 
No point buying this sound card to connect a soundbar. Even if the soundbar can decode Dolby Digital, as above there is no Dolby Digital encoding, meaning you'd be paying £120 for no real reason. Much better to buy the SB Z for £60, which does have Dolby Digital Live.
 
Its a pretty decent offering for gaming - the way they've engineered the output from the DAC with the LM4562 opamps and the rest of the headphone amplifier means that you get very clear sound with good separation of elements in the sound which makes it easier to pick out the position of sounds. If you use the Acoustic Engine its possible to get decently immersive surround sound in headphones with a much better distinction of whether a sound is coming from infront or behind you than some other systems though there is a little bit of echo to the surround encoding - doesn't quite manage as well as the Sennheiser GSX which manages to keep the sound a bit more natural when encoding surround cues but it is one of the better options in that respect.

EDIT: One thing in relation to gaming - some of the Direct modes like Direct HP seem to act like exclusive mode even with that disabled - some fullscreen games will knock out sound to all other applications - they'll still act like they are playing audio but nothing happens - if you play games with voice comms, etc. you may need to configure one of the non-Direct modes in the Sound Blaster Connect software.
 
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Rroff said:
Its a pretty decent offering for gaming - the way they've engineered the output from the DAC with the LM4562 opamps and the rest of the headphone amplifier means that you get very clear sound with good separation of elements in the sound which makes it easier to pick out the position of sounds. If you use the Acoustic Engine its possible to get decently immersive surround sound in headphones with a much better distinction of whether a sound is coming from infront or behind you than some other systems though there is a little bit of echo to the surround encoding - doesn't quite manage as well as the Sennheiser GSX which manages to keep the sound a bit more natural when encoding surround cues but it is one of the better options in that respect.

EDIT: One thing in relation to gaming - some of the Direct modes like Direct HP seem to act like exclusive mode even with that disabled - some fullscreen games will knock out sound to all other applications - they'll still act like they are playing audio but nothing happens - if you play games with voice comms, etc. you may need to configure one of the non-Direct modes in the Sound Blaster Connect software.
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Thanks for that @Rroff. Yeah, I've been asking around about the GSX for a while, but it seems a little expensive, and it can't drive my current cans (Q701s).
 
I just got this sound card and very impressed, runs my AKG 702 and Beyeydynamics DT990 pro 250 ohm. Don't play much FPS but tried R6 siege and CS and really easy to hear footsteps etc. Racing and flying games also sound amazing. Very impressed. I had a bit of a faff setting up on my system, had optical to Logitech Z550 and it would not switch to headphones all the time and have no sound, but changed from optical to 3.5mm connections from the card to the speakers and all works perfectly and runs everything.
 
There is a couple of relays on the card depending on what features and output you are using and also seem to be used to protect headphones/speakers against transient DC bumps such as powering on/off, etc. - seems at times to get a bit mixed up and/or not activate the relay on startup requiring changing modes to something else and back to the one you want which is a bit of a faff but a fairly minor issue.
 
Can anyone who has one of these cards tell the front and rear sound direction difference with the channel test? Using the Sound Blaster Connect 2, Setup, 7.1 Headphones and then click test and see.

I just can't get on with this card at all, with my old XtremeMusic card I could hear footsteps in gaming and know exactly where they were coming from but this card I can hear footsteps but the direction is hard to suss out.

Basically using the test and also the windows test, the front left sounds the same as the rear left and the front right the same as the rear right.
 
Is the acoustic engine on and surround set to around 60-100%? I don't find the test in the connect software very good - the rear speakers sound the same position as the side ones to me and the fronts only slightly removed from the side ones - but in actual gaming I get a much better representation of front and back.
 
Rroff said:
Is the acoustic engine on and surround set to around 60-100%? I don't find the test in the connect software very good - the rear speakers sound the same position as the side ones to me and the fronts only slightly removed from the side ones - but in actual gaming I get a much better representation of front and back.
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Exactly the same thing for me too, in games and movies with 5.1 sound tracks it's very good with surround, the connect test not so much.
 
Hmmm come to think of it, it is better in games although still not a patch on my old XtremeMusic. I had that card for what must have been over ten years and I am starting to wonder if I am just set in my ways.

In games I assume you guys select 5.1 (if possible) yes ?
 
Game should be setup for 5.1/Cinema sound for best effect - the OS should switch to 5.1 output when you select 7.1 HP mode in the Connect software but you might want to double check that and also maybe fiddle in the Windows speaker settings with the speaker size (range) setting. The surround system used by the AE-5 is different to CMSS-3D with some pros and some cons - I can't quite pick out the distance to a sound source with the AE-5 as well as with my old XtremeMusic but I find the sounds movement more seamless and front/back representation better.

If you are using Windows 10 make sure the new Sonic Surround stuff is disabled as that will conflict with the surround setup the AE-5 uses.
 
Rroff said:
Game should be setup for 5.1/Cinema sound for best effect - the OS should switch to 5.1 output when you select 7.1 HP mode in the Connect software but you might want to double check that and also maybe fiddle in the Windows speaker settings with the speaker size (range) setting. The surround system used by the AE-5 is different to CMSS-3D with some pros and some cons - I can't quite pick out the distance to a sound source with the AE-5 as well as with my old XtremeMusic but I find the sounds movement more seamless and front/back representation better.

If you are using Windows 10 make sure the new Sonic Surround stuff is disabled as that will conflict with the surround setup the AE-5 uses.
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The distance part would drive me nuts. As that is one crucial aspect coming through a hallway/door. Hmm... I don't suffer that on the old Auzentech Prelude. Yet positional sound works perfect in audio creation mode with bit matched perfect and stereo.

I never could take to CMSS-3D. It reminds me of that slight similar effect to Dolby Headphone with the slight exaggerated echo.
 
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