Creative Sound Blaster X4 Hi-Res 24bit/192kHz DAC USB Externo y Tarjeta de Sonido Amp, Multicanal, Sonido Surround Discreto 7.1, Entrada de Cascos para PC, Mac

This has pretty mind-blowing audio when you set it up properly. At first, I didn't think very much of it at all and even considered returning it until I started playing with the dials and buttons Here's my pros/cons: + Likely the best sound delivery alteration implementation I've experienced yet + All *hardware* aspects feel extremely premium - Does take some tweaking/getting used to - Many features are not intuitive; you're going to have to fully read the manual and keep it around for reference for a while. -For whatever reason when I got it, I fully expected the LED ring to indicate the volume level in some way such as dimming as volume goes lower or turning them off around the ring as the volume gets lower. It does not. I know that was not an advertised feature in any capacity but to me it would just make sense that it should/would. Seems like a bit of a missed opportunity to just "feel right/satisfying" to have that physical indication of what you're doing on the unit itself at a glance - The apps (yes multiple) suck. There's really no excuse as to why you should have to use Location Data to connect to the unit -- Yes I know you use it for this reason or that reason (likely something to do with low power bluetooth connectivity). I don't care. I never have my location on unless I especially need it to preserve battery life and further, it's aggravating that the entire suite of apps is not compiled into a single one; that's multiple apps for both PC and the Mobile versions. People shouldn't have to have multiple apps/programs to control a single device - I'd very very much like to have some basic passthrough capabilities through the Bluetooth, such as being able to connect the x4 to bluetooth speakers so they can benefit from it using the app as a control to do so. To my knowledge, that is not possible. - Would very much like the microphone output and headphone output on the back or either side of the device instead of the front. Would also be okay with a set on each side of the device. It would be far more flattering on my desk than having my microphone input on the front Overall, despite criticisms, the pros heavily outweigh the cons. I am more than willing to trade ascetics for functionality, and I'm more than willing to spend the time to get the software side doing what I want and boy does the Soundblaster x4 ever deliver function. If I were to upgrade to the x5 down the line though, Creative will have to have a very compelling new feature set, or they'd have to remedy most if not all my cons above (2025 edit) Oh, this is way after the fact but an important note Fully functional on Linux *after* setup, softwareless. That was a very pleasant surprise.

I hooked this up to an old home theater receiver that still had analog inputs. The sound quality is AMAZING, this device works so much better than the onboard audio on my motherboard which is a fairly high end board, the MSI X870E CARBON. Worth every penny! First time I watched "The Avengers", I was blown away. Felt like I was in a movie theater. Software installation on Windows 11 was a breeze, and the cabling setup was easily wired up because of thoughtful jack placement. I don't use the built-in knobs or buttons at all, I just hooked it up and installed the software. HT receiver controls volume.

Creative's SB products have tended to be decent hardware-wise but overpriced and have a multitude of driver and software issues over the years. This seems to break that trend! Sort've. Yeah its going to cost more than those Chinese DAC's but vs anything from a reputable company its actually not priced badly while fairly well made. Sound quality is a noticeable step up from motherboard audio, even vs good motherboard based audio (I have a Aorus X670E Master that has a decent built in audio set up), right off the bat. Driver stability was always a huge issue for SB stuff (years ago, WinXP era I think, Microsoft actually tracked back most of their BSOD's to sound card drivers!!) and that seems to no longer be a issue now. I've had 0 crashes and all my old games now have their EAX capabilities working properly again and sound quite good! Where they fumble the ball is with their new SuperFi software features. Its supposed to be able to simulate HRTF when working properly. And who knows maybe it does! But I don't know if it does since I didn't bother with their irritating set up, log in, and EULA nonsense associated with it. I have no idea why they made it all so complicated and difficult to use! I've been building PC's and troubleshooting them for years so if I'm having trouble making their process work then you know others are having the same issues. The "scout mode" will work without signing up for anything but isn't worth using IMO (distorts lots of background sound to make footsteps louder) and feels cheaty so I don't use it. One issue I did have with this DAC is that I had to switch around several USB ports to get it to work. I don't know why this is a issue exactly but supposedly some ports on the mobo just won't deliver enough power to make the DAC work and you have to randomly plug the unit in to them until you find one that works. Once it does get working you're fine though and I haven't had to mess with it since the initial set up. I have a pretty modern mobo (Aorus Master X670E) with lots of higher power USB A and C ports so if my mobo had this issue I'm sure its a fairly common one. Anyways if you're looking for a fairly good USB DAC/soundcard combo that didn't cost too much, was well made, and still supported older games sound features properly this thing is pretty good.

Had to find a decent USB 7.1 sound solution after upgrading my computer as the MB couldn't free up a PCIe lane due to NVME drives. I knew replacing my Asus Xonar board was going to be a challenge as 7.1 usb sound cards I've tried in the past were, for the lack of another word, horrible. This system is in a custom-built flight simulator, so sound quality is very important to me. Figured $150, what the heck, I can always use it on the garage AV system if it didn't meet standards for the simulator. The Creative app gives you every tool you'll need to properly configure and manage this device, the SXFI app suggested by the insert offers nothing except overhead for a pc with speakers and puts you on a mailing list. It took all of 10 minutes to install, configure and fine tune through the Creative app. The sound quality rivals the Asus Xonar. Absolutely zero hiss, clicks or buzz from the speakers, hiss has been a problem with other usb sound cards as I use separate power feeds and grounds for the computer and the sound system. Build quality is uncompromised as expected from Sound Blaster. The rotary encoder instead of a potentiometer for volume gain was a brilliant touch by the engineering team. One of the better purchases I'm made in a while.

I'm a semi casual audio guy who games on PC, and after countless deaths to unheard audio cues in Warzone I started looking into getting an audio card to improve the sound of my system. I settled on this card for the number of gaming specific features that seemed very useful, and I've been very pleased so far. The software is easy to use and packed full of different EQ's and preset SFX profiles for gaming, music, and movies. There is also a Scout Mode for you fps gamers out there, it disables any EQ's set in the Sound Blaster app but does a killer job of isolating the direction and volume of footsteps in game, atleast in Warzone. Footsteps are noticeably crisper, more audible and more directional with the mode enabled. I haven't tried the SxFi surround yet as I'm not really interested. The buttons on the card itself are easy to use and it's really nice to have the volume knob if you don't have volume controls on your keyboard. Lastly and most importantly, the audio coming out of the card into my headphones is noticeably cleaner than my onboard sound. I have an MSI Z390A motherboard which claims to have studio quality audio, but the dynamic range and pure clarity of this card are just better, even with my non-audiophile Sony xm3 headphones. Music sounds cleaner and Warzone sound effects are more satisfying. I can definitely recommend this to any PC gamers out there. Just one thing to note, I read many reviews on here mentioning that the more recent drivers make the software glitchy. Once you download the software from the Creative Blaster website and open the Sound Blaster Command app for the first time it will prompt you to download the latest drivers.... I didn't do this because of those reviews mentioned and I've had no problems so far. I'd suggest anyone buying do the same and see if your card works as intended before downloading the new drivers, which could possibly mess things up. Update: After one day of use - ONE DAY - I noticed that there was random popping happening. There was no rhyme or reason for the popping, but it was frequent and obnoxious. Additionally, starting any audio from idle resulted in a nasty buzzing sound for the first 2 seconds of playback. I thought, okay, maybe I DO need the software update, so I downloaded it...... and nothing, problem didn't go away. So, I deleted everything software wise(app + drivers) and re-downloaded, same problem. I went to back to the headphone jack and found that the popping problem was now an issue on that as well, but not the buzzing at the start of audio. To fix the problems, I had to delete the drivers for the Sound Blaster Card, making the product unusable. I wouldn't recommend this product in its current state; the software features are awesome (especially the scout mode for gaming), but none of it is worth constant, random popping. For gaming, the Astro mix amp is probably a better option (it has some similar software features), I ended up going with a Schiit Fulla and have been happy so far.

I have an old Logitech THX 500W speaker system that still sounds fantastic, but unfortunately, the analog inputs stopped working. The optical SPDIF connection still functions, but as many know, SPDIF typically only supports stereo, not surround sound. I had been using the Sound Blaster Omni USB, but the software was a bit glitchy on Windows 11. I decided to upgrade to the Sound Blaster X4, and I’m seriously impressed! Right out of the box, the software natively restores surround sound over SPDIF using Dolby encoding—something that most sound cards don’t offer. If you're looking for true surround support over SPDIF, this absolutely delivers. Just make sure to update the firmware, switch to speaker mode (not headphone mode), and enable Dolby encoding in the software settings. Highly recommended if you want to breathe new life into your existing speaker setup!

SXFI is a funny piece of technology. They spent a lot of effort to recreate the realism of listening to bad speakers. And I must say, it is genuinely an impressive feat. I was completely and utterly blown away, totally convinced that I was listening to mediocre speakers in someone's mediocre living room with no acoustic treatment, as opposed to my decent-quality headphones. The irony is that professionals and enthusiasts actually spend thousands of dollars installing acoustic baffling in their listening space to get rid of the same sounds that SXFI worked so hard to reproduce. "Hearing the room" is generally understood to be a bad thing, because it doesn't represent the original intended sound (if the room reflections sounded so great, the sound people would've just baked it into the sound itself). I imagine if Creative had spent all that effort towards simulating a perfect listening space as opposed to an average one, the technology would be much more usable. People who gave rave reviews/awards for "SXFI" likely hadn't experienced pre-existing binaural technology. Creative actually has another binaural 3d virtualization known as "SBX" which has existed for years, previously known as "CMSS-3D". In Youtube comparison videos, SBX and CMSS-3D is consistently rated as the best 3D virtualization, superior to competitors like Dolby Headphone. My hypothesis is the people who were impressed by SXFI technology were comparing it to no virtualization at all, as opposed to pre-existing tech like SBX. To make sure I was getting the full SXFI experience I went through the ordeal of taking pictures of my ears. Luckily my exact headphone model was also in their list of choices. One really stupid bug of the app that they won't tell you about: "Sign up with facebook" doesn't even work. It will silently fail to download your settings with no error message whatsoever. You have to sign up the traditional way, and then click the confirmation email to verify. Then it will work. Because of this, I had to create a new account and take the pictures all over again. By the way, if there is no one available to help you take pictures of your ears, it helps to have mirrors at a 90-degree angle and look through two mirrors deep. I launched a couple games and compared the sound of SBX 3D versus SXFI 3D. SXFI was impressive at first, but I realized it did not make sense. Every sound had added room reflections to make me feel like I was sitting in an empty living room. If I'm outdoors in a game or movie, why would I want to feel like I'm in a living room, as opposed to just outdoors? In SBX, a bird chirping in a tree sounds like a bird chirping in a tree. In SXFI, it sounds like a speaker in a living room with hardwood floors, playing the sound of a bird chirping in a tree. In that sense, SXFI is actually very similar to "Dolby Headphone" technology, which also simulates speakers in a room playing the sounds, instead of just the original sounds. Also, my semi-decent 5.1 setup sounds a little better than SXFI. So not only did they replicate the mediocre room, but they're also simulating mediocre speakers. One advantage of the SXFI is it has a slightly more impressive sound stage. It actually sounds like it's coming from real physical speakers some distance away. But note that SBX already does a good job with simulating distance of sounds; SXFI just does it a bit better (at the cost of sound quality). On the X3, you'll have the ability to choose between the SBX and the SXFI. However, one other flaw caused me to give it 3 stars. There is very subtle white noise in the headphones so your listening quality is actually slightly worse than onboard sound. You might not notice until you turn the volume knob all the way down to zero, at which point the noise will cease and you'll notice its absence. The noise is at a constant soft level and not related to your volume setting (except when you turn it to zero). I think this is because they have a powerful amp which can only operate at "on" or "off"; when it's on, it is capable of producing very loud sound but will also introduce some hiss.

I have had the Creative Z, Zx, ZxR and AE-9. I have the Logitech Z906 5.1 system and Sony MDR1AM2 headphones and the X4 sounds great with it. It may not be the BEST specs like the AE-9 but the AE-9's breakout box for XLR input is HORRIFYINGLY bad for XLR mics. I bought a Scarlet 4i4 and then moved on to the Wave XLR because I wanted to stream and the Wave XLR has amazing software that replaced Equalizer APO and Voicemeter because the Wave XLR supports VSTs and audio routing. I really wanted this to remove the sound card from my system so all my fans would hit my massive 3090ti and the X4 allowed me to do just that. The X4 has all the features I need, optical out and a great headphone DAC at a way cheaper price than the AE-9. SXFi is a gimmick but it has its uses, just not really for me. To get 5.1 with the Z906, you need to click Playback then click Speakers (line out) and SPDIF Out you need to click "Set Default", then go to Device click Encoder and select Dolby Digital Live. To use heaphones go to Playback and click Headphones and under audio quality click "Set Default" for Speakers, then go to Device, Encoder and turn OFF Dolby Digital Live. I dislike having to click 3 things in different menus to accomplish this when on my AE-9 I literally just had to press one button of push the volume nob on the breakout box for 3 second. The software is also not as intuitive as the Sound Blaster Command Center but this very new so maybe they will fix a few things in the future. What I want to see is when I click the three dots for Speakers (Line Out) give an option to set to toggle the DD encoder and the same for Set Default for SPDIF Out, there should be an option to click use the DD encoder or not. When I click headphones or Set Default on Speakers, I should be given the same DD toggle. If they make those changes I would say this is literally perfect.