It is amazing! There! I said it! Get it! Now! The sound ratio is beyond amazing for an add-in card. My Titanium HD Xfi doesn’t even come close.
I bought this one as I didn’t need the extra XLR and outboard unit the AE-9 came with. Creative Labs has improved their software so no one should be complaining.
Sound? Ok, I only know three people that can hear 20Hz to 20Khz. Trust me, you don’t want to hear up to 20Khz, it will drive you bonkers. I don’t need to hear light-bulbs squeal, my monitor hissing and upper frequencies birds and dogs hear. Me, I’m getting around 30hz to 18Khz with my ears. I’m fine with that.
Likes: it doesn’t cost $6000 made with Italian marble and aviation grade aluminium and doesn’t come with $4000 oxygen free, gold plated cables covered in braided Tibetan goat wool hand picked by monks.
Dislikes: not having this sooner.
Describing sound is pointless as it is too subjective. Overall, this card will output great sound for what’s it’s price and the intended purpose of it. That’s as far as I’ll go with sound as there are a lot of myths and snake oil theories out there. The Command Center gives you more than enough control over the sound output.
Unless you’re a sound engineer for a sound lab, do film production or you need precise, accurate, measured frequency response, this card is more than good enough for PC users.
Likes: works for me! I’m happy! Wow! Take that onboard sound chip! Installed in PCIe slot, boot, let Windows 10 do the detect song and dance. Download latest software from Creative website. Install. Done. I found it easy to configure.
Dislikes: Hmm…for me, there’s none.
I have it plugged into a stereo preamplifier to which my headphones are plugged in and I run a cable to the mic port to plug the microphone in.
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★★★★★
prasad –
So for reference I have been ordering external amps / sound cards to find something that I loved. Have gone through the EPOS GSX 300, FOSI K5 – and of course the Apple dongle – to be honest the Apple dongle was the best out of those 3 (I know) but offered absolutely no sound customization and the mic noise reduction was non-existent and sounded like garbage while gaming.
FINALLY I ordered this thing….. and I’m in love. Great power, FANTASTIC SOUND, great mic control (voice changer is so fun in games) and a phenomenal software interface for adjustments. The only downside is the RGB’s don’t work with my MSI program , so it just means another start up program (were used to that by now). Your PC does not detect this is a separate stereo / headphone out so that is handled in the Creative software to switch back and forth which I wish wasn’t a thing, but honestly its not bad. (Side note, when you switch inputs you hear the sound card click – which tells me they are using actual switches which is awesome!) I’m using this with some Sennheiser EPOS PC38X headphones as well as a Logitech 5.1 PC stereo and they both sound fantastic on this card.
The 4 RGB lighting strips are great, magnetic and sticky on the back for extra adhesion and they look great when properly installed, originally I had them facing inward which really showed the individual LEDs- I ended up mounting them on the front, aimed to the back and they add such nice ambient lighting to the PC – very customizable in the Creative program. Also it was plug and play on my Win 11 PC – just make sure you download the Creative app or nothing works. I did NOT have to disable my onboard audio for this to take over.
In closing, great soundcard and wish I bought this a long time ago – gives me exactly what I wanted at a reasonable price and looks fantastic in my system! Highly recommend,
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★★★★★
Mr. Gaga –
Snyggt ljudkort som jag gärna hade behållit eftersom jag har tidigare haft både Sound Blaster Z och ZxR som har presterat väldigt bra (när de funkade). Däremot har jag alltid haft problem med Creative mjukvara för ljudkort. Fruktansvärt buggigt. Jag köpte den vita versionen eftersom jag har en helt vit dator och hoppades på att deras nya produkter fungerar bättre.
Problem 1: LED strips som jag fick med ljudkortet fungerar dåligt. Inte ens om jag kringgår ljudkortet och kopplar dem direkt till moderkortet så lyser bara några av dem (2st med ljudkortet, ca 10-15 med moderkortet). Problem 2: HUR kan mjukvaran vara så dålig?! Sound Blaster Command buggar som in i helvete. Så fort jag startar den så stängs ljudkortet av och vägrar fungera till jag startat om datorn. Kör jag Command igen så släcks ljudkortet. Kom igen Creative, fixa problemet någon gång? Både Z och ZxR strular som fan med tidigare mjukvara.
Eftersom jag har en helt vit dator så finns det inte många val, får bli externt ljudkort, dock aldrig mer Creative ljudkort.
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★★★★★
Chandra Shekhar Pandey –
Bought AE-7 and from the very first day it has been full of bugs, be it the card or Sound Blaster app. I have three PCIE ports and have tried the card in all three but every other day I have to uninstall and install the drivers. Then it would work okay for a day or two and then again system doesn’t read the card. I also installed the card in my other system (with different MoBo) just to check and the same problem persists. Please don’t buy this, go for external sound card.
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★★★★★
LJA –
Die Soundkarte ist super und als Pure Variante in Weiß ist sie auch echt schön in helleren Cases. Betreibe Problemlos meine DT 770 Pro und die Einstellungsmöglichkeiten über den SoundBlaster Command sind auch sehr gut. (Unter Windows 11 hat die Software manchmal Probleme mit den Treibern, aber ein Reinstall von den Treibern + Tool behebt das meistens)
Mein einziges Problem ist nur, dass der Mikrofoneingang entweder gar nicht, oder nur minimal verstärkt ist. Das führt dazu, dass die Lautstärke mit meinem ModMic Uni in TeamSpeak oder Discord zu leise ist und durch den db Boost wird ein Rauschen deutlich. Die Sprachprogramme können das zwar rausfiltern, aber Voicechat in Spielen bietet das meistens nicht, weshalb es hier etwas stören kann.
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★★★★★
TheLiberal Hindu –
There are other better options.
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★★★★★
Oliver Hoffmann –
Super easy to install and get up and running and fantastic sound quality compared to on board
If you may need one you must get one! Fantastic card and great to see the Soundblaster cards still on the go after many years
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★★★★★
Vijay J –
Was hesitant to invest money on a sound card, but I wanted to use my DTS system to the fullest. After long research decided to pickup AE-7 Pacakge was cool Build Quality with LED is awesome Configuration is easy, but need to spend time in understanding the terminologies Register self and product in the SBC app to save the configurations, if not you will have to configure every time you restart. Not using the external controller for now, but an usefull one for content creators Mounted on a MSI B560 MB this is working like a charm. Splits the channels beautifully. Slightly over priced , but a GOOD one for what we pay.
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★★★★★
vkvindy –
You have must high resolution supported speaker system for best result of this sound card, without high resolution speaker totally waste of money for this sound card don’t buy if you have normal speaker.
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★★★★★
Vijay J –
For around 20 k this is the best sound card available in market right now. It supersedes any other on board sound card and also blows off some entry level AV receivers as well. The SABRE class 9018 DAC used here is awesome and you can feel the nuances of sound. Be sure to invest in some quality headphone and speaker system if you are planning to buy this one.
LJA –
It is amazing! There! I said it! Get it! Now! The sound ratio is beyond amazing for an add-in card. My Titanium HD Xfi doesn’t even come close.
I bought this one as I didn’t need the extra XLR and outboard unit the AE-9 came with. Creative Labs has improved their software so no one should be complaining.
Sound? Ok, I only know three people that can hear 20Hz to 20Khz. Trust me, you don’t want to hear up to 20Khz, it will drive you bonkers. I don’t need to hear light-bulbs squeal, my monitor hissing and upper frequencies birds and dogs hear. Me, I’m getting around 30hz to 18Khz with my ears. I’m fine with that.
Likes: it doesn’t cost $6000 made with Italian marble and aviation grade aluminium and doesn’t come with $4000 oxygen free, gold plated cables covered in braided
Tibetan goat wool hand picked by monks.
Dislikes: not having this sooner.
Describing sound is pointless as it is too subjective. Overall, this card will output great sound for what’s it’s price and the intended purpose of it. That’s as far as I’ll go with sound as there are a lot of myths and snake oil theories out there. The Command Center gives you more than enough control over the sound output.
Unless you’re a sound engineer for a sound lab, do film production or you need precise, accurate, measured frequency response, this card is more than good enough for PC users.
Likes: works for me! I’m happy! Wow! Take that onboard sound chip! Installed in PCIe slot, boot, let Windows 10 do the detect song and dance. Download latest software from Creative website. Install. Done. I found it easy to configure.
Dislikes: Hmm…for me, there’s none.
I have it plugged into a stereo preamplifier to which my headphones are plugged in and I run a cable to the mic port to plug the microphone in.
prasad –
So for reference I have been ordering external amps / sound cards to find something that I loved. Have gone through the EPOS GSX 300, FOSI K5 – and of course the Apple dongle – to be honest the Apple dongle was the best out of those 3 (I know) but offered absolutely no sound customization and the mic noise reduction was non-existent and sounded like garbage while gaming.
FINALLY I ordered this thing….. and I’m in love. Great power, FANTASTIC SOUND, great mic control (voice changer is so fun in games) and a phenomenal software interface for adjustments. The only downside is the RGB’s don’t work with my MSI program , so it just means another start up program (were used to that by now). Your PC does not detect this is a separate stereo / headphone out so that is handled in the Creative software to switch back and forth which I wish wasn’t a thing, but honestly its not bad. (Side note, when you switch inputs you hear the sound card click – which tells me they are using actual switches which is awesome!) I’m using this with some Sennheiser EPOS PC38X headphones as well as a Logitech 5.1 PC stereo and they both sound fantastic on this card.
The 4 RGB lighting strips are great, magnetic and sticky on the back for extra adhesion and they look great when properly installed, originally I had them facing inward which really showed the individual LEDs- I ended up mounting them on the front, aimed to the back and they add such nice ambient lighting to the PC – very customizable in the Creative program. Also it was plug and play on my Win 11 PC – just make sure you download the Creative app or nothing works. I did NOT have to disable my onboard audio for this to take over.
In closing, great soundcard and wish I bought this a long time ago – gives me exactly what I wanted at a reasonable price and looks fantastic in my system! Highly recommend,
Mr. Gaga –
Snyggt ljudkort som jag gärna hade behållit eftersom jag har tidigare haft både Sound Blaster Z och ZxR som har presterat väldigt bra (när de funkade).
Däremot har jag alltid haft problem med Creative mjukvara för ljudkort. Fruktansvärt buggigt.
Jag köpte den vita versionen eftersom jag har en helt vit dator och hoppades på att deras nya produkter fungerar bättre.
Problem 1: LED strips som jag fick med ljudkortet fungerar dåligt. Inte ens om jag kringgår ljudkortet och kopplar dem direkt till moderkortet så lyser bara några av dem (2st med ljudkortet, ca 10-15 med moderkortet).
Problem 2: HUR kan mjukvaran vara så dålig?! Sound Blaster Command buggar som in i helvete. Så fort jag startar den så stängs ljudkortet av och vägrar fungera till jag startat om datorn. Kör jag Command igen så släcks ljudkortet. Kom igen Creative, fixa problemet någon gång? Både Z och ZxR strular som fan med tidigare mjukvara.
Eftersom jag har en helt vit dator så finns det inte många val, får bli externt ljudkort, dock aldrig mer Creative ljudkort.
Chandra Shekhar Pandey –
Bought AE-7 and from the very first day it has been full of bugs, be it the card or Sound Blaster app. I have three PCIE ports and have tried the card in all three but every other day I have to uninstall and install the drivers. Then it would work okay for a day or two and then again system doesn’t read the card. I also installed the card in my other system (with different MoBo) just to check and the same problem persists. Please don’t buy this, go for external sound card.
LJA –
Die Soundkarte ist super und als Pure Variante in Weiß ist sie auch echt schön in helleren Cases.
Betreibe Problemlos meine DT 770 Pro und die Einstellungsmöglichkeiten über den SoundBlaster Command sind auch sehr gut. (Unter Windows 11 hat die Software manchmal Probleme mit den Treibern, aber ein Reinstall von den Treibern + Tool behebt das meistens)
Mein einziges Problem ist nur, dass der Mikrofoneingang entweder gar nicht, oder nur minimal verstärkt ist. Das führt dazu, dass die Lautstärke mit meinem ModMic Uni in TeamSpeak oder Discord zu leise ist und durch den db Boost wird ein Rauschen deutlich. Die Sprachprogramme können das zwar rausfiltern, aber Voicechat in Spielen bietet das meistens nicht, weshalb es hier etwas stören kann.
TheLiberal Hindu –
There are other better options.
Oliver Hoffmann –
Super easy to install and get up and running and fantastic sound quality compared to on board
If you may need one you must get one! Fantastic card and great to see the Soundblaster cards still on the go after many years
Vijay J –
Was hesitant to invest money on a sound card, but I wanted to use my DTS system to the fullest.
After long research decided to pickup AE-7
Pacakge was cool
Build Quality with LED is awesome
Configuration is easy, but need to spend time in understanding the terminologies
Register self and product in the SBC app to save the configurations, if not you will have to configure every time you restart.
Not using the external controller for now, but an usefull one for content creators
Mounted on a MSI B560 MB this is working like a charm. Splits the channels beautifully.
Slightly over priced , but a GOOD one for what we pay.
vkvindy –
You have must high resolution supported speaker system for best result of this sound card, without high resolution speaker totally waste of money for this sound card don’t buy if you have normal speaker.
Vijay J –
For around 20 k this is the best sound card available in market right now. It supersedes any other on board sound card and also blows off some entry level AV receivers as well. The SABRE class 9018 DAC used here is awesome and you can feel the nuances of sound. Be sure to invest in some quality headphone and speaker system if you are planning to buy this one.