I have been using Creative brand sound cards for years, as a fact my first card was a creative sound blaster live! back in 98 and through the years I upgraded my cards be it because tech specs changed or the cards had features I loved and wanted, but the one factor that remains true through all the upgrades is that the sound quality has always been top rate with Creative Sound Blaster, music and movies have a quality that seems to come to life and games are just that much better and pop out at you as sound plays just as important role in immersion of any media experience and this Sound Blaster Z card does not fail at any of it. Pros: - Great sound quality - Easy installation - Easy to use controls - Separate line out and headphone jacks on the back Cons: - Lacks some features that the older cards had - 5.1 sound and not 7.1 surround Ok so the cons are not much for cons considering the great sound quality you get but I did enjoy the other features other cards had like the Xfi or Audigy ZS series carried and this did not make much sense to me since this Z series card brags about quad core audio processing but had less features than previous cards. If you are considering this card and you enjoy gaming this card is awesome and a great buy you will not be disappointed in the sound quality with its deep rich bass and awesome highs. Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Refurbished
Hardware was probably OK but software failed. Physical installation into the motherboard slot was easy. Played MP3s perfectly but would not play video, MP4, Youtube, etc, in a basic Windows 10 configuration. I spent considerable time with Creative technical support, who sent me alternate drivers but nothing worked. I would recommend avoiding this product, even though I have used Creative sound cards for many years and been pleased with them.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Creative Labs reputation once again proceeds them, and they have come out with yet another very high-quality audio product. The only problem I have with this soundcard is the fact that there is no longer any access to EXTREMELY IMPORTANT and NECESSITY-BASED Bass and Treble adjustment sliders, and users of this sound card and other cards also recently made by Creative Labs are now Forced to *TOIL* with an equalizer if they want their sound to be at maximum quality instead of having the, again NECESSARY "convenience" of simply setting the bass and treble sliders to the desired values. Other than that, this sundcard rocks!! 😉👍
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Pros: I am going to write an in-depth review. This new Creative card deserves it. I have used Creative Sound Blaster cards in the past, starting with the original Sound Blaster 8 bit card, all the way to the X-Fi series. I have experienced the driver foibles, hardware issues, and you name it. I have also owned the ASUS Xonar DSX, Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1, and others. Creative blows them ALL away. First, the box. The retail packaging is excellent, and shows off the card nicely through a transparent window. The card comes tied down with twist ties to the red velvet coated cardboard inside tray. Driver disks and a quick start guide are provided, although I downloaded the latest driver set from the Creative web site. I know to never use a driver on a CD as shipped, especially for sound cards. The big pros are that the card has a short, compact size with a PCI-E interface. The connector is PCI-E x1. EMI shielding (red metal), and the card has two red LEDs that are very bright and...well...more on that later. Installation was painless...I simply uninstalled my VIA audio driver, went into my system BIOS and disabled on-board audio, and then shut down and put in the card. Windows picked the card up immediately and I had sound. I installed the latest driver set and was off and running. The driver IS STABLE. The driver does not appear to be buggy. The driver is a little slow when bringing it up from the systray, but not a big deal. The driver also provides a understandable interface that is easy to configure and most importantly has a one click switch between headphones and external speakers. The settings for each are remembered between switching...which is a big deal. I do not have to unplug my headphones, and I have them hooked directly into the dedicated headphone jack. Speaking of the connectors on the card, we have a dedicated mic-in for the beam form microphone (included, but I don't use it), dedicated and amplified headphone out jack, and the typical array of other outputs including TOSLINK. The card has a header for HD Audio, but I skipped this as I want maximum quality and passing the audio over a cable that runs through the case could introduce noise. The driver provides a Stereo Direct mode that works extremely well with my Klipsh Promedia 2.1 set and provides 24 bit / 192 KHz direct stereo via the Cirrus Logic DAC with no molestation by sound effects, like SBX. I have not heard such good sound before out of my speakers. Switching over to headphones, I then utilize the SBX (formerly THX Tru Studio Pro) to provide virtualized surround and some extra punch with the Cystalizer and Bass Boost. I turned up the surround portion, but reduced the Bass Boost and Crystalizer so the sound was not over processed. Switching back and forth from standard SBX mode and Stereo Direct did not lead to crashing or any issues. I have great positional sound in my games now, so the surround works well. Get this card! It is worth it! Cons: Only one...yup...just one: those RED LEDs cannot be turned off. Not that it is not pretty and it might fit into someone's lighting scheme that uses red, but what if you have a different lighting scheme or don't like red?Read full review
The sound upgrade from onboard is HUGE (ALC892 in my case). This is a great sound card. Listening to music has never been so satisfying, and gaming is great as well. Probably the best all-round card you can get. The main gripe with it is the drivers. They are not necessarily bad, just a bit unstable... I use the card a lot with my headphones, and sometimes the sound goes crazy. Left comes out of the right side, or out of both instead of only one, or one side cuts out completely. This can be fixed by either unplugging the headphone and replugging it, or shutting down the control panel.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Refurbished
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Sound Cards (Internal)
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Sound Cards (Internal)