Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus SABRE32-class Hi-res 32-bit/384 kHz PCIe Gaming Sound Card and DAC with Dolby Digital and DTS, Xamp Discrete…

Update Jan 16th 2020.
First the seller/vender had extremely fast delivery-god job.
Sound card hardware is good, very good volume with speaker or headphone, using Optical or Analog work good.
However I cannot recommend this sound card; if Creative cared they would have fixed their software 10 years ago.
LAG, LAG, LAG. STAY AWAY! Tried in 3 PCs, disabled onboard sound, disabled HDMI sound, still the AE-7 has Volume and recording LAG. the software is like for a Baby Boomer for control or sophistication and control.
Lag in all live Mic recordings, tried with very good Mics with Phantom power, all have Lag, Volume Lag, however sound playback has No lag, just Volume control and all recording.
for a $250+ sound card the software is an afterthought to them, I Stayed away from Creative for 10 years, this is again the last one I buy, maybe the new EVGA NU sound card.
2 of 3 desktops had fresh Windows 10 install, tried all PCI-e slots, even moved Video cards, old sound card worked, Onboard sound worked 100%, ZERO Lag.
Google it, the Lag issue has affected other cards going back to their AE-5 and now this AE-7 has the Lag issue
The issue is the Software, their Command center, if you close it, all lag is gone, however you lose all sound quality, it goes FLAT.
the Software itself is no better than 10 years ago, SHAME on you Creative, SHAME.
My old AZUNE Prelude 7.1, even if it was PCI slot, it almost kills this new card.
The Software and LAG is a Deal breaker.
Tried in 3 high-end PC, al have Corsair AX1200i 1 with i7 9700K with Asus Z390-E Gaming MB with 32G of DR4 with a 1080TI Sc, i7 7700K with Asus Maximus IX Hero with 16GB DDR4 with a EVGA 9800 TI SC. and i7 2600K with 16GB DDR3 EVGA 780TI Sc.
2 of 3 PC had fresh Windows 10 install. Boy I wasted time on this, 2 PC are water cooled.
I dont want to hurt the Vendor’s Rep, they are god, but im really on the fence about returning this card, its like more time wasted; Ill buy the EVGA and try that for recording.
Had very fast delivery, however, However! I was tracking my package, I open my door at 1pm and there outside my 11th floor Apartment on the floor was my sound card! WOW, good thing im honest,
But its an ok upgrade, I think Creative-SB could do better with its software suit., the DTS is awI could have sad it never made it, no Signature, no Buzz, no Cell phone call, just left on the ground outside my door, its a good thing I have honest Neighbors.
Segway back-Software–I upgraded from AUZEN Prelude 7.1 and it was better in every way and its old..even on my Logitech Z-55000, tested Analog and Optical, its very nice, tested headphones and it blew me away, tested on Sennheiser “Urbanite”
Worth the $250 hardware forsure if your going to use them with a 5.1, but not for recordings or using Volume controls.
Get yourself some Optical and use DTS, its very nice.
just dont use the Volume or try to record. also all three had fully updated windows 10 1909 and all Windows are legit and even turned off Virus scanner, still LAG. I spent more in my time $$ than this card is worth in actual money.
Thank you.
James MCSE, CCNA, MCP, A+,N+

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.

Estaba con dudas pero no me arrepiento de la compra. Calidad de diseño, materiales y la funcionalidad, bueno, excelente. Lo tengo conectado con la salida de audio óptica y se escucha a otro nivel el sonido. Vale la pena y si existe diferencia entre el audio de la motherboard y la tarjeta. Lo único de “RGB” que trae es el nombre de la marca en blanco y amarillo en el nombre del modelo.

AE -5 plus replaced my 15 year old Xfi Xtreme music card. So let me tell you i am not new to Headphone AMP cards. I also happen to own HyperX Cloud S headphone which pretty good for music and gaming.

Coming back to AE-5 plus is like 3 or 4 level above Xfi Xtreme music. So if you are using Motherboard on board audio chip, you basically don’t know how much you are missing out on quality of improved sound reproduction this cards offer. Even Xfi blows motherboard on board audio chips out of the water and AE-5 is couple of level above that.

Conclusion: If you want audio card – this is gold option.

(PS: Creative audio driver and command center are easy to install, no issues faced here)

This card is junk.
-No way to eliminate the ridiculous preset SBX profiles.

-Saved profiles do not actually save equalizer settings.

-Bass button does not come back on after turning it off one time.

-SB Command seems designed for the lowest common denominator and people who rely on pretty pictures as opposed to someone who wants actual functions.
-Switching between 2.1 and 5.1 is clunky.
NOT WORTH THE MONEY