Sound Blaster AE-5 Review - Long read grab an snack

I'm beginning to feel the same way.

Spoiler

Now I think the only reason for me wanting to change my current card is for nothing more than to have updated drivers, so at the least, Win10 could stop taking a crap on my sound with every cumulative update.

I mean, the default windows update driver that gets installed, breaks my card entirely, that's effin sad.

 

Update after using it for an while now I have notice that it has improved, but I can't pinpoint it but I know it sounds different in the over all sound. I know it not just my imagination, I just hard to explain if you get what I mean.

Looks like I will never touch the usb dac module inside my jotunheim again, lucky I didn't pay the full price for it any way. It's an shame that this worked better in my setup then the module.

Software still working very well on my end, at random on boot up the RGB strip gets turned off but minor. After some driver updates the software side should improve more so, besides making that hp safety function optional. I hoping they take my advice about it.

 

Neat.
More precise placement of voice/instruments and better focussed micro detail/air, smoother sound?
There is an element of getting used to it which doesnt make it any easier to describe.

My new DAC is on its way.
First impressions will be in the High End Audiophile thread probably next week.

 

Yea I do hear improvement in the details,bass, the sound stage and imaging and more including the placement of the voices, it just hard like you said to explain it. Both Directly with my ATH-AVC400 and into my jotunheim with the R70x.

I bet you can't wait to get your hands on it.

 

Sweet, I'd really like to hear it.
Not so likely in my circles unfortunately as everyone is either into external DACs or isnt bothered about sound quality.

lol yep, pretty excited about the new DAC.
Its purely valve driven apart from the DAC chips. It has no other solid state devices.
I was going to wait a month to verify how good a new mod is for it but couldnt bear it.
If reports of the mod are good I'll get that as well

Please can you report back how the AE-5 settles in say a month.

ps another review of the AE-5
https://hothardware.com/reviews/sou...a-gaming-sound-card-for-headphone-aficionados

 

Yea I can

 

The AE-5 does not appear to have an optical input. That's a deal breaker for me. I previously upgraded from a HT Omega Claro Halo (has optical in) to an Asus Essence STX II (no optical in). so now I have 2 sound cards in my PC, which is less than optimal but it does work. I've been looking for a high end sound card that does have the optical input without any luck. Was hoping this SB would.. but alas. Sometimes motherboards do have optical in, but mine does not.. so I guess technically I have 3 sound cards in my PC, one of which is disabled.

 

Easy solution is a USB optical in adapter.
They are hard to find without a soundcard but this is so cheap, who cares.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CSL-8-channel-simultaneous-recording-equipment/dp/B01HM5KP5A

 

That's interesting.. but

This item does not ship to the United States.

I imagine I could locate something similar on amazon.. but still.. my concern is with the USB latency. I use my PC for creating music and it's gotta be spot on. I did try and find a PCI device with just an optical in.. no joy, and professional interfaces are extreme over-kill just to get the optical in I need.

It's surprising to me that high end sound cards don't seem to support that function when home recording is growing in popularity.

 

There is an line In function, unless the only choice you have is optical or you prefer to use optical.

 

Here's the results part of the Review


Gear

For the review I will be using the AE-5 to drive both the Ath-AVC400’s and the ATH-R70x’s. The Avc400s are easier to drive then the R70Xs. I will give results based on how well the X-amp headphone design can handle my R70X’s, which are 470ohms with a high power requirement.

I will also pair the AE-5 with my jotunheim to show you how well it works as a source for an, my JBL LSR 305 will be used for this. I will be using Stereo direct when using the jotunheim and direct hp when doing the music listening with my headphones.

When I doing the game test I will do both stereo and virtual headphone 7.1 mode with SBX at 67%, with none of other settings enabled.


Songs
The songs I decided to go with in this review, they are native flac.

MPIA3 – Your Orders (Techno)
Com Truise – Sunspot (Electronic)
Freeland – Under Control
reinier baas – Squalor (Fusion/Jazz-Rock)

Music

AE-5
ATH-AVC400(Direct HP)



MPIA3 – Your Orders

The song is mostly bass and snares with some electronic songs, the bass is not boomy or muddy, it does a good job of going deep. While at the same time it comes off as being clean as you are easy able to hear the different beats. The electronic instrument is a bit too detailed, but not bright. Could just be the song.


Com Truise – Sunspot
Right off the back the song has a feeling of a spacious type of sound, the drums kit is very accurate due to the fact you can hear exactly how hard hard and soft the drums are played, including the bass. Even the hit hats comes thru very well. Nothing is overlapping each other, you don’t get that feeling that the drums or the snares trying to run each other over. Nothing like that, the bass is not in your face, it just there.

Freeland – Under Control

Song has a very good drum beat to it, similar to sunspot with the way the drum kits comes thru. You can hear the snap of the drums clearly. The voices is hard to say while being clear, it feels like the lead singer is in front of me on the stage. The backup singers are coming from the sides, with one on the far left center almost to the left of you. The sound image does sound a tad 3dish but mostly 2d, with a small to medium size sound stage. Even then the song still sound good to me. Its was hard to say how every thing sounded with these headphones.

Reinier Baas – Squalor

Almost exactly the same as freeland, only instead of voices, its instruments being projected from the front of me and the sides, with it even feeling like there's a second piano behind my right side. while a drum kit and all is behind my left side. Every thing is clear with no brightness any where with the right amount of details. With a 3dish type of sound image. Other then that, nothing sticks out at me.


AE-5 /w Jotunheim (JBL 305)

MPIA3 – Your Orders
The bass comes out very good in this song, it’s not muddy at all, even when the song is nothing but bass with some electronic instruments. Both can be heard very clearly with good detail. None of the instruments are overlapping there is no brightness any where in the song, the highs are just as clean as the rest of the song with details too. Over all the bass is tight and goes deep, ae-5 did a very good job as a source with this song.

Com Truise – Sunspot

Details and cleanness is at the for front in this song, the highs like before is not bright at all, but have a lot of details. With the drums hitting hard at the same time they are not impactful or have that slam type of bass but controlled, snares in the song tell a different story and may are very detailed as you can hear how much they are hit.

Freeland – Under Control

The vocals in this song is very good and are projected from the center of the sound stage and spreads out, the backup singers are also clearly heard coming from the sides of you and re-verbs to the center of you. Almost feels like there in the room with you, including the guitar which comes off as being the front right of you, the drums are very accurate and control as you hear them snap. The snares still have details but unlike the last two songs they are perfect, no out of control details any where in the song. Even the bass sound good in this song as it goes deep while staying clear. The sound stage and image is very well done with great separation.

Reinier Baas – Squalor


Whoa this song sound really good, I can’t put into words on how good this sound. Very similar to the results I heard from free land, but the highs has very good details while at the same time not being too detailed which came off as being smooth. The bass went deep as well but you could hear how deep it went, I don’t know how to explain it. Every thing sound like I'm there listening, there was great sound imaging and separation, even the sound stage was a very good size.


I didn’t expect the ae-5 to be a very good source for my jotunheim, results are even better then my jotunheim dac module which made every thing super bassy and 2dish and no where as clean as this, even the vocals came out better on the ae-5 with my jot. Bass is so much better on the ae-5 in compare to the jotunheim dac module.


AE-5 /w (ATH-R70X) (Direct HP)

MPIA3 – Your Orders

This song does bass really well, it doesn’t over do it on the bass, there is a force to it, but its not of impact to it but enough. There is no static distortion any where, the synthesizer has a good amount of detail in its sound, but its not overly detailed only a hair to my ears. What I like most about this song is the way the bass sounds as the notes doesn’t run into each other.

Freeland – Under Control

When I sit back and listen, I notice the main singer is in front of me, Sounds like hes on stage in front of me. The drummer is behind him as you hear him hitting on the drums, with the bass drum sounding like a bass drum with good accurately. The guitar has a deep feel, in front of me on the left center of the sound image. I can tell where the backup singers are as they sing there line behind the drummer. With a second singer to the left of me as his voice goes from my left to the right as it reverb. With electronic sounds moving around the sound stage. It doesn’t have any brightness and it’s not too detailed, but you can hear the snares without a problem. It sounds wonderful to my ears. Separation is very good too, none of the audio is merged into each other and can be heard as there own instrument and vocal.


Com Truise – Sunspot

Similar sounding to freeland but has a spacious type of sound at the start of the song, While you can hear all the detail of the hit hats maybe a tad tiny, with the accurately of the drums and the deepness of the bass drum, yes it bass is there and you can hear it, but its not impactful, I know I keep using the world accurate for the bass, but its there when the song calls for it. It doesn’t add it self to the songs. Meaning if the song has bass in it, it will be there, if it doesn’t then it wont.

Over all it has the same good separation to it as the other songs had.


Reinier Baas – Squalor

I can’t think of any thing to say other then it sound exactly the same as the other two songs, it is very enjoying to listen to. Very relaxing to sit back and listen. Nothing is out of place or wrong with the song.

AE-5
ATH-AVC400
(Stereo)
Doom 2016

The first thing I notice was the bass, even in the game it goes deep while having power behind it. it’s never too much bass to the point of it static. Which is what I was glad to hear. While I was playing the game, I was able to hear where every thing was. The gun fire from the shotgun sounded like a shotgun and not a peashooter. I heard every thing clearly including all of the sounds on the map. Nothing came off as bright. I def notice the sound stage being some what small, but that was due to the headphones.

Dying light

The results was very similar to doom, only this time I really felt I was in the game, I was actually scared running and panicking, even know I knew it was a game, the infected sound like they was really there. The sound image was really good in this game. The shotgun has power behind it sound. Ae-5 did a very good job with immersion factor.

(VR 7.1 Headphone /w SBX 67%)
Doom 2016

While I was running around the map shooting, the positional sounds was much better then they where with just stereo. I heard every thing coming from every where it was more accurate, at the same time the audio sound just as good as it did when I had it off. Nothing was messed up.

I only had sbx on and none of the other settings, I don’t know what they did, but I don’t recalling sbx working this good before. But that was 6-7 or so months ago when I had an zxr.

Dying light
The results was the same, it was just much more immersion then without it. I it was far more easier to hear where every thing was. I was even able hear a zombie walk up on me while I was picking a lock as I heard it got closer and closer til I heard it right up on me. It was more enjoyable using this function when I was gaming then without it.

AE-5 /w Jotunheim (JBL 305)

Doom 2016
when I was using my dac module, It made doom not enjoyably due to the bass being way too much causing static and other issues with the game audio. The ae-5 is another story, I didn’t have any none of that bass issue that the jotunheim dac module had. The bass had similar sound signature as the songs in regards to sounding good, it still went deep without causing issues with static, it was also controlled. The rest of the game sounds was very good, but the bass was the main reason why I did doom.

Dying light

Every thing was clear while sounding just as good as the songs did, I don’t know what else to say here. The bass was the same way too, the bass from the shotgun was well done. Again the AE-5 worked very well with the jotunheim and my jbl 305s.

AE-5 /w (ATH-R70X)


Games
(Stereo headphone) (Direct HP)
Doom 2016
Sounds really good, with good sound imaging, all of the audio was clean nothing was dirty sounding at the same time it was clear. I didn’t find the game audio to be bright at all or be too detailed. Nothing sounded tinny or too warm.

I used to have bass problems in this game with all of the other sound cards including my USB dac module in my jotunheim. This is the first time the bass doesn’t come out all distorted and clipping. I notice the bass goes deep just like it did in music. As I was shooting demons, it felt very immersion. The guns sounds like guns, you heard every thing as the sounds go off, no game audio was merged together.

Dying light

As I play the game, throwing grenades and hearing them explode without being muddy or statically. You are granted with deep bass, while every thing is so clear. I can hear every sound detail, fire arms have power behind there shots, so they sound like guns and not peashooters. It’s not too much bass or too little, it just right. Sound image is very good, I knew what was coming from me, as well when I was running with zombies behind me. There wasn’t a hint of brightness any where.

(VR 7.1 Headphone mod /w SBX %67)
Doom 2016

The sound imaging and positional audio is much better then it was in stereo, I find it to be a much more immersion experience then it was without it. Every thing still sound good, as the audio is not outta whack. It was more accurate on where all the demons was. I don’t know what going on, but I found it to work better then what I remembered. It could be the VR headphone 7.1 speaker mode being used along with SBX. I enjoyed game more then I did without it. As I was also able to hear overhead audio better too. It didn’t have some form of echo to me either.

Dying light

The results was the same as Doom while still sounding good, it worked even better in the game then it did in doom. I even heard the infected walking under me when I was standing on a light pole. Game audio still sounded good including the voices. I didn’t have any issues at all with the way it sound. It was all clear.


Conclusion


I been enjoying this card every since I got it, the performance surprised me as I didn’t know what to expect. It sounded very good with my jotunheim even paired very good too. I not gonna lie, I liked it a lot better then I did the dac module inside my jotunheim.

It even sound good with my R70X’s plugged directly into the card it self along with the AVC400. I went in thinking that I may not like the card and that it might get sent back. But none of that is gonna happen as I def keeping this card.

The X-Amp designed headphone amp perform very well with my AVC400s and surprised me when I tried my R70x with it. I don’t know the power ratings it supplies for each of the ohm settings. But it handled the R70X which I had set to 600ohms, because there wasn’t an ohm setting for 470ohm. I also had to use around 15% volume. Of course it not on the same level as my jotunheim, but I still liked how it performed on the AE-5.

Even as I tried other songs then what I mentioned in the review, and I really enjoying it.

The VR headphone 7.1 used along with SBX at 67% did a very good job in the games I tested. I haven’t tried the VR headphone 7.1 speaker mode by it self, I only assume it worked with SBX on.

There are glitches in the software but that kind of effected when something new just come out, Hoping creative fixes it, so the ohm settings will stop resetting, maybe add a 3rd headphone setting for Stereo, so one won’t have to use Direct Headphone and lower and raise the volume each time before use so they don't get blasted out there chair from the volume.

EDIT aug 8/21:The gain switch resetting is an safety feature, I talked to creative about this, and they said they may look into making it optional, so you can turn the feature off and on, As I mention it would annoy some folks. If setting the gain back on reboot may bother you, then it be best to see if they give the option to tick off the headphone gain protection.

 

You know what, I might get one of these.
I no longer have a very high def 5.1 pre-amp because the Oppo went back.
My Emotiva UMC-1 (which is now doing surround duty) has around the same quality DAC as my old Auzentech Prelude.
But I realised today that it has multichannel analogue in. I need to find if it can let that out untainted.
If so, the AE-5 may suddenly be exactly what I want.

Luckily my front power amp (Emotiva XPA-2) has a switches on the rear for RCA or XLR input so I can keep my new stereo DAC plugged in with the UMC-1.
Might be a win win win with the AE-5.
Now I wonder if there is going to be an enthusiast version...

(man its hard to read what you have typed with the dark theme on this new forum. It otherwise looks great)

 

good breakdown and review. i already have this chipset (in my laptop) so i was predisposed to the ae-5 for my desktop. especially since i know about the discrete circuitry... the main way i'd realize a qualitative improvement and necessary for my studio rig as i don't have a surplus $2,500 for the pro audio chipset variant.

 

Yea I know what you mean in regards to the new forum, I had 20k of characters in the old forum, when every thing was moved to the new one, I had to break it into parts just to be able to edit it , even with the increased limit.

But at-least I can embed that video now that I had an link to. If your talking about the AE-5 then yes, it has an 5.1 speaker option with an custom setting for the cross over, the Neutral profile will turn off all of the settings. If you mean by passing the DSP all together for the 5.1 and using just the dac . Then there isn't an option to do that. I could email creative to see if they would do that, since it look like they been looking at my feedback. But for the time being there is only an Stereo Direct option for by passing the DSP. Might get them to do something if enough people give them feedback, since they mention to me that they will look into any feed backs about the card.

 

I have a question for OP or anyone who owns one of these and is using Win10 Pro x64.

Have your gaming benchmarks shown anything that may suggest it helps overall system performance?

Spoiler

Reason I'm asking is that I'm firmly convinced, after days of testing different driver combos (gpu+sound).That because of the age of my X-Fi Fatal1ty Champion, Win10 WinUpdate default X-Fi drivers from 2010 are now the only ones that don't hinder my Gpu OC.
Firestrike will pass at 2100mhz on the gpu only with those drivers installed for the sound card.Any other Creative driver, it fails.Scores are also 200-300 points lower than when I had the Creative driver from 2016.Graphic Score is unaffected.
Gaming wise with the 2010 driver, performance is smooth and fast, with 3d sound being very clear and accurate through my headphones and 5.1 works as it should.I know I shouldn't be complaining but the bench score has me worried that my rig is under-performing now, but gaming doesn't show it.
It's actually, unnervingly better...am I being too anal about this?

 

I meant passing 5.1 analogue out from the AE-5 through my UMC-1 because the UMC-1 is already using the power amps 5.1 RCA in.
My question (to myself) is whether the UMC-1 can be told not to convert analogue in back to digital, I want it to pass through untainted.
It wont be quite as good as a direct connection from the AE-5 to the amps but it will probably be better than using the UMC-1s DAC for PC stuff.

My new stereo DAC mustn't have anything in the way, it will connect direct to the power amp via XLR.
Otherwise its potential will be wasted.

 

I haven't had any performance drops or issues regarding to GPU ocing. Every thing working perfectly without no issues from the drivers. I been playing a lot of games this week without any problems.

 

Ok great to hear, thank you.

 

In case this helps anyone.
It appears that 7.1 multichannel in is not reprocessed, it is only affected by the volume control which I have to assume is analogue.

I plugged my motherboards DAC into the UMC-1 (7.1 analogue in section) and it holds on to a fair bit of the extra detail.
Directly comparing stereo optical in (uses the UMC-1s DAC) and stereo analogue in (fed by the Sabre ES9023P DAC), there is definitely more detail from the 9023P DAC.
Note there are 2 stereo outputs on my motherboard, only the front headphone out uses the 9023p chip. This is what was tested.

This makes the AE-5 a viable option routing through the UMC-1 but not just yet.
I'm all spent out on DACs and fixing my car!

 

http://support.creative.com/Downloads/welcome.aspx new drivers are out XD