Creative Labs releases special edition Sound Blaster Z PCIe

Discussion in 'Frontpage news' started by Hilbert Hagedoorn, Jan 18, 2021.

  1. valentyn0

    valentyn0 Member Guru

    Messages:
    149
    Likes Received:
    25
    GPU:
    PowerColor 6800 XT
    Why would Creative do that ? these are PC soundcards, for gaming, why would they need to go into home cinema territory ?
    There's no need.
     
  2. Fergutor

    Fergutor Member Guru

    Messages:
    113
    Likes Received:
    19
    GPU:
    MSI 1660 Super GX
    I obviously mean in the specific "no 7.1 but 5.1" sense...
     
  3. Mufflore

    Mufflore Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    14,691
    Likes Received:
    2,673
    GPU:
    Aorus 3090 Xtreme
    HDMI 2.0 can support eARC, it doesnt need HDMI 2.1. The product has to support it, sadly HDMI 2.0 displays dont. (Many HDMI 2.0 receivers do)
    Saying this because the Creative card doesnt need the more expensive HDMI 2.1 to do this.

    Although I've managed to get my Samsung Q9FN HDMI 2.0 TV, playing video on its USB input, to pass Atmos to my receiver - this needs eARC.
    But it will only pass ARC from an HDMI video in signal, not eARC.
     
  4. Alessio1989

    Alessio1989 Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    2,941
    Likes Received:
    1,239
    GPU:
    .
    Some dedicated sound cards have decent components. This is kinda meh... but always crap software and basically joking EQ. Nothing compared with APO + Peace.
     
    Noisiv likes this.

  5. Aaron123

    Aaron123 Master Guru

    Messages:
    581
    Likes Received:
    7
    GPU:
    Asus RTX 3070
    I installed the commander software, but i could not find crystalizer so i uninstalled, and the new software's eq sucks. I couldn't get it to sound like the old software, so i had to go back to the classic pro studio. Such a shame.
     
    mezball likes this.
  6. Fergutor

    Fergutor Member Guru

    Messages:
    113
    Likes Received:
    19
    GPU:
    MSI 1660 Super GX
    Did you have virtual 5.1 only too (and not 7.1) ?
     
  7. SHS

    SHS Master Guru

    Messages:
    502
    Likes Received:
    47
    GPU:
    Sapphire Vega 56
    You didn't look very well it under SBX Profile page crystalizer.jpg
     
    insp1re2600 likes this.
  8. alanm

    alanm Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    12,236
    Likes Received:
    4,437
    GPU:
    RTX 4080
    Its what I do, plug display directly into GPU and use another port (DP to HDMI cable) for AV receiver. I have a 2nd display on the side, so dont have the issues you have. Before that I used a display emulator which also worked fine without issue.
     
  9. RavenMaster

    RavenMaster Maha Guru

    Messages:
    1,356
    Likes Received:
    250
    GPU:
    1x RTX 3080 FE
    Can't claim to be selling audiophile quality gear if you're not selling stuff that audiophiles want XD
     
  10. mackintosh

    mackintosh Maha Guru

    Messages:
    1,164
    Likes Received:
    1,066
    GPU:
    .
    Audiophiles rarely use their PC to listen to music, and if they do, it’s through custom DACs and headphone amps. You can get a much better sounding stack for less money anyway.
     

  11. Astyanax

    Astyanax Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    17,015
    Likes Received:
    7,353
    GPU:
    GTX 1080ti
    audiophiles are delusional.
     
  12. Neo Cyrus

    Neo Cyrus Ancient Guru

    Messages:
    10,780
    Likes Received:
    1,393
    GPU:
    黃仁勳 stole my 4090
    Same experience here, I installed it and... all it seems to mostly be is a new GUI, I see no way to enable 7.1 virtual headphones eithers. It's just always 5.1 virtual when in headphone mode. I don't really like the GUI either, it just seems pointlessly cluttered and convoluted, and the old GUI is still there.

    Side note: I have a bug where on boot the system (as in Windows settings) is set to 5.1 sound instead of stereo for headphones and it works like stereo... until it bugs out and it doesn't and an audio channel stops working, I've had to manually set "stereo" in Windows settings every boot. Only way around it is to set the card to 192KHz which in Windows settings disabled the 5.1 option from functioning, but then some janky games could have borked audio. Any other way around this? Or is it actually supposed to be seen as 5.1 instead of stereo for headphones in Windows settings, and an audio channel cutting off is the only bug?
     
  13. mackintosh

    mackintosh Maha Guru

    Messages:
    1,164
    Likes Received:
    1,066
    GPU:
    .
    That much is certain. Nevertheless, you will get a better sound out of a dedicated DAC and a headphone amp or a preamp than out of most of these sound cards, and you will get it for less money with the added benefit of portability. I genuinely do not understand their relevance any more. Is there a use case I'm simply just oblivious to? I suppose you could connect your desktop to a 60" OLED and your home theatre system, but... but why? Isn't that what a living room is for?
     
  14. Abilio_KID

    Abilio_KID Master Guru

    Messages:
    657
    Likes Received:
    2
    GPU:
    MSI 1070 Armor OC
    I installed it the other day, thanks to this thread.
    In general it looks like a new version of the GUI for the same hardware. I can even still use the older one if I want.
    There are a few weird things though:
    1 - If you close the program (not just minimize it to system tray), next time you run/start it, "Voice Clarity" will be back ON, even if you always turn it off.
    2 - Speaker calibration acts the opposite way from the older one. Distance is default 2.0m while it was 0.7m. And if you decrease it (2.0, 1.9, 1.8...) it increases in the older GUI (0.7, 0.8, 0.9...).:confused:
    3 - Today it only worked after the 3rd attempt. First 2 would start then sillently crash.
    4 - When I first run it, it complaints it can't find any hardware, but then suddenly finds it...

    Virtual 7.1? Isn't "virtual" supposed to mean it's faked in software? So it should be able to be done on the existing cards, no?
     
  15. SHS

    SHS Master Guru

    Messages:
    502
    Likes Received:
    47
    GPU:
    Sapphire Vega 56
    Are all upgrade over the top of the original installation ?.
    1: Voice Clarity is a bug good fine ;)
    2: It could be program codes base is diff even know they both use that same registry.
    3: What dose event viewer show ?.
    4: Hmm very odd

    Notes:
    Did you upgrade over the top of the original installation ?
    You should not have done that I recommend install all of them that could why 3 and 4 where a problem

    Try reading this about Virtual surround or Virtual 5.1/7.1
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2021

  16. SHS

    SHS Master Guru

    Messages:
    502
    Likes Received:
    47
    GPU:
    Sapphire Vega 56
    Agree look like something is off
     
    Last edited: Jan 19, 2021
  17. Abilio_KID

    Abilio_KID Master Guru

    Messages:
    657
    Likes Received:
    2
    GPU:
    MSI 1070 Armor OC
    Strangely, event viewer doesn't show anything about a crash. I bet the software didn't actually crash, just exited itself?!
    Anyway, yes, I did install on top of the other, as I didn't want to remove the previous control panel app. I also didn't want to go trough all the trouble of re-installing the sound card software.
    I know what virtual surround is. What I meant was, the card already has a "surround chip" capable of doing virtual 5.1. The software was updated to do 7.1 aswell and I bet both SE and non SE are the same (just with a different hardware ID so the drivers know what to do...).
     
  18. SHS

    SHS Master Guru

    Messages:
    502
    Likes Received:
    47
    GPU:
    Sapphire Vega 56
    I'm sure that the case
     
  19. Aaron123

    Aaron123 Master Guru

    Messages:
    581
    Likes Received:
    7
    GPU:
    Asus RTX 3070
    Wow... im retarded lol and I also noticed that my 5.1 didn't work. I dont have virtual 5.1, I have real 5.1.... I guess ill give it another shot
     
    SHS likes this.
  20. SHS

    SHS Master Guru

    Messages:
    502
    Likes Received:
    47
    GPU:
    Sapphire Vega 56
    Here how solve Voice Clarity by unchecked the all the function under Voice Clarity, the toggle button for Voice Clarity will now be disabled.
     

Share This Page