CREATIVESound Blaster X4 Hi-Res 24bit/192kHz External USB DAC and Amp Sound Card, Super X-Fi, Multi-Channel, 7.1 Discrete Surround, Optical-in, Optical-out, Line-in, Mic-in, Headset-in for PC and Mac

Love it. Been using it with some sennheisers for gaming and listening to music. Cost me less than 200 for the both and sounds better than even more expensive gaming headsets just directly plugged in to your computer or console.Few people whinged about the software. Been fine for me.

When I connect my onboard soundcard to my powered speakers via aux I can hear crackling and noise. Put this device in the mix and the background sound is silent. So worth it as a filter alone.Various connection options and easy access to a front mini-jack for my ear phones. A very worthwhile addition to my PC. I’m connected:USB from PC to CreativeOptical from Creative to Powered Speakers.

The sound coupled with my beyerdynamic 990 pros make gaming and listening to music a joy. I can't fault the sound quality. The only thing I dont like about these and the X3 is that there isn't another usb input on the unit and most mics use usbs and not the 3.5mm jacks anymore. If your not that bothered about tweaking your mic then its fine.

I really like this sound card - it is superior to the older X3 despite having slightly lower specs on paper as well.I use this as a “plug and play” device and do not bother with any of Creative’s software - you would need this if you wanted to use SXFI or create your own EQ presets however.Compared to the X3, it offers greater volume output right off the bat, roughly equivalent to that of a higher end motherboard on its maximum gain setting - I like this a lot. The grey colour scheme also makes the X4 look more premium compared to its predecessor.My favourite feature of the X4 is that it allows me to switch between headphone and speaker output using a physical button - volume levels are saved between each and it removes any potential issues that may arise from switching audio devices in Windows.Since it is external, if your motherboard audio suffers from electrical interference at high load, using this will solve that issue as well. My current motherboard (Asus X670E Hero) does not suffer from this and has excellent onboard audio - but I still much prefer to use the X4!All in all - I strongly recommend this device for those who wish to upgrade from onboard audio and take their PC audio experience to the next level!

I bought the Sound Blaster X4 external "sound card" for two reasons.1-I because it was necessary for better sound using a mini-micro PC in a small chassis not big enough for typical sound cards.2-Because I wanted the flexibility of an external device that would serve at least a 5:1 speaker system.This sound card should suit almost any PC or game user as well as those simply wanting very good audio.Build quality seems very good and its small size and desk foot print made it very functional in my case.As usual once discovered the Creative app software compatibility makes everything accessible that you might need to tweak, although in many cases leaving everything as standard is great as it is. Installation is easy and as near plug and play as possible. Even without is own dedicated drivers it worked but of course remember what is written above to get the most from the card.At first I was only let down by the lack of an ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output) driver especially as I sometimes produce music for my own multi channel entertainment.I wrote to Creative to find out if a dedicated ASIO driver was in the pipeline.Creative were amazing... They responded by email within a day saying that the X4 was ASIO 2.1 Compliant but the driver was not included in the standard Creative app or the SXFi app. The representative said that they would find the link for the ASIO driver from the Creative team.A second email arrived with a link to download the ASIO driver.Once installed all if not more than expected ASIO channels functioned from within my DAW and other VST apps.If there are musicians looking for a one stop ASIO sound card the Sound Blaster X4 might just be for you given the value for money that compares well considering the up to 7:1 ASIO multi channel once installed.In addition it is good to know that Creative can and will help as they did with my enquiry.Well done the Creative and their product.

Having owned an internal soundcard for a while now, an Essence STX II, I decided that my new PC build would enjoy a new, external sound card. USB sound generation?! The future is now!What a mistake that was.The item itself is nice. It looks great parked on the desk. That's where the positives start and end, as no matter what I tried, I could not get this to output 5.1 audio via SPDIF. I couldn't even get Windows to recognise it as a 5.1 capable piece of hardware. All efforts returned to stereo output. This is to the same speaker setup that said Essence STX II has been managing 5.1 with, effortlessly, for several years via SPDIF even though the Essence STX II is out of official driver support and relies on community drivers (which work flawlessly on Windows 11).The Creative software is atrocious, also. A minefield of multicoloured icons with no distinct purpose or intent. There's zero logic to any of it and that then carries through to Windows itself, trying to make sense of whatever the Creative software is setting.After spending days, trawling numerous reports and posts by people online suffering from the same, I just have no option but to give up. My trusty Essence STX II is back in, installed with drivers and outputting to 5.1 dolby, recognized by windows and passing all 5.1 speaker output tests.Maybe USB sound generation isn't the future, after all. Unless you're just looking for a dumb stereo/virtual surround gadget that you can plug some headphones into. Seems a bit pricey for that, though.