Product ReviewsCreative Labs Sound Blaster Zxr PCIe Sound Card
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With 7 User Reviews
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 Rating: Review Date: 01/14/14  |
Cons: - RCA only for the Front but not really a big cons.- EMI Shield can prevent the use of some custom opamps.- Regular price I guess. I paid only 205$ and for me that is cheap considering it's the best PCI-E soundcard. The better it is the better it feels well invested so it's great value even at this price but you obviously gotta have speakers/headphones of AT LEAST the same price else it's overkill.- Overkill packaging. If for cereal boxes you pay ~20% on average for the fancy box, here it's easily 15-20$.- Useless "Pro Recording sister card" for most people, yet you're forced to pay for it even if you will never use it.
Pros: - Even though the software isn't perfect it is still the very best and most complete among Auzentech/Asus/Creative.- The beamforming microphone is highly customizable in the software, it's stereo unlike all other cheap microphone which are omni-directionnal and mono. It's better than nothing even if it doesn't replace a 100$ XLR/USB professional microphone.- The volume pod is awesome, the dial is super smooth and the jacks for the headphone/mic are pretty much just extensions but it's much nicer to plug ur things on a very grippy/steady pod than behind the computer or in front of your computer case on the loosy front panel "lower quality".- EMI Shield.. maybe marketing bs but prolly better than nothing and it does look good.- High Quality outputs, RCA for the Front.- Possibility of customizing your opamps.- Best sound quality for a stock card, very good layout. |
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Rating: Review Date: 12/15/13 |
Cons: Too much base
Pros: Top sound card, Comment:
The best sound card you can buy but the base setting is too high but you can reduce it.If you need a sound card this is a excellent choice. |
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Rating: Review Date: 12/05/13 |
Cons: a bit bass heavy out of the boxribbon cable to daughter board
Pros: easy installno pcie power neededeasy to use softwareDon't have to use daughter board Comment:
I bought this sound card to replace my on-board solution, and have not been disappointed. My headphones actually get loud enough to use now, and my mic actually works without having a +30 db boost.The card comes a bit bass heavy out of the box, but anyone with a couple minutes to explore the software can tune the sound to just how they want. The daughter card that comes with this product is does not have to be installed for the main card to work, which is a bonus if you're tight on space in your system. But at the same time, the daughter board does NOT require a PCI/PCI-E slot so I'm guessing you can come up with some creative(ha) ways to mount it in your system as long as the ribbon (boo) cable reaches.On that note, I would have much preferred if Creative Labs had found a better way to connect the daughter board than having two OFFSET connections and a ribbon cable...its not the prettiest setup although the EMI shields do look good (if you could see them once installed)In the end I definitely recommend this product, was easy to install and is very easy to update the drivers, Creative has come a long way since I last purchased a sound card from them. I give this product a very tidy 9/10. The only reason I'm not handing the Creative Labs Soundsblaster Zxr a complete 10/10 is the daughter board almost feels like an after thought because of the poor connection design. |
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Rating: Review Date: 08/12/13 |
Cons: PricePackaging over the top and unnecessarily wasteful
Pros: Breakout hub for headphones has both 1/8" plug or 1/4" plug and also has handy volume controlOutputs for surround sound Comment:
I am very happy with the Zxr. Sound is upgraded over my older X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty. I had to upgrade my older card because my planned new mobo does not have PCI. At any rate, the sound on this card is noticeably better than the older card, but I did need to do some tweaking in the software to get the EQ I prefer. I normally leave the EQ flat but with my speakers (Edifier S5) I required the EQ settings to be slightly higher in a few frequencies. Being able to adjust the crossover frequency for the sub is a nice touch - gives me more options for my setup.I've played music, movies and played games with this card and they all sound great. I couldn't be happier.I have yet to pair this with a good set of headphones, but plan to do that very soon. I'm excited to hear the experience that will deliver.The breakout daughter card that has inputs is kind of useless for my setup though. I got this card over the ZX because this card had better specs. It is not the same card as the ZX but just has the daughter input card added.I highly recommend this for anybody looking for an upgrade of an older card and especially over onboard audio (although that seems to be improving all the time). |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/27/13 |
Cons: None
Pros: Plugs. Production. Comment:
I got X-FI Pro for same price in 2011. Specs are same (PRO means PRO. But ZXR has two (2) synth plugs. To accomplish what ZXR can do with my X-FI, I would have to spend twice as much on conversion equipment and wires. Like all PRO cards from Creative, absolute guarantee that ZXR will be performing faultlessly long after sound file technology of today is forgotten. If you are into music production (or want impeccable sound), buy this product. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/25/13 |
Cons: -It did not work on my PCIe x4 slot, but works with x1 and x8 slots.-Unable to play DTS through analog outputs.-DD Live and DTS Connect encoders not working properly and swapping channels randomly. (SPDIF pass-through works fine).-The ZxR makes you want to spend more money ($$$$) to buy even better speakers/headphones to match the quality of the sound card. hehe ;)
Pros: -Very crisp, clean and detailed sound in all applications (Games, Music, Movies).-Great positional audio for games. Immersive details.-Speakers/headphones software switch and ACM come in handy.-Plenty of connectivity options for input/output.-Solid drivers.-Control panel is well layed out and has many features.-Integrated headphone amp to power high end headphones.-Built with quality components. Comment:
I am upgrading from a Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer and Realtek ALC898 (on-board). First off, this card absolutely destroys the onboard audio and is a substantial upgrade over the X-Fi. Everything just sounds so much better. The level of detail and clarity is excellent. You will want to pair this bad boy with a good set of speakers and headphones. Here are my impressions of how my gear sounds with the ZxR:Logitech Z-5500 - Sound is good and better than before, but the ZxR made me realize how limited these speakers are in recreating the proper sound spectrum. They simply can not reproduce accurate bass and details that full range speakers can. They are still the best bang for your buck for PC/home theater speakers. However, they just are not comparable to more expensive speakers that would make better use of the ZxR. So, the ZxR sounds great with speakers, but you have to spend a lot of money to take full advantage of the sound card.SteelSeries 5H V2 - Definitely sounds better than X-Fi and Realtek. The ZxR's headphone amp and DAC have breathed new life into this headset. The bass and overall sound got a good kick in the pants with the ZxR. The best they have ever sounded. You will notice a worthwhile improvement in sound with average headphones.AKG K702 65th Anniversary Edition - The ZxR really has a chance to shine with these headphones. Music is much more lively and natural. Games such as Battlefield 3, Dead Space 3, Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite, etc., feature excellent soundstage, details, and immersion. Movies sound good too, but I don't really watch movies on my PC. Not much more to say... K702 65th + ZxR = WIN. Now, if only I had speakers that could match the quality of these headphones...OverallThe ZxR is the best all around sound card for Games, Music and Movies. If you pair a good set of speakers/heaphones with the ZxR, you will be rewarded with amazing sound that will satisfy both hardcore gamers and audiophiles. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/15/13 |
Cons: -Poor mic-Mic sounds awful when run through the ZxR
Pros: -Excellent sound from your speakers and headset Comment:
I don't know who would buy a sound card for the mic and or mic sound improvements, but seeing how much it costs, the poor performance in that area stand out all the more.Almost everything else is as advertised, greatly improves sound when upgrading from plain on board audio (which is what I had)and all that.The "never unplug your headset again" feature, which I found very attractive, is rendered moot if you do a lot of online gaming using Vent or the like. Perhaps its my mic, Tatic 3D sigma, which is made by the same company. It sounds great, yet quite a bit worse when run through the ZxR |
I already had one of the best soundcard, I had the (Auzentech X-Meridian 2G) with 100$ of custom opamps on it but it was the best PCI card, yet my new motherboard has only PCI-E slots so I was force to change my soundcard. Is there really a difference with what I had before, not really to be honnest so for now the enhancement is mostly software-side I'd say but at least I didn't lose any SQ and I've gained a very nice microphone, volume pod/hub and an amplified headphone jack that I didn't have.