Sound blaster z- great product terrible drivers

[alicskysareblue]

 

 

HARDWARE:first off this product really does improve your sound quality compared to most on-board sound chips, it is especially amazing when it comes to improving Headphone quality, I has made my Seinheiser HD 558 a  truly impressive experience, Additonally the EM shielding really does work, I can nott comment on the mic as I haven't use it, nor can I say anything about the LED's as I tapped those over with electric tape.

 

SOFTWARE: The sofware  control is very easy and intuitive to use, which is good as the default setting is rather harsh for music, you can adjust sound levels and it also comes with presettings that are actually fairly useful, you can of course make and save your own settings.

 

So why the three stars ?,  like with most sound cards, it is the drivers. now I had no problems with installing them, but the problem is that they aren't really compatible with windows 8.1, and there are no drivers for the OS either. also there is no compatibility with linux (which I use) so the card is pretty much useless there. More damning is the fact that there is a major issue with Sound channel mixing, I am stuck to using only the two front speakers and subwoffer because the rest of my speakers sound output is mixed up, and it is a well known issue but Soundblaster seems to refuse to fix this it.

 

due to driver issues I cant really recommend this product which is a real shame as the sound blaster z really is a good product. My advice go buy a quality amp or dac and save yourself from the  hassle of dealing with driver problems.

 

[thekeemo]

ill link you to good drivers gimme a sec

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/creative-sound-blaster-z-series-driver-download.html

also windows 8.1 has built in support

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/CompatCenter/ProductDetailsViewer?Name=Creative%20Sound%20Blaster%20Z%20Sound%20Card&vendor=Creative&ModelOrVersion=70SB150000000&Type=Hardware&tempOsid=Windows+8.1

 

also get the PAX drivers if you can

and as for linux our screwed

 

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/community/forums/pax-download-z-zx-zxr.193/

[manikyath]

sidenote, why do people buy expensive sound cards, without checking if theres drivers for their OS first? (in this case linux)

[ThE_MarD]

Heyyo,

For Linux? Use 32bit kernel. At least Analog Stereo sound output works fine on a 32bit kernel... the problem is the 64bit firmware loader is bugged on the CA0132 (Sound Blaster Z and Recon3D)... and somehow kernel 3.16 made it worse lol.

I own a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Recon 3D FATAL1TY Professional PCI-E... and yeah, the drivers suck ass still. Creative Labs seem to really suck at making drivers after the Audigy 2 series. I loved my Audigy 2... I loved my Recon 3D at first... but now? She won't stop crackling! I'll be enjoying myself and then the sound will start to crackle and won't stop... As soon as I change the audio quality via the control pannel from 44KHz to 40KHz for example? Crackling gone... for a while... 192KHz? Same deal. It's definitely software though because as I've said? As soon as I change audio quality the crackling disappears for a given time.

I'm pretty sure one day I might just go into rage-mode and toss it into recycling and go back ton onboard audio... at least there I shouldn't have crackling issues.

[alicskysareblue]

sidenote, why do people buy expensive sound cards, without checking if theres drivers for their OS first? (in this case linux)

because thats life ? all knowing one /sarcasm

 

 

anyways.....

 

Heyyo,

For Linux? Use 32bit kernel. At least Analog Stereo sound output works fine on a 32bit kernel... the problem is the 64bit firmware loader is bugged on the CA0132 (Sound Blaster Z and Recon3D)... and somehow kernel 3.16 made it worse lol.

I own a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Recon 3D FATAL1TY Professional PCI-E... and yeah, the drivers suck ass still. Creative Labs seem to really suck at making drivers after the Audigy 2 series. I loved my Audigy 2... I loved my Recon 3D at first... but now? She won't stop crackling! I'll be enjoying myself and then the sound will start to crackle and won't stop... As soon as I change the audio quality via the control pannel from 44KHz to 40KHz for example? Crackling gone... for a while... 192KHz? Same deal. It's definitely software though because as I've said? As soon as I change audio quality the crackling disappears for a given time.

I'm pretty sure one day I might just go into rage-mode and toss it into recycling and go back ton onboard audio... at least there I shouldn't have crackling issues.

 

ill link you to good drivers gimme a sec

http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/creative-sound-blaster-z-series-driver-download.html

also windows 8.1 has built in support

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/CompatCenter/ProductDetailsViewer?Name=Creative%20Sound%20Blaster%20Z%20Sound%20Card&vendor=Creative&ModelOrVersion=70SB150000000&Type=Hardware&tempOsid=Windows+8.1

 

also get the PAX drivers if you can

and as for linux our screwed

 

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/community/forums/pax-download-z-zx-zxr.193/

Thankls for you responses guys I appreciate it !, I will see if this helps with situation.

[manikyath]

because thats life ? mr. high and almight

 

p.s don't ask an obnoxous  retorical question and no expect a snarky response...if you have nothing constructive to say then save it, most people are not interested in hearing it

 

anyways.....

 

 

Thankls for you responses guys I appreciate it

to be honest, i know my way around linux, and i've learned that, sadly, thats the way to do it. especially niche products like sound cards and built in wifi cards tend to have really bad or no driver support for linux at all, i've been in this spot, i know what a mess it is, and i've learned out of it, hoping those who follow will as well.

 

windows 8.1 seems to sadly fall under this issue as well, where countless programs that worked fine before seem to cause issues randomly, and without warning.

 

i'm sorry i seem snarky to you, but i can only hope you'll realise this, and use this knowledge in the future. (as this issue will be back with windows 10, and we should be prepared)

 

(PS: i have a sound blaster live, its an amazing product and i'd still use it today if it wasent horrendously outdated)

[alicskysareblue]

to be honest, i know my way around linux, and i've learned that, sadly, thats the way to do it. especially niche products like sound cards and built in wifi cards tend to have really bad or no driver support for linux at all, i've been in this spot, i know what a mess it is, and i've learned out of it, hoping those who follow will as well.

 

windows 8.1 seems to sadly fall under this issue as well, where countless programs that worked fine before seem to cause issues randomly, and without warning.

 

i'm sorry i seem snarky to you, but i can only hope you'll realise this, and use this knowledge in the future. (as this issue will be back with windows 10, and we should be prepared)

 

(PS: i have a sound blaster live, its an amazing product and i'd still use it today if it wasent horrendously outdated)

thats fair thanks for the clarification, and it is true about linux, but then I dont use linux often on my desktop (I use it more on my laptop)

[alphaproject]

Funny thing...I bought the X-fi original edition Extreme Music...not the cheaper variations that came later and it's been so good to me and how it deals with sound that I've never, ever wanted to change it to the "better" Creative cards.

 

I love how it can record sound....say you take a youtube song, play it, record, then put on usb...free song.

 

Has 5.1, 7.1. all major formats besides say...Dolby Atmos and DTS decoding on the fly. Those need software.

 

The really cool thing is that it will take a stereo source and make it dolby pro-logic. A lot of on boards have not done that as far as I've seen mainly because it's done using their software.

 

The newer cards also aren't XP compatible and every now and again I will use Win XP for recording synth work.

[Godlygamer23]

The included microphone isn't super amazing - I can't complain though because the card itself is only $100(what I paid) and included the mic.

[alicskysareblue]

Funny thing...I bought the X-fi original edition Extreme Music...not the cheaper variations that came later and it's been so good to me and how it deals with sound that I've never, ever wanted to change it to the "better" Creative cards.

 

I love how it can record sound....say you take a youtube song, play it, record, then put on usb...free song.

 

Has 5.1, 7.1. all major formats besides say...Dolby Atmos and DTS decoding on the fly. Those need software.

 

The really cool thing is that it will take a stereo source and make it dolby pro-logic. A lot of on boards have not done that as far as I've seen mainly because it's done using their software.

 

The newer cards also aren't XP compatible and every now and again I will use Win XP for recording synth work.

yeah dont get me wrong, the soundblaster z is a fantastic product, it really does improve the sound, my issue is that creative seems to refuse to fix the issue with sound swapping on windows 8.1 (and I AM NOT  reinstalling windows 7 just to have the card function)

[alphaproject]

Yea...I get it. It's just like the newer cards not working with XP. I would have prolly upgraded by now.