Soundblaster Z

[Ionstorm]

Hi Folks;

Finally decided to upgrade from my welfare xonar dg, it was like £15 years ago, I did originally take it out of my Crosshair 6 but felt the sound was still better on the DG.

 

Anyway, I stopped being cheap and bought a Soundblaster Z,  Sound was far superior, until... Discord chat with the lads whilst gaming. 

 

Sounded like a strimmer on my microphone > turns out to be interference with the GPU, put the card in the bottom slot, still there strimmin' away in peoples ears.

 

Put my xonar dg back in - gone, put the creative back in, switch to onboard sound > nothing.

 

So currently using the mic in the onboard with the headphones in the Z.

 

Anyone else having this issue?  Soundblaster support have been rather jerkish; with suggesting I should have bought the shielded red version (which amusingly I own) and then to respond with, you should have bought the USB version,  Like?  Am I the only one with this issue? And am I the only one in the world thinking if it doesn't happen with welfare onboard or a years old xonar it shouldn't happen on a top of the range shielded Creative card?

 

My respect for the company has just dropped off a cliff - if anyone has some advice or feedback holla'

 

Thanks

[Majestic]

Soundcards are literally only good as coasters.

[Ionstorm]

Yes I agree, gaming without sound at all is brilliant. 

[Ionstorm]

Amazing responses. 

[NinjaQuick]

Xonar DG is a very solid card. It is a no-frills C-Media 8786 based device. That doesn't mean much other than: It is good enough. Better than most low end onboard. However, you seriously screwed up.

 

The Crosshair 6 has a far better DAC than what the soundblaster uses. Putting the SBZ in there is literally downgrading.

 

If you need to boost your mic experience, and I am dead serious with the recommendation here following... get the Syba stereo USB adapter: https://www.amazon.com/external-Adapter-Windows-Microphone-SD-CM-UAUD/dp/B001MSS6CS.

 

 

I AM SERIOUSLY NOT KIDDING. It has phenomenal Mic quality, no need for 20db boosts or anything. I am not joking and am absolutely serious, and I recommend this for mic only. Or speakers, too.. but for sure the mic. It is cheap, and it kicks butt, especially given the super low cost.

 

 

Seriously. Cannot recommend it enough.

[Ionstorm]

@NinjaQuick You say it's a downgrade but there's software QOL upgrades and the sound still does sound vastly superior, I'm not entirely sure you're correct there in terms of the mobo audio being better quality.

 

Either way the auto volume for footsteps in FPS games is a massive win.

[NinjaQuick]

8 hours ago, Ionstorm said:

@NinjaQuick You say it's a downgrade but there's software QOL upgrades and the sound still does sound vastly superior, I'm not entirely sure you're correct there in terms of the mobo audio being better quality.

 

Either way the auto volume for footsteps in FPS games is a massive win.

The objective audio quality is superior out of the ESS DAC on the motherboard. That's all there is to it. It isn't generic audio being pumped straight out of a generic codec. And the Creative "quality" is going to rely on how it is tuned to subjectively fit a sound signature people like, rather than be accurate. That's not a bad thing, if the SBX is subjectively better to you, then cool, but there are lots of free tools available to achieve everything the soundblaster does.