CreativeSound BlasterX AE-5 Plus Pure Edition SABRE32 Ultra-Class 32-bit/384kHz PCI-e Gaming Sound Card and DAC with Dolby Digital and DTS, Xamp Discrete Headphone Bi-amp, 122dB SNR, RGB LED Strips

I have usually run an internal Sound Card on my P.C.s, as they were ALWAYS better than the onboard Motherboard outputs, and today is no exception. In the past, I have stayed away from Creative due to their "bloated" drivers, but decided to try the AE-5 Plus on a new rig I built.Despite the 130 Mb download for the AE-5 drivers, (really?), the fundamentals of this Sound card are really good. I am sure the AE-7 and AE-9 sound better, but I am actually pretty impressed with the AE-5 plus. I streamed some High Fidelity FLAC videos off of YouTube, (Classical Music), and the sound resolution is very impressive. You can hear the individual instruments on the sound stage with great clarity, and better than some other sound cards I have used in the past. For my desktop, I am running these through the Klipsch 2.1 speakers, or my Sennheiser headphones. There is enough power output on the speaker output to power up my headphones, so I have not used the dedicated headphone output yet.In gaming, I am getting nice directional sound, and excellent clarity. There seems to be very little if any audible distortion.I know the current thinking is to have your DAC outside the computer, using a USB connection, but I am sticking with an internal PCIe sound card for now. No, it is not my Cambridge Audio amplifier good, but for my computer, the AE-5 plus seems pretty great thus far. I do not regret this purchase, even with bloated drivers. It is WAY better than any motherboard sound I have experienced, and I have had a few of those.No, I did not hook up the auxillary RGB lighting strips, but the lit AE-5 Plus on the Sound Card looks nice.You if really like to listen seriously to your music collection running WAV. files on your computer, or you like a more realistic sound in gaming, the Creative AE-5 plus is a good choice. Just make sure you have decent speakers to take advantage of the clarity. It has to work as a system. Glad I made this purchase.

Since I had my first computer always the reference in sound was Sound Blaster, even the most basic Creative’s card used to be far better than the integrated sound on motherboards. My first card was a PCI 128, then in new builds I had an Audigy SE, next bought a refurbished X-fi Titanium (the normal one) which after more than 13 years of service, I decided to replace when I noticed that my not-so-cheap dongle DAC had better sound quality. After reading a lot and watching my budget, I decided to go for the Sound BlasterX AE-5, which had similar SNR than my dongle DAC. Once I got the card installed in my system, I clearly noticed the big difference in sound, even better than my dongle DAC. One thing I didn’t understand was that it couldn’t go beyond 96KHz, until I learned a new term: “Direct Mode”. Then I realised that this mode goes up to 32bit 384KHz, but without the 5.1. I think I’m ok whit that. I don’t play games so much, but I like experimenting the effects of this cards in my games. I know there are other alternatives if you want good sound mainly for listening to music, but “Creative” and “Sound Blaster” are planted in my brain because was de best option in sound since my first PC builds. For me, this card (AE-5 Plus) sounds great for music, and this has shown to me the true power of Crystalizer effect that comes with Creative sound cards, which gives more life to compressed music.This card is not for music production, it’s for gaming, listening music and home cinema (or DVD/Blu-ray concerts in 5.1).Now I feel my speakers need to be replaced for some better option, because this sound card can give more in terms of sound quality.

Ease of Install: Hardware is easy to install, but the software is clunky and not very intuitive.Quality: Hardware failed a little over a year -- Creative Labs seems to be one of those manufacturers like Hyundai where when it hits the 100k or warranty period then they want their products to fail. Software quality is poor and offers little to be happy about. I have my PC on a UPS, regularly clean it, platinum EVGA PSU, etc so there were no surges/external factors to influence it failing.Pros: the LED strip was fun while the product lasted.Cons: Hardware failure guaranteed, price is too high for what the product was supposed to do, the software/configuration isn't easy and has limited options, the sound quality isn't superior especially at the price point: when I swapped back to my MSI mobo for audio control I discovered that the sound is more clear/easily customized.TLDR: don't waste your money on this product or this company that has poor support/quality. Go buy a mobo that has 5.1 support or audio built-in for what you are looking for.

Easy to install, sounds good. Drivers are buried on creatives site, but not too hard to find. Did not install any lighting yet. Will update if I have any issues.

The media could not be loaded. Bought this sound card for my new build and I am very, very happy with it. The sound quality is top notch and it seamlessly supports my 5.1 surround sound system. In fact, this sound card can take two channel audio and upscale it into full 5.1 audio, it's really quite amazing. Also, it comes with four 1 foot RGB LED strips that are both magnetic and have double sided tape, which is a really awesome and unexpected inclusion. They look really cool too! Refer to my video.

I finally took the plunge and bought the Creative SoundBlaster X AE5 card for my main rig and I'm not disappointed with this card at all. I paired it with my high end THX speakers and needless to say when I want to, I can achieve "block-rocking" mode when I want to.I haven't had any of the issues other reviewers have had, so I'm grateful for that as well. This is indeed a 5 star card, I am however taking off a star because one of the LED strips that comes with this card for the RGB aesthetic didn't work.Everything else is A O.K.