Creative Sound Blaster AE-9 (Metallic Gray)

Playing ROON into the SB AE-9 is as though hearing my music collection for the first time! The DSD files leap to life. Even the 16 Bit 44 KHz files have renewed vibrancy.My settings are all Native - NO DSP.Frightfully expensive but worth it!

I love how they build it

I upgraded from my AE-5 to this AE-9 and you can hear the diffrence, it's nicer and clean but soo much more expensive.The Command Center app that Windows uses doesn't seem to need an update at all, it picked up on it and was compatible from first run. No annoying software swapping and reboots.I'm a gamer so I play for long periods, and after like 30 minutes the card feels warm, like a mid setting to cook an egg. but my AE-5 gets kind of warm too so it seems to put me at ease to find them both do a similar thing but ya it's slightly warmer than my AE-5. I found no concerns online saying the card has failed from this many times but there was one case I came across where someone new to things might of messed up for other reasons and or had a bad factory build, defective in other words.but I guess I'll find out since his card died in like a year, and I just started using my card but guess what if my card dies and I find out what it was or if it's a weird unknown reason I will update this review with what I know, but in the case I don't update then the card has been good to me and I'm enjoying it with my DT 1990 Prowell, good luck to the buyers.

This is overkill for most people but if you want the best internal sound card, this is it. Amazon doesn’t sell this directly, you’ll have to buy it from third party sellers. My recommendation is check Creative’s website from time and time and look at their B-Stock. You’ll save $100-$150.

Love it got here just on time

By itself this sound card is better than most dac/amp separates and combos up to 1.5-2K, I have ordered and tried a few and was not overly impressed when playing direct mode with my DT 1990 pros. For about $300 you can swap out all the op-amps with Burson V7 vivids and this combo is pure bliss to your ears. Definitely on par with a 1,200 to 2,000 dac/amp with significant improvement to vocals/soundstage and bass extension. A highly recommend this card even just by itself, but upgraded even more so. This card powers any headphone I have thrown at it so far... DT 1990s, Arya Stealth, Arya Organic, and I am just waiting on my hopeful endgame headphone of HD 800s.

The description on Amazon shows this card as using a PCI interface. That is not true, It uses the PCI-Express (PCIE) interface. PCI has not been used for over a decade.

The media could not be loaded. I bought my AE-9 directly through Creative Labs.I want to share my experience to help others.I 100% agree with the Audio Playback quality/fidelity - saying it's prestine is like looking at a photo of an Indy 500 car and comparing to to seeing one in person. Even on my generic speakers this card plays audio that you have to hear to really appreciate.10 out of 10 Stars for audio.Build quality: The card is impeccable. Solid, feels like quality when you handle it. The hardwired ACM (the desktop module) is also well built and designed.10 out of 10 Stars for build quality.Easy to set up - as long as you take proper precautions like grounding yourself prior to installing the card, then it's pretty straightforward to install. Don't forget to plug the proper power connector in. I used a 4+2 just leaving the +2 disconnected and it works just fine.10 out of 10 Stars for ease of installation.The area things don't live up to the audio have nothing to do with the hardware at all. This next part focuses on the Sound Blaster Command Software and microphone setting.I use a sound mixer board that feeds into the PC line in through the motherboard normally. XLR mic used.I thought why not just use the included XLR spot in the ACM.It was easy to plug into and go into the Sound Blaster Command software and set my main volume and the microphone gain to where I needed it.Fired up things to broadcast live to a site that makes a clock sound.Initially viewers where so impressed with the clarity of the mic two people told me they just ordered from Amazon there own AE-9 cards.I few moments later people were telling me they could hardly hear me over any sound from the PC. Music or video even just video of people talking.I went into SBC and noticed the Mic gain had been turned down to less than half. So I reset it to where I needed it. I test the mic and people can hear me fine again.Then I noticed the Mic gain slightly turned down. I started describing this to my viewers and it kept turning itself down until it was less than half. Again people started saying they could hardly hear me even with it just me talking.So I immediately went into Windows sound settings and turned off Allow Exclusive Control to the Mic setting and also other drivers running on SBC. Nothing worked to stop or turn off this auto assist feature.I tried direct sound through the SBC and even that didn't stop the Mic from being turned down.I contacted Creative Labs / Creative Technology USA and explained the issue and asked if this can be turned off.No - it is not possible to turn off.I asked if any 3rd party software could be used to control the mic.I was told nothing exists.I have since used REALTEK to control my mic via motherboard line in using my Yamaha MG10XU mixer. It took some fine tuning but I think I got it to work alongside the SBC software with no conflicts.So if you plan to use the mic microphone through the ACM beware you may encounter this same automatic adjustment assist that you may not want or need.I did ask they have the developers go in and set what are called FEATURE FLAGS to allow a toggle to be seen by the end user to let them turn off this automated feature when not needed.Posted to Reddit on the Creative Official thread and pretty much got insulted by someone representing Creative Technology.So for this automated feature not having a toggle to turn it off - Minus 5 stars. It makes an otherwise excellent hardware build, high end enthusiast consumer grade gear fall short for those looking to use this exactly as Creative Technology/Sound Blaster designed it for if you want to run a microphone through it. The mic can be XLR or 1/4inch or 3.5mm no matter what one you use the software controls where the wetting ends up.I was going to return the card until I decided to try using a secondary driver for the mic only.I would totally recommend this card for the audio playback it provides all day long. The ACM is great for headphones and little else as of now. The HDMI cable is hardwired to the ACM so if more than 6 ft is needed you may need to find and extention cable for it.I am very happy with the hardware.Also the software offers zero ways to actually visualize audio. No meters for VU, LUFS, SPL no anylizers it is all very underwhelming for the price of entry.Last value for your money:While the cost is high - For hardware I will say 5 out of 5. Keeping in mind this card will go into future PC builds I ownSoftware however must be counted in this:Software alone brings the 5 out of 5 down to a 2 to 3 out of five.Had the software had the toggle to turn off the automatic assist feature - we would be a strong 4.5 out of 5.Had the software been set up with stand alone meters and built in methods to visually see where sound levels are this would be 5 out of 5.Overall value for money = 3 as it is now. If Creative decides to have the devs use feature flags to turn on the toggle for the end user to decide when they need the automatic assist off then 4.5 out of 5.As per the Creative resoresenttitive called me on RedditThis is Tom, Dick, and Harry