Creative Sound Blaster Z Mikrofon Test

Creative Sound Blaster Z Soundcard Review

Written By:

Updated July 5, 2022

Creative Sound Blaster Z 4

Over the years I have flip-flopped back and forth over the merits of an aftermarket soundcard for PCs, and for good reason. Over the years the merits have shifted. As onboard audio on motherboards became more robust and complex in its audio reproduction, the need for expensive audio processing units was diminished. Considering the demand waned, so did the manufacturers creating said products.

But Creative is still around, arguably the best at this particular game. Without question the company is conspicuously ane of the finest audio product manufacturers effectually. And then it was with cocky-inspired interest that I seized the chance to review their new Sound Blaster Z 5.one Dolby Digital soundcard.

Creative Sound Blaster Z

The Audio Blaster Z is a robust audio product for a reasonable toll. Y'all get a ton of options to tweak your sound, several Creative tools and applications inside the SBX Pro Studio utility suite bundled on an included CD. In that location is something there to play nicely with music, movies and games. The Z as well connects to your on-system sound decoder or home theater by fashion of a single digital optical cablevision. Plus information technology includes an external Beamforming microphone.

I of the major improvements over the previous iterations of Creative soundcards (X-Fi flavor), is this audiophile tin exist connected to a PC motherboard via PCI or PCI-Express. My last Creative X-Fi soundcard was restricted to PCI-e only, which made for some artistic system building at times.

Creative Sound Blaster Z 2

To get it up and running is simple stuff. Ability your rig down and popular the Sound Blaster Z in any available slot mentioned. And so connect your speakers and headphones (embedded 600 ohm headphone amp) via the 3.5mm jacks and/or the optical out. The Audio Blaster also supports optical in for mixing in music from an external source for editing and such. Moreover the Z soundcard supports 192 kHz direct laissez passer through to analog out. Power on your organisation. It'south always adept to enter your motherboard bios and disable onboard sound devices and so there is no driver conflict between onboard sound and your new Sound Blaster Z. Save and go out. Once you lot're back at the desktop, allow your system detect new devices then insert the included software CD to install drivers and SBX Pro Studio utilities.

The SBX Pro Studio is another feature continuing phase-high looking downwards on the previous Sound Equalizer soundcard offerings. Gone is the organization crashing audio manner switching requirement. The old utility suite fabricated use of 3-sound modes; 1 each for Music, Entertainment and Audio Editing. However, if any programs were running during the switch, y'all ran the chance of either locking up your arrangement and/or killing your computer's sound completely. Just a system restart would jar things back to sanity. None of that madness is present with the Z. Still the Z retains the versatility of previous products.

Creative Sound Blaster Z 3

The Z sports a hefty 116 decibel point-to-racket ratio. That's something virtually motherboard sound would drool for. The SBX Pro Studio is replete with a host of tweaks and settings. The main Pro Studio section allows yous tweak surround, crossover frequency, loundness (normal, loud and night) and movie dialog sounds. It even features a quick media sample video used to compare and evaluate your settings. Crystal Voice is all mic and voice chat stuff. Yous can navigate through echo cancellation and Crystal Voice FX, where you can make your voice sound like a muchkin, alien, robot, elf, male, female person and so much more. Picket Mode is an interesting new feature. This is supposed to grant the user supersonic hearing in games. It works to the detriment of your other sound performance. Only you tin hear enemies and footsteps from a bit further abroad. Spotter manner can be hotkeyed for turning off and on on the fly.

Then there are the usual suspects similar an expanded equalizer, the power to save profiles, Dolby Digital and DTS settings and a standard mixer for adjusting the various book settings for mic, digital in and out, and speakers. The Pro Studio even eliminates the ceaseless hassle of switching between speakers and headphones with a 1-click switch correct there in the quick-loading utilities.

Creative Sound Blaster Z 5

I take to say, my time with the Audio Equalizer Z has been beyond pleasurable. It utterly trounces the onboard Realtek audio chip on my X58 motherboard. Installation is a snap and the richness it adds to your sound is amazing. Games see the biggest do good, but without question music and entertainment are given the "red carpet" handling. Even the included Boomstream microphone, which admittedly I didn't recall much of, is a marvelous addition to your desktop setup. All listeners on the receiving end reported consummate clarity with the sound environment similar to me being on stage with a microphone in a acoustically enhanced auditorium. I tested the mic over Steam, TeamSpeak, Skype and X-Burn voice chat applications, with zero complaints.

Full general audio performance may non be exceedingly better than previous iterations. Withal this is a worthy successor to the accomplished 10-Fi series of soundcards. Plus the refinements to the software suite and low end price tag, coupled with the continued richness in sound and audio clarity make this a no brainer. At approx $100 (some retailers), the Creative Sound Equalizer Z soundcard is a formidable upgrade to virtually any onboard sound solution.

Editor Rating:

[Rating: 4/five]

Great

Bottom Line: I recommend the Artistic Sound Equalizer Z for anyone looking to raise their systems sound in all forms, beyond the capabilities of their onboard sound.

Pros

Incredible enhancement over onboard audio in games, music and movies
A plethora of options and tools for tweaking audio
Supports PCI and PCI-Express
Includes an excellent external Boomstreaming mic.

Cons

No clip or way to affix the microphone to keyboard, desk-bound or brandish
A free PCI or PCI-Express slot is required

The Creative Sound Blaster Z is available at Amazon for $104.99!

Spawned in the horrendous heat of a Los Angeles winter, James was born with an incessant need to press buttons. Whether it was the car radio, doorbells on Halloween or lights, James pushed, pressed and prodded every push. No elevator was left unscathed, no building intercom was left un-rung, and no person he'southward known has been left un-annoyed.