Creative Sound Blaster AE-9 (Metallic Gray)

Expensive? You bet. Worth Every Penny!!!!!!!
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!

Clarity, clarity, clarity
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
Love it got here just on time

Mentioning the automatic Mic level assist.
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

Have it hooked up via rca to my Onkyo Amp, powering Passive Paradigm Bookshelf Monitors and a Monoprice 12″ sub, the sound quality is top tier. Can’t wait to try it with my Panasonic open ear monitors as well

The DAC was not as much as value added as I thought. In which case – go with the SE-7 if you want an external volume control plus a DAC. Maybe that will change in the future if I experiment with line-in for my musical instruments.But yes it sounds great.

this soundcard sounds really good, but honestly the headphone DAC doesn’t really power my headphones that much.. and it would be nice if it had more outputs on it…if I want to power my headphones and speakers at the same time I cannot, I must use another headphone amp with 3 or more channels, and you’re better off doing this anyways, you can find much better mix amps out there that you could use instead of the DAC you get with this card that have alot more output power..for example the Mackie 802VLZ4 will give you a dynamic range of 128.5 DB which should make your headphones really loud, I will be purchasing one soon to test it out. Honestly this card is only worth it if you plan on leaving the headphone amp in the box, and going with something like the 802VLZ4 mix amp.