![]() ![]() If you are so inclined, you can also enable the headphone surround stuff on the line/optical outputs too… for whatever evil reason that may be.īeing more than a simple DAC and amp, the Sound BlasterX G5 also has a much-needed microphone input too. The G5 also has a SPDIF passthrough too, through an optical jack, if you want to pass on the audio signal to another decoder, such as a Blu-ray player. This can be enabled manually as well on the unit itself by holding down one of the three profile buttons. The G5 comes with something that a number of gaming audio peripherals should include, a direct mode, which completely shuts off all effects and enhancements, so you can listen to what’s provided by the source. Scout Mode does disable the virtual surround system, but you can mimic it by using the smart volume control.Īll that gaming-centric, software-based effects is fine for gaming, but what about music? Well, you’ll be happy to know that all those DSP effects can in fact be completely disabled. In other words, distant and quiet sounds become louder and easier to hear, from gunshots, to people crawling through grass. It reduces the dynamic range of the audio sample, making things equal in volume. ![]() Scout Mode is what most sound engineers would call a compressor. There is another option available too, called Scout Mode, which is something Creative has used on its gaming cards for a while, just with mild updates over the years. The DSP can resample that multi-channel audio down to stereo while keeping many of the surround-sound effects to create what’s typically referred to as virtual surround.Ĭreative BlasterX Software Channel Selection & Direct Mode When connected to a PC over USB, the G5 presents itself as a 7.1 surround sound device, even though it only has stereo out. It hasn’t crashed, hasn’t distorted, hasn’t done anything outside what it’s supposed to do. Not only does it work great, it’s clean, and there aren’t a dozen other plugins and apps to worry about on top. The software stack that comes with the BlasterX G5, and in fact, most of Creative’s audio peripherals, is a far cry from what it used to be. This time though, things have changed, a lot. Admittedly, even I was one of those people as there was a long period where Creative’s software was less than optimal. Now, a few years ago, if you uttered ‘Creative’ and ‘software’ in the same sentence, it would often be followed by a sigh and a face filled with anguish. On a more serious note, it comes down to Creative’s software stack and DSP effects (Digital Signal Processor) that sell it as a gaming device. What makes it a gaming audio peripheral? Backlighting of course, although there’s no RGB here. The BlasterX G5 is still a gaming soundcard, but features many of the premium audio features, too. This port is not a passthrough, so the soundcard will be acting as a hub, and as such, is limited to USB 2.0 transfer speeds. On the back of the G5 is also a USB Type-A plug for hooking up other peripherals or a flash drive. There is also two gain modes for low and high impedance headphones, which can be toggled via a small switch on the side of the unit. The output impedance on the amp is just over 2Ohms, so it’s capable of driving low-impedance In-Ear-Monitors (IEM), too. The usual bells and whistles associated with a premium soundcard are included, such as a 120dB SNR DAC capable of 24-bit 192KHz playback, and an amplifier that can drive 600Ohm headphones. ![]() While it uses USB for PCs, it also has analog or optical line-in for connecting other devices, such as consoles, and is advertised as supporting iOS and Android… but that might just be marketing getting carried away, since any device with a 3.5mm jack can connect to the G5 (unless said device had the ‘courage’ to remove the 3.5mm jack). While soundcards are not as important as they used to be, now that the ones integrated on motherboards have improved tremendously over the years, there is still a market for them – especially external soundcards, and ones with built-in amps.Ĭreative’s G5 DAC & Amp is an external, USB-powered soundcard with integrated headphone amp, capable of connecting to more than just PCs. It’s been a long time since we’ve looked at any soundcards here at Techgage, and it’s been a while since we’ve looked at anything from Creative. ![]()
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