Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus SABRE32-class Hi-res 32-bit/384 kHz PCIe Gaming Sound Card and DAC with Dolby Digital and DTS, Xamp Discrete Headphone Bi-amp, Up to 122dB SNR, RGB Lighting System

My Experience with Fixing Popping Sounds and Poor Audio Playback Hey everyone, here’s the deal: I’ve been battling nonstop audio issues on my system since I built it. My setup includes: Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-E Gaming WiFi Audio: Onboard Realtek sound Speakers: Dell Altec Lansing ADA995 THX 5.1 The Problem: From day one, I’ve had relentless popping sounds. It wasn’t terrible for music or movies, but every new audio event caused a pop at the start. To make matters worse, only the left and right speakers worked properly. During a Windows speaker test, I could hear sound from all speakers (center, left, right, and rear), but in actual playback, I couldn’t get all speakers to work together, no matter what I did. I’ve spent 20+ years in IT, so I tried everything: Disabled power-saving modes for the Realtek card using a registry hack (worked temporarily on another system). Tried installing the latest drivers through ASUS Armory Crate. Disabled the virtual driver, installed Realtek's app from the Microsoft Store, and downloaded every piece of software from ASUS and Realtek. Reinstalled drivers at least 10 times (as of January 2025). Nothing worked. The sound quality remained poor, the popping persisted, and my speakers refused to cooperate in harmony. The Solution: This week, I hit my breaking point and decided to try a dedicated sound card. I ordered the Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus SABRE32-class Hi-res Gaming Sound Card off Amazon for around $130. Holy. Crap. What a difference. All my speakers now work beautifully. The card includes an amazing built-in EQ, which lets me adjust individual speaker volumes. I cranked up the rears, boosted bass, treble, and mids, and tweaked everything to perfection. No more popping sounds. My system now sounds 3X better. I also downloaded Sound Blaster Command (Creative’s software), which is surprisingly excellent. I typically avoid letting extra software run on my system, but this one stays. It’s my digital EQ and totally worth it. Pros: Crystal-clear audio, no more popping. Full control over individual speaker volumes and EQ settings. My 5.1 system finally delivers the sound quality I’ve been chasing for years. Music sounds incredible, and my system cranks like never before. Cons: There’s a bit of reverb from Sound Blaster Command that I’d love to reduce by about 25%, but I haven’t found the setting yet. Final Thoughts: If you’ve been suffering through Realtek’s onboard audio issues like I have, do yourself a favor and invest in this sound card. This upgrade has been a total game-changer for me. Thanks, Sound Blaster, for bringing joy back to my audio setup. Realtek, on the other hand... well, you know where I stand. I hope this helps someone out there! Cheers, A happy human (soon to be deaf).

Great product. Good service by Amazon. I consider this product an intermediate to install as there's quite a bit of software configuration to do. Installation is fairly straightforward, plug in the board and plug in your speakers. No surprises, it just worked. I have had it up and running for several days, the sound is fantastic. Previous to this I had a SBRX, and this board is way above that.

Big improvement in sound quality and now I actually get surround sound through my TOSLINK connection. My only two gripes are that the software can be a little flaky from time to time, but not often and it’s an easy fix (restart the computer). You also lose the ability to control the volume using Windows, it has to be done in-app or with an external volume control. That’s a limitation of the technology though, not this card so I’m not deducting points.

I have both cards in my PC...this card crashes games I play , but is superior when it comes to audio. I only play flac files for music... cd quality. The AE-5 is much more soothing to the ear for music. My games were crashing after I installed this card...so I have both cards installed, I plug the 3.5mm jack into whatever card I need to use. I am also running my sound to a 1990's Denon Receiver that I bought new, connected to Klipsch speakers. The other sound card I am using is the Creative Z series card, been using this in all my computers for a long time and never had any issues. No for some unknown reason, this card is not causing games to crash anymore, I did nothing, and no updates were installed. ??? 2nd update: I played Ghost Recon... lasted about 15 minutes and crashed.... so I guess it is still glitchy with games.

The RealTek sound chip is an analog to the "WinModem" of the 1990's. While it does produce sound, it does so at a great cost. The CPU is doing most of the sound processing and it doesn't even do that great of a job. Realtek sound is flat, boring, and a lot of the more subtle frequencies are lost. In addition, electrical noise from the motherboard and graphics card is mixed into the fray. This Sound Blaster is amazing. It offloads the sound processing from the CPU and delivers a crisp and crystal clear experience. You do not have to be an "audiophile" to hear the difference. It's painfully clear that the sound your motherboard's Realtek chip is worthless compared to the AE-5. The only gimmick of the AE-5 that I use is the Aurora lighting of the board. I don't use the included LED strands, nor do I use the "scout" cheating app. I supposed if you are a teenager, those features would be more important, but I'm in my 40's and I just want clear sound, thank you. And the AE-5 does that perfectly. I would highly suggest you give the AE-5, or maybe even the AE-7 a shot.

I listen to a music library stored on my computer. Expensive Yamaha receiver and Dynaudio speakers. I replaced an ASUS Xonar AE card ($70) with the Sound Blaster AE5 ($159). The Xonar was slightly better than the system sound on my motherboard. The AE5 is a notable improvement over the Xonar. It's quieter with a lower noise-floor, yet with more power and authority. It offers better separation and sound stage. My system was able to reflect the improved sonics of the AE5. I value music and was pleasantly surprised that this card was actually worth the money. Recommended.

Runs like water, performs like a cake. Not perfect but still very good. Count me impressed. Definitely better than motherboard sound card.

WOW. What a difference, from onboard audio on my motherboard to this dedicated soundcard, the difference is like night and day. I have a beefy 5.1 Sony audio setup with optical out going to my receiver. My motherboard could never do 5.1 properly, so this card fixed that issue. The sound quality is also noticeably better and creative's sound effects like surround and crystalizer make music sound amazing.

This sound card you must have..it is superb and outstanding.

Great sound card . My primary use it to hook to AV receiver and watch movies over spdif. The sound is far more improved from mother board sound card . The headphone sound is also great . The LED lightings are great. Only disappointment is 32bit/96hz sound is sent through only stereo output. 24bit/96hz is the maximum sent over spdif output. That's why -1 star.

I can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve had an actual sound card. I fell into the ‘onboard sound is fine’ hole and finally climbed my way back into the light. The AE-5 is amazing. It’s sleek design, with RGB on the casing and an added LED strip add a wee bit of ambience that my case was sorely lacking. The sound is phenominal, though at the moment I’m limited by my headset to take advantage of the full spectrum available to me now. Even so, footsteps & other sounds are more accurately represented in competitive FPS games, environments feel more lush & vibrant in RPGs. All in all, I’m extremely happy with the product.