INTRODUCTION

   The other day i was going through some very old things and found the user manual of my very first audio card, the Shuttle Sound System 48. This was 16-bit stereo audio card and what made it somewhat special back in 1994 (where i used to live at least) was that it was Sound Blaster compatible. Back then Sound Blaster cards where the ones supported by most game titles but since Creative Labs wasn't available everywhere compatible models were the next best choice (also their products did cost more than compatible ones). Almost 3 decades later Creative is still going strong and recently released what could be one of their best USB audio cards/DACs to date, the Sound Blaster X5.

   Creative is a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products. Famous for its Sound Blaster® sound cards and for driving the multimedia revolution - which established a user base of 400 million - Creative drives digital entertainment with cutting-edge audio solutions that include premium wireless speakers, wireless headphones, powerful audiophile-grade digital amplifiers and next-generation home-theatre systems. Aiming at the new mobile networked generation by bridging the worlds of the computer, smartphones, and tablets, Creative continues to reinvent the Sound Blaster, with its ground-breaking Sound Blaster Roar series and USB-audio class of products such as the Sound Blaster X7.

   Just like the Sound Blaster X7 released almost 9 years ago the brand new X5 model is also an external USB model which this time over is equipped with dual CS43198 next generation, low power audio DACs by Cirrus Logic (digital-interpolation filters with support for five selectable digital filter responses, DoP128, DSD256, 600Ω impedance, 130dBA dynamic range, -115dB THD+N rating and inter channel isolation of >110 dB) which can deliver 32-bit/384kHz high-resolution lossless playback over PCM (virtual surround via HRTF is also supported) with a total harmonic distortion rating of just ~0.00018%. Just like past models Creative has once again equipped their latest model with an Xamp discrete headphone bi-amp (each audio channel is individually amplified via 3 stages of amplification circuits) which even supports studio-grade headphones all the way to 600Ω impedance and sensitive IEMs all the way down to 1Ω. In terms of connectivity the Sound Blaster X5 supports Bluetooth v5.0 (receiver) and sports numerous connectors including 4.4mm 5-pole (balanced), 3.5mm mic-in and 3.5mm headphone out (unbalanced) ports at the front and RCA stereo in/out, TOSLINK optical in/out, USB-C and USB-A host (for wireless audio transmitter) ports at the rear. Finally, via the Creative App software you can change audio modes, adjust the equalizer, enable/disable the acoustic engine features, enable/disable crystal voice, direct mode and scout mode, adjust audio quality, setup your speakers, adjust recording parameters, set display brightness and perform firmware and software updates. So, time to see what Creative has created almost 9 years since their last flagship USB audio card.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Creative has used a white and gray box to ship the Sound Blaster X5 in the front of which is taken by a large product picture, the main product features and the company logo.

The package contents are listed on the left side of the box right beneath a product drawing.

Minimum system requirements are printed on the opposite side.

Moving at the rear of the box we find the product pictures explained in depth and in 4 languages.

The Sound Blaster X5 is wrapped inside a plastic bag and placed between two foam spacers.

Along with the Sound Blaster X5 inside the box Creative has also placed a 1.5m long optical cable, 2m long RCA cable, 1.5m long USB-C to USB-A cable, warranty information paper, safety information paper and the quick start guide.

THE SOUND BLASTER X5

The hard plastic body of the Sound Blaster X5 (only available in black currently) measures 216mm in width, 170mm in length and 72mm in height.

It may not be a massive external USB audio card but the Sound Blaster X5 is still a lot larger than the GSX 300 and GSX 1200 Pro by EPOS Audio.

Aside the large display and the three ports (2x3.5/1x4.4mm) at the front we also have a large volume knob (illuminated), microphone volume knob, gain switch, PC/console switch and the power on/off (illuminated), mute headphones (illuminated), mute microphone (illuminated), display, headphone/speaker, direct/DSP and EQ buttons.

At the rear we find the two RCA stereo ports (input/output), TOSLINK optical ports (input/output), USB-C port and the USB-A host port.

Turning the Sound Blaster X5 over we find two long rubber coated feet.

The display of the Sound Blaster X5 is rather basic but it gets the job done (size also helps).

CREATIVE APP

To fully control the Sound Blaster X5 you will need to download the Creative App software.

Once you start the software it will check for firmware and driver updates and inform you about them.

From the main tab you can access and control most aspects of the Sound Blaster X5 including its preferred sound mode, acoustic engine (audio tweaking), direct mode, crystal voice (microphone tweaking), equalizer, scout mode (emphasizes online gaming) and mixer.

Inside the playback tab Creative has placed just that, audio quality for both speaker and headphone use.

Needless to say, the same applies for the recording tab.

Last but not least from inside the settings tab you can check for firmware updates, reset the device, change display brightness and pair devices via bluetooth.

CONCLUSION

   The very first thing that came to mind when I took the Sound Blaster X5 out of its box was exterior material quality. You see, I had the same “issue” with the external module of the Sound Blaster AE-9 but since that was an internal audio card i didn’t mind that much. Here however we have an external USB audio card and so I was expecting something along the lines of the Sound Blaster X7 model. Now I’m not saying that the enclosure will break or something like that but it doesn’t feel quite on par with the price of the product (yes, you are paying for everything inside but again I’m certain most if not all potential buyers would be willing to spend a few dollars/Euros more to get a better quality enclosure). With that exception however everything else checks out and then some. Audio quality/clarity is very good and, in some cases, results were almost as good as with the Sound Blaster AE-9 when used with several high-end stereo speaker sets and even the Stage 360 and Katana V2 soundbars. The reason I say just as good is because at times you can detect slight differences in clarity and positioning audio (even extremely hard to notice sound delays, especially in fast passed games – rare occurrence but did happen 3-4 times) in both games and movies but nothing quite important enough to justify using an internal PCIe slot for the Sound Blaster AE-9 (to many people USB is obviously far easier to use). As mentioned already the front display is large so it’s easy to read everything on it and as for the knobs and buttons, I really had no issues during the 3 weeks I used the X5. Unfortunately, I don’t have a professional grade headset here to sufficiently test the 4.4mm output of the X5 but with normal ones everything was as expected.

   At the time of my review the Sound Blaster X5 already counts 5 months in the market and currently retails for USD279.99/309.99Euros directly from Creative, a price tag which might be a bit higher than expected but is actually justified but what you’re getting. At the end of the day if you want what’s probably the best external USB audio card in the market right now (for consumer use) and you don’t really care about exterior quality the Sound Blaster X5 is the way to go and for that it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Near Excellent Audio Clarity / Detail (32bit/384kHz)
- RCA Input & Output
- Optical Input & Output
- Bluetooth v5.0 Connectivity (Receiver)
- 3.5mm & 4.4mm Ports
- USB Host Port (Bluetooth Transmitter Compatible)
- Virtual Surround Sound
- Creative App

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Exterior Material Quality (For Some)
- Size (For Some)