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)