Well I agree with @Veri, save money and go for Sound BlasterX G6, you will get all what you need and more (mic, DSP, dedicated gaming mode & cetera) along with long lasting quality product and support. Regarding all the future's it brings & solid amplifier section the price is not that high. You probably can snatch it with some discount on amazon prime day or for holidays.
I think you will need a mic split cable, in any case. https://www.amazon.com/slp/headphone-mic-splitter/ceuun2nq7wpk4e9
Ok, I understand your advice, but the G6 is too big and I didnt find a Sound Blasterx G6 under $50
Well you probably won't find G6 under 120$ when it's on discount. Is it worth it? It probably is at least regarding me.
Ok, I thank you.
Sound blaster is more gaming oriented. If it's mostly gaming you'll do, it might do well. Not that many reviews out though.
I would tell you NO! What ever DAC Creative used on G3 it looks like ancient history, smells like an old PCM, anyway I don't think it's any better than the one you already own. I even think it's worser than TempoTec Sonata HD non Pro (21$) which I couldn't recommend you thanks to it's performance even it has mic support.
The MB is MSI x570 A Pro and the sound chip inside is the realtek ALC1220.
Well then you are set to go. ALC1220 is actually deacent performer and those AKG actually don't measure bad (they measure better than they sound especially interesting is their BT measurements) and they are fairly easy to drive (37 Ohm's) so that you shouldn't need additional amplification of any kind for those.
You could split mic and get Schiit Hel for all-in-one solution. Note that the ALC1220 is not really bad like Zolalll says. Could hold on to your money.
Hey Zolalll!
Get a G6 if you can find it for a good price.
Been searching for a few days. Initially, I thought to snag a G6 directly from Creative (B-stock for a nice deal 75~ ish); seems like they are fully out of stock. Everywhere I looked I can only buy a new one for € 150.
That's regular full price so it's not a sweet or great deal (but a regular one). If it doesn't itching you to much wait for the better deal as Creative has (had) them regularly (prime day, holiday seasons...). Unfortunately their is ongoing shortage of electronic components of all kinds which only has tendency of getting worse and more wide spread so far last example being SSD and mechanical hard discs (thanks to Chia). If you don't need bit steam (Dolby's) audio suport (you would let your TV or AVR do that part) every DAC with deacent Optical in (as much as I understand you insist on having one) will do. Thers couple of "desktop" ones so far mesured hire with a price that's under 150€, however none with ADC (mic in) or bit stream decoding. While G6 is good all around package (still performance competitive DAC, nice AMP section, DSP, bit stream decoding, rather bad ADC but still good enough for cheap mic and online chat...) you don't have to insist on gaming oriented product (more snake oil in those than audio it self) per see if you explicitly don't need some of it's functions (DSP, ADC...). For instance I use regular portable (flask alike with battery) USB DAC on PC for both music and gaming as a analog out to my amplifier or with hedaphones. It does the yob and does it good. I don't play live interactive games (MOBA) so I don't need mic (ADC) support, TV i use handles Dolby's (almost) properly (dose audio good and there's pletorija of unsolved issues with HDR [Dolby Vision scaling, HDMI 2.1 related issues, Windows and GPU vendor issues] and it doesn't help much that I careful chosen components I just get a little less issue that way). If you choose Creative after all be repaired for not stellar but after all long term support regarding drivers (on PC side) and a product that will probably last for long (which I cannot guarantee for ChiFi regarding both, of course I could be wrong and regarding Creative but in so far longe term experience it whose like that), I don't use game consoles (find it to much limiting). Even an portable dongle alike DAC like Apple dongle (around 9€ but 1.2 V) or TempoTec Sonata HD Pro (around 35€ and tops around 2V which is good for analog out line for amplifier) can do the job as long as they meet your output power requirements (as line out or providing enough power to your hedaphones).
AE-5 is reviewd hire also, comes with lower grade Sabre 32 P DAC and did not really shine. If you really need 5.1 out then it has some value. Unfortunately USB interface showed more versitile and time prone again or it would maybe be better to say Creative again menaged to mess the things up by not implementing PCIe standard in full but the end line is Creative sound cards cause PCIe issues with 4th generation of bus (makes me remember how originally Creative Ave 16 series had configuration/conflict issues with Nv GPU's at the time).
