I really wish I had come across your posting before you made your buying decision. Just buy the AE-7.
I have owned the AE-9, and I can tell you this:
The remote ACM unit is terrible.
The connector that plugs into your sound card is a low-end Mini, to normal HDMI connection that WILL BREAK easily. Soundblaster has made it so that what should be an easily replaceable part that should be a removable plug, is secured in the unit in such a way that you most likely break the unit if you try to replace it. And the sound card CANNOT FUNCTION AT ALL without the ACM unit. Seriously. Look up replacing the cable on the item. Soundblaster doesn't even like selling a new ACM unit (they cost about 130 dollars) when you should be able to fix the thing with a 5 dollar cable. It was deliberately designed to break if you try to fix it. What's more, it is functionally no different than the AE-7 in terms of sound capability, which is about 130 dollars less.
For others who come accross this posting, do not buy the AE-9. The product is a scam. At the very least they could have made the cable easy to replace. It would have been incredibly simple. Actually, less difficult than what they did to secure the cable internally, which was for no other reason than to force you to place the entire unit should the incredibly cheap cable fail... which it WILL eventually.
Also, the microphone port on the sound card has a very noticeable sound delay when speaking into it. So much so that it will be impossible to use in a game or in podcasting.
Just buy the AE-7.
