I just don't understand why they make it internal though... Since it's actually a native USB sound card, sticking it on a PCI-E card with USB to PCI-E bridge chip is meh...I have one. It's not quite the same. There's no front-panel audio connector because that was a source of electrical interference on the original. It also has different capacitors, and a different - reportedly better - headphone op-amp.
I don't really know how to objectively test audio but happy to run some tests if there's something I can do without specialized hardware
Subjectively, upgrading from an ASUS Xonar Essence STX (the original), I am very pleased. I'm listening with a set of Massdrop Sennheiser HD6XXs and the audio is crystal clear, big sound stage, and positional audio in games like Battlefield V is incredibly accurate.
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Review and Measurements of EVGA NU Audio PC Card
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Veri
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Agree. I thought they would have brought out a USB version by now, instead of more of these 'PCI' cards.
Yeah, I understand that complaint. Personally I don't mind it being internal so long as there isn't an interference problem, and so far no issues on my particular setup.
Dumdum
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Genuine question not knowing so much about pc interfaces... would a topping D10 not make a much better usb ‘sound card’ to give spdif out and also rca analogue output from a pc if I wanted to make a pc for streaming from tidal for example into my home theatre amp (I realise I won’t get 5.1 and only stereo but the amp can then make this 2.1 internally which would make me happy as I mainly use it for listening to music)
If it was external one could use it with laptops too. When I do work at home I can't obviously use my AE-5 with my laptop which is annoying. The RealTek chip sucks and scrolling web pages causes interferences.
The Soundblaster AE-5 is not reviewed here so there is nothing to compare it to. Also Soundblaster is renowned for driver issues.
It is reviewed here, and I wouldn't recommend it over a recent Realtek chip. At least the Realtek has 8 channels that measure more or less the same. The AE-5 has a 20db difference between front channels and side channels.
I searched Soundblaster and Soundblaster AE-5 and found no result although I did find it under, "Sound BlasterX AE-5." OOOps my bad.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...and-measurements-of-sound-blasterx-ae-5.9114/
Take note the EVGA has much more amplifier power output to the headphones. The rest of the tests are veryyy close. Other than the EVGA being slightly more expensive the tip of the hat still goes to the EVGA or the new EVGA Pro that seems to be priced for less everywhere if cost is a objection.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...d-measurements-of-evga-nu-audio-pc-card.9137/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...and-measurements-of-sound-blasterx-ae-5.9114/
odyo
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I bought it when it's released. Faced totally 0 driver issue. Worked perfectly. I feel like ''driver issue'' myth comes from newbie buyers. They don't know how to use it and complaining online since it's a popular soundcard.
odyo
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Evga price was ridiculous when it first came out if i remember correctly. Around AE5 price imo it's nice card. I agree. Still Creative has huge experience in ''virtual surround'' area and their implementation is really good, probably best. I just saw the new Evga products with the reddish case. Looks interesting.
Edit: New one using different amp ADI LT1469 instead of ADI OP275. Looks interesting at $200 which is the price of Schiit stack or JDS stack. It's probably can't compete with them but it has additional features and takes no desk space. I hope we will have the measurements. Flagship one looks odd though. Same card with an additional 7.1 surround card didn't like that one. Unlike Evga, Creative uses better dacs for their expensive cards. AE9 uses flagship sabre dac but no information about amp. If they actually remove some features and drop the price it can be good soundcard depends on amp.
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I hope soundcard and motherboard manufacturers get a class action suit for deceitful advertising. Creative uses the antiquated Soundcore3d for the other channels, even in their AE-9 flagship, which costs a pretty penny.
Who knows what evga and asus use in their cards. At least for mother boards with Sabre chips you know they use Realtek.
sir_frigorifero
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but motherboards audio is super crappy given its cheap construction and poor implementation on the system. when the PC starts getting some loads of current and voltage the distortion goes nuts and you can say goodbye to an enjoyable hearing experience
Haven't had any problems in over 12 years with onboard audio. Not even with a 200w Radeon HD6970 mining crypto. The only noise was from the cooling fans.
Output voltage is fairly low however and I can't comment on headphone output.
AE-9 uses ESS 9006 for surround channels. AE-5 is really intended for headphone use only. Other channels are just extra from SoundCore3D DSP chip.
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I stand corrected it's the AE-7 that has the smae Soundcored3d for surround channels. Which is also a rip off, that thing is 250 bucks for that money I can buy a motherboard with a decent ESS chip and realtek for the surround channels.
I have had a motherboard that had USB buzz on the audio. Moving the mouse would cause the buzz to get louder. That was ~20 years ago. Things have improved considerably as we all know. MY present ASUS Z370-E motherboard is dead silent even when the volume is at maximum which it is all the time because I need more power output because I like music loud and movies at about 50-60% of scale. Other than a slight lack of power output all is well.
If a soundcard with any multichannel Sabre DAC suffice your need, take a look at this one. Dirt cheap, also uses a USB chip though.
https://www.asus.com/Sound-Cards/STRIX-SOAR/specifications/
Personally I would never buy a motherboard solely for a "premium" DAC. Even ALC1220 boards are not cheap, with all the additional PCIE, 10Gbps+ USB3 and m.2 stuff... not that they are useless, but just too much for me. A cheap board with Toslink output is enough for me and 2-3x cheaper.
I suppose you are not an experienced Creative customer. In the past they have soundcards called AWE32, AWE64, Vibra 128, Live! 1024 and so on. Do you know what these numbers mean?
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