Review and Measurements of Sound BlasterX AE-5

[Thunder]

I have this sound card in my PC. But I also bought a THX 789 around the time (May 2018 for the sound card, Nov same year for the Amp) for whatever dumb reason at the time. I want to buy the Topping D90 and go balanced, but don't know if its worth it to do so. I made my own post in a different section of the forums about this, but wasn't sure if I should put it here as well. I'll link my post to make sure if is okay. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...stions-about-my-setup-really-long-post.12958/
Would there be a difference if I did buy the D90 and used balanced cables?

I'm giving you my opinion: I had this card in my gaming PC with a pair of not studio monitors, just regular powered speakers (Edifier 1280T) without balanced cables and now I just got the DX7 Pro with a pair of good studio monitors (JBL 306P MKII) and XLR balanced cables from Monoprice. I've got to say that I don't find any difference in sound quality.

It's a very good sound card with great performance, I think it's not worth the upgrade but maybe you've got better ears than me, I don't find any difference.

Hope it helps.

 

[odyo]

You changed your speaker and you didnt noticed the difference ? Thats odd.

 

[Thunder]

You changed your speaker and you didnt noticed the difference ? Thats odd.

Yes. Maybe I don't have the best ears in the world.

 

[Firegod]

I'm giving you my opinion: I had this card in my gaming PC with a pair of not studio monitors, just regular powered speakers (Edifier 1280T) without balanced cables and now I just got the DX7 Pro with a pair of good studio monitors (JBL 306P MKII) and XLR balanced cables from Monoprice. I've got to say that I don't find any difference in sound quality.

It's a very good sound card with great performance, I think it's not worth the upgrade but maybe you've got better ears than me, I don't find any difference.

Hope it helps.

I had connected my 789 amp to the line out of the soundcard today and listened to it. I didn't use any level matching or special files, just used the same set of headphones(Sennheiser HD6XX). I personally could not hear any difference. So for now, I will just keep using the sound card only and put the 789 in storage. Maybe one day I will get a DAC if my AE-5 ever goes kaput. Which I hope doesn't happen anytime soon. Or at all.

 

[odyo]

I had connected my 789 amp to the line out of the soundcard today and listened to it. I didn't use any level matching or special files, just used the same set of headphones(Sennheiser HD6XX). I personally could not hear any difference. So for now, I will just keep using the sound card only and put the 789 in storage. Maybe one day I will get a DAC if my AE-5 ever goes kaput. Which I hope doesn't happen anytime soon. Or at all.

Damn 789 expensive than 6xx+SBX AE5 combined.

 

[odyo]

There is also a lot of power at 33 ohm but one channel degrades a fair bit:

I recently bought Hifiman Ananda 25 ohm, 103db/mw sensitivity. I'm heaving weird problem sometimes with my left driver. Is this degradation audible ? It happens with bassy song Massive Attack - Angel. Bass cuts out for 1-2 seconds and comes back. Also it's making pop noise regularly.

Worth noting i didn't have any problem with the soundcard before. I've used it with 250 ohm Beyers DT 770 and DT 1990 without a problem. Ananda seems less sensitive than 1990.

 

[Veri]

I recently bought Hifiman Ananda 25 ohm, 103db/mw sensitivity. I'm heaving weird problem sometimes with my left driver. Is this degradation audible ?

Maybe. It might be worth investing into an amp like a JDS atom and connect the 3.5mm line-out from the Sound blaster to it. (or a magni heresy or similar, might need 3.5mm to RCA cable then). Ananda is sensitive in terms of power but might make the 'bad' channel more obvious.

 

[odyo]

Maybe. It might be worth investing into an amp like a JDS atom and connect the 3.5mm line-out from the Sound blaster to it. (or a magni heresy or similar, might need 3.5mm to RCA cable then). Ananda is sensitive in terms of power but might make the 'bad' channel more obvious.

I'm waiting for L30 release. Planning to get the stack E30+L30. I'll experiment with this issue more and try to pinpoint what the issue is. Hifiman qc is questionable but my pair seems nice.

Edit1: I noticed the problem in this song and this song has very prominent bass. Bass requires lots of power so i'm suspecting the amp.

Edit2: Also bass seems wonky in busy songs at high volume. It's like it can not find room/space for itself.

 

[Veri]

I'm waiting for L30 release. Planning to get the stack E30+L30. I'll experiment with this issue more and try to pinpoint what the issue is. Hifiman qc is questionable but my pair seems nice.

Edit1: I noticed the problem in this song and this song has very prominent bass. Bass requires lots of power so i'm suspecting the amp.

Edit2: Also bass seems wonky in busy songs at high volume. It's like it can not find room/space for itself.

From what I see, it's possible:
-amp clipping, could be in one channel
-hair in driver of one of the earcups?
-worst case, one of both drivers has a defect
best to troubleshoot what is going on, of course.

 

[maxxevv]

I'm waiting for L30 release. Planning to get the stack E30+L30. I'll experiment with this issue more and try to pinpoint what the issue is. Hifiman qc is questionable but my pair seems nice.

Edit1: I noticed the problem in this song and this song has very prominent bass. Bass requires lots of power so i'm suspecting the amp.

Edit2: Also bass seems wonky in busy songs at high volume. It's like it can not find room/space for itself.

Sounds a bit like amp output clipping at low frequencies due to inadequate power.

Do you have the same issues with bass-light music at equal volumes ?

But it would be best if you can counter check with someone / somewhere that has an amp of higher output rating. At least you'll can eliminate one of the unknowns that way.

Some of the things @Veri might equally be true.

 

[odyo]

From what I see, it's possible:
-amp clipping, could be in one channel
-hair in driver of one of the earcups?
-worst case, one of both drivers has a defect
best to troubleshoot what is going on, of course.

Sounds a bit like amp output clipping at low frequencies due to inadequate power.

Do you have the same issues with bass-light music at equal volumes ?

But it would be best if you can counter check with someone / somewhere that has an amp of higher output rating. At least you'll can eliminate one of the unknowns that way.

Some of the things @Veri might equally be true.

This is weird but it's only happening with this source:

Listening same song with Tidal Hifi no problem i can even go higher volume.

 

[Tup3x]

You know, I'm pretty sure that track just is poorly mastered. You can rule out AE-5 amp since I get pops through O2. Also that song just is wonky.

YouTube audio quality is turd anyway.

 

[odyo]

You know, I'm pretty sure that track just is poorly mastered. You can rule out AE-5 amp since I get pops through O2. Also that song just is wonky.

YouTube audio quality is turd anyway.

Yep that's true. Official youtube video of this song have problems. It has no problem on Tidal.

 

[PlayToBeat]

If I play COD Warzone, watch Netflix and use Dolby Atmos, will the ae-5 work with the Dolby Atmos and improve the sound quality?

Edit: Would you take AE-5 or G6? (only for PC use+DT990 headphones.)

 

[odyo]

If I play COD Warzone, watch Netflix and use Dolby Atmos, will the ae-5 work with the Dolby Atmos and improve the sound quality?

Edit: Would you take AE-5 or G6? (only for PC use+DT990 headphones.)

Dolby atmos works with everything. Soundcard doesn't matter. AE5 and G6 both great and they will work great with DT990.

 

[mfrey0118]

^ this guy is correct. if your using spdif for just music listening and youtube videos don't buy the thing. BUT, if you want fine tuning to channels, sound effects, bass boost, crystalizer, eq, and so on get the card. It should be noted that this thing doesn't support DOLBY AUDIO SUPPORT. might be a deal breaker for people who don't understand dolby, and that you can use it and mux it without supporting it at all and its kinda marketing and yeaaaaaa... not gonna go there. but yea.

My AE-5 Pure edition has Dolby and DTS options under processing menu...

 

[Bleib]

Has anyone compared this to AE-7?

 

[Foulchet]

I have personally purchased G3 (for my NUC which does not have Jack) and AE-9 both on B-Stock for respectively 40% and 50% discount. Note that both looked like new, especially the AE-9 which had also a non damaged at all package (G3 had only some damage on the box, the content looked like new). Maybe I am lucky but their B-Stock are really really worth it considering the items condition.

The AE-9 sound quite good. I did not compared it with blind test (against external Cayin stack) but the ACM is powerful and produces clean sound for HD560S and K712 Pro, at least better than front jack.
I somewhat do not fully use it since I do not have loudspeakers (and that is why I would never have purchased it at full price) but for headphones it was good so far. I ordered a Marantz MPM-1000 mic as I am really curious to try the XLR mic input.

Everything works on Windows 11.
If you only use a PC, maybe it packages a lot more than external solutions. Else, you cannot reuse it outside and that is the real shortcoming (if you forget that you need also a 6 pin PCIe PSU power, which can be troublesome if you have already for instance a RTX GPU, you might need to buy an expansion cable or adapter. I have a 1000W PSU with 4 cables so it was fine for me)

 

[xavx]

Recommend this AE5 for owners of the sound blaster Z looking for an upgrade, especially if you manage to get it used/discounted. The measurements didn't look like this would be a worthy upgrade and I was on the fence to return it without even testing but numbers don't tell everything.
The AE5 gives much better instrument layering and removed a veil in the high frequencies giving space to the sound (SBX disabled of course). Even wondering if the SBZ doesn't have a low pass filter set too early.

 

[xavx]

Has anyone compared this to AE-7?

Did you manage to get a comparison ? I recently got the AE-5 Plus and wondering if the AE-7 is worth the extra 50% cost.