Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-10-28, 18:58:

Also, there's little point in even mentioning 32bit 384Khz audiophile\studio grade DACs these days. DACs with those specs cost pennies now. I have bought several 32bit 384Khz USB-C to 3.5mm DAC+Amp dongles from Aliexpress for $4 over the past couple years and they work and sound great to my ears hooked up to some cheap IEMs. If you can buy this on Amazon for $6, those specs are no longer telling us why we should be spending $500 on this new Sound Blaster thing.

When I clicked the link in my email and started scrolling down the Kickstarter page, I thought to myself... "Okay... lets guess. It's going to be $129 for the starter set, with the add-on being like $79."

I was floored when I saw the kickstarter (investor\early-adopter) pricing was $300+ and actually laughed when I saw that the MSRP will be $500.

The main problem with audio is that everyone thinks they understand audio. 😀
If a device specifies 32/384, it only means that it supports receiving data in this format.
Distortion and noise data are simply copied from the datasheet onto the chip.
There is a huge difference between a reference implementation and an end-user implementation.
The 24-bit ASUS STRIX 2 was actually 11-bit.
And it didn't cost $6.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/inde … ound-card.4915/

So no, for "$6," you're getting exactly $6 worth of quality.

But even Creative in its current form, unfortunately, won't release anything worthwhile.
I'm skeptical.

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-30, 06:05:

The main problem with audio is that everyone thinks they understand audio. :-) If a device specifies 32/384, it only means that […]
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Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-10-28, 18:58:

Also, there's little point in even mentioning 32bit 384Khz audiophile\studio grade DACs these days. DACs with those specs cost pennies now. I have bought several 32bit 384Khz USB-C to 3.5mm DAC+Amp dongles from Aliexpress for $4 over the past couple years and they work and sound great to my ears hooked up to some cheap IEMs. If you can buy this on Amazon for $6, those specs are no longer telling us why we should be spending $500 on this new Sound Blaster thing.

When I clicked the link in my email and started scrolling down the Kickstarter page, I thought to myself... "Okay... lets guess. It's going to be $129 for the starter set, with the add-on being like $79."

I was floored when I saw the kickstarter (investor\early-adopter) pricing was $300+ and actually laughed when I saw that the MSRP will be $500.

The main problem with audio is that everyone thinks they understand audio. 😀
If a device specifies 32/384, it only means that it supports receiving data in this format.
Distortion and noise data are simply copied from the datasheet onto the chip.
There is a huge difference between a reference implementation and an end-user implementation.
The 24-bit ASUS STRIX 2 was actually 11-bit.
And it didn't cost $6.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/inde … ound-card.4915/

So no, for "$6," you're getting exactly $6 worth of quality.

But even Creative in its current form, unfortunately, won't release anything worthwhile.
I'm skeptical.

Very interesting! Sorry if I gave the impression of understanding this stuff more than I do. 😅

I was mainly just referring to the on-paper specs they've listed. The numbers don't really tell us anything anymore since it's possible to have those numbers on paper (like, if it has a CX31993 DAC) for pennies. Reviews will tell us what's really going on inside this thing...

My point was just that they aren't explaining who it is worth $500 to, and why. Not even having an XLR connector is kind of strange.

It'd be like if 3dfx suddenly came back with a new "Voodoo" and advertised that it had HDMI 2.1 48gbps outputs, and then slapped a price tag of $800 on it without giving any other specs or explaining why we'd want it over the competition. Erm... and it turned out to not be a GPU, but a video switch box with buttons or something. 😊

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-10-30, 06:51:

I was mainly just referring to the on-paper specs they've listed. The numbers don't really tell us anything anymore since it's possible to have those numbers on paper (like, if it has a CX31993 DAC) for pennies. Reviews will tell us what's really going on inside this thing...

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/inde … e-review.62260/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/inde … r-review.55524/
That's the whole point.
Same chipset, but the results differ by a factor of three.
How they managed to screw up the parameters in a device "with three components and CX31993" I can't even begin to guess.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-10-29, 23:30:

I don't think the modularity of it even matters at all unless you are intending to buy extra modules for it (leaving some of the ones you started with unused, despite the huge price tag), because the differences in using it with the buttons\knob in slightly different locations has to be very small.

Modularity makes the most sense to me if they offered different sizes bases. I could see the appeal of having a more compact unit like a 2x1 or 2x2. But since they are only offering the one 5x1 as default with a possible 2x3 as a stretch goal, who even knows if other bases will even materialize.

That's the other issue I see is the physical size of the unit is about twice as big as I would want. I have compact Roland 10-channel mixers that are half the size of this thing. I don't need some giant audio device taking up more desk space.

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-30, 13:50:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/inde … e-review.62260/ https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/inde … r-review.55524/ […]
Show full quote

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-10-30, 06:51:

I was mainly just referring to the on-paper specs they've listed. The numbers don't really tell us anything anymore since it's possible to have those numbers on paper (like, if it has a CX31993 DAC) for pennies. Reviews will tell us what's really going on inside this thing...

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/inde … e-review.62260/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/inde … r-review.55524/
That's the whole point.
Same chipset, but the results differ by a factor of three.
How they managed to screw up the parameters in a device "with three components and CX31993" I can't even begin to guess.

I think we're in agreement then? I'm not saying anything about the actual performance of any of these devices. Just saying that the numbers Creative is giving are meaningless without reviews (which we do not have for the new Sound Blaster).

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-10-30, 16:16:

I think we're in agreement then? I'm not saying anything about the actual performance of any of these devices. Just saying that the numbers Creative is giving are meaningless without reviews (which we do not have for the new Sound Blaster).

So, there's no new Sound Blaster.
One of Creative's top executives bought a modular gamepad from Turtlebeach and was stunned to discover that modularity is a new paradigm for gamers.
Anyone who doesn't embrace modularity is a loser and bankrupt. 😀
In general, a chaotic search for ideas.

PS. In my opinion, Creative made excellent sound accelerators and mediocre sound cards.
But that market was practically exhausted, and they couldn't find their niche.
But they don't want to leave with dignity.

That is, there are now several pretty good players in their price range (around $100) that are 100% superior in quality.
This is especially true for (external) sound cards.
Internal ones have completely disappeared; motherboards with just one PCI-E slot—for a graphics card only—have already appeared.

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-30, 16:36:

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-10-30, 16:16:

I think we're in agreement then? I'm not saying anything about the actual performance of any of these devices. Just saying that the numbers Creative is giving are meaningless without reviews (which we do not have for the new Sound Blaster).

So, there's no new Sound Blaster.

I definitely agree with that.

They could have called it the "Control Blaster" or something.

... but wait, they wouldn't get as many nostalgia based purchases. 😮

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-30, 16:36:

So, there's no new Sound Blaster. One of Creative's top executives bought a modular gamepad from Turtlebeach and was stunned to […]
Show full quote

So, there's no new Sound Blaster.
One of Creative's top executives bought a modular gamepad from Turtlebeach and was stunned to discover that modularity is a new paradigm for gamers.
Anyone who doesn't embrace modularity is a loser and bankrupt. 😀
In general, a chaotic search for ideas.

Hehe, I came across this ad the other day so it's kind of funny that Creative and Turtle Beach are still going at it in a way.

sunkindly wrote on 2025-10-30, 17:14:

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-30, 16:36:

So, there's no new Sound Blaster. One of Creative's top executives bought a modular gamepad from Turtlebeach and was stunned to […]
Show full quote

So, there's no new Sound Blaster.
One of Creative's top executives bought a modular gamepad from Turtlebeach and was stunned to discover that modularity is a new paradigm for gamers.
Anyone who doesn't embrace modularity is a loser and bankrupt. 😀
In general, a chaotic search for ideas.

Hehe, I came across this ad the other day so it's kind of funny that Creative and Turtle Beach are still going at it in a way.

The attachment turtlebeachad.jpg is no longer available

Oh man... that is one snark-heavy ad.

Reason #6 to buy Turtle Beach : Manual author's first language: English

Oof... 😐

The 90s were definitely the wild-west of PC hardware.

100k pledged in 3 days.

Concept looks very promising but they may have set the pricing too high. 299 is the sweet spot and could have thousands pledged by now. Not sure how they are going to have many people buying at 379.

It is designed to be a clean setup but you can expand if you need to.

You can connect a modern USB hub to it. Then you can output to monitor, connect keyboard and mouse, BT-W6, multiple USB audio sources or even another USB interface (e.g. with XLR to digital) to it.

They plan to initially make it in Singapore.

Don't think they give up on sound cards if you study their Facebook replies.

I read somewhere on Reddit that G6 recently had a firmware update.

They should be around for some time. They sold 60% sxfi for 5 million and may get some Singapore government grant for tarrifs help and AI development.

soundblasterx wrote on 2025-10-31, 13:09:

They should be around for some time.

Not according to their financial performance from the past few years. They've been posting continuous losses and are bleeding cash. That is not a good sign.

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-30, 16:36:

PS. In my opinion, Creative made excellent sound accelerators and mediocre sound cards.
But that market was practically exhausted, and they couldn't find their niche.

Part of the problem is they never broke into the professional audio space. There's still a market for professional audio interfaces, but for whatever reason Creative Labs never went that route.

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-10-31, 14:28:

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-30, 16:36:

PS. In my opinion, Creative made excellent sound accelerators and mediocre sound cards.
But that market was practically exhausted, and they couldn't find their niche.

Part of the problem is they never broke into the professional audio space. There's still a market for professional audio interfaces, but for whatever reason Creative Labs never went that route.

No, well, their E-MU line was pretty good.
Even now, no one wants to get rid of the EMU1212m PCI-e, despite the shortage of drivers.

But, as far as I know, these cards were always used for raw I/O.
And no one ever used their DSP effects because they were so primitive.
Then Creative decided to combine the functionality of EMU and X-FI (the very same Audio Creation mode), and that was the end of it.
PS. They also had monitors for sale.

But they broke everything.

True, I forgot that Creative owns E-MU. I guess I always think of them as an independent company.

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-10-31, 15:01:

True, I forgot that Creative owns E-MU. I guess I always think of them as an independent company.

That would be great, but the DSP on the Soundblaster is called EMU10kx...

No MIDI support and no SoundFont support <aarrgghh>... count me out. I REALLY WISH that there was a modern alternative to my old Sound Blaster Live! that I had in my old Windows XP rig. Under Windows 10+ I can't do any of my MIDI composing or MIDI keyboard playing, OR use my good old 16-bit Cakewalk Professional v3.01, like I used to on my old Windows XP rig that I used to use.

Using things like VirtualMIDISynth I can come CLOSE to the sound of my SBLive!, but it STILL doesn't sound the same or as nice as the E-MU on the SBLive!. Not to mention latency is HORRIBLE for real-time MIDI entry/keyboard playing, (and of course I can't use CWPro v3.01 under Windows 10).

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-10-31, 14:28:

shevalier wrote on 2025-10-30, 16:36:

PS. In my opinion, Creative made excellent sound accelerators and mediocre sound cards.
But that market was practically exhausted, and they couldn't find their niche.

Part of the problem is they never broke into the professional audio space. There's still a market for professional audio interfaces, but for whatever reason Creative Labs never went that route.

They could have done , easily... But bad management confined them to the consumer market alone.

That being said , their sound cards are not bad at all. The ae 9 is a very good card , so is the ae 7. I believe that the ae9 also features the ESS Sabre DAC as well , which is very good.