Is a Sound Card worth it in 2020?

No one:
Sound Cards in 2020: Exist
But should you buy the SoundBlaster X3?

But first... What am I drinking???

Another local Oregon brew from Level Beer (Portland), it's 'I'm not a HAZY, I just crush a lot', a self-proclaimed Old School IPA. Much more floral than hoppy, and is definitely a throwback to IPAs from the early turn of the century. VERY good on a hot day. (5.8%)

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Disclosure: Creative provided the Sound Blaster X3 for review. My opinions are my own, and Creative had no input or influence over this review.

[babajaga]

You look happy and healthy. Quitting your job may have been a good choice.

Thanks for the video btw. I really liked it. Keep up the good work! :)

[parkerlreed]

And here I am using a Creative Extigy from 2002. Driving some coaxial digital speakers and my headset out the front. Still works damn well.

[r]

"Is a sound card worth it?" -- proceeds to review a DAC instead.

[Kundalini]

I recently put a Sound Blaster XFi card from 2007 into my Alienware Area 51 R3 as an "upgrade" over the onboard sound and it is much better. It sounds amazing running through my Pioneer A-50 Aplifier.

[abdullahmasud]

Dude, just name a simple sound card with separate Treble and Bass controller. Funny it's hard to find any.

[rodrigosmusic]

This video made me discover your channel. Tech and beer. Guess I'm a fan and a subscriber now!

[tractorman]

I have a sound blaster Z PCIE sound card and I love it! It sounds so much better than any other sound devices I have heard! The sound is so much more "powerful" and the base response is so much faster

[malbeth]

Great video, why is the K3 there on your desk if you never compare the X3 to it or even mention it? :)

[wsippel]

Yes, for pro audio. If you need good ASIO drivers, XLR in with phantom power, switchable instrument and line level inputs, realtime monitoring and whatever else, you won't get any of that from your onboard Realtek chip. Or this Creative product for that matter. As an added bonus, those adapters usually have very good DACs and headphone amps built in, and entry level professional solutions from companies like Presonus, Native Instruments or Audient are quite affordable at around $100.

[GoukenGassenarl]

My first soundcard ever was AWE64 SoundBlaster, or something, kinda forgot the full name. Man how glorious it was back then. Siege Tank's cannon sounded so good, at least from memory

[adamfreeman]

Is a Sound Card worth it in 2020?
I would say: Yes!
I recently installed my old Asus Xonar DX into my new machine and even though the sound quality from my gfx cards hdmi output isnt bad,
it doesn't compare to using the optical out on the Xonar where the amp now detects the 7.1 surround and outputs it as such.
Loved the review, hope your keeping safe & best regards from Australia!

[s]

a lot of people said the motherboard's audio chips got a lot better these years and you don't need a sound card anymore.But my Sound Blaster X Fi from 2008 still sounds way better then the on board audio on my current pc (msi z370 tomahawk...it sounds like crap)

[GAMMAXII]

I'm the odd ball that still shoves a sound card in every machine that I can.

[pstls]

I own the creative sb ae5 and its amazing. my hd 650's sound full and everything just works. drivers are always something thats hit or miss but its perfect so far. had it 2 years.

[ko_tech]

Thanks for the detailed review, really liked it :)

I've got 2 more questions thou if you don't mind answering:
1. Is it possible to switch between headphones and speakers via a physical button? I'd prefer to keep my headphones plugged in all the time, even when I want to listen to speakers.
2. Does the BT connection work with PC as well? I'd love to switch between my desktop and laptop without having to unplug/plug in the USB cable.

[awoo]

>spends thousands of dollars on expensive gaming PC
>still uses crappy onboard audio
I will never understand this

[andievalderama]

Yeah sound stage feels bigger that it does not feel tiring to listen for a long while.

[blakecasimir]

Don't touch this consumer grade garbage when an Audient Evo 4 costs around $99.

[classicallpvault]

Yeah, but not this one, because for 10 euros less you can actually get a WAY more feature-packed audio interface like a Behringer UMC404HD.

[gaberaddo]

Is it worth putting my old sound blaster fatality 64mb soundcard, it's the gaming Jonathan Wendell one, in my rig that's 2 years old with a Gigabyte X99-SLI Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard in it? My sound card has 3 diff platforms, one for movie watching, one for gaming that flies a helo around your head and u know even with headphones where it is at what 'o'clock' and also a sound engineering platform which my son would use maybe as a DJ but he got all that now and signed. My problem is when I play games after a while of thumping out auto rounds the sound goes off or intermittent, reckon the old sound blaster would fix it? Only reason I never put it in was cos it has a front panel which my new rig has a disc player there!