Anyone using the newer Sound Blaster Command Driver for their Sound Blaster Z Card

primetime

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No idea if its any better, but its is something new for our older cards.
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This thread is for Sound Blaster Z users Only Thanks
 
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Well yeah, even a mid-tier USB DAC is much better for mid-tier headphones than, say, onboard Realtek sound.
I actually hoped onboard will do when I got my new stuff, but the mobo output was way too ambitious with bass, resulting in some serious annoying distortion.
Had to get a FiiO. Yeah, yeah, it sort of was an excuse, but I was floored at the difference.
That said, I haven't used a Creative card since Audigy 2ZS and that was a friggin monster, but with kX drivers instead of CT's.
Can you even use kX drivers to their full potential (down to writing machine code for the DSP on the fly) with new OS and cards?
Anyway, sorry for the offtopic.
 
People use sound cards?
Yes, I had a few sound cards, I recently changed the graphics, I didn't pay attention, it takes up 2.5 slots and has a backplate and now I can't install the sound card anymore, horror, and this one on the board is an older realtek.
Otherwise i have an asus strix soar, requires 1x6 pin, much better than integrated and does not take up cpu.
 
Yes, I had a few sound cards, I recently changed the graphics, I didn't pay attention, it takes up 2.5 slots and has a backplate and now I can't install the sound card anymore, horror, and this one on the board is an older realtek.
Otherwise i have an asus strix soar, requires 1x6 pin, much better than integrated and does not take up cpu.
I guess my question is how is it "much better"? The speakers would make a much bigger difference I would think, no?

And taking up cpu resources? We have 16 core CPUs out here at thousand of MHz and we are still working about cpu cycles used?
 
I guess my question is how is it "much better"? The speakers would make a much bigger difference I would think, no?

And taking up cpu resources? We have 16 core CPUs out here at thousand of MHz and we are still working about cpu cycles used?
Not really
if you can afford expensive speakers then you can afford a more expensive sound card that will feed them.
I have a logitech z240 speakers and with an asus strix soar sound card they work great and free up the processor.
A discrete sound card is a much better solution than any integrated one.
And I had a lot of them, from creative labs xtreme gamer, asus xonar dg, asus strix soar, all pci or pcie.
Strix soar is in my opinion the best buy right now and gives you the ability to plug in both headphones and speakers at the same time and then just play what you need in their software.
 
You keep saying it's a "much better" solution. WHY.
I'm glad you ask, there are a lot of advantages, better sound, cleaner, I hear sounds I haven't before, more sound options, connecting speakers and headphones at the same time (just click the source to change), there are a lot of advantages of the sound card over the integrated, Less CPU usage and so on...
I have a lot of experience in terms of hardware and peripherals, I had a lot of different peripherals, hardware, etc. I did my PhD mostly on the Intel lga 1156 system
 
mine has user replaceable OP Amps and an integrated headphone amp for high impedance headphones.

I'm glad you ask, there are a lot of advantages, better sound, cleaner, I hear sounds I haven't before, more sound options, connecting speakers and headphones at the same time (just click the source to change), there are a lot of advantages of the sound card over the integrated, Less CPU usage and so on...
I have a lot of experience in terms of hardware and peripherals, I had a lot of different peripherals, hardware, etc. I did my PhD mostly on the Intel lga 1156 system
Thanks guys!
 
Possibly expensive motherboards have good integrated sound, I always had midrange mbo, never the most expensive and best.
For highend mbo I can't confirm what a sound they have.
 
To address the OP question, yes, my secondary system has a SBXz in it and I use this control panel. Works great as I use it to output DTS surround sound via optical to my theater setup. I found HDMI works good for this mostly, but for streaming movies and shows online, I've run into issues sometimes (HBO Max for example) not working right for surround over HDMI (it used to, so something changed not on my end). However, it will work perfectly using the sound card. So I'm setup for whatever.

FWIW, the new control panel on the SBXz works exactly the same as it does on the AE-7 in my gaming PC.
 
Yes, I am using this software. I have Sound Blaster AE-9 on my computer, and Sound Blaster ZXR on my wifes computer. The AE-9 was always using the Command software, and the ZXR only recently upgraded from the old ZXR software to the command. The command software is clearly better, speaker setting do not reset, and the interface is cleaner overall.

Initially the command software did not have the option to select headphone impedance on the ZXR, but they recently added this feature about 2-3 weeks ago.
 
I think I still have a Sound Blaster card in my spare parts box (an old ZX maybe? something like that). I also have an Asus D2X (i think that's right, and hands down the most expensive card I ever purchased) still sitting around as well. But no, I haven't used a sound card in years. Onboard into my Z-5500's for when I want speakers. Otherwise, a DAC for my headphones.
 
I am having this issue on a Winidows 10 PC and looking for a fix. Sound Blaster Z card. Problem happens when i try to open SoundBlaster Command center.
CreativeSoundBlasterCommandCenterError.png
 
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