Today we take a look at the new entry level sound card from Creative, the Sound Blaster Z which promises to improve your audio experience for games and entertainment.
Product on review: Creative Sound Blaster Z
Manufacturer and Sponsor: Creative
MSRP: £89.99 (At time of review)
Street Price: £79.99 (At time of review)
Creative are renowned for their innovation in audio and their Sound Blaster brand will be familiar with many people. Since the release of the SoundCore3D quad-core audio processor in May of 2011, there has not been a product sporting it that isn’t jumbled in with a range of similarly priced gamer orientated sound cards. Though the Sound Blaster Z technically falls into the ‘gaming’ category, it could also be considered the first all round PC audio solution offering the SoundCore3D processor. So now we take a close look at what this product has to offer.
Creative’s Overview of the Sound Blaster Z
An ideal all-around audio and gaming solution.
The Sound Blaster Z, part of the ultra high-performance Z-Series of Sound Blaster® PCI Express sound cards, is an ideal all-round solution for your PC gaming and entertainment needs. It comes complete with the Sound Blaster Beamforming Microphone for crystal clear voice communication.
The Sound Blaster Z, part of the ultra high-performance Z-Series of Sound Blaster® PCI Express sound cards, is an ideal all-round solution for your PC gaming and entertainment needs. It comes complete with the Sound Blaster Beamforming Microphone for crystal clear voice communication.
Features & Specifications
Output Level (Full Scale)
Front Channel Out : 2Vrms
Headphone (33 ohms): 1.3Vrms
Headphone (600 ohms): 2Vrms
Maximum DAC Resolution
Front Channel Out : 24-bit, 192kHz
Headphone (33 ohms): 24-bit, 96kHz
Headphone (600 ohms): 24-bit, 96kHz
SNR (20kHz Low-pass filter, A-Wgt), @ 24-bit, 96kHz
Front Channel Out : 116dB
Headphone (33 ohms): >105dB
Headphone (600 ohms): >105dB
Frequency Response @ 96kHz
Front Channel Out : 10Hz to 45kHz
Rear Channel Out : 15Hz to 45kHz
Center Out : 10Hz to 45kHz
Headphone (33 ohms): 10Hz to 45kHz
Frequency Response @ 192kHz(Stereo only)
Front Channel Out : 10Hz to 88kHz
Speaker Support/ Supported Output
Stereo/2.1 Speakers
5.1 Speakers
Headphones
Connectivity
Headphone: 1 x Amplified 1/8″ mini jack
Speaker Out: 3 x 1/8″ mini jacks
Optical Out: TOSLINK
Optical In: TOSLINK
Line In / Microphone In: Shared 1/8″ mini jack
Minimum System Requirements
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo or AMD® equivalent processor, 2.2GHz or faster recommended.
Intel, AMD or 100% compatible motherboard
Microsoft® Windows® 8 (32/64-bit) ; Windows 7 (32/64-bit)
1GB RAM
>600 MB of free hard disk space
Available PCI Express® (x1, x4 or x16) slot
Available CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
Warranty
2-year limited hardware warranty
116dB Signal-To-Noise Ratio
A signal to noise ratio or SNR of 116dB means your audio will be > 99.99% pure audio which is 34.4 times better than motherboard audio.
SBX Pro Studio™ technologies
Experience awe-inspiring audio with the SBX Pro Studio suite of technologies that immerses you in your games and movies with amazing detail and a 360-degree true-to-life sound stage.
Crystal clear communication
In gaming, if you’re not communicating, you’re not winning. Experience crystal clear commmunication with your teammates with the CrystalVoice™ suite of technologies that removes echoes, ambient noises and picks up your voice from within a zone (CrystalVoice Focus). It also maintains your voice level even if you move near or further away from the microphone.
Sound Blaster Beamforming Microphone
When used with CrystalVoice Focus, the bundled beamforming microphone creates an acoustic zone and suppresses noise outside it, enabling you to be heard with amazing clarity.
Sound Core3D audio processor
The quad-core Sound Core3D™ audio processor was designed to offload SBX Pro Studio and CrystalVoice effects processing from your primary CPU, improving your overall PC performance, resulting in drastically superior audio and voice quality.
Advanced home entertainment audio
Experience like never before the power of Sound Blaster audio with your home entertainment today! With Sound Blaster Z’s gold-plated connectors, speaker optimization technology and digital content encoding capability, you can be assured of only the best digital audio possible.
High fidelity surround sound
Connect to your home theatre system through a single digital cable and enjoy cinematic DVD movies by transforming any stereo or multi-channel streams into high fidelity immersive surround sound.
Never unplug your headphones again
With the Sound Blaster Z-series Control Panel, just toggle between your headphone and speaker system with a flip of a switch.
Packaging & First Look
The outer packaging has a gold and red theme with a cut out that allows us to see the product which is surrounded by the familiar Sound Blaser logo. In smaller print we see a short description ‘High-performance Gaming and entertainment Audio’ and along the bottom we can find some supported technologies and features. on the right we can see that this product also includes a Sound Blaster beam forming microphone which is a nice added extra (MSRP of £29.99 alone!).
The reverse side of the box contains a breakdown of some of the supported features.
The package contains the Sound card, quick start guide, driver disc and the beamforming microphone.
The microphone looks great and is a welcome addition to the bundle. This would allow those who wish to use a headset to focus on buying a high quality headphones rather than headphones/mic combo.
The sound card itself is enclosed in an aluminium EMI shield that has a vivid metallic red coating on it. It is very attractive and the photos do not do it justice. Amongst the obvious, this card has a PCIe x1 interface, which is worth mentioning as it is not mentioned anywhere else.
Closer Look
On the edge of the card we can find a front panel audio header which is a welcome inclusion for those who like to use the headphone/mic jacks on their chassis.
From left to right we have 3.5mm jacks for mic/line in, headphone, front audio, rear, centre/sub, optical out, optical in.
The bare board with the EMI shield removed. Not looking too busy with circuitry, though this is a sign of the inclusive competence of the SoundCore3D.
The SoundCore3D processor dominates.
Here we see a Cirrus Logic 8416CN chip, which is a 192kHz digital audio interface receiver as well as a CS4398 24bit/192kHz stereo DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter).
There are two of these red LEDs which light up giving a nice glow, if you’re not too keen on the lighting you’ll be glad to know that it is not too bright or distracting should you have an enclosure with a window. Under the LED we can see the Creative CA0113 HDA bus controller.
Software
The bundled software is similar to other current Creative products which allow for total control of the audio signals be it speakers, headphones or line in/out, toggle on the ‘Scout mode’ or adjust the sound levels in the Equaliser. It is easy to navigate and is a fresh look over the older Creative Console.
Testing: RMAA, Games, Music & Movies
RMAA suite is designed for testing quality of analog and digital paths of any audio devices, be it a sound card, an MP3 player, a consumer CD/DVD player or an acoustic set. The results are obtained by playing and recording test signals passed through the tested audio path by means of frequency analysis algorithms. A more common mark is also provided for those unfamiliar with measured technical parameters.
16 bit 44kHz
24 bit 96kHz
Games, Music and Movies
Jumping on to Battlefield 3, there is a definite difference in audio quality over the onboard solution, gunshots where whizzing round and explosions were clear. Scout mode was an interesting experience too, while at first it seemed that all scout mode did was make the sound ‘tinny’ like it had cut out the bass, in game it did seem as though I was sensing a more audible difference in direction, recommended to try though not something I personally would be keen to use ‘all the time’. DOTA 2 was an interesting experience with crystal clear sounds and an epic announcer.
Music was much more enjoyable when using a high fidelity sound card, each sound, is reproduced accurately and concisely allowing for audible differentiation of instrumental timbre. For testing I listened to Sabrepulse’s First crush EP. Providing a challenging mix of tones provided by a contemporary blend of House, Chiptune, liquid Drum and Bass and Dubstep. The title track is a highly syncopated melody with lots of stabbing and chipbreak midi melts broken up with smooth bleeps and bloops. The onboard solution could not give what I would call an enjoyable experience of this particular track, the drum loop ended up sounding like a muddy sped up maraca going ‘cha cha cha’. Using the Creative Sound Blaster Z there was precise definition and clarity which gave hugely noticeable order to the noise.
Watching through various movies and series audio was again impressive which gave clarity and character allowing for better immersion and a better experience.
Conclusion
Many people are starting to argue that onboard solutions are ‘enough’ or ‘adequate’, while it is true they are ‘adequate’, the fact is anyone concerned about sound quality will want to look for a discrete option and the Creative Sound Blaster Z is definitely worth considering. Quality built and great performance to boot, there is not a lot to pick up on the flaws. There is a dedicated 600ohm dedicated headphone amp which is a plus for gamers as well as input/output optical ports.
The issue with discrete sound cards, is that, with exception to Audiophiles and producers, once you reach a level of fidelity you are limited by the quality of your speakers and eventually, there isn’t much difference to the ear, so we then have to look at other aspects of the overall package and what it offers the consumer. For example, the Creative Sound Blaster Z offers the dedicated headset jack but it only offers 5.1 surround and not 7.1. Another consideration is the price, the Creative Sound Blaster Z can be found for around £79.99 – 89.99, while this is ‘mid range’ for a sound card, it may be hard to swallow for some new to a discrete card. Finally, while the audio quality is great, to ear, is only ‘just’ on par with my aging Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic, so may not make a perfect upgrade for those who already own a competent discrete sound card.
If you are in the market looking for a new sound card, the Sound Blaster Z gives a vast improvement over onboard solutions and can give crystal clear sound reproduction for games or entertainment. The bundled microphone is a great touch and finishes off a nice package so there is little reason not to recommend the Sound Blaster Z.
Pros.
+ Attractive red aesthetic
+ Great improvement in audio
+ Dedicated 600ohm headphone jack
+ Bundled with beamforming microphone
+ SoundCore3D Audio Processor
Cons.
– Doesn’t support 7.1 surround
+ Attractive red aesthetic
+ Great improvement in audio
+ Dedicated 600ohm headphone jack
+ Bundled with beamforming microphone
+ SoundCore3D Audio Processor
Cons.
– Doesn’t support 7.1 surround
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net. Thanks to Creative for providing today’s review sample.
