[BearMonster]

Not a driver issue, not a "fault" or "problem" at all - like all of its SoundCore brothers, the AE-5 is a 5.1 soundcard. There is no "7.1 output" available as a result (because, again, its a 5.1 card), and there's no point in fussing about "well I must set 7.1 for headphones because that's the only way to game" - it doesn't really matter (end of the day that's stereo out, and the whole "gotcha" for having a surround sound signal is because most games won't do an HRTF'd surround output on their own, but will do a 5.1 output that can be mixed down).

It seems you don't own the creative ae 5. In the sound connect 2 setup menu you have 3 speakers options and 2 headphones options. The 2 headphone options are 7.1 headphone or direct headphone. So it's not that i have to set 7.1 because that is the only way to game.

The 5.1 only is for the speaker output only, if indeed it can only output 5.1 for both headphone and speakers then i suggest creative should not indicate such as experience guide pdf or advertise 7.1 nor should they have out 7.1 over their headphone in setup menu.

 

[obobskivich]

It seems you don't own the creative ae 5. In the sound connect 2 setup menu you have 3 speakers options and 2 headphones options. The 2 headphone options are 7.1 headphone or direct headphone. So it's not that i have to set 7.1 because that is the only way to game.

The 5.1 only is for the speaker output only, if indeed it can only output 5.1 for both headphone and speakers then i suggest creative should not indicate such as experience guide pdf or advertise 7.1 nor should they have out 7.1 over their headphone in setup menu.

It's a 5.1 soundcard, but feel free to rage on.

"7.1 for headphones" or "5.1 for headphones" (or whatever other n.1 configuration) are all just marketing dribble - headphones are stereo, and all your virtual/simulated surround feature is doing is taking an audio signal (like from a game or a movie or whatever) and trying to simulate a surround sound experience on headphones via numerous methods. More recently they've started slapping "7.1" on everything to appease buzzword compliance (and I'm not going to be surprised if, before too long, we start seeing "9.1" or "object based surround sound" replacing that), but frankly I think it'd be simpler if "they" (being all manufacturers/developers of such software/hardware) would just start referring to it as "headphone surround" or similar, instead of trying to drag home-theater style buzzword compliance into the discussion - they're different things and should be labeled as such.

 

[Gradius]

Just to let you know, this card uses 4 OPAMs LM4562:
http://www.ti.com/product/LM4562

Yep... 2016. Model SB1740.

 

[Casef]

You can only chose 7.1 on the soundblaster connect 2 which is useless on certain games that auto detect default device this means your game will only be in 5.1.

Sorry for necroing an old thread, but I'm currently thinking about replacing my old souncards with AE-5, but I am very much interested in virtual surround (currently mostly using HeSuVi), and there's definitely a noticeable difference between using 5.1 as a source and using 7.1 as a source (most noticeably in how the sounds coming from behind are rendered). So I need a device that's capable of acting as a 7.1 device so it gets 7.1 stream to work with from games and software.

So if I understand this correctly, even though it's presented as a 7.1 capable device, you still can't put the soundcard in a mode where it would identify to the OS as a 7.1 device? Not even turning the virtual 7.1 does that? It is still 5.1 from the OS's point of view, as in the games identify it as 5.1 and only send a 5.1 stream to it?

Thanks.

 

[germanium]

I tried it returned it very quickly. Not great sounding at all. Kind of harsh sounding. Single ended power supply complicates to type of modifications that I like to do to fix the sound.

 

[mindbomb]

Sorry for necroing an old thread, but I'm currently thinking about replacing my old souncards with AE-5, but I am very much interested in virtual surround (currently mostly using HeSuVi), and there's definitely a noticeable difference between using 5.1 as a source and using 7.1 as a source (most noticeably in how the sounds coming from behind are rendered). So I need a device that's capable of acting as a 7.1 device so it gets 7.1 stream to work with from games and software.

So if I understand this correctly, even though it's presented as a 7.1 capable device, you still can't put the soundcard in a mode where it would identify to the OS as a 7.1 device? Not even turning the virtual 7.1 does that? It is still 5.1 from the OS's point of view, as in the games identify it as 5.1 and only send a 5.1 stream to it?

Thanks.

Yes, I'm wondering about this as well.

With 7.1, you can have 7 directions, vs the 5 in 5.1. So you can have greater contrast between front and back sounds with the additional rear channels. In game, with left or right movements of the mouse, the differences are minimized because panning will fill in the blanks. But when there is little left-right movement, there can be a decent difference.

 

[adamsmarbles]

got one on order for tomorrow, ive been pining for something new since i had a chord mojo for almost a year having sent 2 back for bad batteries, it was either a soundcard or a new av amp, im still resisting replacing the onkyo 805 (25kg beast) the only issue it has is thats its almost 10 years old and the headphone jack is tricky, not to mention new av amps still dont do usb connections, only mass storage which i thought was wierd.

one thing i missed most about the chord mojo was its 32-bit playback, plus it supported everything and was very fast, i thought it added something good to the music, not sure if the ae-5 supports dsd, but again that was ok, but the conversion was also ok.

looking forward to it

 

[genclaymore]

the AE-5 doesn't support DSD, but it does support DTS-HD and DD-MA when used with winDVD over analog, and it does have 32bit/192khz when using the DSP and 32bit/384khz when using one of the two Direct output modes. I don't see an reason why creative didn't add in DSD support in the drivers.

 

[JohnClosed]

Is the AE-5 a better dac/amp than the SMSL m3 or even the fiio E10K for DT 880 250ohm, HD 598 and the Fidelios X2!?

BTW is this sound card prone to have problems with coil whines in terms of shielding!?

 

[Anarion]

Is the AE-5 a better dac/amp than the SMSL m3 or even the fiio E10K for DT 880 250ohm, HD 598 and the Fidelios X2!?

BTW is this sound card prone to have problems with coil whines in terms of shielding!?

It's better. Mine has no issues with shielding.

 

[genclaymore]

I also not having any issues with shielding.

 

[IronFly]

i'm thinking on returning this card since Creative is not really clear about the 32/384Khz.
this works only on Direct mode (2 speakers or Headphones) it will not work on the other settings, so out of the Direct mode it will work "only" at 24/96Khz.
that's pretty strange since the old Asus Xonar D2x was able to play 5.1 24/192Khz music using Foobar and ASIO drives.
Also notes that the Creative ASIO drivers don't bypass Windows mixer, so you can change volume during audio play, Asus ASIO completly bypass the windows mixer.

So at the end the ESS DAC works only under Direct mode, other modes use Sound Core3D

 

[mindbomb]

I was thinking about buying one of these again. How far back are the rear channels on the virtual surround sound? I can live with the 5.1 limitation if the rear channels are more behind, like 150 degrees, like the rear channels on 7.1.

edit: found a 5.1 sbx demo on youtube. it appeared to be 120 degrees.