CREATIVESound Blaster X4 Hi-Res 24bit/192kHz External USB DAC and Amp Sound Card, Super X-Fi, Multi-Channel, 7.1 Discrete Surround, Optical-in, Optical-out, Line-in, Mic-in, Headset-in for PC and Mac

I bought the Sound Blaster X4 external "sound card" for two reasons.1-I because it was necessary for better sound using a mini-micro PC in a small chassis not big enough for typical sound cards.2-Because I wanted the flexibility of an external device that would serve at least a 5:1 speaker system.This sound card should suit almost any PC or game user as well as those simply wanting very good audio.Build quality seems very good and its small size and desk foot print made it very functional in my case.As usual once discovered the Creative app software compatibility makes everything accessible that you might need to tweak, although in many cases leaving everything as standard is great as it is. Installation is easy and as near plug and play as possible. Even without is own dedicated drivers it worked but of course remember what is written above to get the most from the card.At first I was only let down by the lack of an ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output) driver especially as I sometimes produce music for my own multi channel entertainment.I wrote to Creative to find out if a dedicated ASIO driver was in the pipeline.Creative were amazing... They responded by email within a day saying that the X4 was ASIO 2.1 Compliant but the driver was not included in the standard Creative app or the SXFi app. The representative said that they would find the link for the ASIO driver from the Creative team.A second email arrived with a link to download the ASIO driver.Once installed all if not more than expected ASIO channels functioned from within my DAW and other VST apps.If there are musicians looking for a one stop ASIO sound card the Sound Blaster X4 might just be for you given the value for money that compares well considering the up to 7:1 ASIO multi channel once installed.In addition it is good to know that Creative can and will help as they did with my enquiry.Well done the Creative and their product.

The Creative Sound Blaster X4 is a nice piece of kit, it has many functions and it has a very good sound quality there are so many different types of ways you can use this, It also has a volume function on top to turn the sound up or down, with touching your DTS. I recommend this Product to anyone who wants great sound and many ways to use it.By ZionMany Thanks to Amazon Services.

Initial setup was a little more conveluted than a straight plug and play as Windows 11 had differing ideas as to which driver to use, but after a few expletives and restarts, eventually the Creative App recognised the device and installed the custom driver instead of the Windows Microsoft generic driver.It has the usually startup speaker pops as I've experienced previously with Creative Sound blaster products, but on the whole it works and the sound is good.

I bought this because i have 3 computers connected to a single monitor. I had to keeps swapping speakers around depending on which PC i use. I bought this sound card and connected to a USB KVM. Now i can swich between all my different computers and not have to switch speakers around.the sound card can support up to 7.1 speaker system. I have it connected to a 5.1 pc speaker system.The sound quality is better than the built in sound chips .

After update the app, firmware and driver, the Super X-Fi 7.1 virtual headphone function got broken, with the headphone now I can only hear front left and right, but the side and rear left right channel got mix with front left and right, I check Reddit and this problem have not been fix nearly a year, so I am going to return it, very very disappointed Creative.

Wow - I can for once, without a shadow of a doubt, lay to rest my worries that this X4 could not compete with my "old" X-Fi Titanium PCI-e sound card, it doesn't compete, its much better! I can only put it like this: Go back 10yrs when you switched over to a creative/other brand card over on-board audio. The difference is night and day. That's the exact same feeling I just got moving away from my X-Fi Titanium! The sound quality through my ancient 5.1 Altec Lansing speaker system is better.The box itself isn't small, but a pleasing desktop piece if you're into that kind of thing. The centra dial is nice and big, it feels tactile, something you can grab and adjust nicely - the dial has fine controlled increments. The blue glow is welcomed - it's not too bright where it's distracting/annoying.I have yet to test the other features like the SXFI or Bluetooth - I mainly bought it to replace my X-Fi Titanium for desktop usage (gaming, movies and music) and it's brilliant. Build quality is great & sound quality is amazing.I will update this review in time but I had to leave my initial thought given how awesome and pleased I am =)