Creative Sound Blaster X5 Hi-res 32bit/384kHz External USB DAC with Fully Balanced Xamp Headphone Bi-amp, Bluetooth Receiver, RCA in/-Out, TOSLINK Optical in/-Out, Mic-in, Headset-in for Audiophiles

In this day and Age you don't buy sound cards as much as we used to but we definitely should. The x5 has a crystal clear signal and tons of power to drive my Hifiman 100mm drivers. Custom EQ and sound profiles for gaming. You have a host of connection ability. You can use your tv optical out. Then turn on Bluetooth on the x5 and pair it to my wireless headset on couch or to my Swan MK3 which are like magic in the air. Tears as the sound touches your soul. Thanks creative. If you update to a new x5. Add xlr for microphones. I love the 32bit 384khz clarity when ripping custom sound tracks. I would like to do away with rca connectors, add another USBc, add HDMI, and coaxial, keep the optical and 4.4 balanced. Thanks

For as light as this is, the sound is outstanding! I have a separate DAC for music, but I find the profiles decent enough that I hardly use the other one. Games sound amazing; music sounds excellent! No AC power needed; Loud enough for all my needs. Would buy again!

I regret buying this. I have had nothing but problems with it. The cons: 1. It disconnects regularly and the USB cable needs to be pulled and reinserted. It has disconnected while I was using it too. This is not a USB power setting...it's bad design. 2. It "loses" its driver a couple times a week. It will prompt you over and over and over to install the driver that's already installed. Connecting it to another USB port is the only thing that fixes this. 3. It has a bug where it sets the mic volume to zero after a boot. It happens every time for me. Lots of people complain about it, but apparently Creative isn't concerned enough to fix it. 4. There's a USB host port on this where you can supposedly plug in a Bluetooth device to use wireless headphones. I've tried both Creative's own BT-W3 and BT-W5 and neither worked. 5. I occasionally get a massive ground loop through this. I don't hear it on other sound cards, just this one. Of course there's no ground screw on this thing either. The pro: 1. It sounds great when it works. This is my final Creative Labs purchase.

I previously criticized this device for a noisy headphone jack and discovered it wasn't this unit's fault, it was what I was plugging in that had a bad part. I love this little box. Sound quality is unparalleled and the analog input is amazing for capturing tape or vinyl sources. It even worked under arch Linux and windows with little to no tweaking. A tad expensive but there aren't many options for this type of device. At least this exists, and is high quality.

Great product but feels unnecessarily hollow for its size. But works will with my PC, speakers, and headphones.