I recently got an AE-5 directly from Creative and while it sounds great and can drive my Sennheiser HD 600s to very high volume levels, the software has some significant issues. Has anyone else experienced these or have any workarounds?
Windows 10 1703 (15063.483), Sound Blaster Connect 3.1.13.0
Fixed 1) Volume is at 100% after a reboot. It snaps to the set volume (or what that setting is at 16 ohm) after any volume adjustment. This is less than ideal.
Fixed 2) The headphone gain setting resets to 16 ohm after a reboot or after changing between speaker out and headphone out. In addition I think only the 16, 32, and 150 ohm options are real, 330 and 600 ohm are the same volume as 150 ohm. Not that I mind because my 300 ohm HD 600s can get very loud on the 150 ohm setting. I expect I would be happy even with 600 ohm cans if only it didn't reset, but I don't need it THAT loud.
3) I cannot customize the custom crossover setting.
There is a slider but I cannot interact with it; it is stuck on whatever speaker type option was selected when the application was last restarted. Desktop = 150 Hz, Bookshelf = 80 Hz, Tower = 50 Hz.
It isn't really an issue but the multi channel output device maxes out at 32 bit, 96 KHz. Only the "Direct" stereo modes support the 192 or 384 KHz sample rates. As an aside the Scout Radar feature is only enabled when not in a "Direct" mode.
Running Sound Blaster Connect on startup, or not, changes none of this behavior. I also have all Acoustic Engine, Scout, Lighting, and Equalizer options disabled and did not test them.
To be honest I cannot notice a difference between my Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha's very good on-board audio and the AE-5 set to 16 ohm; they both have trouble driving my 300 ohm headphones. However, the AE-5 has no trouble at all when it is set to 150 ohm or higher. The max volume with my 300 ohm headphones isn't that high at 16 ohms but is higher than I probably need at the 150 ohm setting.
Update:
These three points have all been fixed for me by an aggressive reinstall using the current drivers:
Sound Blaster Connect 2, 3.1.22.0, 29th August 2017
1) Uninstall Everything Creative or Sound Blaster related
2) Uninstall (and delete) the driver out of device manager
3) Reboot and let Windows 10 install the default driver
4) Delete the Creative folder in Program Files (x86)
5) Reinstall Sound Blaster Connect 2
Edit: Actually #3 is still true, but I don't care anymore, I am only using Direct-HP mode anyway.
Windows 10 1703 (15063.483), Sound Blaster Connect 3.1.13.0
Fixed 1) Volume is at 100% after a reboot. It snaps to the set volume (or what that setting is at 16 ohm) after any volume adjustment. This is less than ideal.
Fixed 2) The headphone gain setting resets to 16 ohm after a reboot or after changing between speaker out and headphone out. In addition I think only the 16, 32, and 150 ohm options are real, 330 and 600 ohm are the same volume as 150 ohm. Not that I mind because my 300 ohm HD 600s can get very loud on the 150 ohm setting. I expect I would be happy even with 600 ohm cans if only it didn't reset, but I don't need it THAT loud.
3) I cannot customize the custom crossover setting.
It isn't really an issue but the multi channel output device maxes out at 32 bit, 96 KHz. Only the "Direct" stereo modes support the 192 or 384 KHz sample rates. As an aside the Scout Radar feature is only enabled when not in a "Direct" mode.
Running Sound Blaster Connect on startup, or not, changes none of this behavior. I also have all Acoustic Engine, Scout, Lighting, and Equalizer options disabled and did not test them.
To be honest I cannot notice a difference between my Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha's very good on-board audio and the AE-5 set to 16 ohm; they both have trouble driving my 300 ohm headphones. However, the AE-5 has no trouble at all when it is set to 150 ohm or higher. The max volume with my 300 ohm headphones isn't that high at 16 ohms but is higher than I probably need at the 150 ohm setting.
Update:
These three points have all been fixed for me by an aggressive reinstall using the current drivers:
Sound Blaster Connect 2, 3.1.22.0, 29th August 2017
1) Uninstall Everything Creative or Sound Blaster related
2) Uninstall (and delete) the driver out of device manager
3) Reboot and let Windows 10 install the default driver
4) Delete the Creative folder in Program Files (x86)
5) Reinstall Sound Blaster Connect 2
Edit: Actually #3 is still true, but I don't care anymore, I am only using Direct-HP mode anyway.