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[Official] Creative Sound Blaster Z, Zx & ZxR Series Club

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#6,061 ·
New Windows 10 driver. Use the older software package though. The new driver is only a few MB large.
 
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#6,063 ·
Mokona512 said:
Strange, I wonder if they made a mistake with that.
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I doubt it. The 100 MB+ package isn't all drivers. It's the software. The actual drivers Windows uses are small, hence the small update size.
 
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#6,065 ·
umeng2002 said:
New Windows 10 driver. Use the older software package though. The new driver is only a few MB large.
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I've completely uninstalled my SB Zx card because. I could not get it to work correctly anymore as it would start popping and glitching during the music. None of the registry fixes worked either like they have in the past. I am currently using my onboard sound which isn't bad by any margin but I don't have the control I did over the various outputs and Dolby digital sounds I did with my Zx card.

Is this new driver available through their normal download page?
 
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#6,066 ·
Overall, the new update went smoothly, but it is a rather poor UX way of updating it, as now a user will have to install an old version of the software package that includes older drivers, and then update to the latest drivers.It is like games from the 90's where you would install it, then you will have to install multiple patches in a specific order, while not quite as bad, creative is going down that same slope.
 
#6,067 ·
Hey, at least it's been updated.

The new driver is on their normal SBz download page. Its only a few MB as its literally just the driver that has been updated, not the software.
 
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#6,068 · (Edited)
I just got a new AE-5 plus, and my god, what did they do to fix what the SBz was lacking?... and I'm talking about in software drivers because I'm only using it in optical output to my DAC with WASAPI exclusive. The bass and detail is so much better compared to the my old SBz... again even over digital. Before anyone says WASAPI exclusive is WASAPI exclusive; it shouldn't sound different, but it does.
 
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#6,069 ·
umeng2002 said:
I just got a new AE-5 plus, and my god, what did they do to fix what the SBz was lacking?... and I'm talking about in software drivers because I'm only using it in optical output to my DAC with WASAPI exclusive. The bass and detail is so much better compared to the my old SBz... again even over digital. Before anyone says WASAPI exclusive is WASAPI exclusive; it shouldn't sound different, but it does.
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You should have Amp instead DAC with SBZ or any good sound card to notice the difference. Any Audio played it goes DAC>>>AMP. SBz is strong combo but noise for music. just google.
 
#6,070 ·
I really have no idea what you mean. I have been using a DAC and AMP with both the SBz and the AE-5. I still notice a difference between them. Primarily, the bass on the AE-5 is more present, which I always found lacking on SBz. I think there is some weird software audio mixing issue with the SBz and current versions of Windows 10. That's why I got the AE-5 Plus instead of the AE-5: it's the newest card so Creative's drivers would have to be more modern... hopefully.
 
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#6,071 ·
Your previous post says DAC + Wasapi so I guessed you only had DAC instead Stack or combo. How do you have it hooked up. I'm curious now.
 
#6,073 · (Edited)
The newest "big" file. The newest driver is just the driver (a few MB), but you still need the software.

Actually, it seems Creative just brought the Command program to the SBz line. I would just download that.
 
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#6,074 · (Edited)
skyn3t said:
Your previous post says DAC + Wasapi so I guessed you only had DAC instead Stack or combo. How do you have it hooked up. I'm curious now.
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I have my AE-5 Plus hooked up just like my old SBz. Toslink optical out to my DAC. Then line in to my headphone AMP. I leave the Creative software in headphone mode with Windows 10 in 5.1 speaker config. I use WASAPI shared mode when possible. For critical listening, I use WASAPI exclusive with the toslink device, explicitly, with foobar2000.

I've never used the analog output on these cards except to test.

Even then, I notice a good improvement with the AE-5 Plus, which, since I've still using digital out, tells me that there might be some difference in the way the two cards output the "stereo mix" over to the toslink optical out, or maybe the toslink out on the SBz wasn't working 100% right.

I might get really bored one day and put the SBz and AE-5 Plus in my computer at the same time to do some serious A/B testing. 🤨
 
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#6,075 ·
umeng2002 said:
The newest "big" file. The newest driver is just the driver (a few MB), but you still need the software.

Actually, it seems Creative just brought the Command program to the SBz line. I would just download that.
Click to expand...
This is good and bad. I just lost Sound Blaster Switcher . I use Digital Decoder and all functions don't work on new program!
 
#6,078 ·
Hello boys and girls... I didn't pay attention to the last driver updates for SBZxR, the driver I use is 1.06. Now I see some new software on SBZxR Download Page. Sound Blaster Command for Windows. SBZxRMasterInstaller_3.4.94.03.exe.
What is that software? Driver with some Manager or... I need to install alone or over SBZxR Official driver?
 
#6,079 ·
So not sure why but the downloaded drivers wouldn't install so Micosoft installed whatever default drivers are in their system. They seem to work well I have audio anyway. Am I missing anything from not having the regular drivers installed? Just curious since it's an older card now. I could try re-downloading again.
 
#6,080 ·
I need to resurrect this thread :)

A week or so ago my Sound Blaster Z paired (jack connection) with stereo speakers started to act strange. After an hour or two of Warzone games the sound suddenly start crackling. Game works fine, no other issues but as long as I don't restart it I get this super strong distortion, especially with loud sounds (vehicles, grenades this sort of stuff).
When I reboot Warzone everything is back to normal and since it started right after Season 2 I suspect it's just Warzone thing, I played tens of hours in Season 1 without any issue.

But then I started reading about AMD & Sound Blaster issues, pci-e issues etc. and I wonder if that's the case? But it was just not there previously? I mean Warzone is pushing CPU really hard compared to other games.

I've updated the drivers, got new control app (looks pretty neat I must say) and will observe the issue, but are there any recommendations I should follow to fix this, or at least identify the real cause?

Switching to onboard audio is no go for me, I love to have the option to swap between headset & speakers without moving the cables around.
 
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