The connection is absolutely afloat. The external sound card is connected via mini-USB to your PC and you'll be ready for operation without the mandatory driver would be necessary. These of course are then asked if you want to set yourself via EQ be THX mode. Here you have several options to the sound space, adjust the treble / clarity, bass, dialogues and dynamics. It then stores on the driver software from this setting and it can dub the sound card.
During the test run, I was impressed by the sound quality. Used three different headphones with different tonal characters.
Sennheiser HD555 (around the ear open): Very spatially tremendous voices presence, very good mid resolution, neutral tuning and deep bass.
Denon AH-D1001 (closed around the ear): Direct approach, closer stage, deeper and more powerful bass than the Sennheiser, more restrained voice reproduction and good high frequency resolution.
Beyerdynamic iE101 (in-ear): Very good resolution, brilliant sound, right space and deep bass.
Depending Kopföhrer I had a little more or a little less space set by THX EQ. But regardless of headphone has been tested, the card managed to reproduce a brutal, very spacious and detailed sound. Whether Tron Legacy, Kill Bill or the TV series Caprica, the sound was huge and very intense.
The trick in THX is the, that are specifically raised high and low frequencies, and played louder. If Uma Thurman thus swinging her Hatori Hanzo sword and take the sword against another blade, then you hear this nasty formally sharpness and hardness of steel. Bursting wood splinters and sharp full tieffrequentiger force, dry and powerful that alone just listening fun. The fight in the arena with Tron Legacy is also a prime example. Everywhere fly one the details around the ears, and the image that you look at a 24 "monitor, suddenly seems so much bigger because of the tremendous sound.
Without switching the THX I have also tested the musical qualities of Recon3D.
Fabulous is the frequency response, which tends not to focus, distortion, artificial interpolations or dull, bloated bass. The sound is wonderfully transparent. The bass goes down very deep, the ups act wonderfully brilliant and natural. Here Creative did a great job. Here was not tricked. Voices sound very expressive and unfold. A very open, of course, spacious sound with a wonderful channel separation and detail strength.
Unfortunately, this sound card is, however, more suitable for playing through headphones. There are, for example, despite the indication from Dolby Digital to this card to connect any digital output eg to your home theater. The Dolby Digital signal appears to be receivable only via the optical digital input. For over USB, this signal is not transmitted from the PC.
By a little trick still can be but the sound card to connect to an AV system. For this, you just take an adapter jack to RCA. It includes these on to the headphone jack and connects via RCA cable the sound card with the AV Receiver. Although only a stereo signal is transmitted, but the AV system can convert this signal in Dolby Pro Logic. That worked when tested quite well. However, the sound was a bit low and you have to select "Speaker", instead of headphones in the driver software. Better work on the small amplifiers that specifically serve as a PC stereo amplifier. For this, one also has specially settled a TRS cable. The punchy sound is also transmitted well, so the space. However, the result is to be wide but not as impressive as on headphones. For this, I recommend the Sennheiser HD series.
Conclusion:
Per
+ Very good sound (normal stereo as well as THX)
+ Software Installation not mandatory
+ Powerful headphone output
+ Digital input
+ Accessories: Digital cable, jack cable, Mini USB cable
+ Microphone connector
+ Also suitable for PS3, XBox360 and other devices
+ No blue screens or crashes caused by driver
Contra
- No digital output
- No RCA output
