Meanwhile, the sound card itself includes four line out ports (two phono, two ⅛ inch) plus optical in and out, allowing a full set of 5.1 surround-sound speakers to be connected. You can also plug in auxiliary devices, like your smartphone or MP3 player, via phono inputs on the back of the box. The ACM serves as both a headphone amp and an audio interface, with room to plug in both ¼ inch and ⅛ inch headphones plus XLR, ¼ inch and ⅛ inch microphones (with optional +48V phantom power). The AE-9 is a perfect example, as it comes with both a sound card that goes in your PC and an 'audio control module' or ACM that sits on your desk, joined by a mini HDMI cable (and a stern warning not to plug anything else into the mini HDMI port). Here's why.įirst, high-end modern sound cards can actually replace a lot of other audio equipment. Surprisingly perhaps, new Sound Blaster cards are still in production today - and after testing Creative's new flagship model, the $350/£299 AE-9, I think discrete audio hardware is still worth considering today.
And of course, GPUs can pipe out digital surround sound over HDMI too. Nowadays though, even basic motherboards include integrated audio hardware with perfectly fine quality, plenty of inputs and fancy software features - that you've probably never used. They gave you a place to plug in your pre-USB joystick for bouts of X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, as well as substantially better audio quality than whatever was built into your PC - if you were lucky enough to have anything at all.
Do you remember Sound Blaster? For a brief moment in time in the 90s, these sound cards were an essential upgrade for any gaming PC.