Sound Blaster ZxR Studio-Grade Sound Card, Hear The Blaster Roar!

Testing

For game testing we went with Far Cry Primal. We have played the game enough to be familiar with the sounds on a high-quality integrated sound system. The sound system we chose for comparison is on the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII EXTREME, driven by ROG SupremeFX 2015. The rig is our Z170 test rig with an Intel Core i7 6700K processor and the ASUS Poseidon GTX 980Ti to prevent any game lag. We set medium game graphics on both games which should prevent any FPS lag issues which sometimes distort sound. Our testing room is the PC lab with no ambient noise in the room, windows shuttered and heavily covered with heat-resistant backed curtains to muffle outside noise interference. Audio playback and video playback were done on the same Z170 test computer.

Far Cry Primal

We chose Far Cry Primal because it’s set 12,000 years in the past with no gunfire elements and more of animal and environmental sounds.

Dolby 5.1 Logitech Z906 Speakers Testing

Having played Far Cry Primal on the ROG Maximus Extreme VIII for several weeks, it was a refreshing difference moving to the Sound Blaster ZxR. In-game sounds are much more crisp and definable, and during close-quarters combat in the Primal setting, the animal and ambient noises came to the front, with easily distinguishable clarity. Compared to the on-board audio setup, much more detail can be heard, and using Dolby 5.1 speakers properly positioned, directional sound was easily detected and made game play easier. When the sounds came clearly from the front, the enemy came from the front. Sounds behind us clued us into an enemy approaching from the side or rear, and we could turn to face oncoming threats. Sounds at every point on the scale were clearer and easier to distinguish.

HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset with 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound for PC

Plugging in the HyperX Cloud II gaming headset with virtual 7.1 surround sound we hear sounds no on-board audio solution ever gave us. The virtual 7.1 wasn’t muddy, but clear and crisp, and the virtual 7.1 did give good indication of the enemies directionality, but not as good as the Dolby 5.1 Logitech setup. Up close and personal close-quarters combat sound was amazing and almost like having the battle sounds inside your head. The Sound Blaster ZxR delivers on gaming sound, and the premium price for audiophile quality components definitively shows better quality than on-board sound solutions.

Music Testing

We listened to a variety of music ranging from Country to old gold Rock and Roll all in FLAC format, which is specially designed for audio, but uses lossless compression without loss of quality. Think of it like High-Def MP3 without the sound quality loss.

We first listened to the on-board audio on the ASUS Maximus VIII then switched to the Sound Blaster ZxR, and the on-board audio solution is good, but if you want to hear every note and nuance you’ll need a sound card like the Sound Blaster ZxR. It’s easy to fool yourself that the on-board audio is “Good Enough”; don’t settle for good enough. Once you’ve compared the Sound Blaster ZxR to on-board sound there’s no going back. Each note and even recording studio background noises present in a clear, easily distinguishable method. Switch to on-board audio and the notes blend into one another and you feel like you are listening to the music, but the music is muddy and muted.

Live recorded audio is the hardest on on-board audio solutions, and often contain gems of audio on-board solutions miss. Hearing the band members tapping the edge of the drums to start the beat and lead into the song as opposed to muddy silence on an on-board solution makes a big difference in how you perceive the music. The clarity and sharp sound production of the Sound Blaster ZxR simply leaves on-board solutions in the dirt.

Video Playback

One of our favorite movies is Armageddon, the action is good and the sound track CD is even better. We’ve never been fans of built-in speakers, so we run the movie on the Z170 test bed, with video being displayed on a 1440p Wasabi Mango HD monitor via DVI-D and let the Logitec Dolby 5.1 Z906 speaker setup handle the sound.

Having seen the Armageddon movie on just about every device we have at one time or another then listening to it on the Sound Blaster ZxR, we can definitively tell you skip the speakers on your TV and run your audio through a receiver or a high quality sound card like the Sound Blaster ZxR. The sound ran through the Sound Blaster ZxR bore no resemblance to the TV speakers and we would be hesitant to switch back to built-in speakers. Switching back to built-in speakers requires you to give up a tremendous amount of sound detail left in the background by poor speaker dynamics stuffed into the bottom bezel of the flat screen TV. Armageddon’s sound effects deserve a better sound setup, and the Sound Blaster ZxR gave it the platform to awe and amaze. Explosions on top of meteoric debris pounding into the surface, mixed with actor’s voices all coming at you in a crystal clear format.