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I’ve lengthy thought, after almost a full seven years of testing, taking in, and reviewing gaming {hardware}, that each my console and gaming PC setups have been totally optimised for my most well-liked efficiency and format – bar the occasional tinkering so as to add new or up to date fashions, after all.
How improper I used to be till a few months in the past, when the idea of USB sound playing cards (or USB DACs as they’re generally known as) entered my ideas.
Often a readily and simply missed accent, a USB sound card is a straightforward factor on paper: appearing as a mid-way level between a wired gaming headset or set of headphones and your PC or console that’s designed to spice up, improve, change, and elevate your total audio expertise.
I’m no audio snob, actually, however I just like the finer issues in gaming once they’re there to be loved, and so I used to be open to seeing what these playing cards may provide – and after testing a pair, I can say that the profit has been distinctive.
A return to being tethered
Eager to see what all the fuss was about and coincidentally having a few wired gaming headsets in at the same time for review or testing, I got in a few USB sound cards to check them out. While I downsized my setups due to a house move, I committed to using the Creative Sound Blaster X4 on my PC with my Sennheiser HD 550 headphones.
On PS5 Pro, I plugged in the Creative Sound BlasterX G6 to use with a Drop + EPOS PC38X wired gaming headset – which meant I could definitely utilise the sound card’s ports fully as intended. While I will admit, on a practical level, having a long headset cable from the TV unit to the sofa is not really a viable thing, my next gaming-stroke-office setup will have me closer, and I reckon that kind of layout will immediately make a wired-in model much more agreeable.
This one is an older model (sir), but it still very much checks out. One thing that ages is a simple port on the rear: it uses micro-USB. Anyway, turns out class really is permanent, and it performs just like something out of this generation of gaming accessories and very much holds its own in 2025.
Hearing things differently
I’m a huge fan of what Sony has brought to the table in terms of audio with the PS5, and ensuring some of the console’s power was used for the Tempest 3D audio was always a wise decision.
However, I seem to have accidentally (well, on purpose) trumped Sony’s own efforts by adding the Creative G6 to my PS5 setup. Even the crudest of A/B testing I did after plugging it in blew me away. It’s like I’ve opened up an audio door that I didn’t even know was there – and behind it was just More Quality Audio.
The likes of Death Stranding: Director’s Cut, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced, the Indiana Jones DLC, and even Diablo 4 all sound extra incredible now. Details are clearer and sweeter, the bottom end has next to zero muddiness (even if it was great before), while the mids and tops sing through any mix. Inconsequential sounds like ‘landscape noises’ as I call them – the rustling of leaves, the wind in the air – are beautifully presented now, and each game’s score is punchier than ever.
On PC, I do feel I have to earn my audio quality a little bit by messing around with the Creative app – and also adding even more audio options for Windows to try and ruin or default to – but the work has been worth it. When listening to classical music while working, or using the HD 550s for meetings, everything is crisp and super clear, like never before. In games, the audio is just spectacular; I feel I can hear every clank of every tiny gear in Frostpunk 2, no matter where it is, while the cacophony of action in Control or even Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 3 is less chaotic and much more enjoyable, with elements clearly and brilliantly cutting across each other. The bass is on another level, too.
So, all in, I’m really starting to think this might be it for my setups now; the audio is just that good. I’m not sure if I can truly stay tethered in every gaming session – or simply rely on speakers sometimes too – but the cards themselves are staying firmly plugged in.
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