Guys, the sound card is fantastic, I really have no words. I had an older Asus card and it's like day and night. I thought I was hearing perfect sound with Asus, but when I put this one in, it's like I changed speakers and amplifier together. It's mainly for music use on hi-fi stereo speakers, and it's the sound I wanted - that crystal clear sound you hear in high-fidelity music. I was disappointed with the optical fiber because it cut frequencies - it only has a 96kHz response, not the 192kHz, and there's a big difference there. I said it's unfortunately a waste of money. But when I connected it with the jack plug, that's when I was amazed by the sound I heard. I don't know why Creative made the card like that, it gives better sound in analog with the jack, and there's the option for 192kHz response. Now, in digital, I don't know, I don't like the sound it produces for music - it's too poor and not as sweet or nice. Now let's talk about the headphones - there was another miracle there. I put on some Logitech headphones for 15€, and it was like I put on headphones for 100€ - another crystal clear sound. It gives such a boost to the headphones, so in the middle, if you increase the volume, you can hear the sound outside the headphones. Really, for so many years, the sound I heard was just terrible. Bravo to Creative, this card is definitely worth its money. The only thing that bothered me was the optical fiber - if it had that kind of sound there, we would be talking about the best sound card. But it's okay, what it does offer is a lot for its price

Using the optical in a 5.1 home cinema amplifier, simply fantastic experience for movies/games/music

I bought it as soon as it came out and there were some issues with the drivers. Now, after 1.5 years, the mother Creative did its thing and the sound that the card produces is incredible. It drives a Yamaha preamp with two TAGA HARMONY speakers on top of it. This sound is unmatched (I am a professional sound engineer). The card doesn't sweeten or perfect the song you're listening to. You will hear it as it was recorded, even if that surprises you. For lovers of immersive sound... only.

17-5-23 UPDATE: I don't know exactly what CREATIVE does with their drivers, but with the latest update, the sound has been elevated AGAIN.
Smooth collaboration with Windows 11 Pro 64-bit. I have been using CREATIVE sound cards my whole life. This particular one never fails to pleasantly surprise me every time. Let's hope it stays that way. Oh, and something for the gamers. With headphones and the appropriate settings through the card's program, you feel like you're literally inside. You can hear even the slightest movement of the enemy, and the effects are amazingly chaotic. Enjoy listening.

25-7-23 UPDATE: The little card gave up during a regular listening session. The SOUND DIRECT stopped working, and then the 3D CORE gave up as well. Now, only headphone output with the worst sound I've ever heard. Oh, and the drivers, while installing correctly and being recognized by the system, any change from SB COMMAND results in a crash. It was too good to be true. Its memory is eternal. Let's go for another one... UPDATE 19/11/23: I decided to try the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Fx V2. Well, I don't regret it. 120DB output, PURE DIRECT mode, amazing decoding. Compared to the previous one, the differences are almost negligible. Beautiful, full, detailed, and clean sound. Perfect collaboration with Windows 11 (since the card is now available). Oh, and it also has a bracket with 2 additional inputs/outputs. Take a look at them. I will come back with more.

I will need pages to describe my experience with this card, but this is the 3rd time that a different part has problems. It usually starts with not appearing in Windows as a device and requires you to shut down the PC, unplug it, press the start button to drain the power from the power supply, and then start it again on the next start. After a while, it takes 2-3 attempts to appear, and then it's a matter of luck until at some point it doesn't appear at all and you have to return it IF you're lucky and it's still under warranty. At some point, I will stop replacing it, but I regret the money I initially spent

Excellent sound card, both for gaming and music. The program and drivers are of very good quality and do not resemble the old implementations (it is a quite modern application - tested on Windows 10).
Very good headphone amplification (including on the Tower's front panel).
The drivers/software support Dolby & DTS