Best Buy Ratings and Reviews

Immerse yourself in online gaming with this external USB sound card that delivers lifelike audio with X-Fi Crystalizer technology. The EAX advanced HD sound effects provide realistic sound that helps draw you into your gaming experience.

Average Customer Rating:

4.0

out of

(33 Reviews) 33

Rating Snapshot 33 reviews

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

79% of customers would recommend this product to a friend

(

26 out of 33

)

Customer Reviews for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Review 1 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Best I have ever owned!

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: geek420life

from Idaho

on 06/06/2010

Value for Price

5.0

Compatibility

2.0

Features

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: External, plug and play. OS X and Win 7 compatible.

What's not so great: Bundled Software is slow and buggy and more OS X support.

This is a GREAT sound card, I purchased it because my sound card in my notebook stopped working and dell wanted $200 just to look at it. The price was great on this and I didnt mind carying a extra little box with me from home to work.

This box has optical out, Audio out (hooks right up to home stereo via White and Red sound cable.) This made it very easy for me to hook right into my home theater to listen to music. It also has a volume button but Windows 7 would not utilize it until I installed Creatives slow clunky software. Unfortunately my OS X machine was not able to utilize the volume button.

Overall this is a great card, if you are looking to replace a card just take a look at this before you buy another internal one I think you might be surprised the quality this little thing puts out that stomps my internal sound cards.

I would recommend this to a friend!

+1point

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Review 2 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Forgetable

Customer Rating

1.0

Posted by: curbfeeler

from Seattle

on 05/18/2010

Value for Price

1.0

Compatibility

1.0

Features

1.0

Ease of Installation

4.0

What's great about it: Easy set up

What's not so great: didn't get it done

I couldn't get anyting but a clipped waveform into my application.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

-1point

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Review 3 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

dont install software

Customer Rating

3.0

Posted by: Ryan45

from Ames,IA

on 05/04/2010

Value for Price

3.0

Compatibility

1.0

Features

1.0

Ease of Installation

4.0

What's great about it: it let allows to to use 5.1 speaker

What's not so great: the software

i bought this sound card and some 5.1 logitech speakers a few days ago and everything was great until i installed that stupid creative software makes the speakers have consistant annoying static, i even removed the software to to fix the problem and it worked for a few hours and then a static that never showed up before the software came back :( its all great and works still just dont use software!!!!

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

+1point

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Review 4 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

WORST PURCHASE EVER

Customer Rating

1.0

Posted by: kevintlb

from new york

on 04/09/2010

Value for Price

1.0

Compatibility

1.0

Features

1.0

Ease of Installation

1.0

What's great about it: NOTHING

What's not so great: Everything

i am very furious with my purchase i recently purchased this item cause i have a lil jumpy and static sound in the background from time to time. so i purchased this to try and get that sound away..after i purchased it easy to install..i full installed everything..as i play music not only did the jumpy static noise didn't go away it has gotten worse and at times the music will just STOP and everything will come back on in a few seconds...and what makes thing's even better i got the blue screen of death after...i am a audio freak..i've spent 2 grand on my stereo set for my laptop..including the klipsch 450 watt subwoofer which is simply amazing....this is the worst audio purchase i've made in my life..if you think this is good then you have no idea what good audio is like..

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

-4points

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Review 5 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Awesome Sound!!

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: Anonymous

from Ft. Fairfield, ME

on 04/02/2010

Value for Price

5.0

Features

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: fantastic sound!!!

What's not so great: can't use as a stand alone sound card

I was hoping to use this as a stand alone sound card for my ipod. You do however, have to have it hooked up to a computer. but once you hear it, you really have no problem with booting up a computer!! It sounds unreal! it's easy to install. I have the creative inspire 5.1 (I think they are the inspire..) and they sound incredible.....if you are a true audiophile, you'll enjoy this sound card immensely!!1

I would recommend this to a friend!

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Review 6 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Simply a Better Product

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: WFInHouston

from Houston, TX

on 03/26/2010

Value for Price

5.0

Compatibility

5.0

Features

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

Images for this Review

(click to see full-size image)

What's great about it: External, Compact, Versatile and SOUNDS GREAT!!!

What's not so great: I have not found a problem yet.

My Problem:
I primarily use my home workstation to listen to music and watch streaming media on the web. After replacing my computer, I discovered that the sound card was severely lacking. I did not realize this until I started listening to music with my headphones. My system has limited internal bus space so adding a new card was not an option.

My solution:
Buy the Creative Sound Blaster X-fi

This is an awesome product. The sound is unbelievable-speakers or headphones. Plus with the handy headphone jack, I can leave my speakers hooked up when using headphones. This is truly convenient.

The unit’s external design makes it not only portable (for possible use on my laptop) but also ideal for machines short of open expansion slots.

I simply have not found a drawback to this soundcard. It really sounds GREAT (sorry to be redundant!)

I have never written a hardware review before, but this product has moved me to do so. I would completely recommend it to anyone who truly loves music.

Thanks to the helpful staff at my local Best Buy. While I am technically savvy, they steered me right to this unit after listening to my needs. Thanks guys!!! I am totally satisfied-as usual!

I would recommend this to a friend!

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Review 7 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

decent for the price

Customer Rating

4.0

Posted by: twc5964

from birmingham

on 03/12/2010

Value for Price

4.0

Compatibility

5.0

Features

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: quick and easy installation

What's not so great: sound is not bad

The internal motherboard plug for my soundcard burned up in my old computer.In comes a usb soundcard.This one is no where as nice as my older Audigy,however,after adjusting a lot of the settings and using my electronics experience I modified the circuit board myself by adding .22uf Kimber caps to the main power supply caps in this tiny unit.

It sounds much better now,much cleaner as my mod adds more filtering of dirty electricity and noise from the computer.Improved dynamics and clarity also. I'm happy now.

This is not a fair assesment for this soundcard since I whipped out my soldering iron to mod it.And,if I screwed it up I most certainly would not be able to return it.

Still,in stock form,and for the price of $50.00 I consider this soundcard a good product for the money and would recommend it to anyone with a laptop or for someone not ready to open thier computer to install an internal one.

I would recommend this to a friend!

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Review 8 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

usb soundcard

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: bob89

from Irving, TX

on 02/25/2010

Value for Price

5.0

Compatibility

5.0

Features

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: plug n play, great alternative for laptop users

What's not so great: none except the volume knob didnt work for me for some reason

this was the perfect product for me. i wanted to use my tritton headphones when i played computer games on my laptop and this provided the optical port needed. i can now hear every detail in game and music also sounds great

I would recommend this to a friend!

0points

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Review 9 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Small package, Big performance

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: rjlewis1

from San Diego, CA

on 02/03/2010

Value for Price

5.0

Compatibility

5.0

Features

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: Great sound quality, easy installation, USB powered and great price.

What's not so great: Can't think of anything.

When the sound card, which is on the motherboard, on my wife's computer went out, I had the option of adding either an internal or external sound card. I decided on an external card mainly for ease of access. We do a lot of digitizing LP's and cassettes to MP3 files and having to plug and unplug the players on the back of the computer was a real pain. After researching a number of options, I decided to go with the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card. I have Creative sound cards in most of my computers, and I like the sound quality and I like Creative's software. The external sound card makes changing devices a breeze. With its small footprint, it doesn't take up much room on the desk, it's just a little bigger than a pack of cigarettes. It has input for line in and microphone, both 3.5mm as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack. Output is through rca plugs for the front speakers, or 3.5mm jack, via an included adapter, rear and sub are via 3.5mm jack and there is also an optical out. There is a large volume/mute dial which links to an on screen display which shows the volume level. The included software is great. From multiple effects to surround sound to recording, it's all here. All in all, this is a lot of sound card packed into a small package.

I would recommend this to a friend!

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Review 10 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

DID THE JOB

Customer Rating

4.0

Posted by: ARS

from UNION NJ

on 01/31/2010

Value for Price

4.0

Compatibility

5.0

Features

4.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: DID THE JOB

What's not so great: VOLUME CONTROL & ON OFF SWITCH NOT WORKING

My sound card on my computer was not working. I did not want to take the computer apart and replace the card and wanted a usb device. THis did the trick.

The speakers work great connected to the device. However the on off switch and volume control do not work. IT IS PROBABLY MY FAULT since i did not install the software that came with it. It did the trick for what I wanted and would buy it again.

I would recommend this to a friend!

0points

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Review 11 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Best sound ever

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: GaryMe

from Jersey City, NJ

on 01/25/2010

Value for Price

5.0

Compatibility

5.0

Features

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: 5 second installation, easy to use, perfect sound!!!

Understanding of how to install took me about 5 seconds. Installation itself quick. Sound and effects are perfect, using with games - unbelivable.
Recommending this product to everybody.

I would recommend this to a friend!

0points

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Review 12 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

good sound

Customer Rating

4.0

Posted by: RJ126

from new york

on 01/21/2010

Value for Price

4.0

Compatibility

5.0

Features

4.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: easy install

my sound card got damaged so I wanted something simple to install. this works right after you plug in to a USB port. no electric cords, just the sound wire. adequate volume. did not use any of the bells and whistles it comes with.

I would recommend this to a friend!

0points

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Review 13 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Great external sound card

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: mandan007

from Vancouver, WA

on 01/12/2010

Value for Price

5.0

Compatibility

5.0

Features

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: Easy to set up vs. internal sound card, good price

What's not so great: Not inside the computer itself

Works great with existing 5.1 speakers and sounds great. Great product, no cons yet.

I would recommend this to a friend!

+1point

1out of 1found this review helpful.

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Review 14 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Works very well!

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: Dex

from San Diego, California

on 12/08/2009

Value for Price

5.0

Compatibility

5.0

Features

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: Easy set up and and good price!

What's not so great: Nothing so far!

I am very satisfied with this product. Great price and good quailty. Delivers great and sharp sound.

I would recommend this to a friend!

0points

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Review 15 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

SB X-Fi 5.1 External Surround

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: OverfocusedDOTcom

from Chicago, IL

on 11/09/2009

What's great about it: Plug and play without driver installation, remote control compatible, audio quality

What's not so great: only 1 microphone voice effect

I am a very picky person when it comes to the quality of my sound and this external card is wonderful. Whenever I try to increase the high frequencies to get more crisp sound in WMP's equalizer, it usually makes my ears hurt and isnt quite satisfactory at a comfortable level. The crystalizer feature really adds the fidelity without making my ears hurt and I love it. For 60 bucks and mobility you can't really go wrong.

I would recommend this to a friend!

0points

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Review 16 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

No Problems Here

Customer Rating

4.0

Posted by: jlca101

from Bellingham Wa

on 10/11/2009

Value for Price

4.0

Video/Sound Quality

5.0

Performance

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: Simple set up, good price

What's not so great: Nothing

I had to buy this because I only have a lap top and I had recieved a 5.1 surround system. It was very easy to set up and was worth every penny, which was not much. I have no problems with any sound either in gaming or in music. As in other reviews the install did take a while but installing anything does, whats 15 min?

I would recommend this to a friend!

+1point

1out of 1found this review helpful.

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Review 17 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Fantastic Audio Card

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: PrecisionMan

from New Hampshire

on 09/17/2009

Value for Price

5.0

Video/Sound Quality

5.0

Performance

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: Makes music come to life

What's not so great: Gaming Audio can be a bit touchy

I have been using this audio card for over 9 months now and I am very happy with it. When I use my big headphones the highs and lows become much more clear and defined than they are when I use my laptop's built in speaker output. I love the EAX feature, it really makes you feel like you are listening to your favorite band live, not from a pair of headphones.

The EAX does have one drawback however. If you use it on too high of a setting while playing video games the audio from spoken words becomes very quiet compared to the background noise. But as soon as you turn it down a bit, your video game will come to life even more than it already was with this great audio card.

I think this was a great investment which lets me do anything from study to game all from the comfort of my dorm room.

I would recommend this to a friend!

-1point

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Review 18 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External

Customer Rating

5.0

Posted by: Arezap

from New York

on 09/16/2009

Value for Price

5.0

Video/Sound Quality

5.0

Performance

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: Great sound, easily moveable to another computer.

What's not so great: Downloading critical driver updates took 15min over fibre optic ISP connection.

This is a great sound card. I can't find anything I don't care for besides the download time for the critical software updates was slow even using a fibre optic internet connection( over 15 mins). The install cd was actually optional along with the drivers and otehr software on it but I wanted to take full advantage of all the devices capabilities and features so it was installed.
The device will run without any of the creative software on the cd installed.

This is actually a fully functional sound card and not just " a sound enhancer" as stated in another review. I have no internal sound card in my desktop and this works great. I got this because 3 internal sound cards died in the desktop, 2 of them in the same week, so I decided on the USB model to prevent another one frying.

Installation was a cinch, software installation was also simple. After software installation a reboot was required. After the reboot Creative's updater asked to check for updates and it found several critical updates. Creatives download server could use a bit more speed in my opinion because I have a fibre optic connection to the internet and the 147mb for the updates for my chosen coftware took about 15-20 mins. Any file that size downloaded from another website usually takes a mere moment or 2 and not several minutes. After the software update a reboot was required and I had no problems using the software or the device. When the device was connected to a laptop it worked fine without the software being installed at all.

Overall a great external sound solution for me.

I would recommend this to a friend!

+1point

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Review 19 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Not worth it!

Customer Rating

1.0

Posted by: Robw1967

from Michigan

on 08/24/2009

Value for Price

2.0

Video/Sound Quality

1.0

Performance

1.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: Easy to remove off your system!

What's not so great: Static, Did not play all music

like most of the other reviews, a lot of static. Really disappointed in this product.
Creative dropped the ball with this one. I should have thought twice and took the word of some of the other reviews and looked for something else. Some music was muffled. Sound lagged at cmt website.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

-2points

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Review 20 for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB Sound Card

Not really a sound card - it's a sound enhancer

Customer Rating

4.0

Posted by: Dziggy

from Minnesota

on 08/20/2009

Value for Price

5.0

Video/Sound Quality

5.0

Performance

5.0

Ease of Installation

5.0

What's great about it: Great sound, variety of outputs, 5.1 surround support

What's not so great: Doesn't act as a sound card, no USB input

This device isn't really a sound card, it's more like a sound enhancer. It enhances the sound of any audio device that is connected to it, but if you have an audio device connected to any other port on your computer (such as a USB headset), it won't work with it. The reason for this is because this device doesn't work like a sound card, it works as a set of USB speakers (that's what Windows Vista detected it as). This means that you have to set the device as your default speakers before it'll work, which means you can't have this on while using something like a USB headset.

But, as long as you use the outputs ports on the device, it works great, and sounds really good. I already had a X-Fi sound card in my system, so I didn't notice a huge difference in sound quality, but there is definitely a noticeable difference.

The number of ports is very nice, too. Haedphones port, microphone port, RCA port (the red and white audio cable that go to your TV for stereo sound; RCA-to-3.5mm adapter included for those that have a 3.5mm PC audio input on your TV), and, of course, an optical port for surround sound. There's also a 3.5mm line-in port, allowing you to connect devices such as an MP3 players.

-----

@jsun,

I think your problem was that you didn't set your the device to be the main speaker system on your computer. Like I said above, your computer detects it as a set of speakers, not an actual sound card. If you have Vista, click the Start button, search sound, then open "sound". Right-click on the device and select "set as default device." That should make the sound go through the device.

I would recommend this to a friend!

-1point

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