Cal

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2016

Let me start off by saying I am no audiophile but just someone who really loves their PC gaming (Mainly CSGO). After spending a good chunk of change on some Audio-Technica ATH-AD900X's and a Antlion Audio ModMic to step my gaming and positional audio up to the next level, the next move was to upgrade from my mobo's onboard sound (Realtek ALC892) to some sort of upgraded audio hardware. I did some homework and found myself trying to choose between a sound card or a external DAC. In the end I decided I have enough clutter on my desk and would prefer a card that I could put in my case and out of sight. I had my eye on a few different models but with so many mixed reviews out there it was hard to tell who was right and who was wrong. In the end I came across this and with the majority of reviews being so positive I decided to pull the trigger and order it.-------------------------------------------INSTALLATIONSure it's pretty dated (originally released in 2011 I believe) but so far it has worked flawlessly. Simply plugged it in and it was instantly detected and installed on Windows 7. Next ran my driver updating software to get it to it's most current (and mostly likely last ever) software updates which are dated 11/17/2014 for the SB Recon3D PCIe and the other 11/17/2014 for the Sound Blaster Audio Controller. Afterwards it was a simple matter of going into the audio devices and setting the SB Recon3D PCIe as the Default device and disabling the other devices (onboard sound) so there would be no conflicts. Doing this for the microphone as well.Next, in the SB software it was as simple as setting the Speakers/Headphones tab to Headphones and plugging my headphone jack into the headphone audio outlet (right next to the microphone jack and not the Green jack unless you want to use speakers). In CSGO I'm a fan of standard Stereo settings rather than 5.1 surround sound because it just doesn't work that well in Counter Strike. From there I instantly noticed the upgrade in performance. Sounds were amplified and what was once nearly maxed out volume levels have now been lowered to usually the mid 20% range. Sounds are crisp and positional audio is easier to pinpoint on the sound stage. So those features alone were worth it to me.-------------------------------------------ABOUT THE SOFTWARE (SBX Pro Studio)Now the software comes with a couple of other fun features you can play around with. Features that allow you to adjust the level of things you want like Surround sound, Crystalizer (enhances music and movies to make them sound "livelier"), Bass, Smart Volume, Dialog Plus (no idea what that is).For the microphone is has the CRYSTALVOICE tab which allows you to adjust mic volume, mic boost. As well as smart volume, noise reduction, acoustic echo cancellation and focus. One of the more fun parts in this section is the FX feature which is basically a voice changer for those who like to mess around with that stuff for fun."Scout Mode" - This was an interesting setting which is supposed to be directed at FPS players. The description we're given is "THIS PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS YOU TO HEAR YOUR ENEMIES FROM FURTHER AWAY, GIVING YOU A DISTINCT TACTICAL ADVANTAGE IN COMBAT." Once enabled I will admit it did exactly what it said and I was able to hear certain sounds like footsteps from further away with ease but this setting basically overrides everything. It uses the Smart Volume, 5.1 surround sound and the Smart Volume for the mic. which meant it would quiet my teammates talking, quiet gunshots that one would want to hear for position and once again surround sound which I just don't like. So in the end I don't use it.Lastly with the final update they did include a couple did profiles you can use depending on the game type your playing. Otherwise you can make a custom one fine tuned to your liking.---------------------------------------------CONCLUSIONOverall I'm satisfied and at the same time a little disappointed. It works great and it's nice that it has it's own CPU to take some stress off my main CPU while I'm running my games. I'm disappointed that it is essentially dated hardware that hasn't seen a driver update in over 3 years and probably never will again. Still a tad on the spendy side as well ($80) even though it's 5 years old but I feel it was worth it. If you're a FPS player or a PC gamer in general then I would definitely throw this in the ring for sound upgrade options.

Cal

Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2016

Let me start off by saying I am no audiophile but just someone who really loves their PC gaming (Mainly CSGO). After spending a good chunk of change on some Audio-Technica ATH-AD900X's and a Antlion Audio ModMic to step my gaming and positional audio up to the next level, the next move was to upgrade from my mobo's onboard sound (Realtek ALC892) to some sort of upgraded audio hardware. I did some homework and found myself trying to choose between a sound card or a external DAC. In the end I decided I have enough clutter on my desk and would prefer a card that I could put in my case and out of sight. I had my eye on a few different models but with so many mixed reviews out there it was hard to tell who was right and who was wrong. In the end I came across this and with the majority of reviews being so positive I decided to pull the trigger and order it.-------------------------------------------INSTALLATIONSure it's pretty dated (originally released in 2011 I believe) but so far it has worked flawlessly. Simply plugged it in and it was instantly detected and installed on Windows 7. Next ran my driver updating software to get it to it's most current (and mostly likely last ever) software updates which are dated 11/17/2014 for the SB Recon3D PCIe and the other 11/17/2014 for the Sound Blaster Audio Controller. Afterwards it was a simple matter of going into the audio devices and setting the SB Recon3D PCIe as the Default device and disabling the other devices (onboard sound) so there would be no conflicts. Doing this for the microphone as well.Next, in the SB software it was as simple as setting the Speakers/Headphones tab to Headphones and plugging my headphone jack into the headphone audio outlet (right next to the microphone jack and not the Green jack unless you want to use speakers). In CSGO I'm a fan of standard Stereo settings rather than 5.1 surround sound because it just doesn't work that well in Counter Strike. From there I instantly noticed the upgrade in performance. Sounds were amplified and what was once nearly maxed out volume levels have now been lowered to usually the mid 20% range. Sounds are crisp and positional audio is easier to pinpoint on the sound stage. So those features alone were worth it to me.-------------------------------------------ABOUT THE SOFTWARE (SBX Pro Studio)Now the software comes with a couple of other fun features you can play around with. Features that allow you to adjust the level of things you want like Surround sound, Crystalizer (enhances music and movies to make them sound "livelier"), Bass, Smart Volume, Dialog Plus (no idea what that is).For the microphone is has the CRYSTALVOICE tab which allows you to adjust mic volume, mic boost. As well as smart volume, noise reduction, acoustic echo cancellation and focus. One of the more fun parts in this section is the FX feature which is basically a voice changer for those who like to mess around with that stuff for fun."Scout Mode" - This was an interesting setting which is supposed to be directed at FPS players. The description we're given is "THIS PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY ALLOWS YOU TO HEAR YOUR ENEMIES FROM FURTHER AWAY, GIVING YOU A DISTINCT TACTICAL ADVANTAGE IN COMBAT." Once enabled I will admit it did exactly what it said and I was able to hear certain sounds like footsteps from further away with ease but this setting basically overrides everything. It uses the Smart Volume, 5.1 surround sound and the Smart Volume for the mic. which meant it would quiet my teammates talking, quiet gunshots that one would want to hear for position and once again surround sound which I just don't like. So in the end I don't use it.Lastly with the final update they did include a couple did profiles you can use depending on the game type your playing. Otherwise you can make a custom one fine tuned to your liking.---------------------------------------------CONCLUSIONOverall I'm satisfied and at the same time a little disappointed. It works great and it's nice that it has it's own CPU to take some stress off my main CPU while I'm running my games. I'm disappointed that it is essentially dated hardware that hasn't seen a driver update in over 3 years and probably never will again. Still a tad on the spendy side as well ($80) even though it's 5 years old but I feel it was worth it. If you're a FPS player or a PC gamer in general then I would definitely throw this in the ring for sound upgrade options.

prateek mathur

Reviewed in India on January 30, 2015

the best sound card from creative,just awsme man what a sound quality it give with my sony home theather can't explain in words dolby live is just unmathble it gives u feel like u r sitting in theather n watching movie go for it guys if u hve requirement of sound card way way way better than asus card in this range

prateek mathur

Reviewed in India on January 30, 2015

the best sound card from creative,just awsme man what a sound quality it give with my sony home theather can't explain in words dolby live is just unmathble it gives u feel like u r sitting in theather n watching movie go for it guys if u hve requirement of sound card way way way better than asus card in this range

Harsha Jayaram

Reviewed in India on April 5, 2015

Updated my desktop. All my movies and music now played in clear surround sound.

Harsha Jayaram

Reviewed in India on April 5, 2015

Updated my desktop. All my movies and music now played in clear surround sound.

Peace

Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2013

I was eager and excited to try this sound card out since I got the Edifier S730, a pricey but pretty darn good sounding audio system, and I do like a fair amount of bass in my music. So I hook it up to my mobo install the software, drivers all the typical goodies. I boot up and play a couple songs specifically bass tests and instantly I heard a difference in the bass. It felt chopped and rough just not good. Compared to my onboard audio the bass was smooth and even. I tried messing with the settings but I realized when I plugged in my gaming headphones in the dedicated port the same exact sound issue, the highs and mids sounded GREAT! but the lows were a complete failure. Sent it back and I am perfectly content with my onboard audio. I still don't know if it was defective or not but never again, maybe I have to spend well over a 100$ for a good boost in sound quality? maybe my expectations were too high but as a gamer I was disappointed overall

Peace

Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2013

I was eager and excited to try this sound card out since I got the Edifier S730, a pricey but pretty darn good sounding audio system, and I do like a fair amount of bass in my music. So I hook it up to my mobo install the software, drivers all the typical goodies. I boot up and play a couple songs specifically bass tests and instantly I heard a difference in the bass. It felt chopped and rough just not good. Compared to my onboard audio the bass was smooth and even. I tried messing with the settings but I realized when I plugged in my gaming headphones in the dedicated port the same exact sound issue, the highs and mids sounded GREAT! but the lows were a complete failure. Sent it back and I am perfectly content with my onboard audio. I still don't know if it was defective or not but never again, maybe I have to spend well over a 100$ for a good boost in sound quality? maybe my expectations were too high but as a gamer I was disappointed overall

p_furious

Reviewed in Canada on August 28, 2012

I came from always just using the on board audio thinking what difference can it possibly make, so I never bought one. Finally I got sick of playing games in stereo or pro-logic so I did some looking and found this card for a very good price compared to in store. Had to have Dolby Digital Live to play games in true DD, and boy does this card rock. Only played Max Payne 3 but what a world of difference. But what even impressed me more is how much better regular MP3's sound now. Honestly, if you appreciate good audio and have a half decent speak set, get this card. Installation was a breeze, just popped it in, disabled the on board card, installed the drives and done. Took about 10 minutes. Highly recommended.

p_furious

Reviewed in Canada on August 28, 2012

I came from always just using the on board audio thinking what difference can it possibly make, so I never bought one. Finally I got sick of playing games in stereo or pro-logic so I did some looking and found this card for a very good price compared to in store. Had to have Dolby Digital Live to play games in true DD, and boy does this card rock. Only played Max Payne 3 but what a world of difference. But what even impressed me more is how much better regular MP3's sound now. Honestly, if you appreciate good audio and have a half decent speak set, get this card. Installation was a breeze, just popped it in, disabled the on board card, installed the drives and done. Took about 10 minutes. Highly recommended.

Voltron

Reviewed in Canada on June 25, 2012

Great product. Makes a Big difference than "HD 8.1 or 7.1 or 5.1" or what ever you have as On Board Audio!.I thought I had great sound in Battlefield 3 untill I risked it and popped this in. A world of difference.If you're tone deaf and don't care, don't buy it, but otherwise the audio quality difference is tremendous!One word of advice if you haven't already read in other reviews: don't struggle trying to disable AudioDrivers like the manual says, instead just diable ON BOARD Audio is BIOS prior to doing anything else and your install will be flawless.Must have Windows 7. Box is misleading about XP compatiablility!!GREAT PRODUCT if you are a gamer and love music. I can't comment on microphone functions (good/bad) becauseI use a USB Logitech mike. This has Analogue mike jack input.If you want ultimate, supreme, super AUDIO/SUDIO professional product and are not a gamer this is not for you.The next model up has identical Specs plus a red LED light and a microphone included. Same guts though.

Voltron

Reviewed in Canada on June 25, 2012

Great product. Makes a Big difference than "HD 8.1 or 7.1 or 5.1" or what ever you have as On Board Audio!.I thought I had great sound in Battlefield 3 untill I risked it and popped this in. A world of difference.If you're tone deaf and don't care, don't buy it, but otherwise the audio quality difference is tremendous!One word of advice if you haven't already read in other reviews: don't struggle trying to disable AudioDrivers like the manual says, instead just diable ON BOARD Audio is BIOS prior to doing anything else and your install will be flawless.Must have Windows 7. Box is misleading about XP compatiablility!!GREAT PRODUCT if you are a gamer and love music. I can't comment on microphone functions (good/bad) becauseI use a USB Logitech mike. This has Analogue mike jack input.If you want ultimate, supreme, super AUDIO/SUDIO professional product and are not a gamer this is not for you.The next model up has identical Specs plus a red LED light and a microphone included. Same guts though.

Robert E. Peuckert

Reviewed in Canada on April 1, 2012

My new Dell XPS8300's onboard sound was annoying with its boominess and lack of definition in the highs when played back on my Logitech 4.1 speakers. These same speakers sounded fine with my old system. So I purchased the Recon3D. Wow, what a difference. The exagerated lows were tamed and voices once again sounded natural. Nothing wrong with my speakers. The culprit was the crappy on board sound. The Creative Sound Card solved my sound issues. Plus in games the positional surround sound is very realistic. Great card for the money. Highly recommended!

Robert E. Peuckert

Reviewed in Canada on April 1, 2012

My new Dell XPS8300's onboard sound was annoying with its boominess and lack of definition in the highs when played back on my Logitech 4.1 speakers. These same speakers sounded fine with my old system. So I purchased the Recon3D. Wow, what a difference. The exagerated lows were tamed and voices once again sounded natural. Nothing wrong with my speakers. The culprit was the crappy on board sound. The Creative Sound Card solved my sound issues. Plus in games the positional surround sound is very realistic. Great card for the money. Highly recommended!

Lee Nguyen

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2011

I finally got tired of the hissing and crackling of my onboard audio from my motherboard.This is what I was looking for in a new sound card in order of priority.1. Clean sound with my . i.e. no hissing or other PC-related background noise.2. Latest 3d positioning technology to work with my latest games.3. Updatability and future support.4. PCI-e 1x form factor. My regular PCI slots are all filled up.At first I was really tempted to get either an X-FI or Xonar for $10 cheaper. But then I read how old these cards are and I began to realize that support for these cards will wane more quickly over time. That's just the way the software business works. Since these cards are new, I figure that Creative might have a chance to develop more stable software for their latest card.After using this card for a few days, here are my pros and cons...Pros- Very simple to install. The BIGGEST caveat is that you should disable your onboard audio in the bios before getting started or weird configuration glitches will occur (no crashes though, thank goodness).- Sound is very clean with my headphones except in certain odd configs (see cons). When I use the dedicated headphone output, default control panel settings are fine. I ended up disabling TruStudio Pro because I generally don't like to post-process my audio (it's just a personal preference).- CrystalVoice is hilarious and awesome. The gender voice-change made my friend think that I was hitting on him. Great for MMORPGs or FPS games.- 3d positioning works. It's nice.- No conflicts out of the box. That's a big plus. I've had older Creative cards and there was always something that caused me annoying problems.Cons- It's new. So it's a bit pricey. To be expected, though.- When you enable DolbyLive in Cinematics, I could hear hissing in my headphones. I don't use DolbyLive anyways and it probably doesn't even make sense to do so with headphones. So it's not a deal breaker.- When listening to audio via Firefox, if you switch from one audio output to another, you lose your audio until you restart Firefox. Again, this is a weird bug that I don't care too much about. (Firefox saves practically all your browsing sessions). It might not even happen with other browsers.- Lack of good packaged software. Comes with WaveStudio, Alchemy, Music Server (i.e. glorified media player) and that I removed immediately. There are a lot of better free alternatives. I wish there was a 3d sound demo to "excite" you about the 3d capabilities of the card.If you're upgrading from onboard audio to a dedicated card, it's worth it to get this card just for the cleaner sound. If you already have a sound card like an X-Fi or Xonar and you have no annoying problems with it, I really doubt that you're going to notice any difference in sound quality by getting this card; maybe better driver support in the future.

Lee Nguyen

Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2011

I finally got tired of the hissing and crackling of my onboard audio from my motherboard.This is what I was looking for in a new sound card in order of priority.1. Clean sound with my . i.e. no hissing or other PC-related background noise.2. Latest 3d positioning technology to work with my latest games.3. Updatability and future support.4. PCI-e 1x form factor. My regular PCI slots are all filled up.At first I was really tempted to get either an X-FI or Xonar for $10 cheaper. But then I read how old these cards are and I began to realize that support for these cards will wane more quickly over time. That's just the way the software business works. Since these cards are new, I figure that Creative might have a chance to develop more stable software for their latest card.After using this card for a few days, here are my pros and cons...Pros- Very simple to install. The BIGGEST caveat is that you should disable your onboard audio in the bios before getting started or weird configuration glitches will occur (no crashes though, thank goodness).- Sound is very clean with my headphones except in certain odd configs (see cons). When I use the dedicated headphone output, default control panel settings are fine. I ended up disabling TruStudio Pro because I generally don't like to post-process my audio (it's just a personal preference).- CrystalVoice is hilarious and awesome. The gender voice-change made my friend think that I was hitting on him. Great for MMORPGs or FPS games.- 3d positioning works. It's nice.- No conflicts out of the box. That's a big plus. I've had older Creative cards and there was always something that caused me annoying problems.Cons- It's new. So it's a bit pricey. To be expected, though.- When you enable DolbyLive in Cinematics, I could hear hissing in my headphones. I don't use DolbyLive anyways and it probably doesn't even make sense to do so with headphones. So it's not a deal breaker.- When listening to audio via Firefox, if you switch from one audio output to another, you lose your audio until you restart Firefox. Again, this is a weird bug that I don't care too much about. (Firefox saves practically all your browsing sessions). It might not even happen with other browsers.- Lack of good packaged software. Comes with WaveStudio, Alchemy, Music Server (i.e. glorified media player) and that I removed immediately. There are a lot of better free alternatives. I wish there was a 3d sound demo to "excite" you about the 3d capabilities of the card.If you're upgrading from onboard audio to a dedicated card, it's worth it to get this card just for the cleaner sound. If you already have a sound card like an X-Fi or Xonar and you have no annoying problems with it, I really doubt that you're going to notice any difference in sound quality by getting this card; maybe better driver support in the future.

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Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D THX PCIE Sound Card SB1350

About this item

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D THX PCIe Sound Card

Powered by Sound Core3D

THX TruStudio Pro Sound Technology

CrystalVoice Voice Enhancement And Clarity Technology

Scout Mode

Dolby Digital Live

Sound Blaster Recon3D PCIe Control Panel Software

High Quality Headphone Amp

What's in the Box?

System Requirements

Which Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Sound Card is Right for You?