Creative has long been known for quality peripherals. In the good old days, its Sound Blaster range of audio products were all the rage. The company recently launched the Sound Blaster X G1 – a thumb-sized USB external gaming sound card for gamers who are always on the move. We took the device for a test drive and we were amazed by the sheer sound quality it offers.
The basic functionality of the G1 is to allow users to upgrade their on-board audio. In doing so, the Sound Blaster X G1 also offers native 7.1 channel input in order to deliver 7.1 surround sound on PC or laptops. The Sound Blaster X G1 also comes with the Blaster X Acoustic Engine Pro application for PCs and laptops that lets you fully customise your audio as well as create optimised audio profiles.
The G1 is truly designed with gamers in mind. It comes packed with 17 preset game audio profiles that lets you enhance gaming audio with surround sound, bass boost and added clarity. It also supports Creative’s very own Scout Mode technology that lets you hear your enemies before your enemies can hear you, during a gaming session.
The G1 sports minimal packaging – it comes in a small box that includes the external sound card and a bunch of paperwork that includes the manual and the warranty leaflet. The G1 is compatible with PC, Mac, and PS4 console. Sadly, it does not support Xbox.
Installing and getting started with the G1 is a walk in the park. Just connect the G1 to a free USB port on your PC or laptop, fire up the BlasterX Acoustic Engine Pro software and you are good to go. The software itself is quite intuitive and comes packed with advanced tools that let you tweak the sound card to your liking.
Creative seems to have thought of most gamers – so it offers users with different settings for first person shooter games, adventure and action games, driving simulators and even specific profiles for games such as Call of Duty, Dota 2 and CS: GO. If you are not content with the 17 profiles offered, you can go ahead and create your very own to suit your requirement.
The software also comes with a Voice FX function that lets you apply different voice filters to achieve some seriously funny results. We paired the Creative Sound Blaster X H5 gaming headset with the G1 and we were amazed with the sheer audio quality we were able to achieve.
The Creative Sound Blaster X G1 sound card truly surprises with its performance. This small device offers many customisation options – much more than any of the sound cards on the market right now. It also offers 7.1 surround sound – so now your games can sound much better.
For a price tag of AED 189, the Creative Sound Blaster X G1 sound card truly shines in the performance department. We have no qualms in recommending the product. It thus walks away with the Review Central Editors’ Choice award.
Price: AED 189
