Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D PCI-E Unboxing + Written Review

[sakuravs]

The driver & software support for this shit is horrible. Creative Console Launcher is not supported on this card so you can say goodbye to all that awesome CMSS3D X-Fi feature such as Stereo Evelopment function (which allows you to listen to stereo music sound uniformly on all of your 5.1 speakers). The THX - certified shit doesn't make up for it, it creates fake echos on your surround speakers if you are listening to stereo music and it sounds horrible. There's no way to get around it. Failure!

[bta1987]

If I hook up my PS3 optical audio cable to this sound card, ,can I still get the Dolby surround sound?

[seroyer2]

Can you use a x16 slot for this card, I have a spare one at the bottom, of my board, I don't want to put a card above my GPU.

[custompcreview]

@seroyer2 Yup

[stuartgangsta]

Huge step backwards from a decent X-fi card

[tiu007]

this card rock, so big different between onboard sound card.

[kassenz]

thanks for the best Recon3D review I've found on the internet

[cuzaca]

is this a good card for music and movies also because i heard its not really an audiophile card but people still say its good for music and movies

[ElcomeSoft]

So what's the deal with the 3DRecon? Would you look at buying one over a X-Fi Titanium? I only ask because I'm looking for a card geared towards gaming (my PC's primary function, outputting over Optical and using my Onkyo receiver and 5.1 setup) and the Titanium seems to be the ideal choice for price and functionality for my budget.

[custompcreview]

@ElcomeSoft Since your main focus is gaming, I'd get the Recon 3D. From my testing so far, it's better than anything I've used for simulating 5.1 or 7.1 audio in headphones. Since you're using optical, it's more of a toss up. I'd still grab the recon 3d since it's cheaper. What kind of speakers/sub do you have hooked up?

[ElcomeSoft]

@custompcreview A set of Onkyo speakers and sub, SPK-518 series if memory serves. The receiver is an older Onkyo, the HT-R518.

The Recon 3D comes out at £90 and the X-Fi Titanium is much cheaper at around £60-65.

[custompcreview]

@ElcomeSoft Yeah, IMO you should grab the Recon 3D. It gives you a couple nice sound processing features that I really like. THX Trustudio and crystal voice. And... a little less, scout mode. I thought you were talking about the Titanium HD haha. That one has much better SQ, but it's more expensive.

[ElcomeSoft]

@custompcreview Wonder how much those features will benefit me if I'm outputting via Optical to real 5.1, no emulating surround sound in 2.0/2.1.

Seems like I can grab a used Titanium HD for £97. Might be a better option than the Recon3D (£87) or the plain Titanium (£62)

[custompcreview]

@ElcomeSoft Yeah probably not so much benefit with a 5.1 optical connection. With your speakers you probably don't benefit much by going the Titanium HD route either. IMO the major thing you'd really get is future driver support. The titanium is at the end of production. You'll get no more driver support, so you'll probably have problems in the future.

[ElcomeSoft]

@custompcreview Seems like I'll stick with my old Club3D Theatron Agrippa 7.1 DTS then. Seems like I'd be spending lots of cash for little/no appreciable gain, mainly driver support.

[custompcreview]

@ElcomeSoft Oh yeah that'll be just fine. It's unlikely you'll hear any difference between that and the X-Fi. Just wait until driver support dies out before you get something else.

[ElcomeSoft]

@custompcreview Thanks for your time and support... and sorry for rather messing up your wall :)

[3dkiller]

thats one low budget sound card.. the whole pcb is empty, and under the hood there is nothing special.

[KriegsMaschine]

One of the weirdest soundcard's PCB I ever seen. Almost no capacitor at all on the card, also where the hell are the opamps?! Doesn't look like a real high-end soundcard. I wonder to who it is targeted and I find it even less "serious" when they use stupid marketing terms like "Scout, 3D, Crystal, blabla"

[custompcreview]

@KriegsMaschine Yeah, the PCB does seem quite deficient. This actually isn't a "real" soundcard which is why it's missing all the capacitors. It's actually just a "sound processor" so all it does is process sounds. Definitely doesn't seem anywhere near as powerful as a last gen X-FI Titanium HD for sure.

[JustineBieberxoxo]

@KriegsMaschine Windows no longer allows hardware access when it comes to sound hardware. It really changed since Windows Vista.

Yhis card is tageted at gamers and people that want to watch films on their pc with 5.1/7.1 surround sound.

I just use a Maya44(probably a E-mu 1212 soon) that gives incredible stereo sound, better than this thing ever will.

But aside from all that, anything you buy over shitty motherboard chips is good.

[custompcreview]

@JustineBieberxoxo +1

[MesiveloniFin]

so u need this when u have razer tiamat??

[custompcreview]

@MesiveloniFin I don't think it fully supports the Razer Tiamat. This only does 5.1

[MesiveloniFin]

@custompcreview so what sound card do i need?

[lasermac83]

Can this convert the optical in signal to analog out?

[custompcreview]

@lasermac83 Not sure about this one, but I know the Recon 3D usb will.

[Psylacus]

Good stuff mate!

[1330pc]

Nice card. Never had the need for one of these. Good to stay up to date with tech though.

If u wanna play BF3 messege me!

[hamidious]

Please review multiple sound cards and maybe make comparisons because it's very hard to know what sound cards to buy.

[bigrigross]

Did you just call optical a analog signal???? Optical is a digital signal and going from optical to a dolby signal is no difference. Sound quality is the same regardless of what filter you use.

[paintbrawl]

i wish they would make the pcb face up when installed and same goes for the heat shroud on gpus i mean what is the point of making it look cool when you can't see it through your window?

[custompcreview]

@paintbrawl Yeah, they should! But everyone would have to do it together or you'd have some issues with some cards facing up and some cards facing down.

[keiki646]

I also like the black PCB design

[lupuradu]

@keiki646 The 1st audio card i had from creative was the audigy SE which was black, now i have the xfi xtremegamer which is also black. I think the black PCB is a standard for them, unlike some other companies like XFX which offers black PCB in overclocked or limited edition video cards.

[kasagaygay12]

Hey you should try to test out ever product you get. You should record it just suggestion.

[macfreak98]

What camera do you use?

[custompcreview]

@macfreak98 d7000

[iJames93i]

I'm going to take a guess that this, like all other sound cards, does not hardware accelerate audio at all? What is the real point in the quad core processor if all the processing is still pretty much done on the CPU?

[custompcreview]

@iJames93i The sound card processes the "special effects" - tru studio, crystal voice, dd live, scout mode, etc.

[ItsFish2k]

What do you use to record you super HD videos :O

[custompcreview]

@ItsFish2k d7000

[tombmxcrowley]

Whoop OpenAL

[A7Guitar]

Any chance of a comparison between this card and g1 assassin onboard?

[custompcreview]

@A7Guitar I'd say they're similar. If you've got a G1 assassin, I don't think it'll be worth it to grab one of these. Same with the Asrock X79 Extreme 9 which includes that game blaster add in card.

[A7Guitar]

@custompcreview ok thanks a bunch :) The built on sound card actually saved me about $50 and compared to some other onboard sound including the msi big bang it comes off with superior sound since i think the msi big bang card is just realtek audio but im not sure. Anyway definitely thanks :) Your videos have helped me a lot. Take care

[reborn897]

Maybe second if my internet isnt crappy

[reborn897]

Matbe first