Creative Sound Blaster X3

The Creative Sound Blaster X3 tries to tackle multiple audio concerns at the same time.

Chances are, your Windows PC or Mac speakers come with middling, if not terrible audio quality. Or maybe they’re decent, but not quite good enough to truly enjoy what the music or games you spend time listening to.

Cue the Creative Sound Blaster X3, a USB DAC (digital-to-analog converter) with a headphone amplifier that can produce virtual 7.1 surround sound, and offers a variety of ways to enhance the audio coming out of your computer or game console.

It’s like an external sound card that’s compatible with PS4, PC and Mac and has the added bonus of harboring SXFI, Creative’s audio technology that simulates 3D sound in a pair of stereo headphones.

Creative found a way to keep things simple, yet provide different avenues to pursue all at once. The primary input is the large knob in the middle that controls a couple of different things, depending on setup. The three buttons laid out in front of it mute the microphone, change audio modes and toggle Super X-Fi on or off.

On the rear, there are no less than seven ports. USB-C is the power port,