Sound Blaster G8 – Hi-Res Gaming USB DAC with Dual USB Audio Mixing and Fully Customizable Acoustic Engine and 10-Band Equalizer
$159.99
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10 reviews for Sound Blaster G8 – Hi-Res Gaming USB DAC with Dual USB Audio Mixing and Fully Customizable Acoustic Engine and 10-Band Equalizer
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Sound Blaster G8 – Hi-Res Gaming USB DAC with Dual USB Audio Mixing and Fully Customizable Acoustic Engine and 10-Band Equalizer
$159.99
Flemo –
Completely Underrated DAC – astonishingly good sound for both music snobs and gamers.
This thing is totally underrated in the external DAC space.It keeps things simple, but does not compromise on sound quality.If you play PC games and are somewhat of an audiophile, you will LOVE this.I have purchased many other known brand DACS with LCD screens and a lot more setting to adjust, and to be honest I prefer the simpler life.The included features (Acoustic Engine) in the software are simple, yet extremely powerful, yielding truly stellar sound across a range of headphones.Portable, functions superbly for both music and gaming and has tons of connection options to meet most needs. And the volume power and clarity is astonishing, I can’t believe this is a sound blaster product, I’m shocked how good it sounds.
Alejandro F. –
An upgrade from my previous X4 unit.
Upgraded from a soundblaster x4. First unit of the g8 I received had a hum when volume was set at 0 and I figured it was defective. I had been looking to upgrade my older x4 unit since it was over four years old and I figured the tech had advanced. I eventually reordered a few months later and the unit I have now has nice and crisp audio and is absolutely an upgrade. I utilize the sound for fps games, videos/movies, and music. It’s a nice compact dac with white leds that don’t turn off, but not bothersome. Easy to use. I did install the creative software, but don’t bother too much with it or the scout mode. The default mode works well enough. If you’re looking for a dac for your pc gaming and don’t want to rely on on board sound, I recommend this unit. Creative soundblaster has been around for awhile and makes good products.
Deniz –
Fantastic DAC for Both Headphones and Speakers
I’ve been using the Sound Blaster G8 for a few weeks now, and I’m genuinely impressed by its performance. I mainly use it with my Logitech Z623 speakers and a pair of high-impedance headphones, and the difference in clarity and depth is amazing. The G8 delivers clean, rich audio with powerful bass and detailed highs, even at lower volumes. It’s compact and built solidly, with intuitive controls and excellent customization through the software. The dual USB input and audio mixing features are perfect for gaming and streaming setups. I switched from onboard audio, and the improvement was instantly noticeable — everything sounds more dynamic and alive. It’s plug-and-play friendly, and works flawlessly on both PC and console. For the price, it’s an outstanding upgrade for anyone looking to elevate their sound experience.
ADK –
Device has potential, but is crippled by poor drivers & software
OK, but super frustrating product with little support. I really, really want to love this device, but there are just too many quirks that are just as frustrating as the problem that this device solves (for me).I bought this because I use a Nintendo Switch along side my PC, adn they share one of my two monitors. Previously, I would run the audio from my Nintendo through the line-in on my internal sound card, however Windows 10 (and 11) seem to think that a line-in audio source must preven the computer from going to sleep, which I don’t like.I bought the Creative G8 to utilize it’s dual USB C inputs, one for my PC connection, and the second for the Nintendo connection. This works great to combine my devices and even has a balance knob to individually adjust volume for each source.The problems are:1) the game/chat volume adjustment is digital and software controlled, which I don’t mind except that it just kind of does what it wants. If I have the volume down on my Nintendo while listening to PC audio, it works as expected until the PC audio goes silent, at which point the Nintendo sound creeps back up to full volume even without adjusting the knob. When sound starts coming from teh PC again, the nintendo volume will suddenly drop back to the previously set low volume level. This is not desired behavior, and to my knowledge, there is no way to prevent it.2) Digital volume controls sometimes gets lost, like it doesn’t know the position of the knobs, and you have to make adjustments that would be otherwise unnecessary so the device can recalibrate the volume levels.3) When my PC wakes of from sleep, occassionally online video will not play correctly (no sound, extreme lag, pixelated image, or just nothing at all) and I finally figured out that it’s being caused my the G8, because once I press the “mode” button, everything goes back to normal, and video begins working correctly again4) Unintuitive, clunky, software that makees it very difficult to achieve the audio results you’re looking for. Any of the non-pure (equalized) modes result in muffled, muted audio. The sound is definitely equalized, but just sounds bad and requires excessive volume to hear5) sometimes the G8 unit simply doesn’t respond to the controls, requiring that I open the Creative software before it comes back to life.I’m super disappointed because this device has so much potential if not for the terrible drivers and control application. I expected a LOT more from a $160 device. I’m holding out for better and/or updated drivers, but I think Creative software package will always be bad, as that’s been their status quo since the early 90’s.
SerenityFade –
An excellent external sound card for any PC setups…with a quirk…
I have been a longtime fan of Creative Sound Blaster products for many years and with the purchase of many devices I have come to realize the great audio experience to be had with their products.The G8 is no exception. I purchased it so I could add optical in and out to my laptop and be able to disable my problematic onboard sound which relied on the Nahemic software to operate. Now between the G8 and some fantastic desktop speakers, which are also made by Creative, I have excellent sound quality and immersion and the ability to customize the experience to fit the need.There are two USB devices in one unit, USB-1 and USB-2, and they both require separate drivers to function. Both provide connection between your PC and the G8 but only the USB-1 provides power to the G8. Additionally the USB-1 provides access to more software control. The point of USB-2 is so you can plug in another device like a phone or tablet and play audio from those devices through the G8 for processing and out to your speakers or receiver.The quirk is the drivers. If you use the current Creative driver the device will lose connection randomly. The answer? Just use the Microsoft driver for both USB-1 and USB-2. The app works great and the audio is superb. Volume control is great and the ability to customize your experience remains the same. No disconnects and no issues. Get one!
Sherry L. –
Bought this to replace my current G6 (or use as a backup for G6). At first I didn’t notice the difference in sound quality, but after careful listening I did notice an improvement over the G6 sound quality. The sound stage appears to be deeper and wider over the sound of G6, and once you get used to it, it should be a good upgrade over the previous card.The only issue I had was that since my computer is a bit old, it only has one USB-C port, so using this sound card would take up the USB-C port and make it unavailable for other uses. However, once I replace my computer with extra USB-C ports in the future, this should no longer be a problem.(Note: I don’t play a lot of games and mainly listen to music using this device, so the review is based on music-listening experience only.)
M N –
Take any headphone to another level all together, be prepared though because it will make them capable of blowing your ear drums. Tons of options for customisation and adjusting, scout mode is amazing.
Amazon Customer –
Terrific product
V –
It’s best to avoid this unless you’re looking for an expensive USB DAC with equalization features, and even then, good luck
Michael G. –
Many faulty hardware issues with this. Constantly shuts down while in use, needs to be reset frequently. I tried all the usual trouble shooting. Different cables, different ports, different PC, updated everything, removed old drivers, etc. etc. etc. Nothing but trouble with this thing from start to finish. I’m done with it. Going to try and send it back… but probably too late.My advice to anyone looking at this, keep looking. Don’t purchase it.