Creative Sound Blaster Z SE Internal PCI-e Gaming Sound Card and DAC, 24-bit / 192 kHz, 116 dB SNR, ASIO, 600Ω Headphones Amp, Mic EQ, Discrete 5.1 / Virtual 7.1, Supports Dolby Digital Live, DTS …
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Availability:
Only 2 left in stock, order soon!
Arrives
Tuesday, Nov 3
Style: With 11 Mic EQ Presets via Software
Features
- PRISTINE AUDIO CLARITY With up to 116 dB SNR at an amazing bit rate of up to 24-bit / 192 kHz, enjoy impressive audio quality for your every need. The sound card also features gold-plated connectors, speaker optimization technology, and digital content encoding capability for the best digital audio performance. Coupled with Audio Stream Input / Output (ASIO) support, Sound Blaster Z SE delivers low-latency and high-fidelity audio, even for your recordings
- SBX GAMING EQ PROFILES Emerge as the last man standing with our updated SBX Gaming Profiles for hot titles such as Apex Legends, Fortnite, Overwatch, PUBG, and more. In-house tuned and optimized to sound the best for the respective games, you can get started right away or further tweak the EQs, instead of having to create the profiles from scratch. Simply select the respective game from our latest Sound Blaster Command softwares menu, and be battle-ready instantly
- IMMERSIVE SURROUND SOUND Get fully immersed and stay focused on your games with our surround sound. The Sound Blaster Z SE now supports 7.1 virtual on headphones and speakers alongside discrete 5.1 for speakers. You can even switch between headphones and your speakers via the software for those times you want to pump the bass, or go stealthier with your headphones. For extra delivery options to your external devices, the Z SE also supports Dolby Digital Live and DTS Encoding
- CRYSTAL CLEAR COMMUNICATION Comes with a list of Microphone EQ Presets that compensates for your headsets built-in mic so you can be heard clearlywhether it is to reduce the harshness of your tonality, sound more natural, or to increase the mids for vocal clarity. Together with our Sound Blaster Command Softwares CrystalVoice technology that helps remove echoes and ambient noises, the Z SE is perfect for games and even video conferences while working from home for better communications
Description
We've always believed in the power of sound. In 1989, we changed how people experienced audio with sound blaster. For the first time, computers had a voice. Today, we carry that legacy forward. Our headphones, speakers, and sound cards are designed for how people live, work, and create. Whether it's a quiet moment alone or a shared experience that matters, we build audio that inspires. Audio that becomes part of your story. The Sound Blaster Z SE is the Special Edition of the OG Sound Blaster Z, and comes with updated features designed for effortless audio enjoyment! Not only does it feature the same high-quality audio specifications that have made its predecessor a long-time best-selling model, it has also been further boosted with gaming acoustic profiles and microphone EQ presets, all aimed to enhance your gaming and entertainment needs. For games: Get started instantly with our Gaming Profiles that have been optimized for the hottest games like PUBG and Fortnite, or tweak the EQ settings further to make the profile truly yours. For voice chat: Choose from our list of pre-tuned Microphone EQs that compensates for your preferred headset’s built-in mic so you sound more natural and clearer while communicating. It’s all meticulously engineered so you can get to the fun part right away! Up to 116 dB SNR at an amazing bit rate of up to 24-bit / 192 kHz and coupled with ASIO support for low-latency and high-fidelity audio. Featured with a headphone amplifier that drives studio-grade headphones of up to 600Ω with an expanded list of optimized headphone profiles for the latest headphone models. On top of our raved-about Sound Blaster Surround Virtualization technology, Sound Blaster Z SE also supports up to 7.1 virtual on headphones and speakers alongside discrete 5.1 for speakers, as well as Dolby Digital Live, and DTS Encoding. Access the full suite of Sound Blaster’s industry-leading audio processing technologies including Crystallizer that helps improve the dynamic range of audio, or Bass that provides bigger punch on the low end. All enhancements are fully customizable from the Sound Blaster Command software suite on PC. Equipped with gold-plated connectors, speaker optimization technology, and digital content encoding capability for the best digital audio quality, as well as our multi-core Sound Core3D audio processor designed to deliver high-quality, pristine audio without overstressing your primary CPU.
Compatible Devices: Speaker, Headphone
Brand: Creative
Hardware Interface: PCI Express x1
Audio Output Mode: Surround
Platform: Not Machine Specific
Compatible Devices: Speaker, Headphone
Hardware Connectivity: PCI Express x1
Audio Output Mode: Surround
Platform: Not Machine Specific
Hardware Platform: Headphones, Speakers
Surround Sound Channel Configuration: 7.1
Maximum Sample Rate: 192 KHz
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 116 db
Item Dimensions L x W x H: 5.35"L x 5"W x 0.87"H
Brand: Creative
Model Name: z se
Model Number: SB1500
Number of Items: 1
UPC: 054651193970
Built-In Media: Internal PC Card
Item Weight: 12.3 ounces
Manufacturer: Creative Labs
Mfr Part Number: 70SB150000004
Warranty Description: One Year Limited
Frequently asked questions
If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is:
Tuesday, Nov 3
Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
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Top Amazon Reviews
Style: With 11 Mic EQ Presets via Software
Creative SoundBlaster Z SE is a PCI Express soundcard, the re - lease of the legendary Z card which was really popular in gaming circles. My first experience with audio cards was with the legendary ASUS Xonar DGX card (one the best cards for headsets, as well as headphones) which bought in 2017 seeing it on sale in a local popular PC shop in my country. After some time using it and hearing the native audio on my ASUS TUF Z370 PLUS Gaming (Realtek AC887 codec with TUF Custom) I eventually sold it, one of the reason for it was that driver support has by that time ended and the card was not really supported anymore since we all know that PCI Express soundcard market has shrunken considerably as of writing in early 2023. One the first things that I noticed after was that my headset at that time (Logitech G233 Prodigy) was not considerably loud with the motherboard soundcard on front ports of my PC, so the logical conclusion was to just simply plug it in back of the motherboard, well there's one thing that most people do not own or forget is that some of us like speakers also (proud owner of Z623 2.1 THX certified) which was hooked up on my back port. So I bought a wireless headset (Xbox Wireless Headset by Microsoft) to solve that problem, both I came to the conclusion that for those of us who game on our PC and sit close to the desk, that wireless headset are not ideal since they make compromises on sound quality and are prone to interferences of other devices such as our smartphones and wireless mice (if you do not own one I recommended 100%). So I bought the legendary Drop + EPOS PC38x and I was blown away with the sound quality and microphone communication that these puppies had, and the immersion in gaming as well as movies, both the same problem appeared again, my speakers were at the back of the motherboard (since they support only a headphone jack you cannot use a microphone through them, I could have I probably wouldn't' have bought a sound card), so since I have no love for adapters of any kind the decision was made to find a solution, and that solution was Z SE which I am glad that I came up with that idea. This sound card is the perfect solution for us who use a multi audio setup, since this card has a special port for headphones, microphone, speakers and also many more. The sound quality with this sound card is at least 50 to 65% better than my on board sound. The speakers are better and the headset is now just as like the manufacture wanted it to be. Sure I could have bought a DAC (I was an owner of G3 both it's more console oriented) both that would mean an additional cable and something to be at my desk, let alone updating the software and drivers of sound cards which was a hassle. The software that comes with this card is really great and you can simulate a discrete 5.1 on two speakers If you want to, while 7.1 that is available with headset option is automatic, which recognizes when you set it up and when you have not (a nice feature). The overall look of the card is really cool with the red color being the dominant and looking nice in my PC case. If you are somebody who uses speakers and headset together and does not have a motherboard which has multiple female ports of either 3.5mm or SPDIF for hooking up your speakers (Z623 are RCA or 3.5mm only) like mine, then this is an ideal investment since you get a better sound quality and forgot to mention is that you can also use the included equalizer and SBX profiles on speakers and headset together without any hassle, since you have button that you can change which device you want to hear, so no plugging and unplugging the headset and more. Creative you sure have outdone yourself, even if this sound card is just a refresh of you original one, and I am planning on using it as long as you support this product, recommended!
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Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2023 by MachinaBuyer
Style: With 11 Mic EQ Presets via Software
This is my first add-on soundcard, and the experience has been pretty good when paired with my Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, except for a few things that I had to work out. Will be keeping the card, as it is a good upgrade, but here is some good stuff to know. First Problem: The drive power coming from the headphone port of the card is extreme, especially if you have low-ohm headphones, so much so that (Without software modifications) I had to keep the volume on windows around 10% or below (Without modification), and I did slightly worry that one day I'll forget that volume is at 100% and my headphones will explode. My Solution: Turn on the equalizer, set it to flat/whatever you like, move the overall sound volume (In the equalizer pane on the left) all the way down to -12db. I can comfortably go up to 50% volume now, I do wish that up to -24db was an option to ensure my headset and ears are safe from volatile audio. Second Problem: When I got the firmware and the Sound Blaster Command software directly from the website at creative.com/support/SBZSE, it recognized the card immediately and everything was fine, until I decided to do a driver update from 6.0.102.75. The device stopped being recognized from the SBC application, but I still was able to pick up the device firmware in device manager. My Solution: I reinstalled the SBC application from the website, and that fixed the issue. Probably a app-firmware compatibility issue, no big deal for me, but this might be quite the headache for somebody less tech-savvy who got this card to immediately try to update, and find that it doesn't get recognized by the software for some reason. Maybe it will work on somebody else's computer, but for me doing an update caused a minor fixable firmware problem. Overall I do like this, and I find the included software pretty user-friendly, but the descriptions for the SBX profiles could be more technical in what surround, crystallizer, bass, smart vol and dialog+ do. I'll quickly describe what those settings do for me here, they are all essentially post-processing audio overlays: Surround makes noise more spatially oriented, it attempts to simulate a good surround sound speaker setup/interior environment. Crystallizer kind of sharpens the audio, which can be good or bad based on preference, based on what you listen to. Bass is pretty self explanatory, the deep beats being boosted, if your audio setup can handle it. Smart volume is a audio normalizer, it adjusts the audio range of what you are listening to to be more or less extreme. This is good for preventing large audio shifts in media on night setting, which I find very useful, because many YouTube videos and some musical pieces aren't normalized properly, and it is easy to get blasted by sound randomly. Dialog+ is just a equalizer/booster for the human vocal range at 350 to 3400hz, with a heavy focus on 400hz (I'm guessing) to make speech more audio-legible. This is a pretty nice feature, especially for some movies where the actors mumble/say things quietly. Also nice is the fact that you can turn those features on/off through SBC software, highly customizable. One last good feature I like, that I didn't know about is the scout mode. I have my scout mode set to ALT+CTRL+F12 for quick activation, and just program my Keychron V6 keyboard's extra buttons with VIA to have it activate on one press. It does enhance some of the frequencies associated with footsteps, and far-thrown noises to enhance audio spatial info, but the change is subtle. Good for when you need a little extra awareness in-game.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2025 by Cthulhu
Style: With 11 Mic EQ Presets via Software
The first AE7 card I purchased was installed in a Dell Optiplex7000 with Windows 11 PRO. Playback from the music collection I have in the Media Player would break up every few minutes. To reestablish playback, I had to stop the playback and toggle the AE7 output then start the music again. My music collection files are not corrupted and the same issue occurs in the headphones, speaker and optical outputs on any song or music sound file. I requested and received RMA numbers from Creative Labs and returned the card. They returned a brand new replacement card (thank you) but unfortunately this card exhibited the very same problem; random playback breakup on any of the three possible outputs. I need this card for my current sound system configuration, so I have also purchased a Z SE card. I installed the Z SE card in the same Optipex7000 card slot were the AE7 card was. I downloaded and installed the Z SE drivers and the same Creative Labs Command app recognizes this card. This card plays back just fine with no audio breakup on headphones, speakers or optical feed to my AV Receiver. So, at this point I believe there is some compatibility issue with Creative Labs AE7 card working in the Optiplex7000 with Windows 11 PRO. Overall, The Z SE card sounds good, but I need more technical help than the quick start guides included with these cards can provide. There is no help for using the optical input on the Z SE card and I wonder why that input was not available on the AE7? I had issues getting audio signal on both the speaker line out connections and the SPDIF optical connection at the same time. Some emails back and forth with their support were answered quickly (thank you). I can get signal on both outputs now but cannot balance the levels. If they could nail down that issue I could give this Z SE card 5 stars.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2023 by Quin
Style: With 11 Mic EQ Presets via Software
Needs better software support. Sounds great with proper eq presets/tune
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2026 by ToastyPopTart
Style: With 11 Mic EQ Presets via Software
UPDATE 9/21/24: After using this card for a few days, I have found that it is a gem. In today's world it is difficult to find an audio card with optical out, yet alone 5.1 passed thru, and this does it, and does it well. I had to replace an old favorite, a Zonar Essence STX which was an audiophile grade card, and I almost panicked when it finally died after many years of service. While it wasn't perfect, it played music almost to perfection through my Marantz receiver, and Martin Logan 60XT's. That said, finding a replacement was very frustrating in a sea of dwindling choices. Then, I found this Z SE. At first, I wasn't overly excited because Sound Blaster cards in the past have always been musically challenged. But, being desperate I bought one, and I am glad I did. It's musicality despite having lesser specs than the Zonar Essence, is delightfully pure, and as a bonus it plays 5.1 through the same optical port for convenience. I wholeheartedly recommend this card for both music lovers, and enthusiasts. Before I got this card, I tried everything to get 5.1 on my Win 11 PC. That includes Dolby Atmos, Asus Zonar SE etc. Yes, they all played videos off of my computer in surround okay, but nothing streaming like Prime, Netflix etc. I will tell you that this card plays anything in surround that has a 5.1 badge. Very happy! One last thing, this card gives you a choice of two encoders to work with - Dolby Digital, and DTS Connect. Each has its own sound signature, and it gives you options to play with.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2024 by S. T
Style: With 11 Mic EQ Presets via Software
a very good card but cause my pc not to boot once driver is installed i had to fight to get in the issue is highly likely because of secure boot my bios dose not have the option to disable it beware not all mother board supports this card definitely the ones tailor for windows 11 you can just forget bout this card if thats the case this card will work oin ten and Linux no issues but not on a motherboard tailored for 11 as you cant disable secure boot and 11 requires it unless you hack it and use a local account you can bypass that with rufus but not the secure boot in bios if it has no options but windows or other but ae pluss or better will work thats 80 more bucks these series will work so if it causes repeatly boot ups and try to go into repair and freeze its the driver dont panic take the card out send it back to amazon get a refund on gift card and just get the ae5 pluss you need to set the interrupt on it to help with swaping issues use a freeware to do this
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Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2026 by scotty seiber
Style: With 11 Mic EQ Presets via Software
I was doing some research on why volumes are so low on the stock Realtek chips that come on most motherboards these days, and it turns out that's just a common limitation. This is an issue on my main computer with an ASUS ROG motherboard, and I have an Acer Nitro 5 laptop for instance that also has super low audio levels, and it has a cheap Realtek chip. It's typically luck of the draw what quality of chip you're going to get and what limitations it will have. Sometimes manufacturers scrimp on this chip to provide other features at a higher level and maintain the price point. No one will miss audio quality, right? I used to use a Sound Card all the time, but I mistakenly believed onboard audio was sufficient from what everyone was saying. They're just as powerful as sound cards, people say. No they're not, not in volume, features, or latency. The Z-SE has way more configuration options, surround virtualization for headphones, the tried and true Creative Crystalizer and bass/treble control options, including Dolby HD encoding, etc. You can even apply morphing affects to your mic if you want to sound like you're on a radio. After some tweaking they sound so much better than the onboard audio. With the onboard, it sounds like the audio is right on top of you, like it's right there at your ears. With the Sound Blaster, I've gotten it to where it feels like the sound is coming TO me, if that makes sense, and I can hear a lot more in music and in games. The equalizer is also a lot more powerful than Realtek. This isn't that expensive to boost your audio by a lot. If you have a nice pair of headphones and do a lot of gaming or listening to music, I highly recommend it. It always takes a bit of work to tweak and perfect the settings, but it's so worth it to listen to music how it should sound.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2023 by Amazon Customer
Style: With 11 Mic EQ Presets via Software
I can't endorse this product for the purpose for which I bought it, which was simply to have 5.1 audio transmitted via toslink/spdif to my soundbar and surround speakers while gaming and watching movies on my PC. When I get Dolby Digital 5.1 to work via Creative's software, it sounds nice, and would work well for just audio, but there is about a 200ms lag between the video and the sound I am not an audiophile. However, a few google searches have indicated that this is to be expected with a sound card like this. I really think this product should advertise this expecation. If you wish to use the card for this purpose, the lag is unacceptable. My next goal will be to use an HDMI audio extractor and try to get sound that way. I hope it works.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2025 by CommandCouch