This month I’m celebrating my 15 anniversary of doing reviews and in that time I’ve covered a lot of amazing products. But when you have access to a wide variety of hardware what you use day to day changes up often, but there is one product that I have been using for 8 years now. Sound blaster’s X7 DAC and amp paired up with a set of bookshelf speakers and a powered sub. Not only do I use the X7 with my speakers but also for my wired headphones as well. So when I saw Sound Blaster launched the X5 which is an external dual DAC along with a headphone amp I had to check it out. So today I’m going to see what the new X5 has to offer and put it to the test to see how it performs.
Product Name: Sound Blaster X5
Review Sample Provided by: Sound Blaster
Written by: Wes Compton
Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE
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Specifications |
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Headphone Output Power (Unbalanced) |
1.61 Vrms (162 mW) @ 16Ω 2.28 Vrms (162 mW) @ 32Ω 5.05 Vrms (170 mW) @ 150Ω 5.05 Vrms (85 mW) @ 300Ω 5.05 Vrms (10 mW) @ 600Ω |
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Headphone Output Power (Balanced) |
1.61 Vrms (320 mW) @ 16Ω 2.28 Vrms (320 mW) @ 32Ω 5.05 Vrms (340 mW) @ 150Ω 5.05 Vrms (170 mW) @ 300Ω 5.05 Vrms (85 mW) @ 600Ω |
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Remote Control (BLE) |
Android devices, iOS devices |
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Headphone Amp |
16–600Ω |
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Dynamic Range (DNR) |
130 dB |
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Audio Technology |
Sound Blaster Acoustic Engine |
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Connectivity Options (Main) |
1 x TOSLINK Optical In 1 x TOSLINK Optical Out 1 x RCA Line-in 1 x RCA Line-out 1 x 3.5 mm Headphones-out (Unbalanced) 1 x 4.4 mm Headphones-out (Balanced) 1 x 3.5 mm Mic-in, 1 x USB-C port of PC/Mac/PS4/PS5 1 x USB-A Host Audio-out port |
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Headphone Amp |
16–600Ω |
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Max Channel Output |
Stereo |
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Audio Technologies |
CrystalVoice Scout Mode |
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Supported Operating Systems |
Mac OS X v10.5 and above Windows® 11 Windows® 10 Ver 1703 |
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DAC |
2 x Cirrus Logic CS43198 high-resolution DAC PCM 32-bit / 384 kHz playback DoP 64 128 support DSD 64, 128 256 support THD: -115 dB DNR: 130 dB |
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ADC |
DNR: 114 dB THD+N: -105 dB |
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Power |
USB-C |
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Recommended Usage |
Gaming Home Entertainment |
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System Requirements |
Windows
Macintosh
PS4
PS5
Software Remote Control
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Package Contents |
1 x Sound Blaster X5 1 x USB-C to USB-A Cable (1.5m / 4.9 ft) 1 x Optical Cable (1.5m / 4.9 ft) 1 x 3.5 mm to RCA Stereo Cable (2m / 6.6 ft) 1 x Quick Start Guide 1 x Warranty and Compliance Leaflet |
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Warranty |
1-year Limited Hardware Warranty |
