Creative Labs Sound Blaster G8 USB DAC and AMP

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.

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.

Well I am an older gamer, think ISA Sound Blaster cards. With that said I have been careful with my hearing and still truly enjoy reference audio for my music library. The Sound Blaster G8 IMO is a great balance of audio quality for music with sound reproduction for FPS footstep tracking. If you are a gamer that is not a full fledged audiophile this is a good buy. Though the audio quality could easily be considered entry level audiophile. For reference I am driving a pair of Audeze Lcd-2 planar magnetic cans with no issues so far.

This is pretty good DAC when it functions correctly. Unfortunately, the product started malfunctioning after about a month and a half of use. Some times it would have a big delay when sending sound and other times I would have to move the volume knob up or down. The Sound Blaster Command Software is... acceptable. It's good when you need to configure something on the DAC, but you can just attach a dedicated USB-C power supply, connect a LINE-IN or TOS cable to your hardware of choice and it will work that way as well. No Software needed. About the volume control knob. It's either malfunctioning or it's not analog - trying to set it to low volume just lowers the volume instantly and pushing it past low volume just makes it have a sudden burst of sound. It's a MUCH bigger issue when using it in High Gain mode. Close to "nearly damaging your hearing" levels of loud. It's a serious problem and the main reason I cannot recommend this product. I recommend getting the G6 over this model. It's cheaper, and you won't risk going deaf with the odd sound control knob.

I bought G8 because the optical-in is dead on my Schiit Modi 3+/Heresy. I like my devices can work without drive and G8 does. And I can record sound of optical-in from G8 on my PC. I know some gaming DACs can't. The sound of G8, without driver, any effect nor EQ, surprises me. G8 is a bit cleaner and clearer than my Modi3+/Heresy and slightly brighter. And G8 has enough power to drive my HD600, DT770 80ohm, TYGR300R and MDR-V6. I don't expect a lower price gaming DAC can do better than an audio stack which is less than 5yrs old. A few downside of G8. There is a big gap drop in low volume area. It maybe an issue for low-ohm and sensitive headphones. And the tilt of G8, longer 3.5mm head will hit the table.

I have been buying creative sound cards since the early 2,000's the Audigy days. This is the first Creative Product I have had problems with. When it works the sound is amazing. It is a powerful little beast and drives my Sennheiser HD 599 Headphones to the max and also my powerful Klipsch 5.1 speaker system including the sub. However it does not work half the time. The sound would cut out and I would have to unplug the USB-C cable and plug it back in for the sound to work, but the sound would cut out again and again and again. I have researched and tried everything possible from uninstalling and re installing the drivers, installed the latest firmware. I made sure to disable my onboard sound, made sure my windows default sound was my SB G8. I even switched the USB and USB-C cables to other sockets but the problem would not go away. This is the same problem I had with the SB X6. I only bought this DAC/AMP SB G8 because my new motherboard on my new computers does not have a PCI-E slot for me to install my trusty old Sound Blaster Z which has been working perfectly since day 1. I am a little annoyed I have to return this G8 because I absolutely love everything about it. But since it doesn't function properly I have no choice but to return it.

Excellent 32-bit sound, but sometimes won't be detected by the PC, which means it has to be unplugged & replugged in. Otherwise, I highly recommend the G8.

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.

Very new to the world of audio and DACs. I'd been just using the headphone port on my tv up until recently. Plugged my headphones into my computer to play a game with friends and happened to listen to some music when I noticed that my headphones' audio sounded much better and more full, for lack of a better word. Plugged them back into my tv to double check and sure enough, they sounded worse, lacking both bass and detail. Now I'm definitely in the minority on this, but my current setup is very much a couch media setup, with all my consoles any my PC connected to my living room tv. I needed something that could be plugged into my tv for all my consoles with an independently connected power supply cord and a separate connection dedicated to my PC which could carry both my headphone and microphone signals, and the Sound Blaster G8 checked all those boxes. Looked up some reviews and was pleasantly surprised to find that this one was recommended. Bought it, and I'm not at all disappointed with my purchase. My headphones' audio sounds as good as, or better than my PC does by itself, but with the added benefit that I can now have my headphones and microphone connected to my PC while my headphones are also connected simultaneously to all of my other devices via my tv. It's a perfect fit for my setup. The build quality was also surprisingly good too. I'd heard other people in reviews bemoan the plastic construction, but it's not cheap-feeling at all to my hands and as long as it remains that way, I'll be more than happy with it. One small issue I did have though was when I tried to plug in my digital audio cable for my tv, the door that's supposed to close when there's no cable connected seemed to snap and now won't close. I also had some trouble connected the cable, likely as a side effect of this issue. That said, once the cable was connected, no further issues. Overall, if you've got an oddly specific living room multimedia setup like I do, I can definitely recommend this product. The two usb-c ports (a rarity on DACs like this from what I've seen) are a game changer, allowing my to have a cord connected to my PC and a separate power cord for all my other devices when my PC isn't on. Not to mention the other incredible port selection variety. While I'm not planning to upgrade my headphones right away, I'm confident that this DAC will be able to drive them given the specs. Give it a try if it fits your needs.

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.)

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.

Terrific product

complete garbage, sometimes lasts most of a day sometimes only last 15 seconds before cutting out the audio and requiring to be re-plugged, the troubleshooting instructions are completely useless as well for this issue. honestly, get yourself any other amp/dac and you'll be in better shape than this trash.