News Creative teases Sound Blaster E5 USB DAC

My first thought as well (actually, first thought was "ooo that looks interesting" then "HOW much?!")

Also, have you seen the size of it? official product page has a photo of it to scale and it looks a lot bigger than I was expecting!

USB Host capability by flipping the included USB cable around for second port is a pretty neat idea that I haven't seen before (not to say it's not used elsewhere already of course)

 

yep, sizable battery = sizable device certainly makes sense!

I guess I just haven't really seen one of these to-scale before so imagined them being about half to two-thirds the size of this...

 

Price for 1 of each chipsets CS4398 (10€) + PA6120A2 (10€) + CS5361 (5€) = 25€. I guess that bulk order drastically reduce the price. If you add the well-known "Creative lack of support" then it's far too much.

Bought one of their music player and 2 sound cards in the past and I'll never buy something from them again. Fed up with their buggy drivers and lack of update / drivers.

 

THIS! I've had two mp3 players, two sets of speakers, a sound card and a Fatal1ty headset. Mp3 players went to mush numerous times and involved loads of time fixing, speakers lasted a little over warranty then fail/deteriorate, sound card was so unsupported I felt conned. The headset is still going strong as a backup / phone headset but 1 out of 6 satisfaction means they are on my avoid/boycott list.

 

I've been lucky with Creative. I own 3 things, headphones (over the ear), mp3 player and surround sound speakers and they have all worked without issue for years.

I know to avoid their soundcards though due to lack of support.