Sound Blaster Z and Windows 10

killroy67

killroy67

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 16, 2006
Messages
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Has anyone had any success with the latest Windows 10 build in getting the Sound Blaster Z to work. Creative postponed drivers again until August, so Im curious if its possible to use the Windows 8.1 driver for the Sound Blaster Z in Windows 10 and how well does it work.
 
So this means if I upgrade on the 29th my SB ZX won't work at all?
 
Pretty much. SB's support pretty much always lags. And the older the product, the more it lags.

This is why I'm content with on-board or USB-DAC audio, rather than dealing with the severely chapped ass that SB gives.
 
Z series will receive drivers for Win 10 in mid August. Have this straight from support about 2 weeks ago.
 
Anemone said:
Z series will receive drivers for Win 10 in mid August. Have this straight from support about 2 weeks ago.
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I wouldn't hold my breath, this has been the 3rd time that creative has delayed a driver release. First it was June, then July and now August. If I cant get the Z to work then my only options are use on board until a driver is released, or postpone going to Windows 10.
 
kilroy67 said:
I wouldn't hold my breath, this has been the 3rd time that creative has delayed a driver release. First it was June, then July and now August. If I cant get the Z to work then my only options are use on board until a driver is released, or postpone going to Windows 10.
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Have you tried the 8.1 drivers yet? I never had any problems running Windows 10 beta using 8.1 drivers with my X-Fi Titanium HD. Microsoft wouldn't be offering free upgrades to grandpas and grandmas with cheap HPs and Dells if older 7/8.1 drivers didn't work fine with Windows 10 99% of the time.
 
id say im pretty screwed upgrading to Win 10 with my Titanium HD then huh?
 
delita said:
id say im pretty screwed upgrading to Win 10 with my Titanium HD then huh?
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Why would you say that? I'm running Windows 10 using 8.1 drivers with my Titanium HD right now.

I really don't understand, it's almost as if people want to believe that their hardware won't work unless Windows 10 drivers are specifically released. In most cases even drivers going all the way back to Vista will work on Windows 10.
 
i have amp dac for speakers but this is going to screw up my options for a microphone. my motherboard one has way too much interference. I was using the soudblaster x-fi soundcard for microphone.
 
win8.1 drivers will work fine with Win10.

win7 drivers worked fine with Win8 back in the days.
 
I think seeing how Im not currently playing any games that need a high end sound card, I would rather just use the on-board sound until a proper Windows 10 driver is released. While the 8.1 driver may work, on the other hand it may not and could cause problems. While some may not have problems running the Titanium HD with the 8.1 drivers, others may with the Sound Blaster Z. Different hardware, different drivers.
 
Never had a problem with win 10 and my z card....for the last year!!!!:D wtf
 
delita said:
id say im pretty screwed upgrading to Win 10 with my Titanium HD then huh?
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Grab the Daniel_K drivers from the Creative Forums for the SB X-Fi. I am currently using them on Windows 10 10240 build, working fine. They provide Win10 support.
 
kilroy67 said:
Has anyone had any success with the latest Windows 10 build in getting the Sound Blaster Z to work. Creative postponed drivers again until August, so Im curious if its possible to use the Windows 8.1 driver for the Sound Blaster Z in Windows 10 and how well does it work.
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Nope.

99% of the output is bass, and 1% is monitor. It's all farked up. Nice drivers there, Microsoft.

I hear Microsoft threw everyone a poison audio bone when 10130 was released.
 
Mine seems to work, but I when I upgraded my OS from 8.1 to 10 it messed with my Office 2013 install. So I'm getting ready to do a wipe and reinstall the OS in a few minutes. The only problem I had was that the sound was all bass and no treble initially. Then I turned off all the processing such as Dolby 5.1 that Windows enabled for some reason. Everything sounds as well as it did before I think.

I only have 2 speakers so whatever 5.1 was supposed to sound like I haven't a clue. I just know that whatever was presets were enabled after the upgrade sounded like a dog being drowned and let up for air every 30 seconds or so.
 
Luckily the Windows 8.1 drivers work fine. Just installed, no issues here.
 
I thought I did, but then it quit working again. I yanked it out.

I'm also annoyed how the sound control panel always opens up on monitor #1 regardless of where I put it.
 
TechLarry said:
8.1 drivers would not work for me. Said no devices detected.
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Which Sound blaster z do you have? Maybe you have the zxr instead of the normal Z? I could swear even windows update will grab a working driver for normal Z
 
Windows 10 Pro and Sound Blaster Z here. The WHQL drivers released on December 12, 2014, work fine on my rig.
 
Oddly, Lenovo has put out WHQL Windows 10 drivers for the ZxR. Don't know why Creative hasn't published these.
 
Drivers for the Z and Zx were released today. Nothing yet for the ZxR, though... but I'd assume it'd use the same driver.
 
kilroy67 said:
Has anyone had any success with the latest Windows 10 build in getting the Sound Blaster Z to work. Creative postponed drivers again until August, so Im curious if its possible to use the Windows 8.1 driver for the Sound Blaster Z in Windows 10 and how well does it work.
Click to expand...

No, no and no. And another no in case I missed something.

I just yanked mine out and started using an external DAC.
 
Awesome!! I saw they hit before work today and installed them when I got home. My update to Windows 10 is now complete and running like a champ!!:p:D
Can anyone confirm the dates of these drivers and version for me??
I have: 3/16/2015 version:6.0.102.37
 
So after installing the drivers from Creative for my SB Z, Windows Update wants to install Creative - Audio Device - SB Recon3D PCIe Audio Controller. This isnt even the card I have, so far it isn't force installing but annoying all the same.
 
kilroy67 said:
So after installing the drivers from Creative for my SB Z, Windows Update wants to install Creative - Audio Device - SB Recon3D PCIe Audio Controller. This isnt even the card I have, so far it isn't force installing but annoying all the same.
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Recon 3D and the Z cards use the same chipset.
 
kilroy67 said:
Okay, didn't know that...so I guess no harm installing it then?? For now it seems I have it hidden with that tool from MS.
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I normally don't install the driver updates from Windows Update. Try it and let us know how it goes :)
 
Now that I'm used to using the DAC in the Line-6 Amplifi TT, I don't wanna reinstall the Z card :)
 
AceCR42 said:
Drivers for the Z and Zx were released today. Nothing yet for the ZxR, though... but I'd assume it'd use the same driver.
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Why would you assume they use the same driver? Since the Z and Zx now have Windows 10 drivers, but the ZxR still does not, that's a strong indication that they do not use the same driver.

Lenovo's WHQL Windows 10 driver for the ZxR works just fine, by the way, and is most likely the same binary that Creative will be posting.
 
Terpfen said:
Why would you assume they use the same driver? Since the Z and Zx now have Windows 10 drivers, but the ZxR still does not, that's a strong indication that they do not use the same driver.

Lenovo's WHQL Windows 10 driver for the ZxR works just fine, by the way, and is most likely the same binary that Creative will be posting.
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Man its all Windows 8 to 8.1 all over again for ZxR. Back then, I had to go back to Windows 8 and wait for a driver update for ZxR.

Ok, I search Lenovo WHQL Windows 10 drivers and I came across http://forums.creative.com/showthread.php?t=717297&page=12 I follow "Volleynova" post to http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/pro...stations/thinkstation-p900/downloads/DS103440 and the Sound Blaster Z Audio Driver 77.3 MB Windows 10 (64-bit) 6.0.102.0037. Does not work. The software didn't find my ZxR. I scroll down to page 13 for "yuu" post for "daniel_k" driver SBZxR_CD_LD_1_01_00a driver link. The daniel_k driver installed reboot and the same issue. heavy on bass and all mono no treble.

I was about to say fuck it and plug my audio setup to the mobo and call it a day until I can get some driver from Creative. I decided to re-read the topic and came across "jmacguire" post:

I am using 2.1 speakers with the Sound Blaster ZxR at the moment. Upon finishing the upgrade from 8.1 to Windows 10, I had to rerun the speaker setup as it defaulted to 5.1. I had the same sound you did until I reran the speaker wizard.
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I open up Sound Blaster Z-Series Control Panel and sure enough, my "Speaker/Headphones configuration" was 5.1 Surround.

POZVXQj.jpg


So I switch it to 2.0/2.1

MV3ep8X.jpg


And the damn thing works for me! :cool: Still sound iffy but I think its cause I lost my audio settings the way I had. So i will be working on that in a minute. Just posting this here for other incase they have issues

setup:
CPU: Intel i7 4820k
Mem: 16GB Corsair Dominator
MoBo: Asus Rampage IV Extreme LGA2011

Good Luck ZxR owners
 
Mine is outputting sound and shows as an output device (Win 10, ZXR) but the control panel can't find the card. Not urgent I can wait for them to fix. But sound is coming out (SPDIF to receiver and 5.1 sound) so it's not like I've got nothing :)
 
Anemone said:
Mine is outputting sound and shows as an output device (Win 10, ZXR) but the control panel can't find the card. Not urgent I can wait for them to fix. But sound is coming out (SPDIF to receiver and 5.1 sound) so it's not like I've got nothing :)
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If your card is not showing in device manager, pull the card out of the PCIe slot, start the machine, shut down, reinsert card.

Apparently the card needs a few seconds to initialize during bios/ startup. It doesn't get the critical time it needs if you have a ssd or a fast boot method, and because creative can't admit to their design flaws they'll never fix it.
 
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