New internal sound card launches are quite rare nowadays, mostly because of the lack of tech advancements in this particular segment but also because of the appearance of the USB-driven gaming headsets, which have integrated dedicated cards within them. In this article we will concentrate our attention upon the latest card launch from Creative: the Sound BlasterX AE-5 Pure Edition, which is a SABRE-Class Hi-Resolution product and DAC with Xamp. Xamp is basically a custom-designed discrete headphone amplifier (left-right channels are individually amplified), for delivering unaltered, lossless model to each earcup. The product is shipped inside a medium-sized cardboard enclosure, with a photo of the actual card on the top cover, along with its main highlights, represented as icons:

The product manufacturing date and serial numbers can be seen listed on the side:

On one of the other sides, we can see a photo of the cards’ interfaces, along with the device types we should connect to it:

Moving on, we will spot some drawings that do represent the package contents, but also the link to the software resource (Sound Blaster Connect 2):

In-depth technical specifications can be seen in multiple languages, on the back:

The inside contents are carefully protected with foam material, in order to avoid damages during transit:

As a bundle, we will receive a transparent envelope with documentation, but also four RGB LED strips:

To be more exact, we will receive a Sound BlasterX leaflet, an User Manual, one Worldwide Warranty document but also a RGB LED cable adapter:

The adapter provides the necessary interface in order to use the extra RGB LED strips:

With the Sound BlasterX leaflet, Creative introduces us to the BlasterX Team, along with some more Internet resources:

Inside the User Manual, we will find instructions on how to perform the card installation, a description of its interfaces in detail, pin-outs, but also some words on the software GUI, in multiple languages: