Inventive made a modular sound card that is completely wild — it is designed to be the best audio hub to attach all of your gear

Creative’s Sound Blaster series of sound cards dominated the industry in the ’90s and ’00s, and I got my start with the brand’s products in 2008 when I set up a gaming rig during college and slotted in a dedicated sound card. Creative is now aiming to reboot the Sound Blaster series in a big way: meet the Sound Blaster Re:Imagine, a module sound card designed for the modern age.

To start with, this is much more than a regular sound card; Creative dubs it an audio hub to connect all your devices. If anything, the design and modularity looks like something made by teenage engineering, and I’m immediately interested in the product.

Creative sold over 400 million units of Sound Blaster cards over the decades, but for this product, it is taking the crowdfunding route. The Re:Imagine is now listed on Kickstarterand Creative says it is doing so to engage with its userbase to understand what they need out of a sound card. You’ll need to shell out $349 to get your hands on the sound card, and as of writing, the project has $202,000 worth of pledges.

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(Image credit: Creative)

The Re:Imagine hub has an integrated 32-bit/384kHz DAC, and the amp drives headsets with 32Ω to 300Ω without any issues. It works with Windows, macOS, Linux, PS5, Switch, and all Android phones, and interestingly, you can run it in a standalone mode — it’s powered by Linux, and comes with 8GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage and an SD card slot.

The key allure (for me at least) is the modularity, with the Re:Imagine featuring distinct modules: there’s a rotary knob, mixer-style slider, buttons, and a 3-inch panel. The Horizon Cluster unit that Creative is selling includes a base unit alongside one of each module, with the modules attaching magnetically to the base unit. On that note, the base unit contains all the connectors, including 3.5mm out, line in/out, optical, USB-C audio in, and connecting to USB-C hosts.

(Image credit: Creative)

The buttons are programmable, so you can customize actions or assign macros when connected to Windows. Creative is bundling a suite of fun utilities that can be accessed via the 3-inch panel, including an AI-based music generator (obviously), music visualizers to truly make things nostalgic, and even a DOS emulator.

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