The Software
The software included is the Sound Blaster E-Series Control Panel, once you have it installed and first open it you notice the wide range of options and user configurability. Of course this software is only available if you are using the E3 connected to your PC.
The first menu that shows is the SRX Pro Studio, within this menu you can enable and control features like surround, crystallizer, bass, crossover, smart volume, dialog plus and within this menu you can play a sample video to test any changes.
The CrystalVoice menu allows you to configure the microphone that is located on top of the E3 and features things like noise reduction and one of my favorites was the FX selection that has some rather interesting voice options.
The next menu is crucial for gamers and that is the scout mode and heightens your situational awareness by allowing to hear what is going on around you so you can hear minuet things like footsteps approaching your position.
The 4th menu allows you to select between headphones and stereo speakers, when selecting speaker options you are limited to 2.0 or 2.1 speaker systems with the E3.
The next menu is the mixer where you can adjust the playback and recording for the speakers and the microphone.
Below this is the equalizer that allows you to configure it to your own tastes or select from several preset profiles.
The final menu is the advanced features and this allows the user to configure the jack so that you could plug in a dedicated microphone.
There is also the ability to setup user profiles for different games and media types that the user can quickly change between once they are setup.