Creative Sound BlasterX Katana

Such a shame. Until a couple of months ago, I'd sing the Katanas praises all day long but recently, whilst in game (I don't recall it ever happening out of game) it becomes audibly unresponsive, no sound at all. If I then turn the Katana off then on, the audio returns but for maybe 2 minutes then dies again, it has been gradually getting worse too, cut outs becoming more regular. To add insult to injury, it's now popping and cracking, which from some online research appears to be a common issue. It's barley a year old too.

I bought the sound blasterx katana around 2 years ago and have had no issue so far except now when I unplugg the AUX cord from behind the soundbar it doesn't detect the change and therefore produces no sounds out of the speakers. I can still control the volume from the PC and all, but it just keep acting as if the headphones were still plugged in. I tried factory reset and restarting, but no luck.

As a headphone amp its way better than the Soundblaster AE-5 for my HE-4XX headphones. Surround sound at 50 vs. Immersion at Wide with my EQ Settings for them sound completely different from one another with the Crystalizer set to 96 on both. Vocals sound warmer and more airy with the Soundblaster Katana compared to the Soundblaster AE-5 Soundcard.