I purchase this all in one DAC + Amp because I love the design and the interface it provide, very useful. But after get it, I found in order to make it sounds great, it need some hard working. I made a lot of experiments after purchasing it for 2 weeks. Here's some summary
Source
- Macbook Pro
- Philips Desktop CD Player
Headphone
- Sennheiser HD 700
- Sennheiser HD 650
Different Combination
- Macbook Pro + Sound Blaster X7 + USB Digital In = Small noise from time to time
- Macbook Pro + Sound Blaster X7 + Optical Digital In + SBX = After listening to music for a while, the X7 will not working, no sound come out. (The SBX light will turn dim, and the power light will become less light) I have to re-turn on the power to resume the playing
- Desktop CD Player + Sound Blaster X7 + RCA Line IN / Optical Digital = Works just fine, but sound so so
- Macbook Pro + Sound Blaster X7 + Optical Digital In with Direct Mode = Works just fine, sounds better than pervious combination
The Turning Point
No matter how I set up the X7, I still can't reach to a point which make my HD700 sounds as good as on my friend's A1. And he suggested me that maybe your Amp is not powerful enough. Then I remember I also select the "low gain". So, after switching to "high gain", magic happens. It sounds sooooo amazing, like 2 different systems. The sound suddenly become full of details, rich and very clear.
Some Glitch Found
1. When I use Optical Digital output from my Macbook Pro to X7, every time I open the Sound Blaster Control App on the Mac, the output method will automatically switch to UBS which is kinda annoying
2. Every time restart the X7, I need manually select "Direct Mode", because it will be switched off by default when restarting. It's also kinda annoying
