The Nameless Guide To PC Gaming Audio (with binaural headphone surround sound) - Page 103

You might be able to find an older Creative Live! Go > Asus Xonar U3 = current Creative Go! Pro USB. Those are the known USB thumbstick options, who knows if Creative intends to make one with SBX?

If you want better, Creative sells a number of USB surround thingies, but IMO you would do well to skip straight to a Creative Recon3D USB. Personally, I find CMSS3D to be too sharp in the treble, and THX TruStudio Pro is the best sounding virtual surround processing I've heard, BUT all the DSPs have their fans (For me CMSS-3D is too sharp, and DH echos, THX in the Recon3D had a better sense of depth). NamelessPFG has offered to sell his Recon3D USB for ~$65, a good price. It comes with decent cords, so you can adjust volume from the physical device on your desk. I think the Recon3D USB could've been made smaller (some wasted PCB space, also designed to expand with a wireless transmitter for one of Creative's headphones), but it's still fairly small, about 1.5x the width of an iPod and almost an inch thick – your desktop amp will probably be bigger. Side bonus: easy enough to bring to a friend's house or hook up to a game console.

I ran the HE-400 alright off of the Recon3D USB, but somethings like soundstage depth definitely benefitted from double-amping. If you got an amp like the Schiit Magni, FiiO E09k, or a Little Dot i+, you'd still easily be in budget.

Personally, I'd like Creative to revisit the Recon3D USB: remove the wireless expansion, cut the size, integrate a better amp and switch to SBX if they think that's superior tech (haven't heard that DSP myself). Wasn't a problem for me: I just plugged in my tube hybrid amp and everything sounded great.
Edited by Evshrug - Yesterday at 5:35 pm

does it have optical out so that i can wire it to the amp? also is THX/SBX/CMSS-3D/Dolby better from experience?

The Recon3D USB only has a headphone jack for output, so the Recon3D USB would be the DAC, and you would use the headphone jack to make an analogue connection to an amp. All three of the amps I mentioned ONLY accept analogue input anyway.

I've personally tried (in order of most recent) Dolby Headphone, THX TruStudio Pro, the cirrus logic surround used in a DSS2, and Silent Cinema (Yamaha's). Dolby Headphone works pretty well, and it sounds pretty laid back, but it has some environmental reverb/echo to get used to and has less of a sense of depth than Creative's options IMO. DH is Mad Lust Envy's favourite. Silent Cinema is very, very similar to DH, but on my AV receiver I can tweak the sound a lot. I had a hard time getting a good feel for the DSS2's sound, so I can't quantify it's quality. CMSS-3D, I've watched many samples and heard it at a friends house, it actually does a great job of surround, but the treble is uncomfortably sharp for me. CMSS-3D is NamelessPFG's favourite. THX had a great sense of depth, negligible sense of an "echo," and doesn't have the harsh treble (if you turn off Crystalizer and set it up right for you), and thus it was my favorite. It seems pretty clear that your mileage may vary, although the options from Creative allow for the most adjustment and customization, so I personally would recommend CMSS-3D, THX TruStudio Pro, or SBX Pro Studio.