[chicolom]

   
Can't understand what's to dislike about SBX , you could hear the sound is really coming from the back.
 
If I ask all of you with Xonar,U3,U7 and Creative and your experience from the Virtual Surround,  If I have Xonar Phoebus now, would the experience of SBX Pro would worth to replace the Xonar Phoebus ?

 
Yeah, SBX is pretty solid. 
 
I still enjoy Dolby Headphone though, and I use them both...
 
 

   
SBX is definitely clearer and less echoey sounding than DH.  Sounds are more chiseled out from each other and their placement is more discrete sounding, making it easier to hear when they start to move around.  Because DH is more diffuse and blended, it's not quite as clear with positioning.  SBX is definitely truer to the source audio, and less "processed" sounding.
 
Still, I often enjoy that more diffuse sound of Dolby Headphone.  Sounds are a little smoother and more blended together when panning.  The echo/reverb can actually be nice if you're playing a game where you are "indoors", like on a spaceship in Deadspace.  Gives a nice bit of ambience, where SBX can sometimes sound a tad too dry.  The overall sound is a little warmer on DH, with a little more body and impact on some lower freq sounds too. 
 
Sound effects also tend to sound a bit "larger" and "bigger" with DH, giving bit more of an immersive and cinematic sound.  On some games, I get an impression of more overall soundstage distance (things just being farther away sounding) with DH, which I tend to enjoy.
 
I enjoy them both. 

 
 
 

  I'll be interested to see what ASUS has to say about the 2 channel limitation...

 
I tried contacting them about it months ago, but I never got any replies back.

 

[x7007]

1. chicolom

Thnx
 
I asked in the ZXR thread about the surround settings,.
 
But if it has better position I would like it, cause CMSS3D was with me since before the ZS cards and I used it with SteelSeries 5CHv2 headphone and those were real 5.1 channel. and now that I moved on to real stereo studio quality I still want the surround I had, the DHv4 just doesn't have position in the sense  " I am here , he is there "  if there are shooting and bombs u can't possibly know at all where or what is shooting at you.
 
SBX should rectify that ,  I think...
 
This will be for both ZXR and the Xonar card which only has 2 channels.   In movies for example DTS 5.1, what speaker option do you choose in specific program .
 
1.Pot player
2. MPC
3. PowerDVD
 
If the movie is 7.1 is there a difference ?
 
For example with Razer Surround it makes 7.1 and u just choose 7.1 or same as input.  but when u have 2 channels the DHv4 does upmix so u need to choose the input which is Stereo 2.1 , right ?
 
If I have ZXR I would choose 5.1 or 7.1 ?
 
It's more than confusing for me right now.

 

[pietcux]

   
 
Here's a comparison between Dolby Headphone and SBX Pro.
 
I like them both.  I think SBX has a slight edge for positioning accuracy, but is a bit drier and clinical sounding.  Dolby Headphone sounds more immersive and cinematic, but is a bit more reverberant and diffuse sounding.
 
 
 

 
I put the U7 on flat , all effects plus Dolby off. Took the Ultrasone Signature DJ as headphone. For me even the stereo setting has very good surround clues, maybe because my brain is able to combine audio with video in a way tha I create a surround effect for me. The only audible difference is the big amount of bass boost used by Both Dolbys and Creative 66%  and  100%. The latter the more I feel. So that is why I cannot criticize the U7 too much for having only stereo channels. I am not the best reference person her I fear. Can you imagine the first Star Wars Episode on a 15 inch TV in mono? That is where I come from in the seventies....ROFL As far as I remember it was so amazing, and we did not miss anything
 

 

 

[pietcux]

Got me a Sound Blaster Z today to be able to compare myself. First test with Crisis 3 was very impressive. But still I need some time to elaborate.

 

[chicolom]

  Got me a Sound Blaster Z today to be able to compare myself. First test with Crisis 3 was very impressive. But still I need some time to elaborate.

 
Nice.
 
Make sure in the Sound Blaster control panel that the Speakers/headphones tab is set to Headphones, otherwise the DSP won't work correctly.  When you check the speaker configuration in windows it should still show up as 5.1 though.
 
I'd recommend turning the "Crystalizer" off in the SBX panel.

 

[pigpen4483]

Just ordered mine. It won't be here until Tuesday, but my setup will be U7-->rca out--> Schiit Asgard 2--> Audeze LCD-2

I will post my impressions next week

 

[pietcux]

Did I mention, that the driver of the U7 Echelon is much better? They removed Xear funktion and added some very decent gaming stuff. Everything else is the same. And no you cannot use the Echelon driver with the non Echelon U7.

 

[mdh994]

Hey guys I am new here. I just recently bought one of these, I am an audio noob, so this is my first audio enhancing piece of equipment, so I really have nothing to compare it too except my motherboard sound. I have done a bit of testing on this headphone amp/soundcard and I am impressed, I have tried a cheap pair of 5 dollar headphones we got from a market years ago in this soundcard/amp and I am not going to lie it makes them sound alright. The best thing from this soundcard/amp is the Dolby home theater program, the presets are great and you can hear the sound change with the settings. At the moment I am using it to give my home theater system Dolby 5.1 I am waiting for my Audio Techinica m50x's to arrive. Just curious has anyone tried the combo of Asus u7 and m50x's?

 

[ChristianM]

Hi, please tell me which one is gonna be impressive with my Beats Studio 2013, sound blaster Z or U7? I know there are lot of Beats haters here but hope someone will reply politely. I'm gonna use it mostly for music, heavy metal etc. thanks.

 

[infiniteknight]

I want to purchase this + a Sennheiser Game zero (150 ohm impedance)
 
the U7 should be able to drive them no problem right?

 

[raoultrifan]

U7 should drive decently 150 ohms headphones, but to be 100% sure you'll like the sound, maybe you should try to pair these first and listen to your preffered tracks.

Regards.

 

[melvo]

I just bought this and I'm having problems with the volume wheel on Windows 7. Installed and reinstalled drivers and it doesn't seem to do anything which is a bit disappointing for a new sound card. Did anyone have a similar experience?

 

[mdh994]

I just bought this and I'm having problems with the volume wheel on Windows 7. Installed and reinstalled drivers and it doesn't seem to do anything which is a bit disappointing for a new sound card. Did anyone have a similar experience?

Yea this happened to me a couple times, but for me reinstalling fixed the problem and so did removing the usb cable and putting it back in. They dont seem to like Switching devices much.

 

[melvo]

Thanks for the tip but unfortunately didn't fix the problem in the end. Funnily works perfectly on a Windows 8 computer when I first tried it. Surprised how poor Asus support are btw, but I'm sure that's been said in here before. 

 

[Jaeger 77]

It would be nice if we can gat UNI modded drivers for our non Echelon U7's with Sonic Radar and SS PRO included...
ASUS still lazy on audio drivers,though - for W7 latest release is dated on 22.01.2014! I'm afraid they'll abandone support for U7 when Windows 9 will be launch...