[Stillhart]

  I'll probably utilize just a few of the X7's abilities. I currently own no decent passive speakers, I have no interest in bluetooth connectivity or USB-hosting for Android/Apple devices. Nonetheless, the PCM1794 is a great DAC by all means, and expensive. the TPA6120 is an acclaimed and widely used component too. 
Of course, there's no denying that the Magni/Modi Schiit stack is one, if not the best value currently out there.
Still, I wouldn't go as far as to call the X7 overpriced. 400$ is certainly not cheap, but it does a lot of things and has the components to back it up IMO.
The Audio-gd entry-level units for example are great devices, costing around 300$ to 400$ [NFB15 and NFB11 after PP and postage].
They're feature packed audiophile products, considered great devices by many, just like the Schiit stack is.
None of those devices have a DSP inside, or Bluetooth, or NFC...
All this adds to the cost, undeniably. But in theory, the X7 can replace those devices, adding DSP capabilities to the mix.
The Mixamp is 150$ + Schiit stack is 200$+, A-gd 300$+.
So again, in theory, the X7 is a good value IMO, as should it hold up in practice too, it can be a device that would replace those units for us that already own them, or would normally have to won them along with a Mixamp to get us covered.
In conclusion, I am not arguing that the X7 is the jack-of-all-trades device, but I think considering what it does and what it packs, it is not overpriced.
Would a 50$ DSP-only device be nice? Sure! I'd buy that instead.
But with the X7, I think Creative could have done much worse and other than the lack of DTS, at least from me, it gets good scores for ticking all the right marks, at a price that is not prohibitively expensive [the Headzone.... the Smith Realiser, anything 'premium' TB,... most gaming brands are just not a good deal, are they?]

 
I see what you're saying but I have a problem with it because I would never use my $300+ NFB-15 for console gaming.  It's overkill.  That's why I think the X7 is overpriced.  It provides a lot of features that I don't want, but have to pay for.
 
Here's an analogy:  when my wife and I bought our last car, we wanted to get a Satnav/GPS built in.  However, the ONLY option provided that included the GPS was $4000 because it also included all leather, a sunroof, etc.  These were things I didn't want and shouldn't have to pay for, so I ended up not getting GPS in the car (and I'm still annoyed about it).  Is leather and a sunroof worth the price?  Maybe.  Is it something some people want?  Sure.  But not me.  I refuse to pay $4k for a few-hundred dollars in relative value.
 
I think of the X7 in the same way.  It has some great specs and lots of bells and whistles.  But if I just want a DSP with optical out, it's super overpriced. 

 

[conquerator2]

   
I see what you're saying but I have a problem with it because I would never use my $300+ NFB-15 for console gaming.  It's overkill.  That's why I think the X7 is overpriced.  It provides a lot of features that I don't want, but have to pay for.
 
Here's an analogy:  when my wife and I bought our last car, we wanted to get a Satnav/GPS built in.  However, the ONLY option provided that included the GPS was $4000 because it also included all leather, a sunroof, etc.  These were things I didn't want and shouldn't have to pay for, so I ended up not getting GPS in the car (and I'm still annoyed about it).  Is leather and a sunroof worth the price?  Maybe.  Is it something some people want?  Sure.  But not me.  I refuse to pay $4k for a few-hundred dollars in relative value.
 
I think of the X7 in the same way.  It has some great specs and lots of bells and whistles.  But if I just want a DSP with optical out, it's super overpriced. 

I see your point [and the analogy about the car is a nice touch :}].
I would never consider using just the Mixamp alone, because my headphones are relatively hard to drive [the K240, the HE-560 and possibly the K7XX 'wink' 'wink'] and there're tangible benefits [IMO] related to more power [if not cleaner power] for these.
If you only want a digital DSP with a toslink out [a scenario that I'd likewise welcome and perhaps even prefer] then certainly the X7 is not a good value for you, while I, intending to use at least the DAC part of it, think it is a good device.
It is certainly a better value deal than the shoddy mixamp/TB... Again, devices perfectly adequate for some, less so for others/us audiophiles.
Again, that's speaking off theory. I find the sound  coming from the Recon-SA31SE decent, but certainly inferior to the NFB7-SA31SE. I HOPE the X7 or X7-SA31SE or X7-NFB7-SA31SE brings about tangible differences, as I hope it should.
Again, I have no problems with convenience, because all my audio devices [DSP,amp, DAC, console, monitor] are stacked in the same place, next to each other, in the same room, so using them all at once/in tandem is not an issue for me. [I still game on a monitor, even though a TV is right next to it. Preference :]] I realize not everyone has the benefit of having things set up like this, in the same roon, on the same table.
So, yeah. I definitely understand your reasons. The X7 is an overpriced DSP but a reasonably priced DAC/amp/DSP/multi-device if used that way 

 

 

[Evshrug]

I have the TB transmitter DSP station... I imagine if the Mixamp is anything like that... That thing is just hissy - nothing else to add. Uber hissy compared to the Recon! The rest quoted for truth and what I've been saying. The X7 gives us choices on how to approach our gaming chain, while packing nice goodies inside. I reckon I'll really like the 1794 DAC [if it is anything like the 1793, which is supposedly detailed yet musical] and couple that with the SA31SE to make my gamey sessions that much better. I'll be sure to try them and compare [The NFB7 should not be disregarded for gaming, I guess], but I think I'll stick with this.

I also agree that there's certainly room for a DSP standalone device, but I'd think that FiiO would be our only hope for such a device, if you disregard the X7, which as you said does that too... So, there'll be experimenting time! 

Thanks for backing me up!
Have you tried rolling opamps before? And, please help add to my info, is the Texas Instruments "amp" chip that the X7 shares with the FiiO E09k one of the swappable opamps, or are only buffers swappable? I assume the opamps work the same here as they did on the ZxR (which I haven't used).

Honestly I would be surprised to see FiiO enter the DSP business, as their current core competency is DAC and Amp hardware. They "could" license DSP algorithms from dolby and DTS, I just would expect a new company to try it first. I wonder if a "DSP Dongle" separate hasn't existed before because the current companies are afraid they wouldn't make money off of it or it would hurt the sales of their other devices. If the latter (and I could see it as that), I think that's a foolish stance because just because a company won't add it among their current lineup doesn't mean another company can't. I agree with Stillhart that the X7 by itself won't be a starting point for new audiophiles and grow the market segment, BUT it also does bring attention to the market segment and will get other companies thinking (as they always should) how they might compete.

Loading up a DAP, like my iPod Classic, with my full library/high-res files and being able to use a high-quality external DAC appeals to me for scenarios where the X7 may not be in the same place as a PC, I've always found the built-in music players of game consoles to react wonky when connected to a DAP and I had considered a NuForce iDo in the past (~$120-$100) for that purpose. So IF someday I separate my computer room and console, I'll still have my library even in the wifi dead-zone basement. I dunno, the only X7 feature I couldn't immediately take advantage of in my situation is NFC pairing, which is hella cheap anyway.

 

[RRod]

Here are my thoughts from the other thread.
 
Honestly, though, we really shouldn't need anything other than a nice stereo DAC/amp for headphone surround. There is already a free library, on the PC side at least, that can do a pretty good job with HRTF: OpenAL. And it already supports a set of 51 different HRIRs. What the gaming world is missing are standards: standards for environmental processing (reverb, echo, occlusion, etc.) and standards for headphone delivery (HRTF). Instead there's this kind of propriety mix of stuff. Note that even OpenAL has proprietary HRTF software for Windows that sound even better than the built-in stuff.
 
You really only need hardware for something like turning movies that are pre-encoded in DD/DTS into virtual surround for headphones. Software HRTFs for computer/console games can bypass the 5.1->headphone conversion entirely and apply HRTFs from the game data itself. What we need are some standards for this application, and a little box to handle the movies.

 

[Evshrug]

OpenAL and I orovements to that would be ideal... but developers have to include it in the game's resource libraries. Yes, it's free, but no, nobody has supported it for a few years (very sadly). It's great to know that mankind has figured out the technology, but consumers need to demand it, the demand has to grow till it's ubiquitous as HD video, or else the true 3D surround will probably not come back.

 

[RRod]

OpenAL and I orovements to that would be ideal... but developers have to include it in the game's resource libraries. Yes, it's free, but no, nobody has supported it for a few years (very sadly). It's great to know that mankind has figured out the technology, but consumers need to demand it, the demand has to grow till it's ubiquitous as HD video, or else the true 3D surround will probably not come back.

 
Steam support for Linux and SteamOS itself might change the game a bit by pushing open-source. I just got Borderlands 2 on Steam (Ubuntu 14.04), and one of the first things I noticed was that annoying robot sounded like he was behind me when I turned away from him; sure enough I looked at the loaded libraries and saw libopenal. OpenAL doesn't even have to be the solution, it can be something entirely new, but ubiquity would probably mean that whatever comes out will need to be free or at least have a cheap license.

 

[Army-Firedawg]

Wish i found this thread sooner my friend, tis an interesting read. I haven't made it even some of the way through all the posts yet (starting from page 1 onwards) but has anyone talked about how having a really good headphone that has a magnificent soundstage. I'll use the ever talked about beyerdynamics and their huge soundstage i.e. Using these (T70p model) they out perform my Turtle Beach PX5's in 360 accuracy and detail. And that's just plugged straight into the ps4 controller. Sonfor those not wanting to spend a lot of money on many different parts nor want cords laying everywhere on the floor this route can ampily (spelling) suffice.

 

[Evshrug]

Oh, glad it was interesting
I tried making the first post a sort of "topic table of contents" which you can click the links to go right to my topic post, and so far people have generally responded to the newest "topic" so it's sectioned nicely.

The T70p are portable on-ears, right? I think I said generally that headphones with the qualities of detail, a bit of mid/treble tilt, imaging, and instrument separation will usually enhance the virtual surround effect... So in a broader sense it was covered. I leave specific headphone reviews up to Mad and his incredible headphone binges... Though he's settled down in the past 6 months.

I personally found the Beyer DT880 to have great imaging and it sounded very clean, but top-of-the-line AKGs simply had more soundstage and a holographic sense that "something is -there-" Other headphones come close but have other strengths, I just personally loved mine.

I personally value the ability to describe what you mean more than spelling ability... Btw it's spelt "amply," but I totally got what you meant.

I think I'll review the Sound Blaster Omni within the next two weeks, but by then I'll have a special delivery!

 

[conquerator2]

Oh, glad it was interesting
I tried making the first post a sort of "topic table of contents" which you can click the links to go right to my topic post, and so far people have generally responded to the newest "topic" so it's sectioned nicely.

The T70p are portable on-ears, right? I think I said generally that headphones with the qualities of detail, a bit of mid/treble tilt, imaging, and instrument separation will usually enhance the virtual surround effect... So in a broader sense it was covered. I leave specific headphone reviews up to Mad and his incredible headphone binges... Though he's settled down in the past 6 months.

I personally found the Beyer DT880 to have great imaging and it sounded very clean, but top-of-the-line AKGs simply had more soundstage and a holographic sense that "something is -there-" Other headphones come close but have other strengths, I just personally loved mine.

I personally value the ability to describe what you mean more than spelling ability... Btw it's spelt "amply," but I totally got what you meant.

I think I'll review the Sound Blaster Omni within the next two weeks, but by then I'll have a special delivery!

I should probably pre-order

 

[conquerator2]

I should probably pre-order

The X7 is available for pre-order in EU for 329 Pounds or 399 Euros, with the same release date [12/14/14].
I should get mine by Christmas if I manage to pre-order soon 

 

[martin vegas]

  The X7 is available for pre-order in EU for 329 Pounds or 399 Euros, with the same release date [12/14/14].
I should get mine by Christmas if I manage to pre-order soon 

Where is it available? I haven't seen it anywhere in the uk yet!

 

[Stillhart]

 
Where is it available? I haven't seen it anywhere in the uk yet!

I think they ordered directly from Creative.

 

[conquerator2]

I think they ordered directly from Creative.

Yup.
Not yet but I guess that's where I'll order from
There are Creative websites for UK/EU, since the US one does not ship outside.

 

[martin vegas]

Yup.
Not yet but I guess that's where I'll order from

There are Creative websites for UK/EU, since the US one does not ship outside.

I can wait 'til after Christmas..i am getting a new asus monitor for my ps4 for Christmas the syncmaster bleaches the schiit out of games..when I get my X7 I will get the Q701, if I wait I will know what it sounds like with different headphones!

 

[conquerator2]

I can wait 'til after Christmas..i am getting a new asus monitor for my ps4 for Christmas the syncmaster bleaches the schiit out of games..when I get my X7 I will get the Q701, if I wait I will know what it sounds like with different headphones!

Yeah, My current IPS Eizo FS2333 is night and day compared to my previous Syncmaster...
There's also 5 years warranty by Eizo, which doesn't hurt