Does the M-Stage pair well with any electrostatics? It's output seems on the lowend of what you'd need for a high end electrostatic, but are there options that it would make sense with? I'm still enjoying my Q701s with it immensely, but if I do eventually upgrade, it's electrostatic or bust.

I've strangely never seen this mentioned before on here, considering how many people use Chrome to play music via streaming services, but Chrome has supported WASAPI for a while now via a command line parameter. Add "exclusive-mode-audio" to the executable path in your Chrome shortcut, and any...

Haha yeah, it's definitely typical of Creative products though. Thanks a lot for the info. At the very least it sounds I won't lose much going from am X-Fi to Z series card, which was my main concern.

Yeah, DirectSound3D. So wait, what you're saying is that even with my current X-fi card, it's unnecessary to turn on CMSS-3D to get headphone (binaural) surround sound when using Alchemy with a DirectSound3D game? 

How do these new cards work with Alchemy/older DirectSound games? Can you use Alchemy + SBX Surround to get >7 channel positional audio with older DirectSound games like with CMSS-3D? 

AKG Q701s. They actually plug into a Matrix M-Stage that is being fed by the D1. Thanks for the info!

Do you guys know if the SBX Pro Studio binaural effect passes through the optical out on the Z-series cards, the same way CMSS-3D does on the X-Fi series? My current setup consists of an X-Fi Xtreme gamer outputting to an Audioengine D1, and it sounds amazing. I honestly don't want to change...

Man, 3 years ago I was perfectly happy listening to a stereo Bluetooth headset through my iPhone at work. Now I'm $700 into headphones, amps, and DACs and I keep thinking about what I should try next. I liked it when things were simpler. We have to go back, Kate!

So I've spent the last couple hours A-Bing the gain settings. I think I've decided I like 10 the best. 0 sounds good too, but there isn't quite enough headroom there for quieter songs. 18 definitely adds (or takes away) something to the sound of my Q701s that I don't like. A little less detail...

Hmmmm OK, odd that he would even leave it on there in the first place then. Are these things really that fragile? I hope not because I intend on hauling back and forth between work and home regularly.

So I took the top off my newly purchased M-Stage w/OPA627 to take a peak at the op amp mod. There were two strips of yellow making tape on it, I guess put there so it didn't come dislodged during shipping. Should I leave it there or better to take it off? Here's a pic after a peeled them back a...

Pretty impressed with this thing so far. Hooked it up to my Audioengine D1 and set the gain to 18. With the volume knob on the D1 turned all the way up, I turned the volume on the M-State all the way up and could hear no audible hiss on my Q701s. Pretty impressive. Played a variety of music and...

So I just ordered an M-Stage with the OPA672AP biasing mod from Tam to use with my Q701s. This is my first standalone headphone amp, had been running them off an Audioengine D1 prior to this for a little over a year.. What difference should I expect in the sound with the amp vs the D1 alone...

What's the best place to buy one of these with the Class A biasing mod? Tamaudio, Ebay, or elsewhere?