Depends on what you do with your soundcard and if the new AE7/9 have any unforeseeable issues. Provided they are okay it it will come down to your user profile: Singleplayer gaming? Yes. IMHO the ZxR's SBX is already more natural than CMS3D. Multiplayer gaming? Debateable. Some people say...

Maybe we could add the AE-7 to the topic? IMO a separate thread would be too much... AE-9: https://de.creative.com/p/sound-cards/sound-blaster-ae-9 AE-7: https://de.creative.com/p/sound-cards/sound-blaster-ae-7 The new cards are quite pricy. The AE-7 costs 229€ - almost as much as the ZxR...

AFAIK all cards since the X-Fi Titanium can "play stereo mix to digital output". http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=107538

There is no dedicated option for that sadly. After everything that I read I assume that it will upmix when I chose "5.1-Surround speakers" but won't upmix when I use "headphones". That's the only way that makes sense. But a little bit of confirmation would be nice. ;)   I am asking because I...

Yes of course. That kinda was my question: Does sbx pro studio somehow interfere with binaural effects that are already there or does it leave them (=stereo information) alone? 

I have a question regarding ZXR and SBX Pro Surround:   Does using this have an (negative) effect on native HRTF (=Stereo) material?   My settings: SBX Pro Surround: 50% Windows Speaker: 5.1 Creative Speaker: Headphones   The virtual barbershop demo e.g will work with these settings. 

I have a question regarding the ZXR's SBX Pro Surround behavior when using a stereo source.   Settings: SBX Pro Surround: ON (50% - read somewhere that 33% has the best localization and 67% has the smoothest transitions) Creative speaker setting: Headphones Windows speaker setting: 5.1...