[Thewreck13]

Thanks for the response. Has anyone had the opportunity to compare the U7 to the Creative Sound Blaster Omni Surround 5.1?  The Omni has an 600 ohm amp which will drive the Q701 better but I havent seen any reviews for it. 

 

[raoultrifan]

There's an almost empty thread here http://www.head-fi.org/t/695251/creative-sound-blaster-omni-surround-5-1-external-sound-card (you may want to add your question there as well) and a difficult to translate review over here: http://www.ixbt.com/multimedia/soundcard-duel-dec-2013.shtml.
 
Anyway, the 

MAX97220A opamp from Omni seems to be able to drive 600 ohm cans, which U7's opamps (LME49726MY) can only drive up to 300ohm cans (at least in Xonar U7's amplifier). I believe there will not be a huge difference regarding the volume between the 2 USB external DACs, mostly because it's very hard to drive 600 ohms cans from a 5V USB voltage. According to http://www.maximintegrated.com/datasheet/index.mvp/id/7138, Omni could deliver decent audio performance on 600ohm cans, but you might want to wait until someone from head-fi.org will do a proper test on this external soundcard.

 

[pietcux]

I run my K702 from the U7 without any problems for gaming. Absolutely loud enough and a killer combo for sound whoring.

 

[pcharouz]

Btw, just tested it with a Retina MacBook Pro 2014 (13'), and its working perfectly via usb 2, plug and play, shows up as Speakers(switchable on unit) and SPDIF under audio settings

 

[balionelis]

Could someone compare Asus U7 with Fiio E17 and Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS ? Which one of these have widest soundstage, best vocal, bass (not quantity but quality like accuracy, depth.....)?

 

[pcharouz]

i haven't heard the E17, but here are the main differences
 
u7
-7.1 sound
-dobly digital live
-lots of software control inside pc
 
e17
-higher output
-better stereo quality
-battery powered/portable

 

[pietcux]

If you have not listened to the Fiio, how can you tell that they have a better stereo sound? Just saying.

 

[pcharouz]

I have heard other high quality sound equipment, and they have had a bit more power then the u7, from reading the reviews about the e17, i can kind of guesstimate the quality..
 
If you do not trust my judgment, that is no problem i was trying to help, and even specified that i do not actually own it, so that everyone can make up their own point of view...
 
it comes down to what you want to use it for, the u7 for IEM's (don't need as much power) or surround sound systems, or the e17 for high impedance headphones, maybe stereo speakers
 
I was deciding between the 2 as well, and since i  do not have any high ohm headphones, did not plan to use it outside of my house, have a home theater, and it was cheaper, the u7 was a clear choice

 

[pietcux]

That's ok. THe U7 drives my AKG k702 very well for gaming and movies. And music is also quite ok, but I do not listen to music very much from a computer, more from my DAP/AMP combos.

 

[x7007]

Hey,
 
I have the Xonar Phoebus, I wanted to know how to use Headphones Surround with the DHTv4, I have it enabled in the menu.
 
I wanted to know what do I need to choose when playing games that support 5.1 and 7.1 and movies DTS, DTS-HD MA that support 5.1 7.1 with normal players Potplayer, Media player home cinema, and programs like PowerDVD13 and Arcsoft Theater.
 
As far I understand in windows it set to 2 channel cause the DHTv4 takes the 5.1 / 7.1 and down mixing it for headphones surround. so you won't have Virtual 5.1 or 7.1 speakers, Razer surround and Xear does that for QUALITY LOSS. DHTv4 doesn't seem to do that for that reason.
 
So what are the settings do I need to use for games ? for example BF4, I don't know if Hi-Fi is 5.1 or 7.1 and so is Home Cinema but people say Hi-Fi for better Dynamic. and then Stereo and not surround on the speakers settings, I don't remember how it's called. Is that correct ? So if using Razer Surround then it needs to be Hi-Fi and surround cause we have virtual 7.1 speakers ? is that correct also.
 
For other games that we can select speakers configuration, should we choose 5.1/7.1 or Stereo ?
 
For movies what is the settings should I select for PotPlayer for example, will it depends on the movie, 5.1/7.1 or stereo ?
 

 
 
 
And what settings should I choose for PowerDVD13 and Arcsoft when watching Blueray and such 5.1/7.1
 
 
And this one for more info
http://www.head-fi.org/t/703920/how-to-use-dolby-virtualizer-surround-with-stereo-headphones#post_10235509

 

[x7007]

Did anyone see this ?
 
 
http://www.manualowl.com/m/Asus/XONAR-PHOEBUS/Manual/320155
 
look on page 6.3.7 it has 7.1 Shifter !
 
 
It has Direction and Distance.
 
EDIT : Yes they said they replace it with DHTv4 , that's why they are gone !

 

[pietcux]

Hey,

I have the Xonar Phoebus, I wanted to know how to use Headphones Surround with the DHTv4, I have it enabled in the menu.

I wanted to know what do I need to choose when playing games that support 5.1 and 7.1 and movies DTS, DTS-HD MA that support 5.1 7.1 with normal players Potplayer, Media player home cinema, and programs like PowerDVD13 and Arcsoft Theater.

As far I understand in windows it set to 2 channel cause the DHTv4 takes the 5.1 / 7.1 and down mixing it for headphones surround. so you won't have Virtual 5.1 or 7.1 speakers, Razer surround and Xear does that for QUALITY LOSS. DHTv4 doesn't seem to do that for that reason.

So what are the settings do I need to use for games ? for example BF4, I don't know if Hi-Fi is 5.1 or 7.1 and so is Home Cinema but people say Hi-Fi for better Dynamic. and then Stereo and not surround on the speakers settings, I don't remember how it's called. Is that correct ? So if using Razer Surround then it needs to be Hi-Fi and surround cause we have virtual 7.1 speakers ? is that correct also.

For other games that we can select speakers configuration, should we choose 5.1/7.1 or Stereo ?

For movies what is the settings should I select for PotPlayer for example, will it depends on the movie, 5.1/7.1 or stereo ?






And what settings should I choose for PowerDVD13 and Arcsoft when watching Blueray and such 5.1/7.1


And this one for more info
http://www.head-fi.org/t/703920/how-to-use-dolby-virtualizer-surround-with-stereo-headphones#post_10235509

Dolby simulates 7.1 for headphone, if the source has such information. For stereo music files, ther is a wider stage, but not much from behind you. In games it works very good in simulating surround, much better than Xear. Similar to Creative solutions. In game or in Power DVD I select as much cannels as possible, Dolby will provide it correctly to your ears using the two available speakets of your cans. I think they decided to remove the manual selection of speakers because many users messed the settings up and got a worse sound due to this. DOLBY assured me that the Dht4 system always uses all channels that are available.

 

[x7007]

Dolby simulates 7.1 for headphone, if the source has such information. For stereo music files, ther is a wider stage, but not much from behind you. In games it works very good in simulating surround, much better than Xear. Similar to Creative solutions. In game or in Power DVD I select as much cannels as possible, Dolby will provide it correctly to your ears using the two available speakets of your cans. I think they decided to remove the manual selection of speakers because many users messed the settings up and got a worse sound due to this. DOLBY assured me that the Dht4 system always uses all channels that are available.

 
Ok, so if there is movie 5.1 and I choose 7.1 won't it cause problem ? Is it safe that I go with "Same as Input" to be safe ? Cause I noticed, when you choose 7.1 or 5.1 it makes the volume quiter compare to stereo 2.0 I dunno if that's suppose do that, cause with Xear the volume stays the same.
 
And what about BattleField 4, what is the different between the Surround and Stereo speakers after the Hi-Fi and Home Cinema, why some say Stereo and some Surround ?

 

[x7007]

Anyone ?

 

[Harvester]

I recently bought the Xonar X3 and absolutely loved Dolby Headphones.  I'd set the number of audio channels to 6 (5.1) Turn on Dolby Headphone (dh1) and set surround in BF4....sounded great.  I loved it so much I decided to upgrade to U7....It arrived today and here is what I found:
 
Dolby Home Theatre and the U7 in general seems to be crippled to 2 channel audio when in Headphone Mode. This renders Dolby Headphones into more of a stereo expander rather than a 5.1/7.1 virtualizer like it was in the U3 and the older sound cards.  The newer internal sound cards seems to have fallen into the same sad shape.   I have no idea why this was done but you can read these links and see for yourself that Asus is aware of it but hasn't made any indication that it will ever be changed. 
 
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?34437-Stumbled-upon-advanced-tunning-for-dolby-home-theatre&highlight=dolby+home+theatre
 
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?40778-Whql-win-8.1-driver&p=344867&viewfull=1#post344867
 
 
So as of right now it seems that my upgrade wasn't much of an upgrade if I want to continue using Dolby Headphones....as a matter of fact I think it was actually a downgrade.
 
I'll keep fiddling with things.....if any one has different info I'd love to hear it.
 
Thanks in advance!