[Trancefury]

I like the advice here. Back to the surround.. what is the best option for still getting the surround with an external amp? My current motherboard has no optical port, so I think I absolutely need a soundblaster z at the least, and it will handle the SBX processing. Now how do I get the surround through an external amp to my high end headphones? From all that I've read, these are the options:
 
SBZ > line out > amp > headphones       (meant for speakers, bad surround quality?)
 
SBZ > headphone out > amp > headphones      (Is this being double amped and distorted?)
 
SBZ > optical out > DAC > amp> headphones     (can the SBX surround be carried over optical?)
 
 
All and any suggestions are welcome, I've read nearly 90 pages in the soundblaster z/zx/zxr thread and it was conflicting. Money is no problem, I just have no idea how it will work or even what cables to buy.

 

[jodgey4]

Option one is a safe bet. Two would only be a tiny bit less ideal. I think most dedicated sound cards can put out the virtual surround sound through optical, like my Xonar DGX, which would be the best option in most cases. Hopefully someone can chime in to confirm that for your card.

 

[-Bankai]

just throwing out another option, and i have not heard these or anything, but i personally think this would make a cool headset: V Moda LP2 + V Moda BoomPro mic

http://v-moda.com/crossfade-lp2-matte-black-metal/
http://v-moda.com/boompro-microphone/

thats 230$ plus tax and shipping. their supposedly bass heavy, idk if you want that or not in games, but look at reviews for them i think it would be a cool setup, and totally looks gamer status too.

 

[Trancefury]

I think I finally found some information that I'm confident in, on pages 141-144 of the huge "z / zx / zxr" thread.
 
Apparently with a higher quality amp, you can plug a z series card into an amp using the 3.5mm to RCA, and the double amping won't be a problem.
 
Also, apparently the optical toslink works just fine and carries the SBX surround to an external DAC/AMP, which would be the highest quality.
 
I just got a pair of HE-560's, so to make the most of them, I'll probably get a good DAC and AMP now, seeing as how I can just use a cheaper Z card to get the SBX benefits. There are also a lot of new motherboards that come with the SBX from Creative built right in which would mean you wouldn't even need a card! Since I'm building a new computer soon, I gotta look into this.

 

[Rhamnetin]

  I think I finally found some information that I'm confident in, on pages 141-144 of the huge "z / zx / zxr" thread.
 
Apparently with a higher quality amp, you can plug a z series card into an amp using the 3.5mm to RCA, and the double amping won't be a problem.
 
Also, apparently the optical toslink works just fine and carries the SBX surround to an external DAC/AMP, which would be the highest quality.
 
I just got a pair of HE-560's, so to make the most of them, I'll probably get a good DAC and AMP now, seeing as how I can just use a cheaper Z card to get the SBX benefits. There are also a lot of new motherboards that come with the SBX from Creative built right in which would mean you wouldn't even need a card! Since I'm building a new computer soon, I gotta look into this.

 
The HE-560 is a top notch headphone, so indeed you're going to need a very good amp and DAC to take full advantage of it.  And you're right about motherboards, many have a Creative Sound Core3D DSP built in.  They still aren't anywhere near as good as something like a Sound Blaster ZxR in terms of sound quality though; the DAC and other components used are still on the cheap side with those motherboards.  So ideally you'd want to get one of those motherboards and connect it to a quality DAC via optical.

 

[Nokillz]

Just one final question, I haven't purchased the X1s yet as I am still trying to get some more money, but can I still locate as to where the enemy is in games without virtual surround sound? Once again, I would like to thank you for all of your advice thus far. 

 

[jodgey4]

I would certainly think so... plus, a lot of games will do internal sound processing for a 'headphones' output channel like CS:GO you can try.