[Evshrug]

Jumpman, what headphones are you using?
I can totally understand Scout Mode sounding a bit obnoxious, once upon a time I used to use it as a quick-to-activate night mode, but now I just legitimately turn on night mode when my ears feel fatigued after a long session.

I haven't compared it to the ALC1150, but I do have a realtek sound processor built into my gigabyte motherboard. For me, the even cheaper Omni was more detailed and had less "mud" around the notes in music, though the Omni was a bit brighter than the Realtek (and the G5). I haven't used the motherboards built-in audio for a long time now... The G5 also did much better supplying enough power for the AKG K612, thus supporting lower bass sounds better, so the G5 was the obvious choice. I got the G5 mostly just to test it out and review it, I've got a lot of options from a bunch of different manufacturers on my desk now.

I would urge you to try more games and music beyond CS:GO before passing judgement. I'm sure you have tried other games and observed how CS:GO has harsh, brittle, flat sound samples that are all about simple action cues and not about realism or richness? The Far Cry games and Battlefields have great sound samples, Destiny is pretty good too, Skyrim, The Witcher 3, Mass Effect 2&3... Some well mastered music files...

 

[jumpman23]

Jumpman, what headphones are you using?

I'm using the AKG K7XX. Not particularly hard to drive and I agree CSGO doesn''t have a good range of audio samples. I've watched movies and listened to music (lossless) with it and ultimately, I don't see this as a huge improvement. I don't consider myself an avid audiophile so I'm probably not the target market for this.

 

[Evshrug]

Sorry, I see you did say it was the K7XX before, I guess I missed it while wondering about your settings. The AKGs definitely open up the bass when fed more power and actually are decently power hungry, but they need more current and less voltage (easy to make enough volume but not easy to support sub bass etc).

If you have the surround set up properly in Windows and the BlasterX control panel, and you still don't like it or hear a difference, then maybe it's not for you. For me, the front/back directions became pretty obvious and the whole amp/DAC experience was a noticeable upgrade for me, but YMMV. I've known some people where the effects just didn't work, and the effect of the different DAC just wasn't enough to justify the cost for them. Everybody's ears, head width/shape, faces, and thus HTRFs are different, so it's possible that it just doesn't work for you. I'd be curious how you'd feel about processing based on a personalized HTRF measurement (which I'm really excited to receive next year near the beginning of summer), but you probably aren't willing to spend THAT much on audio.

 

[Nuke142]

Just got it for using with my active monitors. Not have time now to try now but i hope this card will make good pair with strong big sound system.
Yesterday playing Doom with my ATH-M40X. Very clear and massive sound with good surround.
As same as with old good X-Fi XtremeGamer.... no big difference but i want to change it because X-Fi really old and have some compatibility issues with modern OS.

 

[lenroot77]

Anyone looking for G5, pm me!

 

[Ghostpaws]

First things first, I am no audiophile and a lot of this thread just blows my mind lol. Perhaps it's because I have a terrible headache. I love my movies, music and pc gaming though, and could really use some help here.
 
I've read a lot of threads recently, searched google and maybe it's because I don't understand some of the technical aspects. Okay maybe I should say I know I don't.
 
I recently got myself a new laptop. It has a SoundBlaster Recon 3Di in it. Not a lot of information on this card, but there is no optical port on it to speak of. Dell nor SB really lists any tech specs for it, but I felt it was time to pick up a good pair of headphones w/ mic for gaming.
 
I looked into the headsets out there, specifically gaming and found those with the 7.1 surround. I know it's simulated basically, and that's fine.. I like wearing headphones and it helps when I'm working on a new project. I found the Astro A40's with the MixAmp and SteelSeries 800 to my liking. BUT, the 800's need an optical connection to actually use the 7.1. That's why I picked up the G5 hoping that I could use the optical connection to the transmitter.

I am using the Mini-TOSlink cable provided with the G5; so I have it plugged into the G5's Optical Out and going into the Optical In of the Siberia 800's transmitter unit.
 
To be clear, should I be seeing a SPDIF-Out in Playback Devices? Now I see the SPDIF-In listed in Recording Devices.. so I figured there would be one. Under Playback Devices it shows the G5 and the device as Speakers, utilizing a rear 3.5mm jack. Shouldn't it show optical? I have also checked Device Manager and no SPDIF shows either.
 
Could it possibly be the Recon3Di software interfering? It doesn't seem so but.
I also went into the Advanced Settings of the G5's software.. and every time I reboot it keeps unchecking SPDIF-Out Direct.
 
Though I may be completely confusing myself further as perhaps the G5 can't do Optical with headphones. I may even be going about trying to get really good sound quality in the wrong way.
 
In general an explanation would be great. I'm totally open to purchasing other headphones that would sound better in general and if they have a mic that would be a plus as well. Wireless is definitely my aim however. I was looking at Sennheiser and Vmoda's, though wasn't sure where to start. The Siberia 800's run in the $250 range so that's about where I'm at.
 
Thanks so much everyone for your time and assistance.

 

[Yethal]

Originally Posted by Ghostpaws /img/forum/go_quote.gif
(...)
 
I looked into the headsets out there, specifically gaming and found those with the 7.1 surround. I know it's simulated basically, and that's fine.. I like wearing headphones and it helps when I'm working on a new project. I found the Astro A40's with the MixAmp and SteelSeries 800 to my liking. BUT, the 800's need an optical connection to actually use the 7.1. That's why I picked up the G5 hoping that I could use the optical connection to the transmitter.
 
(...)
In general an explanation would be great. I'm totally open to purchasing other headphones that would sound better in general and if they have a mic that would be a plus as well. Wireless is definitely my aim however. I was looking at Sennheiser and Vmoda's, though wasn't sure where to start. The Siberia 800's run in the $250 range so that's about where I'm at.
 
Thanks so much everyone for your time and assistance.

The G5 provides the virtual surround processing so You do not need to add a separate virtual surround device (like the Siveria transmitter or the Mixamp) into the chain. Since You already have the G5 You can just sell the gaming headsets and buy regular stereo headphones. This will not only sound better but also significantly reduce the complexity of Your setup.

 

[Ghostpaws]

  The G5 provides the virtual surround processing so You do not need to add a separate virtual surround device (like the Siveria transmitter or the Mixamp) into the chain. Since You already have the G5 You can just sell the gaming headsets and buy regular stereo headphones. This will not only sound better but also significantly reduce the complexity of Your setup.

 
That makes sense, it's kind of what I figured since I don't need a transmitter plus the G5. Thankfully I'm still in the time frame to return both headsets.
So am I correct that even if a headset says 7.1, it's because of an external amp (like the SSeries Transmitter or MixAmp) and not the actual headset's capability? Probably just answered my own question.  
 
I'd still really like to know however if I should be seeing an SPDIF-Out in my Sound Drivers/Device Manager and Playback Devices because of the G5's optical port.. Because if I am and I'm not, then I've got driver issues and obviously I want to fix that. 
 
I believe I read somewhere that the optical doesn't work for headphones because of encoding or something?
 
Thanks so much Yethal and everyone!

 

[Yethal]

   
That makes sense, it's kind of what I figured since I don't need a transmitter plus the G5. Thankfully I'm still in the time frame to return both headsets.
So am I correct that even if a headset says 7.1, it's because of an external amp (like the SSeries Transmitter or MixAmp) and not the actual headset's capability? Probably just answered my own question.  

Yes, You are correct.
 
 

I'd still really like to know however if I should be seeing an SPDIF-Out in my Sound Drivers/Device Manager and Playback Devices because of the G5's optical port.. Because if I am and I'm not, then I've got driver issues and obviously I want to fix that. 

No, it's fine. The Optical out port is a virtual device for users who would like to use the G5 as a USB to S/PDIF converter.
 

I believe I read somewhere that the optical doesn't work for headphones because of encoding or something?  
Thanks so much Yethal and everyone!

Well, optical is a digital signal and headphones are analog so You can't plug headphones into the optical out. However what I believe You mean is that headphone surround can't be output over the optical out to a separate dac which is partially true. It can work that way only for PC. On consoles we're stuck with stereo.

 

[azuisleet]

Hi, I'm looking to get some assistance from owners of the G5. It seems that the audio mixing adds a non-negligible amount of gain (somewhere between 1-2dB), causing some pretty bad clipping. I have confirmed this with both the official Creative drivers and when connected to a Playstation 4. It does not however happen when I use the Microsoft provided Generic USB Audio drivers. This is all with all effects disabled (eg hold down the SBX Profile button until all lights are off).

I initially sent an email to Creative tech support with the suspicion that my device might be faulty, but I now believe that there's some sort of out-of-band mixing that might actually be happening that creates a gain during the audio mix. It seems to manifest itself in different ways, but most commonly it's like static or popcorn. The only way I can make it go away is to turn down the volume of the application before it reaches the mixer, as I can pick any volume for the output device from 0-100 and it won't give me static unless the application itself is at 100% volume.
 
It seems odd given that I don't have similar issues with an X-Fi or onboard audio given the exact same volume parameters.
 
I suppose it's an OK solution to never turn any applications up to full volume or run using the generic USB driver, but I wanted to see if anyone else had any similar problems, or if my device actually is faulty.
 
edit:
I did also want to mention the "Direct Audio Output" option that's available with the Creative driver installed. Enabling this did not remove the static/popcorn. This is partly why I suspect a hardware fault.

 

[Kaennie]

Hello guys,
 
very interesting thread but tbh, I do not have the time to read 30 pages. I just got one question:
 
I just ordered the Sound BlastrX H7 headset and am looking for a good headphone amplifier. I will use this setup on my PS4. I read that the G5 does not offer surround sound for consoles. Can I use the E5 as a gaming headphone amp? Will it feature surround? Or just to make it simple, should I buy
 
- Sound BlasterX G5 (104,00 €)
- Sound BlasterX E5 (159,00 €)
- Astro MixAmp (120,00 €)
- sth. else (same price-range)?

 

[Fegefeuer]

How about a X7 from some Warehouse Deal? Paid 230€ for mine a few months ago (after I sold the LE for much higher )

 

[Kaennie]

I need a small amp, the X7 is too big. I will use it for my "mobile PS4 setup" (small light table, PS4, BenQ 27", Ergotron LX deskmount), so it needs to be smaller.

 

[azuisleet]

After playing with dials and configurations for a while, I'm pretty confident that the static/popcorn artifacts are simply a result of a clipping with whatever audio mixing is happening with the Creative driver. I haven't heard back from technical support, but I think the answer is simply:
 
The Creative drivers have some sort of mixing process (such as the virtual surround sound, the exact mode doesn't matter) that needs quite a bit of headroom to avoid any clipping artifacts. I had to lower the volume of fb2k to about -3.5dB to completely remove any clicks and pops. Despite being a pain, it's not that unreasonable to manage audio volumes for most applications to put them at the 80-90% level and just simply crank up the output device volume slightly.
 
I would have preferred that their mixer do the magic so I don't have to fumble with application volume settings, but overall I think the G5 is indeed working as intended.
 
 
A couple other notes:
 
- The installer for BlasterX Acoustic Engine Pro includes the correct Creative drivers, but if you're unlucky, the Creative drivers may not actually install because some of the driver files sit inside \ProgramData. You would know if that were the case if you're getting the "This operation requires an interactive window station" error. Booting into safemode and updating the drivers directly from the Creative\BlasterX Acoustic Engine Pro folder will let you install them. Without the Creative drivers, you can't access "Direct Audio Mode", Virtual Surround modes, or the audio format of the playback device.
 
- I was also able to reproduce the audio glitches I originally experienced pretty reliably by simply flipping the settings for virtual surround mode and direct output, but it doesn't appear to happen outside of fussing with those two settings.

 

[Fegefeuer]

I get clipping in GTA V + SBX and it's really nasty there. Strangely it doesn't happen with a lot of games. I get the same popcorn effect with the X7+GTA V. It always happens when a lot of stuff happens, like shooting a car with a machinegun or crashing around and then having the police radio chatter pop in like corn. 
 
X-Fi + CMSS-3D 7.1: Destroy the whole world, no clicks, no popcorn, nothing.