[jologskyblues]

Looks like you have the surround intensity setting too high and/or left the other DSP effects enabled, most likely reverb or scout mode. Also check if the speakers/headphone configuration is set to "headphones" in the SBX Pro Studio control panel.
 
I used this setup guide btw: http://pokazywarka.pl/3d-sound-in-games/
 
That said, virtual surround will always come at the expense of some sound quality compared to direct stereo which you can mitigate with some tweaking and proper setup, but what I gain in terms of positional cues immensely outweighs that despite the minor hit in SQ.
 
FWIW, I play Battlefield 1 with SBX Pro Studio 5.1 Surround at 67% and all other DSP effects off on my SHP9500s headphones while in the game audio settings, I have set it at "surround" as there is no setting for 5.1 nor 7.1 there and "headphones" for the speaker size. It neither sounds horrible nor hollow or metallic as you have described.
 
Either way, to each his own.

 

[Fegefeuer]

You can't compare your SBX to the SBX of the G5 which has been discussed a lot in this very thread. G5's SBX is the worst. 100% is the only setting that has something you could call a cohorent soundstage or surround feeling. the lower you go the less apart the back surround speakers are, making everything downright horrible. 
 
Add a lot of reverb and goo and you get a good feeling about the G5's useless VST. 

 

[jologskyblues]

  You can't compare your SBX to the SBX of the G5 which has been discussed a lot in this very thread. G5's SBX is the worst. 100% is the only setting that has something you could call a cohorent soundstage or surround feeling. the lower you go the less apart the back surround speakers are, making everything downright horrible. 
 
Add a lot of reverb and goo and you get a good feeling about the G5's useless VST. 

I wasn't comparing it with the G5. I was comparing it with his X7.

 

[Fegefeuer]

I see. My bad. 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

For me the best feat about G5/E5 is that it does "Virtual surround" also to line out. That's how I used mine via optical cable connected to different amp to get best possible result. I dislike SBX and such surround setting but the G5 at least does "Virtual 5.1 surround", ie. 5.1 speaker setting properly that is the only setting I personally prefer using in the advanced settings while rest of the "DSP" settings are disabled, that setting along improves positional cueing by large margin without affecting the quality at all (in fact I'd say it improves upon it as it leads to improved soundstaging, also for stereo music). But I had problems with the G5 easily distorting somehow even when the volume wasn't even that high (or maybe it does at whatever volume level), it felt as the dynamic range would be like 82dB or whatever only, the music didn't just sound 100% clean but as it would very softly clip in the same way if some music has been mastered say a 0.5dB or so too loud.

When I use Realtek onboard ALC1150 connected to the same amp or amps for that matter (I tried 2 different ones) it doesn't sound distorted even at slightly louder settings (haven't tried how far it goes, as long as it does it at reasonable volume levels that I prefer using I don't care).
 
I personally only got it because I knew Creative had fixed the "5.1 speakers downmixed to stereo" on headphones working now as it wasn't possible to use with the Z-series internal cards as it would just switch you to speaker output if you changed the speaker config setting. But then Realtek onboard magically started working properly again with 5.1 setting that I haven't been able to get working properly for like nearly a year now and then I see little use of G5 as the ASRock's Realtek ALC1150 config with built in Texas NE5532 headphone amps to my ears, sounds clearer overall with better highs and lows.

 

[datamage]

I posted this over on Mad Lust's thread about headphones, so I apologize for the double-post. 
 
Guys,
 
If anyone can provide some insight, I would appreciate it.
 
Long story short, I went from a Sound Blaster G5 to a ZxR for the better surround processing. (I loved the Zxr)
 
However, I recently put together a new Skylake build, and the ZxR has issues on the Maximus board I have. (Reading around, it sounds like it's common.) I wound up returning the ZxR cause I was still able to, but now I'm not content with the G5. 
 
Is there another option that would provide surround processing as good as or near the ZxR? Anyone try the Asus Strix Raid DLX? Or even the onboard sound "SupremeFX 2015?"
 
Thanks!

 

[Fegefeuer]

What problems did you have? I'm using Maximus boards since 2007 and never had a problem with any Sound Blaster.
 
How about a Sound Blaster X7 on sale or used? It's better than the ZxR too and you do not need to install any card. 

 

[thuNDa]

  You can't compare your SBX to the SBX of the G5 which has been discussed a lot in this very thread. G5's SBX is the worst. 100% is the only setting that has something you could call a cohorent soundstage or surround feeling. the lower you go the less apart the back surround speakers are, making everything downright horrible. 
 
Add a lot of reverb and goo and you get a good feeling about the G5's useless VST. 

That's why i suggested to call it BXAE-Surround instead.

Only question still is, if the updated 7.1 SBX-Surround of the E5 is different.
Anyhow, Creative messed up - also in regards to their response to you, of different devices having different HRTF processing capabilities, since the Omni 5.1 uses only the low-cost DSP and still is able to provide the original SBX(AFAIK).

 

[jologskyblues]

  For me the best feat about G5/E5 is that it does "Virtual surround" also to line out. That's how I used mine via optical cable connected to different amp to get best possible result. I dislike SBX and such surround setting but the G5 at least does "Virtual 5.1 surround", ie. 5.1 speaker setting properly that is the only setting I personally prefer using in the advanced settings while rest of the "DSP" settings are disabled, that setting along improves positional cueing by large margin without affecting the quality at all (in fact I'd say it improves upon it as it leads to improved soundstaging, also for stereo music). But I had problems with the G5 easily distorting somehow even when the volume wasn't even that high (or maybe it does at whatever volume level), it felt as the dynamic range would be like 82dB or whatever only, the music didn't just sound 100% clean but as it would very softly clip in the same way if some music has been mastered say a 0.5dB or so too loud.

When I use Realtek onboard ALC1150 connected to the same amp or amps for that matter (I tried 2 different ones) it doesn't sound distorted even at slightly louder settings (haven't tried how far it goes, as long as it does it at reasonable volume levels that I prefer using I don't care).
 
I personally only got it because I knew Creative had fixed the "5.1 speakers downmixed to stereo" on headphones working now as it wasn't possible to use with the Z-series internal cards as it would just switch you to speaker output if you changed the speaker config setting. But then Realtek onboard magically started working properly again with 5.1 setting that I haven't been able to get working properly for like nearly a year now and then I see little use of G5 as the ASRock's Realtek ALC1150 config with built in Texas NE5532 headphone amps to my ears, sounds clearer overall with better highs and lows.

For clarification, does the G5 have the capability to output SBX virtual surround in 5.1 instead of the advertised 7.1? If it can, does it perform the same as the SBX 5.1 Virtual surround found in the Sound Blaster Z series?

 

[Fegefeuer]

Yes
No

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

  For clarification, does the G5 have the capability to output SBX virtual surround in 5.1 instead of the advertised 7.1? If it can, does it perform the same as the SBX 5.1 Virtual surround found in the Sound Blaster Z series?

 
Like previous said, yes to first, no to second. The fancy name for "Virtual Surround 7.1/5.1" in G5 is simply a glorified way of naming Speaker setting 5.1 and 7.1 downmixing to stereo. Something which was working properly in the old X-Fi cards which haven't always worked properly since. It was back then when the "use 5.1 speakers even for headphones" became a thing. 

Z series doesn't allow that as it switches to speaker output when you try to use 5.1/7.1.
 
The good thing about this 5.1 channel mixing though is unlike SBX it doesn't affect the sound quality a damn thing, in fact it improves it slightly bit, in form of improved soundstaging, even can be observed when listening to your normal stereo music.

I just wish I didn't have issues with the soundcard sounding a bit like it would be clipping.... it's not very obvious but to my experienced ear I can detect the signal is way "hotter" than my Realtek onboard which can go louder without feeling you hit that ceiling and it becomes noticeable in brickwalled EDM kind of mastering mostly when the bass is peaking heavily,  whereas Realtek even then doesn't give out such results. 
 
I constantly get the feeling with Creative, they have lots of good ideas and marketing platform behind it (although I felt they've slipped a bit at recent years) but their software engineers are up to no good, it's always that which are holding them back.

 

[LordDenton]

New here! I have a couple of questions regarding the G5. I'm thinking of replacing my aging X-Fi XtremeMusic w/SB IO Drive with this one, and want to make sure I get somewhat similar functionality with the G5.
 
- Can I have both headphone-out and the line-out enabled simultaneously. Meaning, will the line-out connector on the back remain un-muted when plugging something to the headphone-out connector on the front?
 
- Does the volume knob control both line-out and headphone-out or just headphone-out?
 
- Is this device prone to static/crackling due to interference? One thing I like about the X-Fi is the extremely clean sound output with absolutely no static/crackling
 
 
 
Thank you, and I would appreciate any input.

 

[Evshrug]

Is this thing worth $80+shipping? Active on Massdrop right now.

I have Senn 598s and it will 50/50 between music and games. Also looking at SMLS M6 and 793, E10K looks nice but I need optical for PS4.

The G5 can connect to PS4 with either USB or Optical, but if you use Optical then you have to turn off bitstreaming (set to linear PCM), and the PS4 does microphone through USB Sooo...

What I do, is charge my DS4 controller while the PS4 is in sleep mode, when I game with the G5 or E5 I simply unplug the micro USB cable from the controller and plug it back into the G5/E5. The PS4 does have two USB ports and I COULD leave them both plugged in all the time, but it seems easier to me just to go wireless with the DS4 and share a cable.

I just tested the E10k plugged into the PS4's USB, it works but the G5 walks all over it for sound quality.

New here!

- Can I have both headphone-out and the line-out enabled simultaneously. Meaning, will the line-out connector on the back remain un-muted when plugging something to the headphone-out connector on the front?

- Does the volume knob control both line-out and headphone-out or just headphone-out?

- Is this device prone to static/crackling due to interference? One thing I like about the X-Fi is the extremely clean sound output with absolutely no static/crackling

Welcome to Head-Fi, sorry about your wallet!

•the G5 I think does not do Headphone and line out at the same time... but I would like to double check since I usually see the Optical out red light on all the time.

•The volume knob controls both volumes, I just noticed this two nights ago. Was having an issue with my TV shutting off after a while when my PS4 and TV were connected to my receiver (halfway into any second episode of Game of Thrones! And then I have to watch all the copyright stuff again!), so I plugged my PS4's HDMI straight into the TV and used the G5's line out to connect to an analog input on the receiver, I had to turn the G5's volume up all the way but then my receiver's volume setting matched what I had when connected via HDMI.

•Yeah, unless you're using an unusually sensitive IEM, the background will be completely silent, possibly even blacker background than your internal sound card because it's isolated from the other components inside your computer.

 

[LordDenton]

•the G5 I think does not do Headphone and line out at the same time... but I would like to double check since I usually see the Optical out red light on all the time.

•The volume knob controls both volumes, I just noticed this two nights ago. Was having an issue with my TV shutting off after a while when my PS4 and TV were connected to my receiver (halfway into any second episode of Game of Thrones! And then I have to watch all the copyright stuff again!), so I plugged my PS4's HDMI straight into the TV and used the G5's line out to connect to an analog input on the receiver, I had to turn the G5's volume up all the way but then my receiver's volume setting matched what I had when connected via HDMI.

•Yeah, unless you're using an unusually sensitive IEM, the background will be completely silent, possibly even blacker background than your internal sound card because it's isolated from the other components inside your computer.

 
Thank you. That's really helpful. The first item in particular is a major requirement for me. I've read the G5 manual and seen screenshots, but couldn't see any option to allow for both outputs at the same time. So, your confirmation makes sense.
 
I guess I'll hold on to my X-Fi for a little longer. It's still working fine, but newer motherboards I'm looking at do not have PCI slots, only PCIe.

 

[jologskyblues]

Can a G5 really drive the HD650 well enough to match at least an entry level Schiit Magni 2/Modi 2 stack?