[kellte2]

This is not directly G5 related, but as it looks like X7 is basically G5 + eternal PSU + different box and some inputs/outputs, then I wonder if the ability to send SBX Studio pro virtualized headphone sound to the digital out of X7 is a feature that is coming to X7 any time soon? Would make sense, if they share driver development platform?


At any rate, now I'm buying G5, until Creative can fix their drivers for X7.

You must not have read two or three posts above. The DAC for the X7 is superior to that of the G5. Plus the amp for the X7 has swappable op amps. They're not just the same thing in a different box.

 

[halcyon]

You must not have read two or three posts above. The DAC for the X7 is superior to that of the G5. Plus the amp for the X7 has swappable op amps. They're not just the same thing in a different box.

Oh, I've read them. But I miscommunicated. If the internal design is the same (logic), it matters very little what the OpAmp or even DAC is.

If the board, routing, control chip, USB chip are the same, then the drivers are probably very similar, probably from the same source tree with small variations. This is how product dev is mostly done these days, to save costs - basic platform with various variants for various price points/target groups.

Now, whether they are internally close to each other, well I guess future driver releases will show this :-D

 

[shuto77]

What are the early impressions of the G5 so far?


Has anyone hooked it up to a higher-quality amp?

 

[lenroot77]

Anyone interested in trading a Modi uber for my G5?

Pm me
Thanks

 

[venkman781]

  I spoke with the Creative guys at CES last week.  It seems the issue of it not processing surround over optical (so it doesn't work with consoles) is going to be resolved Soon.  When I said "T.M." after he said "Soon", he went "Oh no, not that far out.  Actually soon."  They will be pushing it down in a firmware update once it's ready to go.
 
Rejoice!

I'm sure I'll feel silly posting this, but what does "T.M." stand for in this context?

 

[Stillhart]

  I'm sure I'll feel silly posting this, but what does "T.M." stand for in this context?

 
"Trademark".  In some gamer circles, the developers make promises but don't say when it's coming, just "soon".  Eventually this became a running joke so they capitalized it and put a tm after it.  "Soon ®"  This is generally taken to mean "we're not going to tell you when and we're just saying 'soon' to get you off our backs... it could be months and months."
 
So in the conversation I had with Creative, when he said "soon", I was basically asking him if it was REALLY coming soon or if he was just saying that.  He was quick to reassure me that it will actually be soon.

 

[venkman781]

Neat! Thanks for the explanation.

 

[SatchmoBronson]

I bought one of these a few weeks ago but am having a really weird problem with it. Sound basically cuts out and makes a little blip every few seconds. It sounds like a CD skipping unbelievably badly, I guess. I have to switch to another sound device (such as my FiiO E10K) and back to the G5, or disable/re-enable the G5 in the Control Panel, to get any sound back. This happens with multiple headphones, and with a mic plugged in or not. I tried reinstalling the software, the drivers, etc. I can easily recreate the issue at any time by opening up Control Panel > Sound and clicking on the Recording tab, whether a mic is plugged in or not. Also seems to happen when I try to launch a game, or sometimes just when I start playing music.
 
I emailed Creative and they said to try a driver reinstall and if that doesn't work I may have a defective unit. I've asked them to start the process on getting it swapped. Just wanted to document it here in case anyone has had this issue.
 
Incidentally, in my troubleshooting, I tried a "hardware reset" of the device by holding down the volume knob and the Scout Mode button. This resets the device...but the default volume is 100! Almost blew my HD598s and my fuggin' head off! That's a really, really, really stupid design decision and needs to be changed in firmware immediately. The default start-up volume should be like 10, max. (Whoever said they should have gone with a potentiometer or a separate IC for volume control is totally right.) Frankly, it's such a stupid decision that it has me considering just returning the device for a refund. But there's almost nothing else on the market that does what this does: DAC/amp, but also a mic input, SBX, low output impedance, etc. ASUS has products that do all of that except they all have really high output impedances.
 
I'm gonna take this thing to work and see if I can recreate the problem on my work PC tomorrow. If I can't...I guess I'm just going to sit in a corner and cry. I tried everything, I have no idea what on my PC could be causing issues. I've never had a single problem with my E10K.

 

[Seyumi]

So I have the expensive Creative X7 external sound card paired with some crappy Logitech Z906 5.1's. I'm thinking of bringing my audio to the next level and getting the Onkyo HT-S9700THX which is a 7.1 THX system with a dedicated receiver.
 

 
 
I guess I'd have to "downgrade" my sound card and get the G5 to get the full 7.1 experience then huh? Looks like Creative sound cards haven't supported 7.1 since the old Titanium HD's (Vista era I think) which probably have little to no driver support these days and I don't have room in my computer for an internal sound card.
 
I've only had Creative sound cards my entire life so not ready to jump brands. I'm also not wanting to mix and match a bunch of different audio components and looking for a good "all in one solution."
 
Does anyone know how I would hook up the G5 to the Onkyo amp? I've always just used the green / black / orange analog plugs on my crappy Logitech speakers into my sound cards my entire life (Had the Logitech Z5500's for like a decade before the Z906's) and never ventured into the dedicated receiver realm. Does it go from the sound card to the 1 "TV/CD" optical slot you see in the pic? 
 

 
Any advice on getting the G5 over the X7 and hooking up properly to use all the sound cards features would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[shuto77]

  So I have the expensive Creative X7 external sound card paired with some crappy Logitech Z906 5.1's. I'm thinking of bringing my audio to the next level and getting the Onkyo HT-S9700THX which is a 7.1 THX system with a dedicated receiver.
 

 
 
I guess I'd have to "downgrade" my sound card and get the G5 to get the full 7.1 experience then huh? Looks like Creative sound cards haven't supported 7.1 since the old Titanium HD's (Vista era I think) which probably have little to no driver support these days and I don't have room in my computer for an internal sound card.
 
I've only had Creative sound cards my entire life so not ready to jump brands. I'm also not wanting to mix and match a bunch of different audio components and looking for a good "all in one solution."
 
Does anyone know how I would hook up the G5 to the Onkyo amp? I've always just used the green / black / orange analog plugs on my crappy Logitech speakers into my sound cards my entire lift and never ventured into the dedicated receiver realm. Does it go from the sound card to the 1 "TV/CD" optical slot you see in the pic? 
 

 
Any advice on getting the G5 over the X7 and hooking up properly to use all the sound cards features would be appreciated. Thanks.

 
You can't output the X7's SBX-processed signal to an external amp at this time. We're told the G5 will be able to do this with a future firmware update.
 
The benefit of getting a G5 or X7 is to use SBX (Creative's Dolby Signal Processing) for use with headphones. If you're going to switch to a 5.1 or 7.1 setup, it makes the Creative devices redundant. With that said, that AVR will almost certainly sound worse than the G5 or X7 with headphones. You need to spend a lot of money to find an AVR with a really good headphone amp, and you would really have to do your homework on that.
 
You really have to decide if you want to go all-in on the home theater route. If that's the case, there are many good resources for that stuff; Headfi's not the best place. With that said, I wouldn't get those Onkyo speakers. The HT route is a very different animal with many different options and configurations.
 
Your other option is to just get a good pair of speakers, upgrade the X7's power supply and go from there. It all depends on your goals and budget. 

 

[Yethal]

  So I have the expensive Creative X7 external sound card paired with some crappy Logitech Z906 5.1's. I'm thinking of bringing my audio to the next level and getting the Onkyo HT-S9700THX which is a 7.1 THX system with a dedicated receiver.
 

 
 
I guess I'd have to "downgrade" my sound card and get the G5 to get the full 7.1 experience then huh? Looks like Creative sound cards haven't supported 7.1 since the old Titanium HD's (Vista era I think) which probably have little to no driver support these days and I don't have room in my computer for an internal sound card.
 
I've only had Creative sound cards my entire life so not ready to jump brands. I'm also not wanting to mix and match a bunch of different audio components and looking for a good "all in one solution."
 
Does anyone know how I would hook up the G5 to the Onkyo amp? I've always just used the green / black / orange analog plugs on my crappy Logitech speakers into my sound cards my entire life (Had the Logitech Z5500's for like a decade before the Z906's) and never ventured into the dedicated receiver realm. Does it go from the sound card to the 1 "TV/CD" optical slot you see in the pic? 
 

 
Any advice on getting the G5 over the X7 and hooking up properly to use all the sound cards features would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hook the receiver up via HDMI and dump the G5.

 

[shuto77]

  Hook the receiver up via HDMI and dump the G5.

 
Sometimes, less is more. lol.

 

[Seyumi]

   
Sometimes, less is more. lol.

Thanks for the advice. I'm a bit of a sucker though for the Creative SBX enchantments and I know ALchemy is needed for 7.1 in many older games. This is for PC only and no headphones just a 7.1 system. So it looks like I can't do what I want then huh? This 7.1 system and the Creative G5? 

 

[shuto77]

  Thanks for the advice. I'm a bit of a sucker though for the Creative SBX enchantments and I know ALchemy is needed for 7.1 in many older games. This is for PC only and no headphones just a 7.1 system. So it looks like I can't do what I want then huh? This 7.1 system and the Creative G5? 

 
The G5's 7.1 capability for PC isn't clear to me. They've been dodgy about some of these important details.
 
If you're moving away from headphones, I'm sure you could get a really good PC sound card and connect it to 7.1 setup, but the G5 and X7 are the only high-end PC-compatible solutions I'm aware of. I'm not sure if Creative has another high-end PC soundcard with simiar specs to the X7. 

You might want to check the PC gaming thread, although @yethal here is super knowledgable. 

 

[Yethal]

  Thanks for the advice. I'm a bit of a sucker though for the Creative SBX enchantments and I know ALchemy is needed for 7.1 in many older games. This is for PC only and no headphones just a 7.1 system. So it looks like I can't do what I want then huh? This 7.1 system and the Creative G5? 

Why would You want SBX (or Alchemy for that matter) for a 7.1 setup? The whole point of SBX is to simulate surround system using a pair of stereo headphones and Alchemy restores the OpenAL functionality in games. However none of these technologies will be particularly helpful with a home theater system. Unless You're also planning on buying the Asus HDAV which is the only sound card with HDMI output.