[canthearyou]

Well, I just bought the G5. Hopefully they release the Dolby decoding for consoles soon.

 

[halcyon]

If you want SBX Studio Pro, Alchemy (openAL)  AND you want all that in a 7.1 external amp compatible setup, you have to get one of the PCIe cards, like Sound Blaster Z -series. You'll get 5.1 discrete channels out, not 7.1

None of the USB sound card provide discrete 7.1 channel output.
 
You should be able to get optical Dolby Digital 5.1 output from some of them, don't know which ones.
 
To get discrete 7.1 out, just pipe it through a modern GFX cards with HDMI output. Not sure which ones support this either.
 
If somebody has experience, please post.

 

[Stillhart]

That's okay because 7.1 is pointless in rooms that aren't massive.  Any room you'd find in a typical house doesn't need the extra channels.  Just saying...

 

[canthearyou]

That's okay because 7.1 is pointless in rooms that aren't massive.  Any room you'd find in a typical house doesn't need the extra channels.  Just saying...

Is this fact or opinion?

 

[Stillhart]

Is this fact or opinion?

 
I researched this a few years back when buying my first "real" surround system.  This was the conclusion I took away from my research.  You're welcome to Google it up and decide for yourself.

 

[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.

Not trying to have a conversation with myself here or anything, I just want to document this for future generations to avoid this situation. So, here I am at work, installed all the drivers, thing is working fine. At work, prior to this I was using onboard sound, and then last week I got a FiiO E07K. Unplugged the FiiO, installed the drivers, rebooted, and the G5 is working fine. Can't trigger any sound cut-outs. I guess the next thing to try at home is removing my old ASUS sound card. (It's disabled, but not removed from the case entirely.) I did not disable onboard sound or anything, I still see Intel Display Sound and Realtek Sound in my device manager. I did try disabling my onboard sound at home, to no effect.
 
The only difference is that my work headphones, Phillips Citiscape Uptowns, have a TRRS plug because they have a mic built-in (which I never use). When I used my old gaming headset on the G5 with the mic and headphone plugged into the mic and headphone jacks, the error occurred all the time. When I bought an adapter to sum them back into one TRRS plug, I seemed to have a week with no errors, as far as I can remember. So for the sake of thoroughness, I should try some headphones at work with a regular plug.

 

[AxelCloris]

Is this fact or opinion?

 
It's opinion, but well established opinion. The smaller the room, the more challenging it is for the listener to discern between a 5.1 and 7.1 system. Sure some may be able to hear the difference, but it's going to be marginal at best. If you're willing to spend the extra money to have 7.1, go for it. I share the opinion that the difference is not worth the investment if you're in a 10x15 bedroom but absolutely worth the difference if your room is, say, 15x24.
 
Source: Years in the AV sales world.

 

[Seyumi]

   
It's opinion, but well established opinion. The smaller the room, the more challenging it is for the listener to discern between a 5.1 and 7.1 system. Sure some may be able to hear the difference, but it's going to be marginal at best. If you're willing to spend the extra money to have 7.1, go for it. I share the opinion that the difference is not worth the investment if you're in a 10x15 bedroom but absolutely worth the difference if your room is, say, 15x24.
 
Source: Years in the AV sales world.

Appreciate the opinion and/or knowledge. I just simply want something more than cheap Logitech 5.1 speakers but for the PC world it would mean you absolutely have to venture out into the receiver / bookshelf speaker realm which I've never done before. The only speakers that were marginally better in existence were the older Logitech Z-5500's or the Klipsh ProMedia Ultra 5.1's that are both a good 10 years discontinued.
 
I figured I may as well go 7.1 as many PC games actually support 7.0 or 7.1. There is an extensive list out there testing hundreds of games with the results. I need something "easy" though like that Onkyo system. I use the SBX enhancements even though I have a true 5.1 setup because it fills the back speakers with more sound from MP3 and games that normally don't get much of a signal from the source and makes the surround sound good (in my opinion). 
 
This G5 device is the only sound card creative has made in like 10 years that does 7.1 so now I want to upgrade to a 7.1 system. Is there no way either physically or electronically I can't pair the G5 with the 7.1 Onkyo system to be able to receive good 7.1 surround and being able to use all the Creative / SBX enhancements? Sure I could stick an HDMI cable from my graphics cards to the receiver but then I'd be missing the Creative stuff and not sure if I can get the back/side speakers so work as much as I'd like to.

 

[SatchmoBronson]

  This G5 device is the only sound card creative has made in like 10 years that does 7.1 so now I want to upgrade to a 7.1 system. Is there no way either physically or electronically I can't pair the G5 with the 7.1 Onkyo system to be able to receive good 7.1 surround and being able to use all the Creative / SBX enhancements? Sure I could stick an HDMI cable from my graphics cards to the receiver but then I'd be missing the Creative stuff and not sure if I can get the back/side speakers so work as much as I'd like to.

Dude, the G5 is completely unnecessary for speaker surround sound. You just run HDMI from your GPU to your receiver, boom, surround sound. You should be able to get 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound from any modern GPU with HDMI. The only "Creative stuff" you'd be missing would be like, the Crystallizer and stuff like that, which is not necessary unless you have a bunch of low-bitrate music. Otherwise, your receiver can do everything better: surround sound, equalization, bla bla.

 

[canthearyou]

Just got my G5. The SBX works pretty damn well IMO. I can't wait for the patch to allow DD decoding.

 

[Vader2k]

Does the G5 have mic monitoring?  I know some people don't like hearing themselves speaking in the headset, but I personally need it to make sure I'm not talking too loud.

 

[canthearyou]

Does the G5 have mic monitoring?  I know some people don't like hearing themselves speaking in the headset, but I personally need it to make sure I'm not talking too loud.

I'll check. Brb

It does not.

 

[Vader2k]

Cool, thx!

 

[Vader2k]

I'll check. Brb

It does not.

 
No?  Bah... well that stinks.  I've been holding off buying while they get the DD decoding on consoles sorted out, but if there's no mic monitoring, that might make it a tougher pill to swallow.  Still, I'm eager to compare SBX to DH, so for single player gaming at least, curiosity might get the better of me.
 
Appreciate you checking.

 

[SatchmoBronson]

I could've sworn it had mic monitoring in the software options. I'm at work right now and don't have the G5 with me, though.