[paulguru]

Anyone can say me if the bloated bass of zxr can fix with internal EQ ?

 

[genclaymore]

Paul you can swap out the op-amps to another pair if you don't like the way your ZXR sound to another pair of op-amps that has the type of sound that you want. It most likey the two JRC's that are in the I/V op-amp sockets on the ZXR if you are just using the headphone amp output on it. If your using the RCA then both the I/V and buffer is used and it could be in your case that you just don't like the jrc if that what the ZXR is using paired with the buffer op-amps.
 
But  I will have to find a guide for you or maybe some one here can help you that have done it on their ZXR as I don't have a ZXR in front of me to see which op-amp is which, I did find a picture but I can't tell if it's JRC21140 or JRC2114D.

 

[Zyker]

I've got a quick question!
 
I'm currently running an ASUS Xonar DS.  I know it's not the best card. Do you think I'd see gains if I switched to a Sound Blaster Z?  My current setup has be plugging my headphones (Audio Technica A900x) into the wired remote control for my 2.1 speakers (Creative I-TRIGUE L3800), which is hooked into the soundcard.  I'd love to hook my headphones directly to the soundcard, since there is sometimes some "interference" that can be heard when the sound is too quiet with the headphones.
 
I mainly use my headphones and listen to various music genres and play games.
 
Thanks! 

 

[Nikolasi]

  I've got a quick question!
 
I'm currently running an ASUS Xonar DS.  I know it's not the best card. Do you think I'd see gains if I switched to a Sound Blaster Z?  My current setup has be plugging my headphones (Audio Technica A900x) into the wired remote control for my 2.1 speakers (Creative I-TRIGUE L3800), which is hooked into the soundcard.  I'd love to hook my headphones directly to the soundcard, since there is sometimes some "interference" that can be heard when the sound is too quiet with the headphones.
 
I mainly use my headphones and listen to various music genres and play games.
 
Thanks! 

If you like in games bass and crystal sound get SBZ.
SBZ is better for games then ASUS DS,DX,DG...but for music more bass....better look for any poverful external DAC/AMP.On SBZ only bass is powerful and that cant be nice for music.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Anyone can say me if the bloated bass of ZxR can fix with internal EQ ?

 
What headphones are you using with the SB-ZxR?
Did you disabled the motherboard's on-board audio, in the BIOS, before installing the SB-ZxR and Creative software?

 

[Zyker]

Wow.  I just got it installed a little while ago and the difference between the SBZ and the Xonar DS is amazing.  The sound is beautiful and clear. Thanks for your reply!

 

[DangerClose]

  Wow.  I just got it installed a little while ago and the difference between the SBZ and the Xonar DS is amazing.  The sound is beautiful and clear. Thanks for your reply!

 
Interesting since I so often read SBZ sounds better in games but Xonars sound better for music, including the DS/DSX.  Are there any more comparisons you can make between their sound differences?
 
Oh, your SBZ is more clear because you had your DS plugged into a wireless remote for speakers.  Yeah, that might make a difference for clarity. 

 
I was going to add that even headphones that "don't need an amp" can benefit from an amp, and the SBZ is a lot more powerful than the DS, so I thought that was going to be the reason for the sound difference.  

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Interesting since I so often read SB-Z sounds better in games but Xonars sound better for music, including the DS/DSX.  Are there any more comparisons you can make between their sound differences?
Oh, your SBZ is more clear because you had your DS plugged into a wireless remote for speakers.  Yeah, that might make a difference for clarity. 

I was going to add that even headphones that "don't need an amp" can benefit from an amp, and the SB-Z is a lot more powerful than the DS, so I thought that was going to be the reason for the sound difference.  

 
The SB-Z comes with a better DAC chip, then the Xonar DS.
Also I'm fairly sure the SB-Z's dedicated headphone jack has a much lower output impedance
then the Xonar DS's line-output jack, that also pretends to be a headphone jack.

 

[genclaymore]

I own a asus xonar DSX my self that sits in my closet, I also have owned a DG and a DGX. The main thing that the DSX has over the SBZ is a op-amp socket which allows you to swap op-amps around changing the sound signature of the sound card to fit the type of sound that you want.The DS/DSX doesn't have a headphone amp but a headphone buffer. The Asus Xonar DG/DGX is the one that has a headphone amp in it. The DS/X Doesn't have dolby headphone which is useful in games, the DG/X does but doesn't have a op-amp socket. 
 
I also own a sound blaster Z while I have used the analog output a couple of times, the SBZ wins over the DS/X due to it having a headphone amp thats decent enough and SBX surround which is very useful and work really well in games. When it comes to sound performance it depends on one thing,Are you going to roll op-amps on the DS/X. If not then the SBZ would be the better choice as it audio performance is better then the DS/X with the stock jrc op-amps installed. If you do think you will want to swap op-amp's then the DS/X will come out on top due to being able to take out the Jrc's and install op-amps such as the LT1469,LT1489 or even the LME48960's etc. If you need a headphone amp and the virtual headphone software then the sound blaster Z would be the better option but only if you planning to use headphones. Of course the sound blaster z will be better if your playing older games which are EAX which would do alot better then the asus emulation of eax. But both has trade offs.

 

[Zyker]

Yeah, my headphones were plugged into a wired controller that is for the speakers (because there was no dedicated headphone out on the DS, and I didn't want to be crawling to the back of my computer to be changing the plugs every time I wanted to use headphones).  When no sound was playing, I would notice a slight buzzing noise.  More annoying than anything, I suppose.  However, the speakers were hooked directly to the Xonar DS.
 
Now, comparing the two, there's definitely a difference between the sound quality of the cards.  The clarity was the first difference I noted, right off the bat when the computer started.  I then switch the sound over to the headphones (yay for a dedicated jack!) and started listening to some music.  It was incredibly clear, with a much more defined bass and an overall "brighter" quality to it.  Put simply, it just sounds a LOT better and I absolutely love it.
 
I have yet to play a game with this card but I'll do it tonight (Fallout 4) and can report back, if you're interested.

 

[el-jorge]

My Auzentech prelude is about to die. I probably going to replace it with the ZxR. I now have a Bose Companion 20 hooked to my soundcard. But I'm thinking of replacing those also. What is the best way to go with this soundcard? Some active studio speakers, computer speakers (like my current Bose), or something else, like an amplifier and some speakers?

 

[obobskivich]

My Auzentech prelude is about to die. I probably going to replace it with the ZxR. I now have a Bose Companion 20 hooked to my soundcard. But I'm thinking of replacing those also. What is the best way to go with this soundcard? Some active studio speakers, computer speakers (like my current Bose), or something else, like an amplifier and some speakers?

Any of the above will work - it can provide analog or digital outputs, and from there you can hook-up whatever you want. The external control box only controls headphone volume (its a pot-in-a-box), so if you go active monitors that lack onboard volume controls you're either using the software volume controls (not necessiarily a bad thing) or you'll want to find a stand-alone passive preamp (e.g. Schiit SYS, Emotiva ControlFreak, CIA VPC3) to put in-between to give you volume control. If you keep the Bose or go with some other multimedia speaker they will likely have their own volume control, same as if you go with an outboard integrated amp (or similar) and passive speakers. It really would come down to your budget, preference, and how much room you have for gear as to what you should get; it's a really variable question.

 

[dmbr]

Did you disable the motherboard's on-board audio, in the BIOS, when you installed the SB-Z?

Is the SB-Z set for 2-channel output (speaker or headphone) and any Dolby setting not enabled.
A normal external DAC only takes in a 2-channel PCM (uncompressed) digital audio signal.
One of the features of Dolby is DDL (Dolby Digital Live), which can compress up to 6-channels of digital audio, which is one of the features the SB-Z software comes with.
Compression is need to send up to 6-channel of audio thru S/PDIF (optical & coaxial), so if the SB-Z is sending a compressed digital signal, thru the optical, the external DAC will not be able to un-compress it, so the DAC can not read the digital audio signal.
So make sure any Dolby setting in the SB-Z's control panel is set to off.

Ugh.

I bought the damn card to utilize the card's surround sound features on my external DAC.

I'm screwed, then?

DH through optical to my DAC worked fine with my STX...I'm really puzzled here.

 

[PurpleAngel]

I bought the damn card to utilize the card's surround sound features on my external DAC.
I'm screwed, then?
DH through optical to my DAC worked fine with my STX...I'm really puzzled here.

 
Just to make sure we are on the same page.
The STX comes with Dolby Headphone, were as the SB-Z comes with SBX Headphone.
 
I'm not an expert on then Sound Blaster stuff, more like just A know It All.
So limited experience.
 
Have you tried posting your Sound Blaster questions on this forum?
http://forums.creative.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6

 

[kazcou]

Ugh.

I bought the damn card to utilize the card's surround sound features on my external DAC.

I'm screwed, then?

DH through optical to my DAC worked fine with my STX...I'm really puzzled here.

 
What you are using as external DAC ? So it will be more easy for us to tell you what it can handle.
 
Also Dolby Headphones is a way to emulate surround sound with only 2 channels ! Is more a software emulation.
On some software like PowerDVD, WinDVD, lavfilter, foobar200 there is a option or a plugin for active it.