[SaLX]

I got my SBZ (non oem with gold caps) new for £48 pounds (from Amazon). Use this and keep your fingers crossed: http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/search?sq=sound+blaster+z. Don't worry about the gold caps. It's a great card on it's own and I don't think you'll be disappointed.
 
As NoOneLt says .. the ZxR will sound better for music, but be about the same for games in surround.

 

[DJINFERNO806]

Funny thing when I took my z shield off, only one of the caps were nichicon gold, the others were g luxon. Not that I care as I highly doubt you would hear a difference. And g luxon aren't going to blow up on you randomly.

Just thought it was weird.

 

[SaLX]

@DJ .... that's still a highly sneaky thing to do on Creative's part, given that the vast majority of users will never remove the shield

 

 

[SoFGR]

buy sb Z  OEM, spend the rest on a headphone amp, something with an optical input like DAC+AMP box would be really nice ! 

 

[NCSUZoSo]

Is user germanium still working on the capacitor mod guide for the ZXR?

 

[illuminatus]

Can I use sb z with astro mixamp or I must buy  different amp ?

 

[chicolom]

  Can I use sb z with astro mixamp or I must buy  different amp ?

 
Why would you want to use it with the Astro mixamp?  The amp in the mixamp isn't all that great...

 

[germanium]

  Is user germanium still working on the capacitor mod guide for the ZXR?

I got delayed as my work sent me on a long trip  where I got stuck in a snow storm & couldn't make it back home in the allotted time so I had to do 10 hours of sleeper berth in the truck. DOT laws for commercial trucks make you have to rest for 10 hours after 14 hours on duty. I could have completed the trip in the time allotted if there wasn't a snow storm. will work on it later tonight & tomorrow.

 

[illuminatus]

   
Why would you want to use it with the Astro mixamp?  The amp in the mixamp isn't all that great...

I have astro mixamp and I was thinking to connect optical from SBZ to astro and then to  headphones.There will be then volume control .Meaybe I am wrong but thats why I come here Why I need amp  if there is one on card?

 

[chicolom]

 
I have astro mixamp and I was thinking to connect optical from SBZ to astro and then to  headphones.There will be then volume control .Meaybe I am wrong but thats why I come here Why I need amp  if there is one on card?

 
The astro mixamp's amp and DAC probably aren't better than the ones on the SB Z (they may even be worse).  Personally I wouldn't hook them up to the SB Z. 
 
The reason you may need an amp is if you have hard to drive headhpones or you want a better quality amp than the one that came on the SB Z.  In that case, I would just get a decent desktop amp.  If you want to bypass the Z's DAC you will need an external optical DAC. 

 

[germanium]

 
 
The caps in the red box get shorted or removed & wire put in their place. I only shorted them underneath the board as this electrically removes them as electricity takes the path of least resistance
 
The caps in the green box get bypassed with 2-12uf metalized film caps each These caps are quite large physically you will need at least 1 expansion space above the card free.
 
The caps in the purple box get 1-12uf metalized film cap each. Same thing applies to these caps needing space. 
 
The caps in the blue box only need shorting if you plan on using surround sound speakers & amps
 

 

[Evshrug]

Even a cheap FiiO amp is better than the amp inside the Mixamp, and the SBZ has a better DAC than the Mixamp. This is just going off of specifications. The effect would just be to muddy and weaken the signal coming out of the Soundblaster.

 

[chicolom]

   

 
 
Oh my.

 

[germanium]

   
 
Oh my.

I know not the best looking. But believe me extremely effective. I had a hard time getting solder to stick to this board & all the capacitors are used capacitors. I was trying to do something rather quickly & I it shows. will redo sometime later when I can buy all new caps & do a better job soldering them but in the mean time this does work quite well.

 

[NoOneLt]

@germanium Hey, can You explain in few words what it gives to ZxR? Thanks!