[jincuteguy]

So it's been over 2 years now, and they haven't released a new sound card yet? Just the same old stuff SBX and Dolby Headphone.

 

[rudyae86]

  So it's been over 2 years now, and they haven't released a new sound card yet? Just the same old stuff SBX and Dolby Headphone.

Creative released the X7 last year. But do you mean Hardware wise or software wise?

 

[AlphaKiloCharli]

Yup, installed it, still messing with the settings. And I got it for $110 + tax. Any settings you'd recommend for gaming or listening to music? Was planning on making multiple profiles but i don't know if it would help.

 

[jincuteguy]

  Creative released the X7 last year. But do you mean Hardware wise or software wise?

 
Yea but it has the same components as the ZXR which came out a long time ago.  They just made it to use with other p latforms and called it with a different name.
 
I"m talking about hardware wise and a bit of software.

 

[nicholascroth]

I'm not sure what you want Creative Technology to do software-wise. The control panel is greatly improved over what it used to be, and the Dolby stuff as far as I know hasn't changed in quite a while for anything, whether it be home theater receivers, or PC sound cards. Hardware wise I think they pretty much have it covered, from under $100 to over $200. What do you want to see hardware-wise from Sound Blaster?

 

[uziyourillusion]

Cant believe how high the cost of the ZxR line has become. You use to be able to pick up the Z for $60 at Best Buy, what caused the price to shoot up so dramatically? Are they just really popular?

 

[kenammo]

  Thank you so much, went ahead and picked up the soundcard from Frys(Pricematched Amazon) and it sounds great with my HD 558. The ACM sounds pretty awesome too.

 
+1 Like others, I've never experienced any issues or sound degradation when using my ZXR ACM. Sounds pretty awesome to my ears!

 

 

[jincuteguy]

So I have the Z card, and the E5 amp.  Is it better if I used the Optical cable from my Z soundcard to the E5? Or just use straight from the E5 usb cable (without the Z soundcard)?

 

[rudyae86]

Cant believe how high the cost of the ZxR line has become. You use to be able to pick up the Z for $60 at Best Buy, what caused the price to shoot up so dramatically? Are they just really popular?

It drops to about 60 bucks on Black Friday. For the rst of the year, its mostly near the 100 dollar range. I maybe saw it once at 60 during late august or mid september last year.

 

[switchride]

Just got my ZxR and I'm loving the sound.  Debating if I want to sell off my tube amp and just go with the cards amp.  It would certainly save some money.

 

[jincuteguy]

So E5 vs ZXR, which one? Let put the features aside, just the sound quality.

 

[genclaymore]

For one the ZXR has op-amp swapping options, Two the ZXR Headphone amp is stronger then the E5. The only benefit the E5 has is portability. Basically you be able to change the sound signature of the ZXR with op-amps where you cant with the E5.

 

[TsukiNick]

They really went back a step with the new series of soundcards.  CMSS-3D is a lot better than what they put out.  They are really gimping EAX too.  I think I might buy a Titanium off ebay.  I had the Z but replaced it with the Asus Xonar DGX, I think the Xonar has much better sound processing, and it's nice that I can feed it to an Optical DAC like a FiiO D03K and still get Dolby Headphone to work.

I wonder if they could make new soundcards that use Dolby's new Atmos to create a binaural output.  They really need to stop doing speaker simulation and move to object based sound.

 

[TsukiNick]

  So I have the Z card, and the E5 amp.  Is it better if I used the Optical cable from my Z soundcard to the E5? Or just use straight from the E5 usb cable (without the Z soundcard)?

Either way will sound roughly the same, but I prefer optical because you can get a non-galvanized connection.  Computers are noisy with electronics so optical can really help with getting a cleaner signal.

 

[genclaymore]

  They really went back a step with the new series of soundcards.  CMSS-3D is a lot better than what they put out.  They are really gimping EAX too.  I think I might buy a Titanium off ebay.  I had the Z but replaced it with the Asus Xonar DGX, I think the Xonar has much better sound processing, and it's nice that I can feed it to an Optical DAC like a FiiO D03K and still get Dolby Headphone to work.

I wonder if they could make new soundcards that use Dolby's new Atmos to create a binaural output.  They really need to stop doing speaker simulation and move to object based sound.

It's in the eye of the beholder as some people like SBX surround over CMSS3D Headphone and vice verse. I like SBX surround as i don't like what CMSS3D headphone does to the sound when it add boomy bass and i find for me SBX surround work better. Where for some one else CMSS3D headphone works better. Also headphones will have a effect on  how well all 4 emulated headphone tech works good for the user.  But they all req the games to be config correctly and windows sound to 5.1 and headphone in their settings to work right any way.