[soulerjk]

For those who are in Singapore, there is an interesting offer next week in IT Show. Creative launch new speaker, E-MU XM7, and there is an offer in IT Show: FREE E-MU XM7 Speakers with purchase of Sound Blaster X7 at S$499.-.
http://view.ed4.net/v/A5L2TFC/A50YV/S0MQ0L2/IPGIE/

Curious to hear how's the new E-MU XM7 sounds 

 

wonder how do they sound as compare to mine pioneer bs22-lr speaker. registered myself for the audition as well. hope this time round the setup will be much better.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Having set up the X7, playing with all the options and settings... I can't seem to have proper SBX surround off the usb source. This is something I did not have a problem with the built in Creative Recon 3Di on my Alienware laptop, nor on the Xonar U3.

For example: I'm able to set my Recon 3Di and Xonar U3 to 5.1 speakers, enable THX Tru Studio or Dolby Headphone, and get the test cues to function on headphones without issue. With the X7, once I enable 5.1, it literally switches to speaker mode meaning it will not work on headphones whatsoever. Once I set my X7 to headphones, there is ABSOLUTELY no way to enable 5.1, making SBX absolutely worthless with headphones off USB.

Is this a lack of foresight on the part of Creative, or what? SBX, THX Tru Studio, and Dolby Headphone all need 5.1 enabled to get proper surround decoded into virtual surround. Since the X7 is limited to headphones/2 channel, there is zero way to get proper SBX.

What IS GOING ON, CREATIVE. $400, and can't get this right, when your older tech did this properly? I didn't pay $400 to have a very important gaming function missing through the USB.

I bought the X7 to replace my Mixamp, internal soundcard, AND headphone dac+amp. It's supposed to be an all in one solution, yet I'm gonna have to send my soundcard's THX Tru Studio audio into the X7's analog in and double amp th signal to be able to play my PC games in legit headphone surround. through the X7

What a disaster.

 

[soulerjk]

  Just want to post it here as I saw someone asking earlier and it took me quite some time to figure this out:
 
For PC gaming with SBX Pro Studio Surround using headphones:
 
(1) Disable "Direct Mode" and enable "Surround". 
(2) Set speakers configuration to 5.1. It doesn't matter you whether you set it in Windows' control panel or in Creative's SBX Pro Studio, they will cause each other to change.
(3) Plug in your headphones. This will automatically change the headphones/speakers setting in SBX Pro Studio to "Headphones" - but Windows' setting will still stay at 5.1 (there is no headphone setting in Windows).
(4) Go into the game, set it to surround sound or 5.1 if there is such in-game setting. 
 
Steps 2 and 3 are crucial. I've tried setting speakers configuration to 2.0/2.1 before plugging in my headphones, with rest of the settings unchanged and as described above, the sound positioning is noticeably worse. I suppose the SBX Pro surround feature does take advantage of all 5 + 1 channels and maps all of them to the headphones. 
 
You can still change the speaker settings in control panel to 5.1 after plugging in the headphones, but that will cause the speaker settings in SBX Pro Studio to change to 5.1 (instead of headphones) as well. To go back to headphones mode, you have to manually change it in SBX Pro Studio, or unplug and then plug-in again your headphones...
 
I have to say, once the surround is set up correctly, the sound positioning is really awesome. I was playing Battlefield 4 last night and can easily hear where all the helicopters and jets were, and where the tanks or snipers were shooting me from... awesome stuff.

 
 

Having set up the X7, playing with all the options and settings... I can't seem to have proper SBX surround off the usb source. This is something I did not have a problem with the built in Creative Recon 3Di on my Alienware laptop, nor on the Xonar U3.

For example: I'm able to set my Recon 3Di and Xonar U3 to 5.1 speakers, enable THX Tru Studio or Dolby Headphone, and get the test cues to function on headphones without issue. With the X7, once I enable 5.1, it literally switches to speaker mode meaning it will not work on headphones whatsoever. Once I set my X7 to headphones, there is ABSOLUTELY no way to enable 5.1, making SBX absolutely worthless with headphones off USB.

Is this a lack of foresight on the part of Creative, or what? SBX, THX Tru Studio, and Dolby Headphone all need 5.1 enabled to get proper surround decoded into virtual surround. Since the X7 is limited to headphones/2 channel, there is zero way to get proper SBX.

What IS GOING ON, CREATIVE. $400, and can't get this right, when your older tech did this properly? I didn't pay $400 to have a very important gaming function missing through the USB.

I bought the X7 to replace my Mixamp, internal soundcard, AND headphone dac+amp. It's supposed to be an all in one solution, yet I'm gonna have to send my soundcard's THX Tru Studio audio into the X7's analog in and double amp th signal to be able to play my PC games in legit headphone surround. through the X7

What a disaster.

 
The above method doesn't work? 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Hmm, I guess I was just doing simple 5.1 testing like I always do, I always do the 5.1 test in the sound devices options. It's silent on the X7 once 5.1 is enabled. I guess it switches to headphones later on.

That being said, IF that works... once you go back to direct mode, and THEN go back to non-direct mode, will it retain the headphone surround, or will I have to do this 'trick' every time? Like, say I wanna test out multiple headphones, the act of unplugging and pluggin in again will cause this trick to reset...

Come on Creative, this is NOT acceptable. It should be as easy as the older devices. This auto-changing from headphone to speaker on plug in is causing more harm than good.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Edit: Sorry guys, it does work. The 5.1 surround test on both the sound device AND the X7 control panel do not work, but while playing the game, SBX does output 5.1 correctly.

It is fully functioning, despite a major **** up on Creative's part in not exactly showing the users that it IS working.

 

[inseconds99]

Edit: Sorry guys, it does work. The 5.1 surround test on both the sound device AND the X7 control panel do not work, but while playing the game, SBX does output 5.1 correctly.

It is fully functioning, despite a major **** up on Creative's part in not exactly showing the users that it IS working.

Care to explain all of your settings as I feel like I have issues with my x7 with outputting 5.1.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Go to sound devices (the speaker icon on the taskbar).
Right click.
Playback Devices
Right click on the Soundblaster X7
Click on Configure Speakers (you can also go to properties, and advanced, and make sure your bit rate is at 24bit/96khz)
Set to 5.1 Surround, Next until Finish (do NOT do the surround test option here, it will not work).

Next, go to the X7's software settings

Make sure to uncheck Direct Mode, and turn on SBX Surround. I like mine at 100% for maximum potential of surround.

You may have to plug in your headphones BEFORE starting a game, just to make sure settings weren't all screwed up.



Start a game. Not all games do surround well. Make sure to test a game with good surround. My game of choice is Red Faction Armageddon. Once you're far enough in the game you get a thing that allows you to rebuild whatever you destroy (buildings, etc). Whatever you destroy has really good audio cues, so you can blow stuff up, turn around to hear how it sounds behind you, and rebuild it again, rinse, and repeat. Easiest way to test for cues. The beginning of the game also has some fires near you that have a constant audio cue. Get close enough, and you can rotate your character enough to test for surround cues.

 

[Sam21]

can you set the speakers to 5.1 in playback devices ?
 
I have like 4 sound cards that only allow 2 channels in playback devices, and they are supposed to output virtual surround, as advertised....Creative X-fi go Pro/Creative Play/Xonar U7.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Yes, but to enable 5.1 on some of those cards, they're limited to 24bit/48khz IF you wanna use the 5.1 option. The X7 is limited to 24/96.

If you set those cards higher, you may not be allowed to set to 5.1.

My Recon 3Di is able to go to 24/192, but it won't let me choose 5.1. I have to lower it to 24/48 to be able to use 5.1.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Also worth noting that the program goes through shenanigans if you use the android app. It lags in making changes at times, and for some strange reason it boots me off direct mode at times. I think for the sake of my sanity, I'm not going to use the app and do all my adjustments on the X7 and Control panel themselves.

Basically all you have to do when not gaming is turn on Direct Mode to get the purest stereo signal for music, etc.

 

[conquerator2]

Hmm, I don't remember going through these steps. I think that is because I run an external amp through the line out...

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I'll be testing it's line out soon enough with the Vali.

 

[conquerator2]

I'll be testing it's line out soon enough with the Vali.

Nice. Heads up - the X7 volume knob is still active.
I do think the X7 is a really nice unit for the price, though using the Opti out to an external rig does show further improvement.
Curios what you think about the X7 + Vali 

 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

So should I max out the X7 volume at that point? Some odd design choices.

 

[conquerator2]

So should I max out the X7 volume at that point? Some odd design choices.

Yeah... Well, I leave it maxed.
Would be nice if it had some sort of an indicator, was limited or was bypassed completely in line-out mode...
Does that mean it works as a pre-amp or does it only set voltage?
Would be nice to know