[Sedare38]

Glad to see a firmware update. Means Creative is still supporting it. I hope the software gets some lovin' too and they continue to develop this product. Hell, I'd love to see a Rev 2 at some point with maybe a new design. While I like the pyramid-like shape, I'd like to see maybe a flatter design whereby I can put something on it to conserve desk space. Still love my X7.

 

[TeeReQs]

It's so funny. I remember you buying it well, crazy. Few members stick out here for some reason. When I joined the drop for the HD6XX, I only owned my AKG K702 65TH, AT M50 and Beyer DT990. By the time they came, I had my HEX V2, TH-X00 Ebony, and just a few days before, Monoprice M1060. They just couldn't compete with the full sound of the new cans I had. They're really not my sound signature, just too weak in the bass and highs for me. I understand why people like them, just not my style. The MZ2 didn't help them much, which is supposedly a good match for HD650. If I gave them a chance, I would probably be ok with them. I don't have to, so in the box they sit.

How was the build? What was your experience level? Do they do build threads here? Tube rolling?

Haha, funny how that works. Your username always sticks out to me too, and I think we were both posting a lot at one time or another. I haven't been on here much lately..haven't been in the market for any new gear.

Build was pretty straight forward. You could build it over a weekend no problem if you just go by the manual wiring lengths and don't care about aesthetics. I took a slower approach and tried to make all my wiring have right angles similar to a clean hard lined water cooled PC...It's not perfect, but I think it came out pretty nice. I'm pretty proficient at soldering, and as long as your detail oriented, and have soldered before you should be fine. The instructions are laid out really well.

I'm pretty sure there's a crack thread on here with peoples builds. This is my first tube amp, so I don't have any experience with that. I'll use the stock tubes for now, install the speedball, then maybe mess around with tube rolling.

Sorry for hijacking the thread!

It is nice to see that they put out a new firmware!

 

[Yethal]

I don't know whether this is a bug or not but after upgrading the firmware on the X7, Tidal detects X7 as MQA compatible

 

[msidhu93]

I notice there is no option in the mixer settings to mute or adjust the audio coming from the PC, is this possible like it is to adjust optical, bluetooth, usb etc volume?

Also I notice that if I turn the X7 on with the PC, sometimes it messes around with the settings causing the volume to go to 100 and unmute the internal mic causing audio feedback. Is this fixed in the latest firmware as I'm always worried that this could damage my speakers especially since they are very loud at around 30

 

[Duun]

Really enjoying the Phillips Fidelio x2 HR over my old headphones. Been following these threads for a while and it seems like these were the most recommended for the X7. Anyways I was wondering what burn in is necessary for these, Op amp suggestions over stock, etc. They kinda are already alot nicer sounding then my audio technica ad900x.

 

[mbyrnes]

I don't know whether this is a bug or not but after upgrading the firmware on the X7, Tidal detects X7 as MQA compatible

Really? Interesting. If true, nice feature added long after release

 

[Duun]

Hello I have a question now that I am just using headphones with x7. Currently I have a soundcard feeding pcm to the x7 via toslink. Basically my x7 usb feed has some interference so I opted with this approach.

My question is now that I just use headphones with the x7, would there be any benefit using analog out from soundcard to the x7?

Thanks

 

[raband]

USB hub with separate power from PC should get rid of the interference and be the optimal solution.

 

[Yethal]

Hello I have a question now that I am just using headphones with x7. Currently I have a soundcard feeding pcm to the x7 via toslink. Basically my x7 usb feed has some interference so I opted with this approach.

My question is now that I just use headphones with the x7, would there be any benefit using analog out from soundcard to the x7?

Thanks

No point, rca input on the x7 is not connected directly to the amp, it is connected to an adc, adc is connected to an internal digital mixer and the mixer is connected to the dac.

 

[Duun]

No point, rca input on the x7 is not connected directly to the amp, it is connected to an adc, adc is connected to an internal digital mixer and the mixer is connected to the dac.

Thank you very much!

 

[Duun]

USB hub with separate power from PC should get rid of the interference and be the optimal solution.

Thanks. Probably should have tried that first. It is a shame really I had my x7 on an older rig never had usb interference...new rig usb was a noisy mess.
Now you have me wondering if I should try the external usb route due to it being an optimal path over the toslink pcm

 

[Tonza]

I've had my X7 for a month or so but now I noticed that on my Mac when set to the default 44.1khz, audio is crackling and popping on mid to high sounds.
If I set the output to be 48khz, the crackling disappeared from the one song that shows it always on 44.1khz. On Windows, it didn't crackle but I forgot to check the
sample rate Windows sets by default. Also the same song doesn't show the crackling when
played on lower bitrate... Spotify normal doesn't have crackling but Apple Music and Tidal do for the same song, played from mac output directly none have the crackling

Running the latest firmware. Any suggestions? Or should I just stick it to 48khz and live with it?

 

[Yethal]

I've had my X7 for a month or so but now I noticed that on my Mac when set to the default 44.1khz, audio is crackling and popping on mid to high sounds.
If I set the output to be 48khz, the crackling disappeared from the one song that shows it always on 44.1khz. On Windows, it didn't crackle but I forgot to check the
sample rate Windows sets by default. Also the same song doesn't show the crackling when
played on lower bitrate... Spotify normal doesn't have crackling but Apple Music and Tidal do for the same song, played from mac output directly none have the crackling

Running the latest firmware. Any suggestions? Or should I just stick it to 48khz and live with it?

Enable Direct mode in the Control Panel

 

[Tonza]

Enable Direct mode in the Control Panel

Ahh, much better. Thank you.
I had disabled the direct mode when gaming on PC at some point and forgot about it. Only disabled SBX from the device.

I wonder why it causes the popping though.

 

[Yethal]

Ahh, much better. Thank you.
I had disabled the direct mode when gaming on PC at some point and forgot about it. Only disabled SBX from the device.

I wonder why it causes the popping though.

with Direct Mode off the X7 resamples all inputs to 48kHz, no idea why resampling would cause popping though. Just leave it on until you decide to game again.