Creative Sound Blaster X7 - Detailed Review & Impressions

Jun 16, 2019 at 8:36 AM Post #3,346 of 3,618
So I'm geting this (regular version) for my jbl lsr305 mk2. Good match?

For gaming and movies. But now with Bluetooth there will be some music as well.

Did they ever move profile switching in to the android app?

I don't think studio/active speakers will be a good choice if you wanna get SB X7. instead you should get some audio interface. I am now thinking to sell my x7 because the noise floor of this amp is too high which means hiss, I prefer amp and speakers that has super pitch black background.
 
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Jun 17, 2019 at 1:26 AM Post #3,347 of 3,618
I don't think studio/active speakers will be a good choice if you wanna get SB X7. instead you should get some audio interface. I am now thinking to sell my x7 because the noise floor of this amp is too high which means hiss, I prefer amp and speakers that has super pitch black background.

Honestly I was more telling then asking. Got it for 120$ But for those that find this thread, please do tell why X7 and the jbl are not a good match. I see you hinting at the reason being that they are active, but I don't now.

I kinda like the app possibilitys and all the inputs of the X7.
 
Jun 17, 2019 at 3:58 AM Post #3,348 of 3,618
Honestly I was more telling then asking. Got it for 120$ But for those that find this thread, please do tell why X7 and the jbl are not a good match. I see you hinting at the reason being that they are active, but I don't now.

I kinda like the app possibilitys and all the inputs of the X7.
If you're not using the built in speaker amp you might as well get a G6
 
Jun 17, 2019 at 4:42 AM Post #3,349 of 3,618
If you're not using the built in speaker amp you might as well get a G6
. Well now I have the option to get passive speakers. And I guess g6 dose not have the app. I'm gonna use the X7 with a computer in kiosk mode so accessing the windows app will be possible but time consuming. I have no mouse connected to this computer. The android app is a major selling point for me.
 
Jun 29, 2019 at 6:15 PM Post #3,350 of 3,618
Anyone have an issue with these not playing voices when in 'Direct Mode'

I can watch a YouTube video or play certain games and it's like the voice track is missing but all other sounds play. Unchecking Direct Mode results in voices and everything being normal but I prefer Direct Mode.

Also does anyone else's Direct Mode volume start at "4" instead of 2?
 
Jun 29, 2019 at 6:35 PM Post #3,351 of 3,618
Anyone have an issue with these not playing voices when in 'Direct Mode'

I can watch a YouTube video or play certain games and it's like the voice track is missing but all other sounds play. Unchecking Direct Mode results in voices and everything being normal but I prefer Direct Mode.

Also does anyone else's Direct Mode volume start at "4" instead of 2?

I was having this issue with direct mode on and off while streaming video, using the X7 as a dac connected to the thx 789.
Was driving me crazy.
 
Jun 29, 2019 at 6:47 PM Post #3,353 of 3,618
Anyone have an issue with these not playing voices when in 'Direct Mode'

I can watch a YouTube video or play certain games and it's like the voice track is missing but all other sounds play. Unchecking Direct Mode results in voices and everything being normal but I prefer Direct Mode.

Also does anyone else's Direct Mode volume start at "4" instead of 2?

I discovered this a while ago too. For my situation, I toggle between my headphones and my Logitech z5500's hooked up via the 3x 3.5mm audio jacks in the X7. If you are playing with headphones on and enable direct mode, this voices issue happens if in Windows sound properties you have the X7 configured as 5.1. If you set the X7 in the Windows sound properties to stereo instead of 5.1, you can enable direct mode and not have this issue. Of course, this makes it kind of annoying if I want to use direct mode and easily go between headphones and surround speakers, but that's what I've found you have to do to get rid of this issue.
 
Jun 29, 2019 at 10:21 PM Post #3,354 of 3,618
I discovered this a while ago too. For my situation, I toggle between my headphones and my Logitech z5500's hooked up via the 3x 3.5mm audio jacks in the X7. If you are playing with headphones on and enable direct mode, this voices issue happens if in Windows sound properties you have the X7 configured as 5.1. If you set the X7 in the Windows sound properties to stereo instead of 5.1, you can enable direct mode and not have this issue. Of course, this makes it kind of annoying if I want to use direct mode and easily go between headphones and surround speakers, but that's what I've found you have to do to get rid of this issue.

Yeah this seems to be the issue. It's sending vocals to a imaginary center channel or something.

Another issue I have with the speaker output in Direct Mode is that the minimum volume (4) is ridiculously loud. I'm debating just getting a separate DAC/Amp to eliminate these annoyances.
 
Jun 29, 2019 at 11:45 PM Post #3,355 of 3,618
Anyone have an issue with these not playing voices when in 'Direct Mode'

I can watch a YouTube video or play certain games and it's like the voice track is missing but all other sounds play. Unchecking Direct Mode results in voices and everything being normal but I prefer Direct Mode.

Also does anyone else's Direct Mode volume start at "4" instead of 2?
Change the output in windows to 2.0 otherwise vocals will be sent to center channel instead of getting mixed with front channels
 
Jul 2, 2019 at 4:28 PM Post #3,356 of 3,618
Change the output in windows to 2.0 otherwise vocals will be sent to center channel instead of getting mixed with front channels

Yup this fixed it. Last issue I have though is that the subwoofer out to my Velodyne Sub does not seem to work in direct mode. Soon as I switch Direct off, the sub comes out of standby. I tried raising volume very loud thinking it just wasn't triggering but that didn't work either.

Anyone else get a sub working in Direct Mode?
 
Jul 2, 2019 at 5:11 PM Post #3,357 of 3,618
Yup this fixed it. Last issue I have though is that the subwoofer out to my Velodyne Sub does not seem to work in direct mode. Soon as I switch Direct off, the sub comes out of standby. I tried raising volume very loud thinking it just wasn't triggering but that didn't work either.

Anyone else get a sub working in Direct Mode?
Sub in Direct will only work in 5.1 mode.
 
Jul 10, 2019 at 10:44 AM Post #3,359 of 3,618
Just to let everyone know, a new version is due out soon.

Just yesterday, Creative released the AE-7 and AE-9 Internal sound cards and Sim Wong Hoo, CEO of Creative had this to say about the X series:

"The AE series, which represents our biggest leap in PCI-e sound card innovation yet, is just the beginning. Later this quarter, we will be introducing our latest addition to the "X" series of multi-channel audio external sound cards; it will be the first Sound Blaster product featuring Super X-Fi, our game-changing and award-winning headphone holography technology."

I am eager to see what would be added/changed!
 
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