Creative Sound Blaster X7 - Detailed Review & Impressions

[evillamer]

Seems that the Sound blaster X7 LE might be a better deal than Geek Pulse and Aune S16.

 

[nicolo]

@evillamer
 
Exactly what i thought at first. But then people who purchased the Pulse are interested in 2 channel audio only.
If Creative ever made a more audiophile spec X7 at a reasonable price, they will absolutely murder the competition.

 

[earfonia]

  @evillamer
 
Exactly what i thought at first. But then people who purchased the Pulse are interested in 2 channel audio only.
If Creative ever made a more audiophile spec X7 at a reasonable price, they will absolutely murder the competition.

 
+1
With solid aluminium chassis and more audiophile oriented feature, such as option for both analog and digital volume control, options for DAC low pass filter, build-in USB power filter, etc.
Probably DSD support would be nice. For me not a must, but there are some DSD fans would love to have the feature.
 
Beside the Sound Blaster series that in the past used to be targeted to gamers, and now moving toward all-in-one solution for everyone, it would be really nice if Creative would start a new series targeted to audiophile.

 

[barid]

Very nice review!  Great read and loaded with details.
 
//This product is interesting to me, though not something I'll likely purchase.  In a previous lifetime I would have jumped all over it though. 
//Nice to see a product like this on the market.

 

[razorpakk]

Right! Forgot about it, thanks! I've updated the specs.
The unique size makes people wonder how much space it will take on the desk. We are using metric here in Singapore, so the number is more round number on cm.
Dimension:
Width : 15 cm
Height : 13 cm
Depth : 15.9 cm (including Binding Post terminal)

http://wireless-speakers.specout.com/l/1178/Creative-Sound-Blaster-X7
 
Here the specs made me think it was much bigger. 24cm of height!
 
Heppy is much smaller! I'll definitely get one tomorrow.

 

[earfonia]

  http://wireless-speakers.specout.com/l/1178/Creative-Sound-Blaster-X7
 
Here the specs made me think it was much bigger. 24cm of height!
 
Heppy is much smaller! I'll definitely get one tomorrow.

 
Looks like they messed up the spec with other product...
 
for example, quoted from the website:
 
"Wired Connectivity: The Sound Blaster X7 can receive audio from its 3.5mm (AUX),..."
There is no 3.5mm AUX input... X7 only has 3.5mm mic input, which is different than RCA AUX / Line Input at the back.
 
"USB Powered"
X7 cannot be powered from USB.
 
"Weighing in at 4.8 lbs, the Sound Blaster X7 is one of the heaviestportable wireless speakers."
No way... X7 is actually surprisingly very light weight... I'm not sure what is the weight, from what I feel probably less than 1 kg.

 

[razorpakk]

I'm surprised I couldn't find the specs here, which is supposed to be the main website for the product.
 
http://www.soundblaster.com/x7/
 
Oh well, everything is clear now

 

[earfonia]

  I'm surprised I couldn't find the specs here, which is supposed to be the main website for the product.
 
http://www.soundblaster.com/x7/
 
Oh well, everything is clear now

 
Right, not even in user guide. They might have overlooked to mention the basic spec of X7 like dimension and weight.
I will feedback to Creative. Let's see.

 

[linxeye]

@earfonia : would be interesting if you can test the Dolby decode part. I can't get the Dolby LED to light when playing Dolby Digital content on a 5.1 system. I'm using a Blu-ray and PowerDVD 14 and yes the audio Stream is Dolby Digital encoded. Yet the X7 doesn't seem to recognize it... Any idea how Dolby decode works ?
 
Thanks !

 

[cdsa35000]

@earfonia : would be interesting if you can test the Dolby decode part. I can't get the Dolby LED to light when playing Dolby Digital content on a 5.1 system. I'm using a Blu-ray and PowerDVD 14 and yes the audio Stream is Dolby Digital encoded. Yet the X7 doesn't seem to recognize it... Any idea how Dolby decode works ?

Thanks !

Dolby Digital LED on the X7 will only light up when DD(Live)(5.1) is coming through the X7 Optical INPUT!

PC Dolby decoding sofware will decode it directly into PCM Audio Stream into USB Audio, hence bypass X7 built-in DD decoder.

----
And if you meant connecting X7 Optical/Toslink Output to another external 5.1 DD surround system/receiver's Optical Input, then you will need to set Windows Audio Device to X7 Optical Digital Output and the Advanced tab to Dolby Digital Live.

 

[Spamateur]

  http://wireless-speakers.specout.com/l/1178/Creative-Sound-Blaster-X7
 
Here the specs made me think it was much bigger. 24cm of height!
 
Heppy is much smaller! I'll definitely get one tomorrow.

The 24cm of height probably includes the headphone stand, which you don't have to attach if you don't want. It is also removable. If you don't attach it the X7 is pretty compact, but large enough that it doesn't feel like a toy.

 

[earfonia]

Dolby Digital LED on the X7 will only light up when DD(Live)(5.1) is coming through the X7 Optical INPUT!

PC Dolby decoding sofware will decode it directly into PCM Audio Stream into USB Audio, hence bypass X7 built-in DD decoder.

----
And if you meant connecting X7 Optical/Toslink Output to another external 5.1 DD surround system/receiver's Optical Input, then you will need to set Windows Audio Device to X7 Optical Digital Output and the Advanced tab to Dolby Digital Live.

Thanks!
You are right. I tried some Dolby demo clips from PC, so far not able to light up the Dolby indicator. Haven't tried the optical input for Dolby.

 

[linxeye]

So that means DD decode is available only on incoming optical streams, regardless of the output source (2.x/5.x/Analogue/Digital) ?
 
BTW why on earth Creative doesn't provide DD/DTS encoder for the X7 ?
 
Thanks !

 

[earfonia]

I'm surprised I couldn't find the specs here, which is supposed to be the main website for the product.

http://www.soundblaster.com/x7/

Oh well, everything is clear now

Fyi, using simple kitchen scale, the X7 weighs less than 800 grams.

 

[earfonia]

So that means DD decode is available only on incoming optical streams, regardless of the output source (2.x/5.x/Analogue/Digital) ?

BTW why on earth Creative doesn't provide DD/DTS encoder for the X7 ?

Thanks !

Looks like that is the case. I will ask Creative to confirm.