[Yethal]

Plays through all inputs simultaneously

 

[raband]

All inputs are "live"

If you play something on the CD player while playing a game you'll get both the CD and the game audio playing etc

 

[Magic Man]

Many thanks

 

[ctaxxxx]

X7 has three modes of operation for the Optical Out.

• USB>S/PDIF converter. In this mode X7 takes stereo signal over USB and outputs it over optical
• Optical Passthrough. In this mode X7 takes 5.1 or stereo signal over optical and outputs the same signal over Optical out
• Surround to Optical output. In this mode X7 takes 5.1 or stereo signal over optical or USB and outputs SBX-processed stereo signal to optical out.

So, if You want to compare Mixamp to the X7, enable Surround processing to line/optical output in the Speakers settings, set volume to 100% (RCA output on the back of the X7 is variable) and then connect the X7 to the amp.

Apologies for replying to an old post, but from this explanation, I can use an external DAC/AMP while still using the VSS and SBX features of the X7?

The chain would go like this: PS4 optical out > X7 optical in > VSS & SBX turned on > X7 optical out (VSS & SBX) > external DAC/AMP headphone out (VSS & SBX)

I would be using the external DAC, and not the internal X7 DAC correct?

Edit: The plan is to use a smoother DAC and/or AMP. Maybe the Audio-GD R2R 11.

 

[raband]

Yep - I use this: (if I'm not just running the unit straight to headset)
X7 (SBX) > HDVD800 (or Aune) via optical > HD800 (or other cans)

 

[wadec22]

maybe my fellow x7 owners can help me with my current headphone purgatory....

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/want-imaging-without-piercing-treble.865858/

 

[c-attack]

Any thoughts on this issue will be appreciated.

Starting in August I started experiencing sound drops from the X7. This a direct result of the X7 and PC losing connectivity with each when the PC is under load. The X7 control panel goes blank (like there is no USB connection) and then re-appears later. Sounds like a cable issue, but 9 cables, 10 different USB ports (internal and external), and 2 X7 later, it is definitely not. USB Selective suspend is OFF. The issue first appeared after I swapped out the fans and cooler one day, thus the PC was completely powered down and disconnected from the wall and UPS. After a frustrating month of trial and error, I swapped the old cooler back on and more fans, thus the unit was completely powered down again. The issue remarkably went away for a month, right until I changed fans again and disconnected from the wall. Now, I do not leave this rig running 24-7. I put it to sleep when not in use and I restart or boot regularly. I have also been swapping things out on this PC on a monthly basis for 3 years with the X7 and have never had any difficulties whatsoever.

This clearly seemed like a driver loading issue to me and I targeted the OS next. I have a 9 month old copy of Win 10 on a separate drive, I did a fresh install of Win 10 the first week (Aug 2017 build), and this past week I did a clean install of the Fall Creator's Update. All of these exhibit the issue. This was never a problem on the old pre-Spring 2017 Win 10, but it is now. That copy is frozen in time with all the same drivers as were there then. I began to suspect a BIOS loading issue. However, this is the same BIOS that worked just fine for 4 months prior to the issue. Furthermore, I moved the X7 to a different system (although also Asus X99 with a different motherboard and BIOS) and the issue came with it. All of the drivers in use on the machine (SATA, USB, chipset, etc. are more than a year old, predating the issue by some measure. Selective start-up does not help and I have tried to run in on a clean OS with nothing but the X7 driver and the OS and it still does it. I do not use Windows 10 Fast Boot. Prior to this I used the BIOS Fast Boot option that only loads the keyboard and mouse. This was fine for years with the X7. Now, Windows will not load if BIOS fast boot is enabled and the Start-up repair tags and removes the X7 driver as the offender. I could care less about the Fast Boot option, but feel it is a telling indicator it no longer works.

All of this was on the SB X7 driver L9_1_02_03 (June 2016). I have rolled back further with no success. I have rolled back and re-installed both old and new firmware. No success. A brand new X7 was tried on this set-up and it also exhibited the same problem. I can't see how this is not a driver issue in some way. I have been in touch with Creative Tech support, but they are unable to replicate the issue. I can run optical out from the PC to the X7 all day long with no issues and crisp, clean sound. I have several other USB sound devices I can use and test with this system. A Focal USB powered 2.1 system never drops the sound and is not affected. I have an old Sennheiser PC363 set that is both USB powered and sound transmitted. It works great. My keyboard and mouse never drop or lose connectivity. The UPS will scream at me if it loses connectivity via USB and it never happens. This issue is strictly limited to the X7. As an added bonus, my beam forming microphone has become stuck on during this process. I now must mute the mic in the mixer or listen to the sound of the keys through my headphones. Multiple firmware flashes have not resolved this.


Well, that's a lot and I have been trying to wrap my head around this for 3 months. In short, I guess I am asking if any of you are experiencing USB issues.


As a secondary question, how would you compare the Schiit Modi 2/Magni 2/3 stack to the X7 in terms of sound quality? I do have the full Sparkos OP-amp set in place on the X7.

 

[wadec22]

Any thoughts on this issue will be appreciated.

Starting in August I started experiencing sound drops from the X7. This a direct result of the X7 and PC losing connectivity with each when the PC is under load. The X7 control panel goes blank (like there is no USB connection) and then re-appears later. Sounds like a cable issue, but 9 cables, 10 different USB ports (internal and external), and 2 X7 later, it is definitely not. USB Selective suspend is OFF. The issue first appeared after I swapped out the fans and cooler one day, thus the PC was completely powered down and disconnected from the wall and UPS. After a frustrating month of trial and error, I swapped the old cooler back on and more fans, thus the unit was completely powered down again. The issue remarkably went away for a month, right until I changed fans again and disconnected from the wall. Now, I do not leave this rig running 24-7. I put it to sleep when not in use and I restart or boot regularly. I have also been swapping things out on this PC on a monthly basis for 3 years with the X7 and have never had any difficulties whatsoever.

This clearly seemed like a driver loading issue to me and I targeted the OS next. I have a 9 month old copy of Win 10 on a separate drive, I did a fresh install of Win 10 the first week (Aug 2017 build), and this past week I did a clean install of the Fall Creator's Update. All of these exhibit the issue. This was never a problem on the old pre-Spring 2017 Win 10, but it is now. That copy is frozen in time with all the same drivers as were there then. I began to suspect a BIOS loading issue. However, this is the same BIOS that worked just fine for 4 months prior to the issue. Furthermore, I moved the X7 to a different system (although also Asus X99 with a different motherboard and BIOS) and the issue came with it. All of the drivers in use on the machine (SATA, USB, chipset, etc. are more than a year old, predating the issue by some measure. Selective start-up does not help and I have tried to run in on a clean OS with nothing but the X7 driver and the OS and it still does it. I do not use Windows 10 Fast Boot. Prior to this I used the BIOS Fast Boot option that only loads the keyboard and mouse. This was fine for years with the X7. Now, Windows will not load if BIOS fast boot is enabled and the Start-up repair tags and removes the X7 driver as the offender. I could care less about the Fast Boot option, but feel it is a telling indicator it no longer works.

All of this was on the SB X7 driver L9_1_02_03 (June 2016). I have rolled back further with no success. I have rolled back and re-installed both old and new firmware. No success. A brand new X7 was tried on this set-up and it also exhibited the same problem. I can't see how this is not a driver issue in some way. I have been in touch with Creative Tech support, but they are unable to replicate the issue. I can run optical out from the PC to the X7 all day long with no issues and crisp, clean sound. I have several other USB sound devices I can use and test with this system. A Focal USB powered 2.1 system never drops the sound and is not affected. I have an old Sennheiser PC363 set that is both USB powered and sound transmitted. It works great. My keyboard and mouse never drop or lose connectivity. The UPS will scream at me if it loses connectivity via USB and it never happens. This issue is strictly limited to the X7. As an added bonus, my beam forming microphone has become stuck on during this process. I now must mute the mic in the mixer or listen to the sound of the keys through my headphones. Multiple firmware flashes have not resolved this.


Well, that's a lot and I have been trying to wrap my head around this for 3 months. In short, I guess I am asking if any of you are experiencing USB issues.


As a secondary question, how would you compare the Schiit Modi 2/Magni 2/3 stack to the X7 in terms of sound quality? I do have the full Sparkos OP-amp set in place on the X7.

That is super odd. I assume you have tried different USB cables? Have you moved the unit away from all other components with the USB cable not touching anything? The unit is crazy sensitive to USB interference. Mine would get wonky if the cord touched my metal monitor stand. I wrapped the cable in a plastic sleeve and it completely fixed my issue. Also the USB connection is super sensitive to being plugged into anything but a 2.0 USB slot on the mobo. 3.0 or 3.1 can cause it to behave strangely. If you only have a couple 2.0 slots, make sure it lives there.

Sorry I can't give anymore recommendations - those are my only ideas.

 

[c-attack]

Yeah, I investigated the USB cable issue for quite a while and I assumed it was to blame. However, it worked just fine in the same port for 9 months before that moment and 2 years+ on the other system. So I started swapping cables, everything from the original to exotic to generic bulk stuff. I even traded one of my Audioquest cables to someone for his brand new out of the box unused X7 factory cable. No dice. With X99 I have a ridiculous number of USB pathways and even used the internal USB 2.0 via adapter to try from there. Nothing. I also can alternate between Intel and ASMedia controlled USB ports (and thus different drivers), but it's the same for both. All of this lead me to believe the issue must be on the circuit board side of the X7, however a brand new (and since returned) X7 had the same problem. Also, the BSOD and start-up repair removal of the X7 driver points to some kind of software corruption rather than hardware. Yes, this is a mess and I probably should just move on, but I don't like unsolvable issues and also want to clear my own hardware from this.

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention is I still get dropouts/device connection loss when running audio through optical, if the USB cable is still in place between PC and X7. The X7 control panel is fully exited and all sound is through the optical and on-board Realtek drivers. Unplug the USB from either end and the problem goes away. Thus, it would seem the interaction between the X7 driver and the X7 is the problem and it is severe enough to cause system wide interrupts.


I'd also be interested in any comparison impressions to anything in Schitt line. The Modi/Magni would likely be for someone else later. I would be more likely to get the Jotunheim DAC module or some combination of Asgard/Lyr 2 with the Bifrost or some other DAC.

 

[pewfish]

Hi guys, got my own SBx7 recently. So far it's pretty good on the headphone side, but with regards to the mic, I seem to be getting a low pulsing feedback sound when listening in on the PS4. Bit annoyed considering I never had this issue when using the Sound Blaster Play! 2 sound card as an interim solution.

I received my BT-W2 this morning hoping that it would fix the issue but it still persists and I don't know what to do at this stage.

 

[Yethal]

Hi guys, got my own SBx7 recently. So far it's pretty good on the headphone side, but with regards to the mic, I seem to be getting a low pulsing feedback sound when listening in on the PS4. Bit annoyed considering I never had this issue when using the Sound Blaster Play! 2 sound card as an interim solution.

I received my BT-W2 this morning hoping that it would fix the issue but it still persists and I don't know what to do at this stage.

What software mic enhancements do You have turned on?

 

[pewfish]

What software mic enhancements do You have turned on?

At the time, none. I turned on something along the lines of "Noise Cancellation" and it worked fine. It's really odd though.

Do you notice any latency when using the BT-W2 on the mic?

 

[EasyEnemy]

I need advise on Op Amp for X7, looking at sparko. I'm right now i'm using x7 direct to speaker or to ath-ha5000 for my headphone. Moving forward i'm thinking of getting a speaker amp and using x7 more as a DAC.

1) Does op amp improve SQ for line out? or it is more for the headphone out and speaker out?
2) or I should just get a better DAC (like a luxman, accuphase or chord)?

Thank you.

 

[Yethal]

I need advise on Op Amp for X7, looking at sparko. I'm right now i'm using x7 direct to speaker or to ath-ha5000 for my headphone. Moving forward i'm thinking of getting a speaker amp and using x7 more as a DAC.

1) Does op amp improve SQ for line out? or it is more for the headphone out and speaker out?
2) or I should just get a better DAC (like a luxman, accuphase or chord)?

Thank you.

Opamps do improve the quality of the line out. Or you could just get an external dac. Just don't do both at the same time.

 

[EasyEnemy]

Opamps do improve the quality of the line out. Or you could just get an external dac. Just don't do both at the same time.

lol, thank for the great answer and the additional drop of humor.