[Opus131]

Just bought this as an all in one audio solution for my PC and portable needs, but i'm having some second thoughts after receiving it.

First of all, i got this under the assumption this is basically the AE-5 on an external enclosure, but, apparently that is not the case? I'm getting conflicting opinions on google, and i'm still not sure whether getting the internal card would have been a better alternative.

I'm writing this because the sound of the G6 is... not exactly what i was expecting. I mean it is a net improvement over my motherboard card. Sound stage is wider, instrument separation is far superior and there's a ton of detail that can be heard even from my simple M-Audio AV 30 desktop speakers, but at the same time i find the sound somewhat distant, kinda brittle and harsh at times, sort of muffled at others. I understand this is a gaming device which is also what i got it for, but still. It almost sounds like an "audiophile" version of a cheap motherboard sound card, if that makes sense.

I managed to get a decent sound signature by setting the card to "direct" through the Sound Blaster Connect utility, which removes all effects (also disables the EQ but to be honest i was not that impressed by that either, not for music anyway), and i'm also using the ASIO Creative driver on Foobar, and i mean it sounds pretty good but again i'm still not sure whether the AE-5 would have been the better option.

For music listening, i use a Sennheiser HD 600 along with a simple Schiit Magni that i used to plug on my LG V10. I suppose i can now use the G6 as a DAC if i want to plug the Magni on my PC. Would it be worth it to just get something like a Modi, or is the G6 good enough as a straight DAC, even if i wanted to upgrade my Magni in the future?

 

[PurpleAngel]

You might go thru the manual for the Creative LabsX G6 and check all the setting that effect sound.
I do not use normally use Creative products, but i would assume the G6 comes with a good sounding DAC function.
In general as good as the AE-5.
For music audio or other 2.0 channel audio, connect the Magni to the Front Speaker jack (3.5mm line-output) on the G6, set the G6 to "2-channel" and "Speaker" output.
That should get the best possible music audio quality, for your current hardware.
The 300-Ohm Sennheiser HD600 are considered power demanding, so the more power they get the better they sound sound.
And I would expect the A/C powered Magni to deliver more power, then the USB powered G6.
I do not use normally use Creative products, but i would assume the G6 comes with a good sounding DAC function.

 

[Opus131]

Well, i've been testing it for a bit and it seems the harshness has gone away. Is there such a thing as a "burning in" period for solid state components? Or maybe it was my brain that needed a bit of time to get used to the signature. The AMP of the G6 now sounds like a less engaging Magni. The detail and stage are actually similar surprisingly enough the G6 just sounds more opaque and less fun to listen to.

The gain switch on the G6 allows them to power the HD600 easily but that's not an issue since i'll just use the Magni. Guess i'll just have to use the G6 as a DAC and use it's AMP only for gaming. I gotta wonder though because the consensus now is that onboard audio is usually good enough and dedicated audio cards are becoming a thing of the past, but at the same time opinion seems to be that the G6 (and also the AE-5) are superior to even the "good" sounding onboard chips like the alc1220, and since i wasn't exactly blown away by the G6 makes me wonder what exactly it is people are actually listening to with the new Realtek audio.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Well, i've been testing it for a bit and it seems the harshness has gone away. Is there such a thing as a "burning in" period for solid state components? Or maybe it was my brain that needed a bit of time to get used to the signature. The AMP of the G6 now sounds like a less engaging Magni. The detail and stage are actually similar surprisingly enough the G6 just sounds more opaque and less fun to listen to.

The gain switch on the G6 allows them to power the HD600 easily but that's not an issue since i'll just use the Magni. Guess i'll just have to use the G6 as a DAC and use it's AMP only for gaming. I gotta wonder though because the consensus now is that on-board audio is usually good enough and dedicated audio cards are becoming a thing of the past, but at the same time opinion seems to be that the G6 (and also the AE-5) are superior to even the "good" sounding on-board chips like the ALC1220, and since i wasn't exactly blown away by the G6 makes me wonder what exactly it is people are actually listening to with the new Realtek audio.

I think what happened is motherboard makers started adding a better DAC function to their motherboard to start competing with the sound quality of sound cards.
So now sound card makers are improving the DAC functions (audio quality) of their sound cards, trying to offer better then what motherboards offer.
For best audio quality with the G6/Magni setup, you want to max out the volume controls on the computer and Magni, to send the best (strongest) audio signal to the Magni, so just use the Magni for volume control.
CD-audio is 44.1K, which is more then enough for mp3's and FLAC/ALAC music, I'm guessing gaming audio really does not need any better then 24-bit/48K.
So you might need to listen to HD audio music or a Blu-ray disk to start to notice a difference.

 

[stuck limo]

Has anyone compared the G5 to the G6? I am wondering if the upgrade to the G6 is worth it. I only use the G5 for movies/YouTube > Senn 800.

 

[TitovVN1974]

Has anyone compared the G5 to the G6? I am wondering if the upgrade to the G6 is worth it. I only use the G5 for movies/YouTube > Senn 800.

I have both. When testing with (a modest) AKG K612 Pro and Dune 2021 soundtrack (48/24) G6 gives more clear and defined bass notes. G5 sounds comparatively more muddy with busy tracks. I hope to compare them soon with DAART Canary II and report.

 

[TitovVN1974]

P.S. For music listening even the DAART Canary II is definitely better than G6. Given the HD800 resolution and amp scalability both G5 and G6 would under-perform. For films and gaming I would recommend keeping G5 and probably feeding from it another DAC/AMP through Toslink, as I am doing now with G6.

 

[stuck limo]

P.S. For music listening even the DAART Canary II is definitely better than G6. Given the HD800 resolution and amp scalability both G5 and G6 would under-perform. For films and gaming I would recommend keeping G5 and probably feeding from it another DAC/AMP through Toslink, as I am doing now with G6.

Currently it's: TV > Toslink > G5 or G6 > RCA cable > amp.

I think the G6 is very slightly warmer and laid back than the G5. I'm talking probably 2-3 percent from what I can tell. I can't really tell any other differences. They sound basically identical.