[stavros.m]

Gen 2 profiles? What?

i found this

At CES 2020, Creative is launching the all-new Super X-Fi Gen2, an improved version of the Super X-Fi audio profile which incorporates key enhancements like higher precision in personalizing a user’s audio profile, the preservation of more details in the surround sound configuration, higher positioning accuracy and audio fidelity.

 

[Cevisi]

they will bring out a new stick they said

Also to be showcased are the upcoming triple-driver headphones to be added to the Super X-Fi line-up. SXFI TRIO is a triple-driver in-ear headphones that comes with an attached in-line SXFI WIRE, which is an even smaller and lighter version of the finger-sized SXFI AMP. Aurvana Trio Wireless is a neckband headphone solution with Software Super X-Fi, which allows users to access the software processing power of Super X-Fi through local content played via the SXFI mobile app.

 

[Rugalb]

That shoudn't happen. Try a higher quality USB-C cable like an Anker cable. If there's any play in the cable, that can happen. You can also try buying some Deoxit D5 and spraying it in the contacts and cleaning the contact pins that way.

After the last firmware update the issue is not bothering me anymore, unless I twist the cable on purpose. I will try and find a better cable anyway

 

[Casef]

Just bought a Creative Sound Blaster X3 amazing piece of kit btw. The SXFI tech on it though is broken when you go and run the 7.1 audio test the left front, left side, and left rear all come out of the left front speaker location. Center comes out of the center. Right side mirrors the left with the problem to.

It's their software/drivers, as always. I just got the X3 a few weeks back and love the hardware and SXFi, but hate the software. For some reason, if you're using the Creative drivers and/or software (even the mobile app, it seems), the SXFi gets stuck in stereo mode as soon as you make pretty much any adjustments, regardless of what you do or how you set it up. Having speakers configured as 7.1 in Windows makes no difference. If you turn off SXFi and just use SBX, it works perfectly fine, but SXFi is stuck in stereo mode, making it virtually useless.

My personal solution - I don't use the Creative driver and software (because thankfully, with the X3, they're basically not needed). I just created my SXFi profile, uploaded it to the X3, made all the adjustments I wanted...and then switched to the generic USB Audio 2.0 Windows drivers. They can be set to 7.1 mode with no issues, and the SXFi is amazing with headphones in full 7.1 mode once you get accustomed to its sound. Everything works perfectly fine like this, you basically just can't switch SFXi profiles and/or adjust the internal EQ (you're stuck with the profiles you uploaded to the device the last time you ran it with Creative drivers).

There's even a bonus - if you use the X3 with something like Voicemeeter that basically keeps the device active at all times, your PC will likely not go to sleep with the Creative drivers, because once again, they use the stupid "Legacy Kernel Caller" stuff that can't be whitelisted in Windows (possibly due to a MS bug). If you use the generic USB Audio 2.0 driver, you can whitelist it no problem and your PC will have no trouble going to sleep even with the X3 being kept "active".

It's a bit of a joke that the flagship feature of the X3 doesn't work properly, but that's how it seems to be right now. Hope they fix it. I thought about returning the unit before I found the workaround, but the SXFi is so awesome (IMO) that I'm willing to keep it as long as I can work around their bugs.

 

[Falkentyne]

The new Gen2 profiles and firmware seem to improve reverb and positioning clarity in FPS games seems to be better.

 

[eliwankenobi]

The new Gen2 profiles and firmware seem to improve reverb and positioning clarity in FPS games seems to be better.

Yep! Noticing the difference while playing Apex legends last night. Good to know that Gen2 processing is latched to only new gen devices. That would’ve pissed me to no end!

Now if they only added my HD600 to their validated lists I would be so happy. They only add new headphones from their own lineup despite promising they will add more headphones from other manufacturers in the future

 

[Lifted Andreas]

Yep! Noticing the difference while playing Apex legends last night. Good to know that Gen2 processing is latched to only new gen devices. That would’ve pissed me to no end!

Now if they only added my HD600 to their validated lists I would be so happy. They only add new headphones from their own lineup despite promising they will add more headphones from other manufacturers in the future

They did add the Massdrop Sennheiser PC37x when I asked them to. Took a couple of months for the update to come through, but they did do it eventually. Just be patient, device barely been out a year.

 

[Cevisi]

Yep! Noticing the difference while playing Apex legends last night. Good to know that Gen2 processing is latched to only new gen devices. That would’ve pissed me to no end!

Now if they only added my HD600 to their validated lists I would be so happy. They only add new headphones from their own lineup despite promising they will add more headphones from other manufacturers in the future

Actually they did add my dt 770 was addes 880 was addet airpoda pro beats3 afterwarts

 

[Casef]

I went to check out the Gen 2 version of my current profile as soon as I posted my previous comment (since I discovered my profile has been converted as I was typing it) and I'm enjoying the updated one a lot. I think it colors the sound a bit less, has more clarity and highs and slightly less low end for me (which I would both say is a good thing, because I did add a bit of highs previously and lowered the bass to not make my old profile sound too muffled), but more importantly, the directional cues seem to have improved a bit as well, especially when it comes to rear cues (for me, at least). I play a lot of racing sims, Raceroom in particular, and ever since I switched to the Gen 2 profile, I'm constantly amazed at how spatial everything sounds, even more so than before (and Raceroom already had aguably the best audio of all "serious" racing sims). The mid-engine cars especially are a treat to drive - I very clearly hear the engine as if it was truly right behind me. Not somewhere in the general area behind me, but very much directly behind my seat. I've tried almost everything virtual surround related over the years, but I do think SXFi is the best I ever heard. Front cues could still use a bit of improvement for me, but that might just need a different profile or something, and they're still better than most VSS solutions (at least they do tend to sound from the front and not from above me).

 

[halcyon]

Can you adjust the echo/reverb with Gen2? Have they toned it down?
To me Gen1 sounds like you are walking around with an artificial invisible room around you at all times (too much echo/reverbation).

 

[Casef]

Sadly, you can't adjust anything. What the software gives you from your profile is what you get, and the only way to "adjust" anything is to make a different profile. They might've toned the reverb down a bit in Gen 2, but I'd need direct comparison to be sure I'm not just imagining it, and that's also not possible (you can't go back to Gen 1).

But the description is largely correct - you are basically walking around (well, if you use it on the go I guess) with an artificial invisible room around you. That's what Super X-Fi is all about. It's not just a virtual surround, they are attempting to simulate the sound of a speaker setup in a room. As far as I'm concerned, it takes a bit of getting used to (but then again most virtual surround solutions do), but once (if?) you get used to it, it sounds very lifelike. Some content benefits more from that, some less (but personally, I rarely turn it off now). And there can be some surprises, too. For example, I absolutely didn't expect how good my guitar would sound with Super X-Fi - I've always disliked the sound I was getting when playing with headphones (which I'm forced to do a lot), it was never right, no matter what I tried, but now it sounds perfect, like I'm really playing with a big amp in a real room.

 

[x7007]

why they didn't make gen 2 for hd800....

 

[QuietKungFu]

why they didn't make gen 2 for hd800....

It looks like they are slowly updating the Gen 2 profiles for the headphones. At least that's what I'm hoping. They made a big deal about the new profiles, and limiting them to only Creative and E-MU products would be pretty disappointing.

 

[Ken Quek]

why they didn't make gen 2 for hd800....

It looks like they are slowly updating the Gen 2 profiles for the headphones. At least that's what I'm hoping. They made a big deal about the new profiles, and limiting them to only Creative and E-MU products would be pretty disappointing.

Wait a minute. I thought the new Gen2 profiles are directing only at personalization? I don't see any Gen2 for headphones in list.

 

[x7007]

I think they are in orange/yellow/golden icon. because the others not