[conquerator2]

I am not questioning the X7's value.
It is certainly very good, as I stated multiple times I think I also did mention the SA31 in my initial comparison but it would be easy to miss
Heck, without it, I couldn't use my DAC at all with consoles

 

[martin vegas]

Anyone tried the X7 with 32ohm headphones?

 

[Stillhart]

Another shortcoming with a motherboard or Mixamp, those "entry-level" devices have merely "entry-level" amps. With higher quality headphones, which generally feature higher impedance (Ω, or Ohms) and lower sensitivity, I had to double-amp with a dedicated headphone amp to hear the true level of dynamic and controlled quality the headphones were capable of. Nothing extra is needed in the X7, thanks to the Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 solid-state headphone amp chip "capable of driving high-end 600Ω headphones." It certainly doesn't seem to be straining to supply my 150Ω Sennheiser HD700, 62Ω AKG K712, or 32Ω VMODA M-100; "Spirit in the Sky" digs really dynamically into the artist-intended distorted guitar and sounds awesome (and yup, I have the Guardians of the Galaxy OST). 
 

 
 

  Anyone tried the X7 with 32ohm headphones?

 
Looks like Evs did.  

 

[Evshrug]

I am not questioning the X7's value.
It is certainly very good, as I stated multiple times I think I also did mention the SA31 in my initial comparison but it would be easy to miss
Heck, without it, I couldn't use my DAC at all with consoles

Ooooooh, "way" back in your original DAC comparison, before my review!

I'll get around to it eventually currently there's just the desire to stop analyzing and just have fun with games, music, and movies. But I'll try eventually!

 

[Evshrug]

Some people were asking about Creative's standalone processing suite of software... This is Windows only, and having good hardware to back it up makes a transformational experience, but here it is:

http://software.store.creative.com/software/sound-blaster-x-fi-mb3/106-21569.aspx

 

[Fegefeuer]

Does it have the exact same features like the cards? Especially real 5.1 to HP virtualization? SBX of the R3 for instance doesn't and only knows stereo.

 

[Evshrug]

I haven't bought it so I honestly don't know, but it looks like it does have the full suite of processing, including OpenAL and EAX legacy support, and specifically says it has SBX headphone surround. I'm happy getting hardware to do the DSP stuff, but if other people already have DACs and stuff (and don't mind the X-Fi MB3 software running on the computer's main CPU) then its good just knowing all your options.

 

[martin vegas]

I haven't bought it so I honestly don't know, but it looks like it does have the full suite of processing, including OpenAL and EAX legacy support, and specifically says it has SBX headphone surround. I'm happy getting hardware to do the DSP stuff, but if other people already have DACs and stuff (and don't mind the X-Fi MB3 software running on the computer's main CPU) then its good just knowing all your options.

It would be nice if they brought it out for consoles!

 

[Fegefeuer]

Sony will never pay for additional licenses per PS4 that are far from the "norm" like Dolby/Datasat multichannel codecs.

 

[benbenkr]

Some people were asking about Creative's standalone processing suite of software... This is Windows only, and having good hardware to back it up makes a transformational experience, but here it is:

http://software.store.creative.com/software/sound-blaster-x-fi-mb3/106-21569.aspx

 
I talked about this several months ago on the Z/Zx/ZxR thread. Where motherboards using Creative's software suite did indeed have SBX out of the box.
 
As a matter of fact, I have a motherboard (my main rig) with Creative's software suite installed. I was testing it out to see if it's the same as what I have with the Z/ZxR prior. 
 
Unfortunately, the Creative software suite has a different implementation of SBX than that on the Z/Zx/ZxR/X7. 67% on the motherboard is different to 67% on a Z/ZxR. The difference in DAC probably played a role, but it's different enough that the software suite implementation sounds wrong. You don't even need to concentrate to find the difference, it's just there.
 
Creative might have changed this with new driver revisions, but I seriously doubt it as all their track record shows all they ever did for the Z series of cards were to replace the dates and revision number, then call it a new driver.
 
Anyways, the big blow for the software suite is that SBX only works properly through the line-out or as most motherboards now a days call it: "dedicated" headphone port. Using optical does not work, so that's the bummer if you want to use it with an external DAC. I confirm this as I have a MSI Z87 GD65 and a Gigabyte Gaming7 , both of which has the Creative software suite.

 

[Evshrug]

^ Good to know.
As I said before, I don't personally own the software since I wanted/bought a decent Soundcard, with the DSP built-in, before I even heard about the software suite.

 

[conquerator2]

Been testing the X7 in stereo/direct mode, listening to some of my favorite tunes.
Much more impressed 

 

[Evshrug]

Been switching between two AKGs, a Sennheiser, and a Stax, all are quite good but it's interesting how different each sound (the HD700 sound the most different and Tonally "dense" while the others have lots of "air")

 

[pathfindercod]

Some people were asking about Creative's standalone processing suite of software... This is Windows only, and having good hardware to back it up makes a transformational experience, but here it is:

http://software.store.creative.com/software/sound-blaster-x-fi-mb3/106-21569.aspx

 

 

This is the software that came on one of my Sager laptops, it helps a lot with gaming and boosting sound in general.. 

 

[martin vegas]

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

I found this on what hifis website!http://whf.cm/1s4pi12