Yup, currently the most complicated wired mess available for consoles. Woop woop!
Uh, not really, same amount of interconnections as any of the Mixamps. Wiring is exactly the same for Xbox, and for the PS4, people recommended the option to use a TB chat cable with the mixamp 5.8 for a long time if someone doesn't have the discontinued Astro USB chat cable, and the Syba usb dongle basically serves the same function in the alternate X7 setup as the Astro USB chat cable does if a person happens to have that.
If Creative manages to get the microphone over usb working on the PS4, it will at least be a cleaner solution for that console. We all know that the situation on the Xbox is more complicated due to contractual agreements so I wouldn't expect an elegant solution there.
I mean, it's technically possible for the X7 hardware to support it, but the whole story involves more support from both Creative AND Sony/Microsoft.
Microsoft simply doesn't support USB mics at this time, Sony does but the PS4 USB stack apparently doesn't "see" the X7 as a mic or chat device (could be something creative could fix, or it could be that the X7 requires a driver to work over USB and thus the mic is only available where you CAN install drivers, therefore PC/Mac). The X7 is able to be seen as a communications device on Bluetooth, but Sony hasn't made firmware that allows 3rd party Bluetooth connections... yet (hopefully). I'd be curious if the PS3 can use the X7 as a Bluetooth chat device.
It's worth keeping in mind that the X7's mic is only about as good as a Kinect mic or Playstation Camera, and it faces the same issue of listening over a distance. If you already have or want those devices, the X7 doesn't have a better sounding mic (and the beamforming only makes a little difference).
I'm still sticking with my PS4 + Snowball for simplicity and quality.
That Smyth Realiser A8 is crazy cool.... you may have just found the "thats a little much for gaming" limit on that unit. ROFL
If the best hardware for good dolby headphone can be found in a small component package, I'll take it. If not, and it's going to be a big unit, I at least want a DSP for headphone surround that sounds the best. Maybe it is the X7. Based on its specs, it uses some pretty nice parts inside for the surround DSP and audio components. Maybe I'll hang with this Astro for that component in my setup till something comes along that I want to replace it with.
Right! That's why I said the Realizer isn't viable for most budgets, the return of investment may not be strong enough... Of course, with sound, R.O.I. is entirely subjective on anything you can buy, lol!
I subjectively think SBX > DH, but objectively the X7 uniquely is the only console-compatible device that can receive a digital signal, apply it's DSP, and have the option to digital-out to any optical DAC (and then amp) that you might want. With the other options, the built in component is What-You-DAC-Is-What-You-Get and you can only add an amp. Of course, the X7 comes with a really good DAC and Amp anyway (subjectively but also objectively good parts that probably measure well). If a decent DAC is good enough, then with your custom mixer setup the DSS is your best ROI.
