[Balleratt]

I think I am better off buying it for retail price in Norway anyways. Regarding import taxes and such, and not to menyikoner the 5 year warranty I am tracking prices in Norway just to be sure

 

[TeeReQs]

I think I am better off buying it for retail price in Norway anyways. Regarding import taxes and such, and not to menyikoner the 5 year warranty

I am tracking prices in Norway just to be sure

That makes sense. Didn't realize you were in Norway. Hope you find one for a good deal!

 

[Find the Door]

Today - my life changed foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I was so displeased with the HD800-S (black revision) that I wanted to sell them.  The x7 Limited Edition did it absolutely no justice (even with Sparkos full upgrade) but oh my goodness when I hooked up my Schiit Jotunheim.  I seriously have no words - there's absolutely no comparison whatsoever to anything I've ever heard.

Could be the balanced cable hookup
Could be the Audioquest Power/RCA cables (had them laying around from old retail job)
Could be the HD800-S'
Could be the x7
Could be the OP-AMP upgrades
Could be the Audioquest Optical Cable
 
 
Who the hell cares!  This is definitely the pinnacle of sound for me - I have no words. When I say wow I friggin mean WOWOWOWOWOOOWOOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOOWOW!

 

[Yethal]

  Today - my life changed foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I was so displeased with the HD800-S (black revision) that I wanted to sell them.  The x7 Limited Edition did it absolutely no justice (even with Sparkos full upgrade) but oh my goodness when I hooked up my Schiit Jotunheim.  I seriously have no words - there's absolutely no comparison whatsoever to anything I've ever heard.

Could be the balanced cable hookup
Could be the Audioquest Power/RCA cables (had them laying around from old retail job)
Could be the HD800-S'
Could be the x7
Could be the OP-AMP upgrades
Could be the Audioquest Optical Cable
 
 
Who the hell cares!  This is definitely the pinnacle of sound for me - I have no words. When I say wow I friggin mean WOWOWOWOWOOOWOOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOOWOW!

It was probably a combination of all those things, glad You like the new setup.

 

[Fegefeuer]

X7 alone isn't an excellent fit with the HD800. However the DAC part is better and thus can be made good use of with an external amp. 

 

[Evshrug]

Put up a (not perfect, but pretty smooth) Titanfall 2 Gauntlet speed run with a final time of 37 seconds, 40 milliseconds. Anyone interested if I stream the first few campaign levels?

I'm EvShrug on Twitch too!

 

[hilyou]

First time checking out this thread since early 2015, was wondering what's the current situation in terms of virtual surround for gaming?
 
Last I checked, the Sound Blaster X7 was the best option with the least compromises.
 
Has there been any updates to the product or anything that's come out since then that is competitive with the X7?

 

[rudyae86]

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=16050&AID=11051853&PID=8167397&
 
So uh...
 
What do you guys think of these? Interesting how Monoprice is releasing product after product of stuff that is within the latest trend lol.

 

[raband]

Has there been any updates to the product or anything that's come out since then that is competitive with the X7?

 
Only other "interesting" thing I can think of is the Sennheiser GSX1000 (VSS DSP - PC only) and the upcoming Smyth Realiser A16
 
X7 is still "King of the Hill" so to speak, with a fair bit of discussion around op-amp rolling lately, as well as using it to feed "better" AMPS.

 

[rudyae86]

So I found something very interesting right now at OCN
 
Take a read at this
 
Steam Audio
 
This is primarily for PC but just shows that they are really and I mean....REALLY taking audio more seriously more than ever before.
 
I guess you could say because of VR this is what is pushing it but who cares, at least we are getting great/better audio baked into our future games.
 
Which makes me think.....wouldn't devices like Creatives, Asus, and others lose business? Like, who needs them when we have so many DAC's and Amps out there...

 

[raband]

  Which makes me think.....wouldn't devices like Creatives, Asus, and others lose business? Like, who needs them when we have so many DAC's and Amps out there...

 
Sounds like it'll only be implemented in games that are developed for it.
 
Whereas any game that has a 5.1, Surround Sound, 7.1 option (which is pretty much most of them) etc should work with the existing hardware.

 

[Fegefeuer]

that's grew news Rudyae!

 

[Yethal]

  https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=16050&AID=11051853&PID=8167397&
 
So uh...
 
What do you guys think of these? Interesting how Monoprice is releasing product after product of stuff that is within the latest trend lol.

Tagline of these headphones should be "...So a pair of Audeze and a pair of HiFiMans hook up in a bar"
 
 

  So I found something very interesting right now at OCN
 
Take a read at this
 
Steam Audio
 
This is primarily for PC but just shows that they are really and I mean....REALLY taking audio more seriously more than ever before.
 
I guess you could say because of VR this is what is pushing it but who cares, at least we are getting great/better audio baked into our future games.
 
Which makes me think.....wouldn't devices like Creatives, Asus, and others lose business? Like, who needs them when we have so many DAC's and Amps out there...

Rudyae, You're forgetting that one of the reasons 3D audio died 15 years ago (OpenAL) was because it was more difficult to implement. FMod (current audio stack used in most games) is pretty much plug' n' play with pre-baked support in most game engines.
EDIT: According to Valve's github page a version of Steam audio for FMod and Wwise is in development which potentially means console implementation.

 

[Find the Door]

First time checking out this thread since early 2015, was wondering what's the current situation in terms of virtual surround for gaming?

Last I checked, the Sound Blaster X7 was the best option with the least compromises.

Has there been any updates to the product or anything that's come out since then that is competitive with the X7?

I'd say the x7 is a great dac/amp that drives most headphones well but you should definitely look into Sparkos Opamps as it's a noticeable upgrade. I'd also recommend a different amp to pair with it as well (Schiit Jotunheim is a great entry).

 

[Azurik]

Speaking of the X7 am i right in thinking that since the last update, it is now possible to send the sbx surround signal via optical out to another amp? Meaning I keep the vss but send it down to another device before outputting it down my headphones?

Is there anything else like it? Mixamp or DSS for example?

I remember the mixamp 5.8 had also an optical out. Does it work the same? Ps4 to the TX unit via optical in, optical out to external amp and then to headphones, completely ignoring the little Rx receiver? The little receiver wouldnt be necessary anymore as the TX unit has the Dolby headphone on/ off button and the little receiver on the bass boost button.

I'm looking for something to mix vss into the sound and pass it on to another DAC/amp via optical and I think (unless I'm right with my mixamp 5.8 theory) it's only the X7.