[MichaelJames99]

Looking for help here!!! Need to replace 3 year old Creative Sound Recon3D .. 100% surround movie watching use.. My Recon3D which I have been using for watching movies just tanked and I need to replace it. It was ok, but not great. I typically am feed it streaming movies from DirectTV or my Samsung BD-F7500 4K Upscaling Blu-ray Disc Player (2014 Model). Ive been using a 15 year old tube amp (Musical Fidelity XCAN v2). AKG K712 headphones. TV is Panasonic 65" VT60. I dont have to keep the XCAN. Marantz AV7702 preamp processor (but the headphone surround mode sucks in my opinion)
 
So Im looking for options. I was hoping to be around $500. But if I heard of something really outstanding for surround processing, I could go as high as $1600.
 
1. Smyth Realiser has the A16 coming out possibly this year for $1600 http://www.head-fi.org/t/807459/smyth-research-realiser-a16 http://www.smyth-research.com/
2. The Sound Blaster X7 sounds good here too and have heard some people going with the full upgrade options ( Sparkos SS3601 and SS3602 OP amp upgrade )
 
Are there other options I should be looking at?
Does any know where I could buy a fully upgraded X7 (Im not very handy and would prefer someone who has already installed the full op amp upgrades.)
Can any hypothesize how these would compare?
 
I am 100% movie watching Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Stillhart]

The surround processing in the X7 is essentially the same as the processing in the Recon3D.  If you don't like the surround in the Recon, you probably won't like the surround int he X7.
 
The Realiser measures your ears to provide a perfect HRTF so the surround on that will be amazeballs.  But that doesn't come cheap.
 
If you want to try a different DSP that might work better for your ears, look at maybe a DSS or DSS2 or Mixamp.  Some people have made Youtube video with processed virtual surround so you can hear what it sounds like through normal headphones.  I'd suggest checking those out to see if you find one system better than another.
 
Here's one that was made by a fellow Head-fier a couple years back.