[pietcux]

I am waiting for a set of Sennheiser HD700 and was thinking. Should i keep my Asus Essence STX card or get the GSX 1000? Is the virtual surround the only good part of this amp? If so its kinda expensive unless the surround is THAT much better than lets say Dolby Headphone. Also the mic port seems to be bad so that is also a negative i guess. Cant decide >_<

I have the STX and the GSX1000. The STX is the better headphone amp, the GTX is the better gaming surround device. Comined with the Game One or the GSP 600, the games sound fantastic, more accurate and clear than the Dolby solution of the STX. Go take the GSX for gaming and the STX for music. And who said the mic is bad on the GTX? Ingame, nobody complained so far.

 

[Avean]

I have the STX and the GSX1000. The STX is the better headphone amp, the GTX is the better gaming surround device. Comined with the Game One or the GSP 600, the games sound fantastic, more accurate and clear than the Dolby solution of the STX. Go take the GSX for gaming and the STX for music. And who said the mic is bad on the GTX? Ingame, nobody complained so far.

Yeah maybe i will just keep my STX and have it along the GSX1000. I am thinking to use a HD700 on it, thats only 150ohm so i think it should be ok. Regarding mic i just read comments online saying many didnt like it but yeah...i could use the mic through my soundcard instead so no big deal.

 

[pietcux]

Yeah maybe i will just keep my STX and have it along the GSX1000. I am thinking to use a HD700 on it, thats only 150ohm so i think it should be ok. Regarding mic i just read comments online saying many didnt like it but yeah...i could use the mic through my soundcard instead so no big deal.

The mic function is good. The surround is outstanding. Let me try the HD660S on the GSX for you. It has the HD700 drivers, so it should perform similar to the HD700 on the GSX.

 

[Avean]

The mic function is good. The surround is outstanding. Let me try the HD660S on the GSX for you. It has the HD700 drivers, so it should perform similar to the HD700 on the GSX.

wow appreciate that

 

[pietcux]

wow appreciate that

So did a short game of COD Black Ops with the GSX1000 > HD660S. Volume 20 of 100, plenty of immersion, bass and very good surround effect. These drivers can definitly be driven by the GSX.

 

[mindbomb]

I am waiting for a set of Sennheiser HD700 and was thinking. Should i keep my Asus Essence STX card or get the GSX 1000? Is the virtual surround the only good part of this amp? If so its kinda expensive unless the surround is THAT much better than lets say Dolby Headphone. Also the mic port seems to be bad so that is also a negative i guess. Cant decide >_<

There is an emulated version of the GSX available in hesuvi that you can try.

 

[Tohex]

There is an emulated version of the GSX available in hesuvi that you can try.

This peaked my interest. Are you suggesting you can emulate the GSX experience without the hardware..? Can you elaborate a bit more?

 

[Tohex]

Can a GSX owner please confirm for me that the line-out on does not feed out the processed surround sound signal? That would be so ideal if it did.

Are there any tinkerers out there that have tried opening up the GSX and tracing the feeds on the PCB which come out of the DSP/chip so that you could solder two jumpers on the line-out so we could modify it to output a clean line-out level signal into a more powerful amp? I have no idea if that would work but if it was doable I'd buy this over a Sound BlasterX G5 for sure.

 

[pietcux]

Can a GSX owner please confirm for me that the line-out on does not feed out the processed surround sound signal? That would be so ideal if it did.

Are there any tinkerers out there that have tried opening up the GSX and tracing the feeds on the PCB which come out of the DSP/chip so that you could solder two jumpers on the line-out so we could modify it to output a clean line-out level signal into a more powerful amp? I have no idea if that would work but if it was doable I'd buy this over a Sound BlasterX G5 for sure.

The line out is plain 2 channel or stereo. And on the headphone out you can disable surround too. It has 7.1 or 2.0. I did double amping from the headphone our because I wanted 7.1 via my external amp. That too is a positive experience for demanding headphones.

 

[Tohex]

The line out is plain 2 channel or stereo. And on the headphone out you can disable surround too. It has 7.1 or 2.0. I did double amping from the headphone our because I wanted 7.1 via my external amp. That too is a positive experience for demanding headphones.

Ok thanks for the info mate.

I'd love to know if you've noticed any problems/additional noise when going daisy chaining it into another amp? I'm tempted by the idea, but it goes against my code a bit.

 

[pietcux]

Ok thanks for the info mate.

I'd love to know if you've noticed any problems/additional noise when going daisy chaining it into another amp? I'm tempted by the idea, but it goes against my code a bit.

I put the volume on the GSX to 90 % (only 90% to avoid the apm stage of the GSX from clipping, but to run as hiss free as possible). Then I control the volume with the second amp. I my case a solid state meier Audio Jazz FF. Works fine for me. The background noise level is very low then. But most of the time I game with my very efficient Sennheiser headsets and just use the GSX as is, it sounds great to me on volume 18-30 depending on the game. I do music listening nearly exclusivly from my Sony WM1A dap because I do not listen to music on my PC.

 

[Tohex]

I put the volume on the GSX to 90 % (only 90% to avoid the apm stage of the GSX from clipping, but to run as hiss free as possible). Then I control the volume with the second amp. I my case a solid state meier Audio Jazz FF. Works fine for me. The background noise level is very low then. But most of the time I game with my very efficient Sennheiser headsets and just use the GSX as is, it sounds great to me on volume 18-30 depending on the game. I do music listening nearly exclusivly from my Sony WM1A dap because I do not listen to music on my PC.

That's awesome to hear mate. I'm very tempted in picking up a GSX. I need to do a bit more reading and posting on the Sound BlasterX G5 thread ... but the positional cues provided by the GSX seem to win out vs the competition.

Many thanks.

 

[mindbomb]

This peaked my interest. Are you suggesting you can emulate the GSX experience without the hardware..? Can you elaborate a bit more?

It's easiest to set up if you have device that supports 7.1. Hesuvi is an open project where people upload recordings with virtual surround sound and that's put through the convolver in equalizerapo to emulate it.

 

[Tohex]

It's easiest to set up if you have device that supports 7.1. Hesuvi is an open project where people upload recordings with virtual surround sound and that's put through the convolver in equalizerapo to emulate it.

Just so I know I'm understanding this right. I'd need something like the Sound BlasterX G5 or the GSX1000 itself because they present themselves to Windows as 7.1 devices (rather than a 2.0 USB DAC such as a Schiit Modi)?

 

[mindbomb]

Just so I know I'm understanding this right. I'd need something like the Sound BlasterX G5 or the GSX1000 itself because they present themselves to Windows as 7.1 devices (rather than a USB DAC)?

Well, also most integrated audio on motherboards as well as soundcards support 7.1 input. With usb dacs, since they typically have 2 channel input, things get more complicated.