[StudioSound]

 

  The G5 has a better amp as far as I can tell and since it's targeted towards consoles it should be doing all processing onboard? But for console users it also doesn't support Dolby surround like the Mixamp does? (It was in a review I read).

I think the difference is that the E5 is an iOS/Android-certified USB device while the G5 is certified to work with consoles via USB.
It only appears as a stereo device to them via USB however, and does not have dolby digital decoding, so there's no way for the consoles to send it a 5.1 signal.
Apparently Creative are planning to add DD decoding, which would then let it accept a (compressed) 5.1 signal from the console and apply SBX Surround, but I'd never buy a product based on something that may or may not happen.
 
I have no idea how the Astro Mixamp compares. It has USB support, but I don't know if it appears to the PC as a 2.0, 5.1, or 7.1 device.
So long as it appears as a 5.1/7.1 device, you will be able to get lossless audio.
I haven't heard many positive things about its audio quality however, and I don't particularly like how Dolby Headphone processing sounds.
While it is arguably somewhat better than SBX for absolute positioning, DH adds reverb which makes everything sound like you're inside an empty room - even outdoor environments.
 
Same thing goes for the Omni, I have no idea what that appears to the system as. I'd assume a 5.1 device.
There's also the Sound BlasterX G1 (new?) which is a very basic, but also inexpensive device if you just want to plug in a 4-pole headset. (or presumably headphone/mic via a splitter)
Neither of these devices appear to use one of Creative's DSP chips, so I'm guessing they are just basic USB audio devices and SBX is processed on the CPU instead of in the device.
The CPU requirements of this are probably minimal these days, but I suspect that it will have a negative effect on latency.
 
 

  Hmm, I assume by 4-pole you mean an 1/8in for headphone and mic setup. 4-pole makes me think of switches...

Yes, it supports the in-line microphones that most new headphones (or after-market cables for headphones with replaceable cables) seem to have.
With the way things are set up, it would be very convenient for me to do that. I have USB access at my desk but if I'm running an analog mic connection to the PC that would have to be a 15ft cable.
 
 
Quote:

  Ok, I was about set on the G5 when I read another review on Head-fi saying that the Omni is the same thing to a PC user for less. But then I remembered something important. The issue with the VR is the max latency time of 22ms, but it's prefered to be under 11ms.

All of the USB feed audio devices are around 21.7ms per: www.presonus.com/community/Learn/The-Truth-About-Digital-Audio-Latency
 
If that's true then only the Sound Blaster Z will work for all of the applications that I want to use it for... It looks like the choice was made for me, as VR is the most important aspect to 3D audio for me moving into the future.

**Edit

Ahh! I just remembered that the 1/8" on the HTC goes to a USB passthrough... So... where does that audio come from. Hmm, I remember them saying that they had to by-pass the OS to get frame times lowered, but that's for the HDMI video...audio HDMI, that's probably where it comes in at.

Most (all?) VR games will have a sound engine designed for VR - which means proper binaural headphone audio.
Sound cards will be for new non-VR games that don't offer good headphone audio, or the majority of games created up to this point.
 
What you need really depends on what you're going to be playing. The farther back you go with the games you play, the more important a sound card becomes.
They're not unnecessary (at least not yet) but things like VR's push for headphone-optimized audio will perhaps either see a new generation of hardware to support it, or (more likely) see a push for audio running on the GPU to do raytraced audio. (something NVIDIA have announced for their new 1000-series GPUs)
But again, that's something the games will have to support. It won't be universal like Creative's 5.1/7.1 input --> Headphone output processing.

 

[thuNDa]

Originally Posted by StudioSound /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
It looks like it's just a rebranding of SBX. They even have an SBX button on the side of the device. It has all the same settings as SBX Pro Studio.

 
Unfortunatly it's not just a rebrand, or else i would have a G5 by now, and wouldn't use my SB-Z anymore.
And you couldn't even think about using it with only 33%, which is the sweetspot on the SB-Z for me(well it was 30%, but then i read your post about 33% to be best, however you discovered this

).
 

 

[alfa42]

So, after reading quite few posts in this thread I'm actually more confused than I was before :__
 
I'm trying to figure out if it really it's worth the investment in a SBZ card for DSP processing in games (and then hook it to Modi/Magni stack) or just skip the SBZ and use Virtual Surround like the Razer one for the games.
 
Perhaps the software solution add more latency compared to the SBZ card? (but then if I read correctly, the new SBZ rely heavily also on SW.... so, I'm lost).
 
P.S: One of the things I learned is that you can use a dedicated Sound Card for DSP and pass it to a external DAC with S/PIDF

 

[BlueNinja0]

  P.S: One of the things I learned is that you can use a dedicated Sound Card for DSP and pass it to a external DAC with S/PIDF

 
You can pass it through USB too, if you set it up in Windows.

 

[octiceps]

You can pass it through USB too, if you set it up in Windows.

If you're referring to Stereo Mix, don't do that because even though virtual surround works it sounds like ****.

 

[Yethal]

If you're referring to Stereo Mix, don't do that because even though virtual surround works it sounds like ****.

It can be done by forcing the What U Hear virtual device to output to the usb DAC.

 

[octiceps]

 
It can be done by forcing the What U Hear virtual device to output to the usb DAC.

 
What U Hear is what Stereo Mix is called when you install Creative drivers, and it still sounds like crap, much worse than virtual surround running natively. I've tried it with various Creative sounds cards redirecting to USB DACs in the past.

 

[BlueNinja0]

   
What U Hear is what Stereo Mix is called when you install Creative drivers, and it still sounds like crap, much worse than virtual surround running natively. I've tried it with various Creative sounds cards redirecting to USB DACs in the past.

 
Please try it again with up to date drivers. I did not do an in-depth analysis but it sounds the same as directly from the sound-card to me. That said, virtualization sounds horrible regardless, specially for music.

 

[Yethal]

   
What U Hear is what Stereo Mix is called when you install Creative drivers, and it still sounds like crap, much worse than virtual surround running natively. I've tried it with various Creative sounds cards redirecting to USB DACs in the past.

Haven't used the SBZ personally but on my X7 What U Hear outputs exactly the same signal as the headphone output.

 

[octiceps]

Tested last year with Audigy 2 ZS and X-Fi Titanium HD using latest W7 drivers. VSS worked over USB DAC but sounded overly processed compared to sound card only, very metallic and reverby. Also noticeably higher latency.

 

[Yethal]

  Tested last year with Audigy 2 ZS and X-Fi Titanium HD using latest W7 drivers. VSS worked over USB DAC but sounded overly processed compared to sound card only, very metallic and reverby. Also noticeably higher latency.

Latency was expected however the difference in sound is strange considering the fact that What U Hear is supposed to be the exact audiostream being sent to the card's internal dac.

 

[octiceps]

Latency was expected however the difference in sound is strange considering the fact that What U Hear is supposed to be the exact audiostream being sent to the card's internal dac.

IDK why it sounded as bad as it did, but I'm not the only one. @NamelessPFG noted the same thing:

Regarding the section "Method for using sound card as DSP to output to any audio device, including USB ones, in Windows 7"

Does this also work with SBX on Sound Blaster Z in Windows 10?

I can't test it, but even so, I wouldn't recommend it. Further testing in my experience revealed that it actually sounded terrible, all distorted and crap compared to running it straight.

One of these days, I need to rewrite the guide outright.

 

[alfa42]

IDK why it sounded as bad as it did, but I'm not the only one. @NamelessPFG noted the same thing:

 
That said, I think this leaves us only one alternative for the cases when you use external DACs (software based Virtual Surround). For the rest of the cases, when you don't use external DACs, the sound cards would be a good option for Virtual Surround and low latency :__
 
Well. when I build up the PC I'll make a few experiments with the on-board DAC + SW Virtual Surround and external DAC + SW Virtual Surround to see if the possible latency it's worth it for me or I'll just skip it and play without any DSP =)
 
Thanks guys!

 

[Yethal]

IDK why it sounded as bad as it did, but I'm not the only one. @NamelessPFG noted the same thing:

I'll run some tests and report back in a minute.

 

[StudioSound]

   
That said, virtualization sounds horrible regardless, specially for music.

Sounds good to me with 5.1 music sources.
With a 2.0 source SBX Surround acts as a spatializer which will of course sound bad.