[Decimator]

I have a soundblaster z card and I'm looking for an external amp and dac to hook up to it for SBX surround sound. Now I was under the impression that I needed to hook up via optical to get SBX surround sent to the dac, but after reading some posts here, I'm not sure that's actually the case. Do I need optical on my DAC to hook up to the sound card for SBX, or are there alternative/better methods?

 

[genclaymore]

Using optical is a easier method and works just fine for connecting the z to a external dac, The other method is"what u here" It works but should only be used if your dac is just usb with no optical.

 

[DrunkenTiger]

What's an upgrade from a SoundBlaster Omni, using Sennheiser G4ME ZEROs and I love the combination but I'm curious.
Has to be through USB, most played game nowadays is BF4.

 

[pric0]

hello guys! I have an issue which i would like to discuss with you here.
 
I use the X-Fi Titanium 7.1 PCIe for 2 years+ now, and i can't recommend it enough it is GREAT!
playing csgo most of the time, it helps a lot at positional information and makes everything sound so good from music to movies.. i plugged my headphones once to my brother's pc and was disgusted at how ugly on-board audio is compared to this beauty.
long story short (or longer), I got a VI Impact Motherboard as a gift, and decided to build a new mini-ITX system around it. and to my bad luck, the only PCIe for my Titanium will be used for a GPU, since it's a mini-ITX.. and it has the ****premeFX sound card with it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL9O129skMQ
looks like a cheap-ass soundcard to me, and he is not the only guy with that problem.. been seeing a lot of threads about it.
 
so i don't know if i should just sell this mobo (or try to), or get an external sound card (which is not likely, cuz i ******* love my titanium).. any suggestions? thanks.

 

[genclaymore]

I know that you like your X-FI Titanium 7.1 PCI-E but for usb the sound blaster omni is a good choice and usually can be found cheap, as well the creative E3 or the higher costing E5. The only other option is if your ITX mobo supports Creative X-FI MB3 software suite, you could then send the creative features over optical to a cheap external/amp all in one unit. But you might just want something simple so the sound blaster omni would work or the creative E3/E5. If you perfer CMSS3D headphone then theirs the old X-FI Go which is usually 19 dollars which is usb as well.
 
If you don't like either of the options then sell the motherboard and get one with the functions you need.

 

[Decimator]

Can SBX be sent through the 3.5mm headphone jack on the soundblaster z or would I only be able to get stereo?

 

[genclaymore]

yea it can be sent thru the headphone jack on the sound blaster z, you just need to make sure you config windows and games correctly so it will sound right.

 

[pietcux]

I had a Xonar STX in a PC that I sold 3 years ago. I switched to an Asus gaming Laptop then. Ever since that day I missed the Xonar STX. Recently I visited the guy ( a relative of mine). He had set the old PC aside and told me he wanted to disassemble it and sell all parts seperately. Long story short, I rescued the Xonar that was still in it's old place that I gave her. My laptop is still around, but I have build a new main rig with a GTX980 over the last two years. The Xonar replaces the Sound Blaster Z that I had bought. I love the Xonar very much over the Sound Blaster the stereo sound is just so good. And for gaming I also like the Dolby Headphone very much.

 

[Skippman]

There's a lot of information here and I regret I won't have time to churn through all 200+ pages of it. I'm sure this question has been asked at length so please forgive me.
 
 
Reading the Page One guide on this Nameless states the EMU20K2/1 chip from the X-Fi series are superior to the Sound Core3D. Is this true for all applications or just 2 channel stereo? I ask as I just purchased a Sound Blaster Z to put into my rig and am contemplating on taking it back and replacing it with a X-Fi Titanium. I predominately use my Creative Labs G500 speakers so I need the 5.1 analog outputs which precludes me from using the X-Fi Titanium HD. I'm planning on rotating in a set of headphones for occasional use gaming as well which is why I ask.

 

[GoldenboyXD]

  There's a lot of information here and I regret I won't have time to churn through all 200+ pages of it. I'm sure this question has been asked at length so please forgive me.
 
 
Reading the Page One guide on this Nameless states the EMU20K2/1 chip from the X-Fi series are superior to the Sound Core3D. Is this true for all applications or just 2 channel stereo? I ask as I just purchased a Sound Blaster Z to put into my rig and am contemplating on taking it back and replacing it with a X-Fi Titanium. I predominately use my Creative Labs G500 speakers so I need the 5.1 analog outputs which precludes me from using the X-Fi Titanium HD. I'm planning on rotating in a set of headphones for occasional use gaming as well which is why I ask.

IMHO, the X-Fi Titanium HD is best if you can fully utilize the CMSS-3D feature when gaming on first person shooters and this card is also best for stereo music (2 Ch.) if you are in a budget for Audiophile quality in PC. Otherwise, for 5.1 setup or getting an upgrade in general from onboard audio you may get the Sound Blaster Z.

 

 

[Decimator]

Dumb question, but could you connect a soundcard, soundblaster z for example, via optical to an earforce DSS? I imagine you would have to have the DSS set to Dolby bypass so you're not processing surround sound twice, but would you get the benefit of the better amp on the soundblaster z with SBX processing, with volume control and bass adjustments on the fly with the DSS? Sorry if this a pointless question, just curious if it would work.

 

[cdsa35000]

Sure if the soundcard support DDL= Dolby Digital Live (5.1 surround optical out).

And any 5.1 surround is for 5.1 SPEAKER setup, Headphone Surround processing is to convert this 5.1 into HTRF stereo 2.0.

 

[Skippman]

  IMHO, the X-Fi Titanium HD is best if you can fully utilize the CMSS-3D feature when gaming on first person shooters and this card is also best for stereo music (2 Ch.) if you are in a budget for Audiophile quality in PC. Otherwise, for 5.1 setup or getting an upgrade in general from onboard audio you may get the Sound Blaster Z.

 

 
Gang,

I thought I'd take a moment to report in with my findings now that I have the Sound Blaster Z installed in my rig. I'm 5 days into the new sound card, and it has it's pro's and con's. Sound is definitely more positional and "expansive" over the onboard Realtek ALC1150, even with the X-Fi MB3 software. This has come somewhat at the cost of what feels like low-mid to mid range sound. I expect given enough time I could "EQ" that out, but I find it a bit annoying right now. 

I attribute the expansive and immersive sound to two things primarily. The more advanced software of the Z, and the Z's time alignment settings. Rather than feeling like I'm sitting in front of the sound stage when listening to a 5.1 source I now feel like I'm immersed in it with sound originating all around me simultaneously. 

I have a friend shipping me back my old X-Fi Titanium. I plan to put that in place of the Z and see how that sounds. It'll mean giving up the Z's dedicated 600ohm headphone jack however. That will affect my long term plans to use a set of Audio Technica ATH-AD700X's with it.

I'm still playing with the Z, and I might not send it back. My main experience with it thus far has been Bioshock 2 (2010) which is an older game. Bioshock 2 used the Unreal 2.5 engine which maxed out at EAX 3.0, we're now on 5.0. It also didn't support DS3D. I had occasional audio glitches like a complete loss of a sound layer. I'm attributing that to an issue between the game engine and Direct Sound drivers. I've not yet played with it in depth in Battlefield 4 or any other modern games.

Right now I'm testing it with Bioshock Infinite and Battlefield 4. I'll report back with what differences I notice in the audio between the older game and the newer ones.

Does anyone have any 5.1 game source materials you'd recommend I try out for basis of comparison?

 

[genclaymore]

   
Gang,

I thought I'd take a moment to report in with my findings now that I have the Sound Blaster Z installed in my rig. I'm 5 days into the new sound card, and it has it's pro's and con's. Sound is definitely more positional and "expansive" over the onboard Realtek ALC1150, even with the X-Fi MB3 software. This has come somewhat at the cost of what feels like low-mid to mid range sound. I expect given enough time I could "EQ" that out, but I find it a bit annoying right now. 

I attribute the expansive and immersive sound to two things primarily. The more advanced software of the Z, and the Z's time alignment settings. Rather than feeling like I'm sitting in front of the sound stage when listening to a 5.1 source I now feel like I'm immersed in it with sound originating all around me simultaneously. 

I have a friend shipping me back my old X-Fi Titanium. I plan to put that in place of the Z and see how that sounds. It'll mean giving up the Z's dedicated 600ohm headphone jack however. That will affect my long term plans to use a set of Audio Technica ATH-AD700X's with it.

I'm still playing with the Z, and I might not send it back. My main experience with it thus far has been Bioshock 2 (2010) which is an older game. Bioshock 2 used the Unreal 2.5 engine which maxed out at EAX 3.0, we're now on 5.0. It also didn't support DS3D. I had occasional audio glitches like a complete loss of a sound layer. I'm attributing that to an issue between the game engine and Direct Sound drivers. I've not yet played with it in depth in Battlefield 4 or any other modern games.

Right now I'm testing it with Bioshock Infinite and Battlefield 4. I'll report back with what differences I notice in the audio between the older game and the newer ones.

Does anyone have any 5.1 game source materials you'd recommend I try out for basis of comparison?

 
 
For older games that uses the DS3D or the miles2D sound just use Alchemy which is part of the X-FI MB3 and sound blaster Z software suite as well the X-FI software suite. Which will re-enable EAX support as well fix surround sound issues. Which I use for both Fallout New vegas and bioshock 1 and any other game that uses either of those Two API's it not needed for openAL using games of course. Some games that uses the unreal engine might have the option to switch to openAL in it engine.ini file in the my games folder in my docs, but some times that doesn't work with newer games that uses just Xaudio2 even if openAL which is labeled differently inside the file. The Audio Technica headphones doesn't benefit from being amped,they tend to be easy to drive headphones and the only thing that matter is a good source.
 
So unless you had something like a AKG K701 or DT880 pro-250 then you won't miss the sound blaster Z hp amp. The only thing you might miss is SBX surround if your used to it as CMSS3D headphone does it differently then SBX surround and does something to the bass.There was a video that some one did on youtube that had a comparision between Dolby Headphone,SBX surround 67% and 100% and then CMSS 3D headphone and they used BF3 to do the comparison it is the only way to know for sure which of the 3 virtual headphones functions you will like. I suggest doing that first before you decide to go to a titanium HD from your Z if your not happy with your Z. I personally wouldn't do to the prices of the titanium HD's being too close to the used ZXR prices but thats me.
 
 
 

  IMHO, the X-Fi Titanium HD is best if you can fully utilize the CMSS-3D feature when gaming on first person shooters and this card is also best for stereo music (2 Ch.) if you are in a budget for Audiophile quality in PC. Otherwise, for 5.1 setup or getting an upgrade in general from onboard audio you may get the Sound Blaster Z.

 

Another option is a used Auzentech X-FI prelude that I have seen go for $50 plenty of times on ebay. The only issues with the Titanium HD is that it is hard to find and when you do find it. It ends up costing around $199 and in that case you might as well just grab a used ZXR for 175-199 instead. I have used CMSS3D headphone my self but i don't like what it does to the bass while it does work good in great in some games and not in others. I find SBX surround to work great in most games I tried that didn't with CMSS3D headphone. Plus SBX surround doesn't jack up the bass like CMSS3D headphone did. 

 

[GoldenboyXD]

  Another option is a used Auzentech X-FI prelude that I have seen go for $50 plenty of times on ebay. The only issues with the Titanium HD is that it is hard to find and when you do find it. It ends up costing around $199 and in that case you might as well just grab a used ZXR for 175-199 instead. I have used CMSS3D headphone my self but i don't like what it does to the bass while it does work good in great in some games and not in others. I find SBX surround to work great in most games I tried that didn't with CMSS3D headphone. Plus SBX surround doesn't jack up the bass like CMSS3D headphone did. 

Correct. The CMSS-3D jack up the bass department and enhance the treble and maybe sound piercing for some people. So it is still a personal taste. Overall the Sound Blaster Z will do the job done using the SBX surround for FPS and other games.
 
Here is the video link for the sound comparison for your satisfaction needs.
https://www.youtube.com/user/FrekeOne