Creative Sound blaster X7

Marsman · 27 Dec 2014 at 13:03

DinAlt said:
Pity that it's only a stero amplifier - not much use if you want to output any of that Dolby Digital 5.1 they've got splashed all over the web site. I hope the prices mentioned above are wrong because for that sort of money you can get a damn good AV amp which will do pretty much any thing this can do and much more when connected to a digital feed from your pc.

I can only assume you haven't realised how small this unit is. You're not going to get decent amplifiers for surround speakers in it.

Having a stereo amplifier is great for connecting a decent pair of passive speakers for music, for gaming or when watching movies. Sure, it's not surround, but it's far better to have decent stereo amplified output, than it would be having cheap quality amplifiers, like those found in 5.1 PC speakers.

It has 5.1 line out for powered speakers, so the Dolby Digital can be accessed. That is good for enough for connecting 5.1 PC speakers for gaming.

Minstadave · 27 Dec 2014 at 13:08

"So if you’ve always aspired to pwn the Everest of Audio, seek no further. It’s here."

Is this being marketed at 10 year olds?

Marsman · 27 Dec 2014 at 16:14

I missed that before. LOL Creative. And I thought they were trying to be serious with this product.

delpy8 · 27 Dec 2014 at 18:08

would this be a good upgrade from the creative zx? or would I be better with something else like the Asus xonar essence II

DinAlt · 28 Dec 2014 at 23:38

Marsman said:
I can only assume you haven't realised how small this unit is. You're not going to get decent amplifiers for surround speakers in it.

Having a stereo amplifier is great for connecting a decent pair of passive speakers for music, for gaming or when watching movies. Sure, it's not surround, but it's far better to have decent stereo amplified output, than it would be having cheap quality amplifiers, like those found in 5.1 PC speakers.

It has 5.1 line out for powered speakers, so the Dolby Digital can be accessed. That is good for enough for connecting 5.1 PC speakers for gaming.

I understand where you're coming from however, I just don't think it's worth the money for what it does - it's massively over priced for a 2 channel amplifier and no better than a decent soundcard for 5.1. things have moved on and I think Creative are struggling to find reasons for us to keep buying their wares. I have a ZxR and I literally can't see any reason to buy this (the ZxR was only bought because of the better compatibility with Win 7/8 and more importantly to use the breakout mic / headphone adaptor so I don't have to keep plugging in my headphones.

However each to their own

rids57 · 29 Dec 2014 at 03:26

Yes but it's not a two channel amplifier or a sound card, it's both. It also has blue tooth connectivity, can power two pairs of difficult to drive headphones simultaneously, has a high quality ADC and has analogue outputs for 5.1 should anyone need it.

There are people out there who want the functionality of a top of the range sound card but can't put one inside their computer and they may also wish to power passive stereo speakers.

That's who this is for, not for people who already have a ZxR.

There is no "upgrade" for the ZxR except maybe the STX II but improvements will be extremely subtle at best.

Evian · 12 Feb 2015 at 23:28

Wondering what I should get the X7 or a Vali/Modi 2 uber stack, I have AKG K712 Pro headphones, Which setup would have the better sound quality etc? Don't know much about Amps and DACs.

Angst · 12 Feb 2015 at 23:53

If just for headphones get the schiit stack

Evian · 13 Feb 2015 at 00:51

Angst said:
If just for headphones get the schiit stack

I have Corsair SP2500's along with a Sound blaster Z soundcard also, Would the Schiit stack be a worthwhile upgrade over the SBZ?, I think I could use the Modi 2 Uber to plug in my speakers at the same time? (Not playing them at the same time though, Just plugged in)

se_vietboi · 13 Feb 2015 at 01:03

I don't know about the Sound Blaster Z but my Aego Ms sound a lot better with the Schiit 2 Uber stack over my Xonar D2X.

Apem · 13 Feb 2015 at 01:36

Shame they got greedy on Aego M's and bumped up the price.

rids57 · 13 Feb 2015 at 01:43

With the Modi 2 Uber & Magni 2 Uber stack you plug the speakers into the Magni, the volume control then controls the volume of the speakers. You can't leave the headphones plugged in as that switches out the speakers but then again, when you want to use headphones you just plug them in and the speakers are muted, which is the most popular functionality.

The Sound Blaster X weighs in at £50 more than the Schiit stack but that's mostly accounted for by the power amp, built in microphone, analogue to digital conversion circuitry and bluetooth connectivity. Sound quality wise, there is nothing in it, they both sound very, very good.