By Ruben on 11 Nov. 2016 4 stars out of 5
Verified Purchase
These are my impressions on a few days of testing the GSX 1000 that i bought immediately, when it announced it's release for 3rd November on amazon. As there is only 1 review currently, form an actual buyer not marked as "Vine Customer Review of Free Product", i feel that another honest and thorough review is needed.
This unit is marketed mostly for gamers, and it does a wonderful job at it's intended purpose. For virtual surround in first person shooters, i have yet to hear a DSP unit, which can match it's performance. The binaural technology implemented is no joke, and the sound is very much outside of your head when using it. I've been using a pair of Sennheiser HD598SE for testing, as i feel that is closest to what the average owner of this products is going to connect it with.
So the DSP is great for creating an atmospheric and very real sounding audio environment. It can take a while to get used to, if like me, you're used to a stereo representation close to your ears. It can be slightly overwhelming with the level of information being thrown at you through the 7.1 surround. Over time however, we get used to it and it will certainly show itself to be vastly superior to any motherboard audio solution.
But here's the problem with it as i see it: It's marketed as an "amplifier", whereas i would call it a gaming dac with a headphone out attachhed, if that makes any sense. It provides a great DSP for immersive gaming, but the amplifier does not power demanding headphones very well and will sometimes require me to turn it up to near 100%, when watching videos on YouTube for example. It handles games and other things well, but for some videos where the volume is low for some reason or other, i would like a bit more power to spare, just in case.
I connected my HD800S just to try it and of course i don't expect anything from it, but it is a great test for any amplifier to be connected to a very demanding pair of headphones. The results were very much expected. Very harsh and uncontrolled presentation in music. The amplifier simply lacks the power and control, required for music. However, in less demanding tasks like Battlefield or Counter Strike, it was quite a nice experience and the GSX 1000 really showed it's strengths when very demanding material didn't expose it's weaknesses.
Again, this is only to test the limits of the unit and it is not a fair test for the intended purpose of the unit. However, at this price i would have liked it to at least show a bit more maturity and be more than a one-trick-pony for gaming.
As someone who is spoiled by high end audio equipment, it really pains me that the GSX 1000, does not have a optical output, so that people who only want to add the binaural DSP signal, to their existing audio setup, would be able to do so... And again, as the GSX 1000 is not a unit which excels at anything but it's DSP, it's would be great to be able to hook it up to much better amplifiers and dacs.
I must conclude that this product is for the hardcore gamers, with deep pockets and preference for pin point audio imaging and immersion above everything else. It's DSP beats out everything i've tried including, but not limited to: Creative Sound Blaster ZxR, Creative Sound BlasterX G5 and Asus Xonar Essence ST, which are some heavy-hitters in the computer audio market.
While it's sound quality is only as good as the G5, It's DSP simply beats out anything i've ever heard for gaming. It's pin point accurate and the sound stage is wall to wall. It's presented in a very natural manner compared to say the Essence ST, where the "room feeling" is too unnatural for my tastes. Luckily for anyone who purchases the GSX 1000, you can adjust the "room setting" among other things on the unit, enabling you to get your preferred surround experience. You won't have to settle for one specific surround presentation, as this one can do it all.
I always leave mine at 7.1 in gaming with headphones with all other effects turned off. The gamer, music and movie setting all sound unnatural. Gamer is very cold and sterile with no bass and only treble. Yeah, you can hear footsteps alright, but everything sounds completely sterile.
Music enhances both bass and treble because that's what the kids want and movie enhances only the bass when compared directly.
If i was to ever use one of them, it would be the movie setting, as it only gives a slight boost to the bass without making the treble harsh like the music setting. Depending on your taste, this can provide for a more immersive experience.
The front-and-back surround sound setting is useless. Why would you ever want your surround presentation is be biased towards sounding like everything is in front or behind you?
The reverb setting does nothing to my ears through 7.1 headphone gaming.
Overall, most of the DSP settings seem gimmicky to me. I much prefer to set it to headphone and 7.1 without adding anything extra. If you have a good pair of headphones, this should sound the most natural.
This little gaming beast, is great for it's intended purpose and the average gamer with entry to mid tier headphones will be blown away by it's performance, especially in first person shooters - You will never have heard your game sound quite like this before.
Where it disappoints, is as a serious audio reproduction tool able to do more than just gaming and casual movie watching with it's impressive 7.1 surround. I give the binaural DSP a solid 10/10 for gaming, especially in the FPS genre. As an amp/dac unit for great audio reproduction, i give it a 5/10. Don't think now that this product bad, it's only when compared to great audio equipment that i shows it's weakness. Any average/competitve gamer will be more than happy with this product and it's strengths heavily outweigh it's weakness, as you won't be buying the GSX 1000 for anything other than gaming, and for that purpose, i give the product as a whole a solid 8/10, considering it's great performance vs the asking price.
I only bring this up all of this snobby criticism because Sennheiser is the company that created this product and because of it's price of 199 gbp.
In conclusion, this product is a gamers dream and makes FPS players simply unload in their pants. But is it worth it to you?
4 stars. It excels at it's intended purpose. It's DSP is unmatched by anything i've ever heard. But because of the price, amplifier quality and lack of an optical output, it leaves a little to be desired by audio enthusiasts.
Take what you want from what I have said about it and the people here and 3 reviews on rainforest.