Sound BlasterX G6 vs Sound Blaster X3

Audioboxer · 23 Feb 2022 at 11:04

Looking to pickup one of these for my PC for headphone use only. My desktop speakers are Kanto YU6 with a Sub8 and they have their own DAC and sound great just hooked up to the PC soundcard over optical.

It seems the X G6 might be a bit better if you want to hookup to console, but I will literally only be using this on a PC so that's why it's a coinflip for me. Aesthetics of the X3 are a bit nicer, but G6 seems to be regarded as the choice to pick if you play any games on PC.

Right now I just use motherboards Realtek ALC1220 along with Dolby Atmos for headphones. It's decent, but I think and external USB DAC will be a bit better for headphones!

EsaT · 23 Feb 2022 at 14:12

It's damned if you do, damned if you don't choise:
SBX G6 has clearly higher quality components/stronger headphone amplifier.
But SB X3 has head shape customizable Super X-Fi HRTF, which could give lot better sound directionality/positioning than fixed average head shape based HRTFs.

Audioboxer · 23 Feb 2022 at 16:06

EsaT said:
It's damned if you do, damned if you don't choise:
SBX G6 has clearly higher quality components/stronger headphone amplifier.
But SB X3 has head shape customizable Super X-Fi HRTF, which could give lot better sound directionality/positioning than fixed average head shape based HRTFs.

On my PC it's just going to be running a set of Fidelio XHR2s, so they aren't high powered. I guess that means the SB X3 not ruled out!

xtal191 · 24 Feb 2022 at 12:35

I have the G6, got the b-stock from their official site for a good price. Its a great piece of kit and I'm sure the X3 would be too but if I was buying a new DAC today I'd 100% get the iFi ZEN DAC V2.

To be honest I'd only consider the G6 or X3 if you're going for b-stock, great value at that price

Audioboxer · 24 Feb 2022 at 20:15

xtal191 said:
I have the G6, got the b-stock from their official site for a good price. Its a great piece of kit and I'm sure the X3 would be too but if I was buying a new DAC today I'd 100% get the iFi ZEN DAC V2.

To be honest I'd only consider the G6 or X3 if you're going for b-stock, great value at that price

Yeah we're talking like £80 vs £130+ plus here. The Ifi Zen does look quite nice!

Holst1981 · 24 Feb 2022 at 20:34

Audioboxer said:
Yeah we're talking like £80 vs £130+ plus here. The Ifi Zen does look quite nice!

I went with the B grade G6 and I'm happy with it.

The software is a bit crap and I initially had a lot of problems getting it to be recognised consistently by windows.

EsaT · 25 Feb 2022 at 14:50

Audioboxer said:
Yeah we're talking like £80 vs £130+ plus here. The Ifi Zen does look quite nice!

Also SB X3 is available as B-stock.

Audioboxer · 26 Feb 2022 at 15:11

EsaT said:
Also SB X3 is available as B-stock.

I don't have that powerful a set of headphones so I think I'll just grab the G6 on looks alone lol.

Both of them are great prices with b-stock.

Audioboxer · 3 Mar 2022 at 15:48

I actually managed to nab a wee FiiO E10k for £27 and even it is making a really nice difference over motherboard audio. It's small enough I can take it with my laptop when out and about. It's not the USB C version, it's the upgraded original version. Olypmus 2 or something.

In Windows I use Dolby Atmos for Headphones and I find it's completely adequate as a software EQ/spatial sound.

This will do for now, maybe later down the line I'll look at the K3 or something.

The E10k non-USB C version is 24 bit/96000hz max, but that's what my Kanto YU6 speakers are over optical are as well.