Creative Soundblaster X7 Massdrop $299 to $379 + S&H

croc_ said:
Tempted to get this to replace my Schiit Asgard2/BifrostUber/Audioengine N22 setup. Having an all in one unit sounds nice, and the reviews rate the SQ pretty high.
Click to expand...

Sounds a bit nuts to me. The Bifrost Uber alone costs more than this setup. You've got nearly a grand in gear there, and you want to swap it for a $300 AIO with a Creative logo on it?

Admittedly, I know very little about this thing, but I have to imagine it's not going to be anywhere near as good as your Schiit gear. Especially since I'm guessing most reviews of this are PC enthusiasts, not audio enthusiasts. They are comparing to onboard audio and dedicated PC sound cards. I'm sure this is a remarkable upgrade from that. But when you get into the world of dedicated audio equipment, there is a lot of incredible stuff out there that a lot of people don't know about.... and you've already got one of the highest praised setups in the mid-range department.
 
5icko said:
Returned it a month ago.

And scroll up.
Click to expand...

I saw your experience, I just wasn't sure what TS was. Not that it matters much...boy you sound bitter over the whole thing though. Hopefully my experience is better than yours; if not, DACmini is doing a fine job but lacks some of the headphone processing that the X7 has. I just thought it'd be neat to play around with.
 
Viper87227 said:
Sounds a bit nuts to me. The Bifrost Uber alone costs more than this setup. You've got nearly a grand in gear there, and you want to swap it for a $300 AIO with a Creative logo on it?

Admittedly, I know very little about this thing, but I have to imagine it's not going to be anywhere near as good as your Schiit gear. Especially since I'm guessing most reviews of this are PC enthusiasts, not audio enthusiasts. They are comparing to onboard audio and dedicated PC sound cards. I'm sure this is a remarkable upgrade from that. But when you get into the world of dedicated audio equipment, there is a lot of incredible stuff out there that a lot of people don't know about.... and you've already got one of the highest praised setups in the mid-range department.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm sure the Schiit setup has superior audio quality, but how superior remains to be seen. I'm sure there are measurable differences, but sometimes it's really tough to discern a difference by ear. Diminishing returns and all that.

The Asgard2/BitfrostUber combo was actually what I was gunning for, until I discovered the DACmini several months ago. I'm still curious about the Schiit stack, but I'm not sure there would be a noticeable difference in SQ. The DACmini is normally an $800 unit (without any of the mods), so it's no slouch. Even then, my Xonar STX still sounds really good to me and I could easily live with it. Any of these should be a huge upgrade from onboard sound, but IMO once you get into some decent equipment it can be hard to differentiate between them. I guess my point is that the X7 may not be as large of a step down as some of you are assuming. I'll find out when I get mine, but then again, I don't claim to have golden ears so I expect that I'll be happy with it as long as it's at least as good as my STX. :)
 
imyourzero said:
Agreed. I'm sure the Schiit setup has superior audio quality, but how superior remains to be seen. I'm sure there are measurable differences, but sometimes it's really tough to discern a difference by ear. Diminishing returns and all that.

The Asgard2/BitfrostUber combo was actually what I was gunning for, until I discovered the DACmini several months ago. I'm still curious about the Schiit stack, but I'm not sure there would be a noticeable difference in SQ. The DACmini is normally an $800 unit (without any of the mods), so it's no slouch. Even then, my Xonar STX still sounds really good to me and I could easily live with it. Any of these should be a huge upgrade from onboard sound, but IMO once you get into some decent equipment it can be hard to differentiate between them. I guess my point is that the X7 may not be as large of a step down as some of you are assuming. I'll find out when I get mine, but then again, I don't claim to have golden ears so I expect that I'll be happy with it as long as it's at least as good as my STX. :)
Click to expand...
Why would either of you downgrade your audio path?

Even if you can't discern a difference what's the point in replacing a better all-around system with consumer level junk? So you can pocket a couple hundred bucks, at most?
 
mope54 said:
Why would either of you downgrade your audio path?

Even if you can't discern a difference what's the point in replacing a better all-around system with consumer level junk? So you can pocket a couple hundred bucks, at most?
Click to expand...

Less switches to turn the system on, less desk space, built in headphone stand. I know it sounds stupid, but those are the reasons I would "downgrade". The money in my pocket would go straight in to upgrading my computer or bike. I would, of course, try it out before selling my current stack. But I have a feeling the SQ difference is minimal.
 
mope54 said:
Why would either of you downgrade your audio path?

Even if you can't discern a difference what's the point in replacing a better all-around system with consumer level junk? So you can pocket a couple hundred bucks, at most?
Click to expand...

In my case, I never said anything about downgrading or replacing anything. My DACmini isn't going anywhere for the time being, if at all. This is simply a gadget that I want to try out. I'm not sure why anyone is all up in arms over these. :confused: And on what grounds are you calling it consumer level junk? I just don't see where all the hate is coming from.

If the X7 sucks as much as a vocal few are suggesting, I'll send it on down the road...I don't see the issue here. Most people seem to like them just fine.

croc_ said:
Less switches to turn the system on, less desk space, built in headphone stand. I know it sounds stupid, but those are the reasons I would "downgrade". The money in my pocket would go straight in to upgrading my computer or bike. I would, of course, try it out before selling my current stack. But I have a feeling the SQ difference is minimal.
Click to expand...

We'll see about the SQ, though it's pretty well reviewed from what I can see. Your reasons shouldn't matter to anyone else but you. And if you do end up finding it good enough to replace your Schiit, PM me. I would be interested in purchasing the stack for use with another setup. Hopefully no one will feel the need to chime in and tell me what to do with my money (appreciate the looking out I guess, though).

It's all good, I just don't understand why people become so heavily invested in posting negative things about a product that they have no interest in (whether it be here, Slickdeals, Massdrop, etc.) and caring about what other people want to buy. I'm sure not everything that people buy makes sense to me, but I don't critique their every purchase.
 
The reviews over at head-fi are mostly positive, and many have switched to the X7 for the same reasons that I want it. I understand the feeling though, I used to want the best possible everything, until I realized that it's not always about whats "best" or "most expensive".
 
The reason why I'm chiming in is because some people asked for an opinion about this gear compared to what they have or wanted to get. No one is telling you what to do with your money, but if you start posting your setup and publicly musing about your choices then it should be obvious to you that others are going to chime in and respond!

I asked the other guy what problem he was trying to resolve. He has 8 ohm speakers and he was considering pairing them to this amp rated at 2.2 ohms. The fact that no one keyed in on that and suggested that they aren't a good match is indicative that either a) they're subscribing to your buy and let buy even if it results in a poor setup or b) they don't know the specs or how to mate components properly.

This isn't an audio forum so I would tend to error in favor of b.

I didn't jump on your case I simply asked you what you hoped to gain.
If croc wants to simplify his setup so there's only 1 switch there are better and less expensive options than this X7. But if he wants it because it matches all that he wants it do accomplish then that's his choice and I never said otherwise.

Comparing this device aimed at general computer users to budget components specifically aimed at the audiophile crowd is silly, though. Saying things like "diminishing returns and all that" is less than helpful. That's true migrating from these entry audiophile setups to tens of thousands of dollar setups. That's when someone may claim to have a "golden ear" to discern the differences.

Moving from consumer AIO gear, like this X7 even with some decent DACs and opamps but skimping on the rest of the power delivery system and components, to audiophile components, even budget level like the Schiit gear, and not hearing a different indicates a "tin" ear, not the lack of a golden ear.

Relative to audiophile components, this consumer AIO is "junk" in the same way that moving from built in soundcards to discrete sound cards relegate the built ins to junk. The fact that some people, imyourzero in particular, are simply stacking up all kinds of gear around the house, not to suit a particular purpose other than want and likely because it comes across as a good "deal", makes the assortment of crap around the house "junk."
 
If there is one thing I've learned, the audiophile community takes elitism to a whole different level compared to anything else I've ever browsed.

It makes the community where guys are buying $20,000 shotguns and musing the differences therein look benign.
 
what's that? egg on my face :)

not really relevant to my point that I was responding to someone asking for opinions, however, good to know. thanks.
 
SilverSliver said:
If there is one thing I've learned, the audiophile community takes elitism to a whole different level compared to anything else I've ever browsed.

It makes the community where guys are buying $20,000 shotguns and musing the differences therein look benign.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but not when we're talking about most headphone amps. Most amps I've seen are well under a grand.

But when you start looking ath the silly amounts of money spent on cables that no engineer can argue makes a difference to the sound always makes me laugh. IN the turntable world I always laughed at the insane amounts spent on a needle. A cheap cartridge that retailed for 200 (probably 500 in current dollars) we'd sell them for under 100. Cost? 7 bucks.

It's definitely a racket. I often wonder what headphones actually cost to make. My gut says that HD800's are probably under 200. I'm really curious what those CIEMs cost. They cost a fortune (and you have no idea if you're like them until you buy them), but I'd really like a pair :D
 
nilepez said:
Maybe, but not when we're talking about most headphone amps. Most amps I've seen are well under a grand.

But when you start looking ath the silly amounts of money spent on cables that no engineer can argue makes a difference to the sound always makes me laugh. IN the turntable world I always laughed at the insane amounts spent on a needle. A cheap cartridge that retailed for 200 (probably 500 in current dollars) we'd sell them for under 100. Cost? 7 bucks.

It's definitely a racket. I often wonder what headphones actually cost to make. My gut says that HD800's are probably under 200. I'm really curious what those CIEMs cost. They cost a fortune (and you have no idea if you're like them until you buy them), but I'd really like a pair :D
Click to expand...

Oh, it's not really the markup. It's the condescension and general elitist attitude, ie - your ears must be terrible, are you deaf - using subjective analysis as a source of superiority in one breath while using obscure graphs and charts to attack subjective analysis in another. Perhaps not all audiophile communities are like that, the briefly dipping my toe into some for reviews was toxic.
 
mope, why don't you suggest the options that are better and less expensive than the X7? I'm not denying they are out there, but due to the explosion in the portable and stationary amp/DAC segments over the past few years, I probably just don't know about them. I doubt that I'll ever use the speaker amp portion of the X7 (I just need a line out at this point), so I'm all ears.

The diminishing returns argument is not less than helpful. I agree that it can be true when going to multi-thousand dollar pieces of equipment, but honestly...once you get above a certain price point (or spec of components), you're going to be using hardware that is so much better than what Average Joe is using, it's rather silly to pay more for a marginal increase in SQ (if one can hear it at all). I agree with nilepez and SilverSliver in that there is a TON of buyer justification that goes on in the audiophile community. People get suckered into buying several-hundred (or thousand) dollar cables for their headphones for...what, exactly? There is some good information at Head-Fi and places like Audiogon, but there are also a lot of people with way too much money and time on their hands that use minute measurements on graphs (if even that) to say that "B" is definitively better than "A", even though audio is extremely subjective and you and I might prefer the sound signature of component "A". But instead we're told that we just don't have taste, or a discerning ear, or we're poor and sorry about our luck, etc. It's a real turn-off.

Also, no need to call me out and say that I'm stacking up junk around the house. By that argument, I have several pairs of headphones (because of different sound preferences in different scenarios). Does that mean that my most expensive pair makes all of the other ones junk? I have a bunch firearms stacked up in my gun safe, some of which are redundant. Does that mean that the vast majority of those are junk? Lol. Sorry, I can't buy that. Again, I ask...what is wrong with buying something to try it? It's not like I bought a DACmini in a different color "because it was a good deal." The X7 does some things that my DACmini doesn't, although the audio quality of the latter should be superior given the price and comparative lack of features (although it combines the features of a good headamp and DAC into one box, it doesn't try to be quite the jack-of-all-trades that the X7 does).

If you can continue without throwing personal insults about my "junk" and lack of sound purchasing decisions, I'm willing to listen.
 
Anytime anything audio is posted it always brings out a few "audiophiles" who feel they need to ridicule others purchases to justify the thousands they have dumped into an audio setup that is marginally better than one costing 1/10th the price to 99.9% of the listening population.

The X7 is very well reviewed and if you research the individual components, you will also find that they are all well reviewed as well. Is there better equipment available, almost certainly. Is there better equipment available for the price, potentially. Is this a good deal based on this product's normal price and the available alternatives within the price range, most definitely.
 
weuntouchable said:
Anytime anything audio is posted it always brings out a few "audiophiles" who feel they need to ridicule others purchases to justify the thousands they have dumped into an audio setup that is marginally better than one costing 1/10th the price to 99.9% of the listening population.

The X7 is very well reviewed and if you research the individual components, you will also find that they are all well reviewed as well. Is there better equipment available, almost certainly. Is there better equipment available for the price, potentially. Is this a good deal based on this product's normal price and the available alternatives within the price range, most definitely.
Click to expand...

Get out of here with your well stated opinion and logical discourse.
 
imyourzero said:
I saw your experience, I just wasn't sure what TS was. Not that it matters much...boy you sound bitter over the whole thing though. Hopefully my experience is better than yours; if not, DACmini is doing a fine job but lacks some of the headphone processing that the X7 has. I just thought it'd be neat to play around with.
Click to expand...

TS = tech support.

Bitter? Yea.
 
weuntouchable said:
Anytime anything audio is posted it always brings out a few "audiophiles" who feel they need to ridicule others purchases to justify the thousands they have dumped into an audio setup that is marginally better than one costing 1/10th the price to 99.9% of the listening population.

The X7 is very well reviewed and if you research the individual components, you will also find that they are all well reviewed as well. Is there better equipment available, almost certainly. Is there better equipment available for the price, potentially. Is this a good deal based on this product's normal price and the available alternatives within the price range, most definitely.
Click to expand...
dont try and turn this into something it isn't

someone asked if he should get this to run his speakers and I suggested that if all he cares about is an amp then he can buy something else or even something better but used for less money. that's the opposite of what you're describing here.

the second and third two responses, who I wasn't even directing my post to in the first place, chimed in with contemplating trading in their gear that costs 4-5x this unit and then threw shit fits when I had the "audacity" to ask them what they hoped to gain by doing that. again, the opposite of what you were describing.
 
Overstock didn't respond back to my ebay message and shipped it out. It will arrive tomorrow which is great since I will still have enough time to return it and get the massdrop deal if this isn't the Limited Edition!
 
Last edited:
striker444 said:
Overstock didn't respond back to my ebay message and shipped it out. It will arrive tomorrow which is great since I will still have enough time to return it and get the massdrop deal if this isn't the Limited Edition!
Click to expand...

Let us know what you end up getting :)
 
TheGamerZ said:
$300 for a USB sound card?
Click to expand...

As others have mentioned it's a high quality DAC, not just a soundcard.

And with high quality DAC's USB is typically considered BETTER than internal soundcards due to being further isolated from the noisy (electrically) PCIe bus.

If they really wanted to impress, they would have gone the optical route, but who knows this might just be a good solution.

I am tempted, but my Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD hooked up to my Schiit Asgard via RCA and outputted to my Beyerdynamic DT 770 pro's still sound good to me, so it would be tough to justify.

That, and I am a little skeptical that Creative might finally have gotten enthusiast audio right. My Titanium HD is good, but I've always felt that Creative only gives the enthusiast community lip service.

They are usually certainly a big upgrade from on board audio, and good for gaming, but traditionally not necessarily good for high quality audio.
 
striker444 said:
Overstock didn't respond back to my ebay message and shipped it out. It will arrive tomorrow which is great since I will still have enough time to return it and get the massdrop deal if this isn't the Limited Edition!
Click to expand...

Well, just opened my order from over stock and it's the standard edition (Not the limited white edition). So this massdrop deal is the way to go.
 
Last edited:
cybrnook said:
Yep, just set up my rma with over stock, that part was easy. Just in time to hop back on the mass drop
Click to expand...

Oh well, nothing ventured nothing gained. At least you tried.

It's not all bad, though. There's a good chance that Creative won't warranty products that aren't purchased from authorized retailers (i.e. Overstock), so to me the Massdrop deal provides more peace of mind. And you can always pseudo-upgrade the X7 standard to the LE by purchasing the LE's beefier power adapter later. Of course doing that will only beef up the amp section for external speakers to the LE's level and you'll still have the headphone out impedance of the standard X7, but it and the LE's are very, very close anyway. I doubt that most people could tell a difference, even with the most sensitive of IEMs (which are typically what benefit the most from 1-ohm output impedance, though it bears mentioning that the LE actually measured out at 1.5 ohms so again, very very close to the standard and not quite as advertised anyway). ;)
 
cybrnook said:
Well, just opened my order from over stock and is the standard. So this massdrop is the way to go.
Click to expand...

Figured as much based on my experiences posted above. They don't have a friggin' clue what they are selling to people. You may have to call though to make sure the refund is processed "in a reasonable time". I had to but they made it pretty painless.


I think I'm going to head the Bifrost Uber + Asgard 2 or along those lines. Would love to know though how you all like this unit. I've read the reviews but I trust the people here more than some other places.
 
cybrnook said:
Well, just opened my order from over stock and it's the standard edition (Not the limited white edition). So this massdrop deal is the way to go.
Click to expand...

Same, just signed up for the Massdrop again and requested a return for the Overstock one, also requested they pay the shipping back since they didn't bother responding back before they shipped it to me for verification. I sent them a picture of the UPC in the return request, doesn't match the auction.
 
striker444 said:
Same, just signed up for the Massdrop again and requested a return for the Overstock one, also requested they pay the shipping back since they didn't bother responding back before they shipped it to me for verification. I sent them a picture of the UPC in the return request, doesn't match the auction.
Click to expand...

They'll pay for it. They paid for a shipping label TWICE on a 67lb trolling motor. It's truly sad because their return department is really nice, they just have no idea what they are selling. Oh and all of mine was done via chat...no hassles.
 
striker444 said:
Overstock didn't respond back to my ebay message and shipped it out. It will arrive tomorrow which is great since I will still have enough time to return it and get the massdrop deal if this isn't the Limited Edition!
Click to expand...

Should of asked here first. Customer service told me it was "as pictured", and the black one is obviously the standard one.
 
Almost bit but since my primary use is headphones and the modi 2 uber/magni 2 uber stack was significantly better than the x7 I demoed, I had to pass.

And for those of you complaining about $300 for a USB DAC, it gets a lot more absurd than that. For a lot of folks (myself included), $2300 for the Yggdrasil is a bargain. Before I demoed it, I was certain I'd end up spending in the 5 figure range to get the right DAC.
 
I bought the X7 when it launched to replace a higher end stack of components + other extras for simplicity. I do a lot of console gaming these days, and I wanted a device that would work with my consoles, my PC, and my phone. I was sick of the clutter, and I decided I could sacrifice a bit of quality for that. As it turns out, my ears do not discriminate as well as I thought they did and I noticed no drop in sound quality even with a direct A/B comparison.

It will also mix all of these inputs at the same time which can be really nice. I use this feature pretty much daily when I am playing console games with friends. I am also on call for work pretty frequently, and the Bluetooth feature will allow me to answer and talk to people through my headset and mic without changing anything.

The software is an imperfect thing, and can cause frustrations. My experience has also not been completely problem free, but the device consolidation has been great. I just wish that Creative had charged a bit more and supported a few more things. I would have loved to have a couple of optical inputs, USB microphone support for consoles, 5.1 passthrough over the optical output, and DTS. In the end, I also wish it wasn't a Creative product because the driver & firmware updates usually come at a glacial pace from them. With all of that said, this is still the best device for the job until another company decides to compete with a similar feature set.
 
Anyone else receive their X7 from this drop?

I've been really pleased with mine. No complaints so far. There was an update for the firmware that I downloaded when I installed the updated software. Perhaps it resolved some issues that others were having with the unit.
 
imyourzero said:
Anyone else receive their X7 from this drop?

I've been really pleased with mine. No complaints so far. There was an update for the firmware that I downloaded when I installed the updated software. Perhaps it resolved some issues that others were having with the unit.
Click to expand...

I've been happy with mine, does everything I was wanting it to do.
 
Has anyone actually performed a quantitative analysis on one of these to see if it really is any better than on-board sound or a PCI-E sound card? The last analysis I read like that the on-board Realtek sound actually had less noise and a better signal to noise ratio than the expensive sound card.
 
Quix said:
The last analysis I read like that the on-board Realtek sound actually had less noise and a better signal to noise ratio than the expensive sound card.
Click to expand...

I would like to see that. Not saying you're incorrect, but seriously, if that were true then there'd be little need for aftermarket solutions. Unless something has changed very recently, most onboard audio (other than on really high-end motherboards) is an afterthought, and that's why there's a market for sound cards and external DAC/amps.

If you use onboard audio to output the signal to an external DAC, it's probably fine. But the analog sections on onboard audio have typically never been anything fantastic, and most lack amplifiers to drive headphones well. On top of that, onboard audio is going to be right there in the midst of the noise of electrical interference from the other components.

I just can't believe that any onboard Realtek (or otherwise) would be better than something like a Xonar STX or Creative ZxR...not to mention external solutions like this one that are built with sound quality in mind (not saying that the X7 is great for high end discriminating audiophiles or anything, but it's way more than just a Realtek chip and a couple of random op-amps).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top