New product from Creative--Soundblaster X7

tordogs

Gawd
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Mar 25, 2010
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Just saw this external outfit from Creative--wonder how it might work as opposed to an internal sound card. Thought at first it was a new sound card. Any thoughts? Not sure if there has been a post about it already.

It could be pretty pricey (read $399+ somewhere) but do like the idea of the integrated amp so one can use passive speakers with it. Curious to see how it is on release.

http://www.soundblaster.com/X7/
 
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What a trip... I'm definitely curious to test one out but, I hesitate to think it will be all that great.
 
This could be interesting once someone does a tear down and figures out what DAC and AMP are inside of it.
 
This could be interesting once someone does a tear down and figures out what DAC and AMP are inside of it.

You think they're lying in the link posted?

Burr-Brown PCM1794 127dB digital-to-analog converter (DAC)
Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 600Ω headphone amplifier
Burr-Brown PCM4220 high-performance, two-channel 123dB analog-to-digital (A/D) converter

The amp is a class-d 2x35watt device it seems. To 4 ohms it gives 2x50W.
 
You think they're lying in the link posted?

Burr-Brown PCM1794 127dB digital-to-analog converter (DAC)
Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 600Ω headphone amplifier
Burr-Brown PCM4220 high-performance, two-channel 123dB analog-to-digital (A/D) converter

The amp is a class-d 2x35watt device it seems. To 4 ohms it gives 2x50W.

I looked for the specs, but wasn't able to easily find them through all the marketing fluff. Thank you for posting. The amp is the esteemed TPA3116. This is overpriced at $400, but around $300 this would be an excellent deal and provide an all-in-one setup of some exceptional components.
 
I saw that too and will be keeping an eye. I have a hard time believing Creative can make something other than a decent soundcard honestly. $400 or not...

and can you imagine the drivers....
 
Their software has not been an issue since the Z series came out.

I do think that it is overpriced atm.
 
as long as it's not a piece of shit like every other creative product, it's worth the price premium because of the extraordinary combination of features
 
So this has all the features of an internal sound card? And frees up space in my PC for more video cards? Sign me up!*

*When it goes on sale. $400 is way overpriced in my opinion.
 
So this has all the features of an internal sound card? And frees up space in my PC for more video cards? Sign me up!*

*When it goes on sale. $400 is way overpriced in my opinion.

Xonar U7 = cheap amp-less version? Bought one awhile ago, better than I thought it would be.

With the quality of powered speakers in that price range I question why they bothered with an amp that I have a hard time believing is of any quality. Hope I'm proven wrong.
 
Xonar U7 = cheap amp-less version? Bought one awhile ago, better than I thought it would be.

With the quality of powered speakers in that price range I question why they bothered with an amp that I have a hard time believing is of any quality. Hope I'm proven wrong.

You are proven wrong. Google TPA3116 and read do some reading on audio forums.
 
Did, mostly I see that it's another nice little $20-$50 amp.
Which don't turn me on inside a $400-$500 dac but considering what the profit margin is likely intended to be I could see that being about right.
For $200ish it might be a different story.

Either way I'm eagerly awaiting some serious reviews from the audio community, but I have a hard time trusting CL to make even budget-fi gear. Good implementation can make a good part suck, or a mediocre part good. Time will tell I guess.

And I was questioning, not making a statement. wrong lol.. :)
 
Wow, not a bad looking device.

Might be worth a buy, gimme it around $349 or cheaper and I think its dealable.
 
I don't want to be that guy, but: IMO, the fact that Creative insists on using the words "kickass" and "pwn" in the ad copy for this thing doesn't help its case. And that said, it also doesn't help that I'm interpreting this monstrosity as less "external DAC" and more "abstractly designed stereo receiver"; I think it's kind of priced itself out of both categories, though its being at least decidedly smaller than a full-blown receiver might be the one thing saving it on that front. It just seems like...overkill.
 
I am really interested in this as a way to power two book shelf speakers. It would take up much less room than a traditional stereo receiver.

It does seem to be priced about twice what it should be though. I don't see why it should cost twice what a larger stereo receiver does.
 
I'm curious to see how this performs when set against an internal solution like the ZxR + OPAMPs. Motherboard layouts seem to be continually placing the PCIe 1x slot in the most random of locations (last one that was even remotely sensible was the EVGA X58 Classified boards), and I know in my rig I've had to purchase an extension cable to mount the card sideways in the HAF XM, which has been having a slight impact on airflow. If this thing is reliable enough - which is a lot to ask of a Creative product - then it might be worth it.
 
Little futuristic looking thing! Headphones rack is a neat touch though!
 
Creative stuck in the late 90's era marketing!

I would've bought this in the late 90s, when I was in my early thirties. Now the gamerz-marketing turns me off. It may have decent h/w and specs, but this seems targeted to someone with more disposable income than sense.

Oh, and get off my lawn.
 
Ultra High Fidelity Digital Audio Superhighway?

Pass on that cheese. Not sure if serious.
 
It looks like it could actually be a quality product... but zero chance it replaces my Schiit stack.
 
I am dumping my ZxR card for this as I have been having trouble ever since upgrading to 4K with the ZxR swapping the audio channels all around during a game session. It is particularly bad with The Crew. I have two 780 Classifieds running at 100% to output about 40 to 50 FPS which might be bottlenecking the PCI bus. Prior to this, with my old display, I never pushed the PCI bus very hard.

If I switch the graphics from Ultra to Medium, the problem doesn't occur. I also pulled the ZxR out and tried the internal motherboard audio, and no issue, so Creative has some inherent issues with their drivers. A few other people have started reporting this problem as well in the Creative Forums and I imagine it will only get worse as more people start hammering their PCI busses.
 
I am dumping my ZxR card for this as I have been having trouble ever since upgrading to 4K with the ZxR swapping the audio channels all around during a game session. It is particularly bad with The Crew. I have two 780 Classifieds running at 100% to output about 40 to 50 FPS which might be bottlenecking the PCI bus. Prior to this, with my old display, I never pushed the PCI bus very hard.

If I switch the graphics from Ultra to Medium, the problem doesn't occur. I also pulled the ZxR out and tried the internal motherboard audio, and no issue, so Creative has some inherent issues with their drivers. A few other people have started reporting this problem as well in the Creative Forums and I imagine it will only get worse as more people start hammering their PCI busses.

The channel swap thing started happening to me recently as well, when I went from SLI to Tri-SLI. I noticed an updated driver in Windows update, and installing that seemed to work. Supposedly it's part of a new driver set for Creative's Z series, but not officially out for the ZxR...something about slightly muffling the audio, but I haven't noticed.

However, if you are interested in the X7, it looks like Creative's holiday coupon for 30% off applies to it. Makes it $279 instead of $399. I don't think they intended that.

Someone's gonna get fired :D
 
The channel swap thing started happening to me recently as well, when I went from SLI to Tri-SLI. I noticed an updated driver in Windows update, and installing that seemed to work. Supposedly it's part of a new driver set for Creative's Z series, but not officially out for the ZxR...something about slightly muffling the audio, but I haven't noticed.

However, if you are interested in the X7, it looks like Creative's holiday coupon for 30% off applies to it. Makes it $279 instead of $399. I don't think they intended that.

Someone's gonna get fired :D

You just saved me $120. THANKS!. I already had it ordered from Amazon for $399 but I went ahead and ordered another from Creative directly. I will just return the Amazon one and pocket the extra $120.
 
You just saved me $120. THANKS!. I already had it ordered from Amazon for $399 but I went ahead and ordered another from Creative directly. I will just return the Amazon one and pocket the extra $120.


What code are you guys referring to?
 
They only review psu's, motherboards and like 1 or 2 other things. Very basic reviews here. It works for them so they stick with it. But yes, I think everyone would love to see different hardware reviewed including this.
 
I might have actually considered this a few months back when I upgraded my audio gear, it checks most of the boxes I was looking for. I ended up with a pair of powered Kanto bookshelf speakers that have three or four inputs, a remote, and bluetooth, and a Schiit Modi/Magni pair, for about what they are asking for that thing. I think I win in two channel....
 
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