Gamma
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Post by Gamma on Jan 25, 2018 9:42:04 GMT -5
illram How much does the A16 cost? I couldn't find it... though based on the price of the uhh A8... rabbit hole indeed! It does sound like pretty cool tech. I've been on my Mixamp 5.8 (though the wirless doesn't really do anything for me at this point as I've abandoned the couch life for gaming). I've considered getting the X7. But for that price I kind of want it to easily handle at least Xbox and PC at the same time. And I'm not sure it's really good for mixing chat audio in. It seems like it has enough inputs that with a few wires I could maybe make it work. But that's the thing, even though the Astro Mixamp isn't amazing quality, it does what it needs to do, and it has a dial for chat audio vs game audio. I'd love to upgrade my overall audio quality but not at the expense of that utility. Maybe there are more options these days. I too am a believer in virtualized surround sound. The Mixamp does a solid job there. I've been using Dolby Atmos on the PC side and it's worked well there, and could potentially work well on Xbox for me as well so I could consider going for a headphone amp that doesn't do the surround sound. Ideally I'd have something where I could hook up a desktop mic, have it switch between PC and Xbox at the touch of a button, and maybe also be able to mix and match other audio streams. Say an Amazon Echo. With buttons. On the front. Not a Foxtroting Android App. Speaking of high end audio stuff. So Dolby Atmos and various competitors added ceiling speakers... which is great. What about sound from below? Maybe that's something that isn't useful for movies but it seems like it would be nice for games. Seems like surround sound is in an OK place on consoles right now but the PC side is still a bit wack. The obvious example I can think of is PUBG, behind you sounds like in front of you (though it sounds good on the Xbox version). I've noticed it with other games at times as well. I don't think it's the Atmos for Headphones thing letting me down, I think it's the game not providing a 5.1 or 7.1 or whatever to begin with. Yeah, sound is definitely a frustrating topic. I'm willing to throw money at the problem if only I could figure where! What is your exact gripe with the mixamp sound quality? The amplification or the Dolby algorithm? I mean, dolby headphones will never "sound good" afaik. I use it to get an advantage, I will never use it for music/movies personally. That said, if you are looking for an amp ugrade, daisy chaining a Fiio could resolve your problems. Another great option is actually buying an AV receiver.... I had one and it worked better than the mixamp. They can be found quite cheap if you don't mind 2nd hand. All you need is 2 inputs and dolby headphones. For me the problem is space (living room), but maybe you are not limited in space if you sit behind a desk. Out of interest what would you personally use for movies? Been using my mixamp with hd598s for gaming over the past few years, (as a result of this thread actually) but looking to upgrade Got the akg k712 and looking to pair it with the Schiit stack (dac/amp) for music For movies I use the Philips Fidelio X2HR but with the mixamp for dolby headphone I'm currently looking for a device that can decode both dolby and DTS that I can use with my cable box/set top box/console. The smyth a16 seems perfect for movies, but think its far too down the audiophile sinkhole for me (currently)
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qupie
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Post by qupie on Jan 25, 2018 10:29:45 GMT -5
I would not use any post processing on movies or music (other than some simple crossfeed or eq maybe). Have you tried to deactivate DH on the mixamp when you watch movies (might not be the best comparison though, mixamp is probably not a really good amp).
I have never found the sound to be better and more engaging or realistic with DH activated. I use it simply because of the advantage it gives in positional ques and I am a try-hard in video games. Your millage may vary, but I would test with and without DH and see if that actually gives you anything beneficial for movies.
DTS headphones decoding is very rare, I think some exist but they are not cheap.
Congrats on the K712 btw! My budget didn't allow it back then, and I am very happy with my 512 currently, but that is a sweet pair. You should try and combine that with you mixamp as well to see which headset you like better for gaming! Both are top notch.
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Gamma
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Post by Gamma on Jan 25, 2018 12:15:48 GMT -5
I would not use any post processing on movies or music (other than some simple crossfeed or eq maybe). Have you tried to deactivate DH on the mixamp when you watch movies (might not be the best comparison though, mixamp is probably not a really good amp). I have never found the sound to be better and more engaging or realistic with DH activated. I use it simply because of the advantage it gives in positional ques and I am a try-hard in video games. Your millage may vary, but I would test with and without DH and see if that actually gives you anything beneficial for movies. DTS headphones decoding is very rare, I think some exist but they are not cheap. Congrats on the K712 btw! My budget didn't allow it back then, and I am very happy with my 512 currently, but that is a sweet pair. You should try and combine that with you mixamp as well to see which headset you like better for gaming! Both are top notch. Hmm, I haven't no. I will give it a try in fact and see if I notice a significant enough difference. I wasn't aware post-processing harmed audio quality And about the k712s, Thanks! I listen to a lot of classical music and film soundtracks/scores, and so for that the K712s are simply amazing I currently amp them with the fiio a5 and they feel amply amped. The folks on head-fi swear that they're difficult to drive but honestly my s8 alone can get them to painful listening levels. Additionally they supposedly do not sound their best with my setup, and scale in clarity with amp quality - but I'm dubious. Planning to get the schiit stack as soon as the schiit eu store has it in stock, then I'll see In terms of gaming the x2s and k712s are both supposed to be excellent, when I get back on monday I'll boot up BO3 and see if they can top the HD598s. Though I'm tempted to setup the 360 and try them with MW2
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Post by illram on Jan 26, 2018 0:36:11 GMT -5
Do you guys watch movies on your Xbox or on Windows? If so give Atmos for headphones or Sonic a try and see if it works. It's hit or miss but it simplifies things a lot if your content is compatible. The stereo downmix will output to whatever you put in your chain, as long as it is not in turn messing with the downmix. So for example you could feed Atmos for headphones from your Xbox via optical, or from your PC via USB, to a DAC with thos inputs and then to an amp and then out to something that sounds good with an amp, like the K712. Or output from the PC lineout straight to an amp.
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qupie
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Post by qupie on Jan 26, 2018 3:19:45 GMT -5
The only time I watch movies with headphones is when I am on the road. I don't have 8x10" woofers in my living room for nothin yo
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Gamma
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Post by Gamma on Jan 26, 2018 9:18:06 GMT -5
Do you guys watch movies on your Xbox or on Windows? If so give Atmos for headphones or Sonic a try and see if it works. It's hit or miss but it simplifies things a lot if your content is compatible. The stereo downmix will output to whatever you put in your chain, as long as it is not in turn messing with the downmix. So for example you could feed Atmos for headphones from your Xbox via optical, or from your PC via USB, to a DAC with thos inputs and then to an amp and then out to something that sounds good with an amp, like the K712. Or output from the PC lineout straight to an amp. Oh that sounds cool, I use my xbox. So would it work if I DL the dolby atmos codec from MSstore, optical to mixamp, turn off dolby headphone on mixamp, and then mixamp to k712
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Post by Pegasus Actual on Jan 26, 2018 17:53:42 GMT -5
You can definitely turn off your Dolby on MixAmp and then feed it Dolby Atmos from the Xbox... I didn't try that with any Atmos games but for regular surround games my MixAmp processing sounded better. The Atmos thing sounded way better on my PC than it did on my Xbox for some reason. Maybe I'll try it again, I have upgraded to 1X since then though I don't know if that had any sound related upgrades. And, no I don't watch movies with headphones. Though it might be an upgrade for me with the right setup. Close quarters apartment living means I watch stuff at a modest volume and often turn on subtitles just in case. Sad to be sure but I'm only like 60 yards from really good tacos so I take the good with the bad. What is your exact gripe with the mixamp sound quality? The amplification or the Dolby algorithm? I mean, dolby headphones will never "sound good" afaik. I use it to get an advantage, I will never use it for music/movies personally. That said, if you are looking for an amp ugrade, daisy chaining a Fiio could resolve your problems. Another great option is actually buying an AV receiver.... I had one and it worked better than the mixamp. They can be found quite cheap if you don't mind 2nd hand. All you need is 2 inputs and dolby headphones. For me the problem is space (living room), but maybe you are not limited in space if you sit behind a desk. I think the Dolby actually sounds pretty decent for games. I'm running HD595s and my MixAmp puts out just about enough volume (though it does hiss a little when you get close to max). If I upgrade to something with higher impedance I know it won't be enough. My end game setup would be something where I could quickly and easily mix chat volume with game volume for both PC and Xbox on the same device. And a toggle between the two. Right now the MixAmp does pretty good with Xbox, but I do think it could be a little more powerful. Maybe just upgrading from my wireless MixAmp to one of the newer wired models would help. I basically use my wireless as a wired at this point anyway. The PC side is where the real problems are. Right now if I plug in my headphones and mic, those devices take over. And Dolby Atmos automatically turns on, which is great. But getting good balance for chat versus games is trash. I haven't even come up with a decent software solution let alone the awesomeness that is a simple balance knob. I do really want that unified setup though. Something where nice headphones and maybe like a Blue Yeti mic are just plugged in full time, maybe a switch for Xbox vs PC side, and maybe a one click situation on my system tray to go between speakers and headphones... The way it is now as of the first Creator's Update for Win 10 is much better than before. Where I had to manually turn on headphones after plugging them into my PC and then manually enable or disable surround processing, which would often report the incorrect on/off state and was just a general nightmare to deal with. Also, wouldn't feeding MixAmp output into a better Amp kind of defeat the purpose? As in, the audio has already been sullied by the filthy peasant MixAmp? That may just be my misguided impression on how this shit works rather than the reality.
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Post by kylet357 on Jan 26, 2018 22:04:56 GMT -5
I got a Corsair Pro headset, and with the software as well they sound amazing. The software allows you to enable surround and change the EQ settings to your preference. I recommend them for PC gaming, and they're pretty good on console (PS4) as well.
The ones I have are wired but you can get them wireless as well.
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Post by kylet357 on Jan 26, 2018 22:26:07 GMT -5
i used corsair pro for like two weeks and it was honestly one of the least comfortable things ive ever put on my head sennheisers game one/zero are really good quality as far as headphone+mic combos go without being like 400 dollars I've liked mine so far. They're built quite sturdily (compared to my previous A40s and various Turtle Beaches I've owned) and I've found mine to be comfortable.
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Post by illram on Jan 26, 2018 23:14:05 GMT -5
sennheisers game one/zero are really good quality as far as headphone+mic combos go without being like 400 dollars Yes, this. PC37X on Massdrop are basically GameOne's for cheaper ($119). For connecting to a controller they'll need the TRRS-->Mic+headphone out adapter.
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Gamma
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Post by Gamma on Jan 27, 2018 11:08:18 GMT -5
Do you guys watch movies on your Xbox or on Windows? If so give Atmos for headphones or Sonic a try and see if it works. It's hit or miss but it simplifies things a lot if your content is compatible. The stereo downmix will output to whatever you put in your chain, as long as it is not in turn messing with the downmix. So for example you could feed Atmos for headphones from your Xbox via optical, or from your PC via USB, to a DAC with thos inputs and then to an amp and then out to something that sounds good with an amp, like the K712. Or output from the PC lineout straight to an amp. What if a game or movie only supports say dolby 5.1 or pro logic etc, will it just play in stereo or would it also decode those too?
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Post by illram on Jan 28, 2018 13:33:11 GMT -5
Atmos should decode any Dolby surround but I'm not sure if it will do it accurately or if it will try and upmix the 5 channels to Atmos' 10 channels. Not sure if Sonic does the same. I do know Sonic works with Infinite Warfare and WWII, which do not advertise Sonic support, so perhaps it also decodes Dolby.
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qupie
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Post by qupie on Jan 30, 2018 5:48:04 GMT -5
You can definitely turn off your Dolby on MixAmp and then feed it Dolby Atmos from the Xbox... I didn't try that with any Atmos games but for regular surround games my MixAmp processing sounded better. The Atmos thing sounded way better on my PC than it did on my Xbox for some reason. Maybe I'll try it again, I have upgraded to 1X since then though I don't know if that had any sound related upgrades. And, no I don't watch movies with headphones. Though it might be an upgrade for me with the right setup. Close quarters apartment living means I watch stuff at a modest volume and often turn on subtitles just in case. Sad to be sure but I'm only like 60 yards from really good tacos so I take the good with the bad. The quality difference between xbox and pc might be a couple of reasons, but one of them might be because you use a different cable. Optical cable for example can only sent 5.1 when compromised to bitstream, which is objectively inferior to true 5.1 PCM. Optical cables simply do not have enough bandwidth to sent full 5.1 PCM. Your PC might use a different cable that is capable of full 5.1 (like HDMI).
I don't know if your mixamp supports Atmos at all honestly. It might not even "see" or use it for dobly headphones processing, so it might be best to disable it on the source (xbox/PC). You might want to check up on that. What is your exact gripe with the mixamp sound quality? The amplification or the Dolby algorithm? I mean, dolby headphones will never "sound good" afaik. I use it to get an advantage, I will never use it for music/movies personally. That said, if you are looking for an amp ugrade, daisy chaining a Fiio could resolve your problems. Another great option is actually buying an AV receiver.... I had one and it worked better than the mixamp. They can be found quite cheap if you don't mind 2nd hand. All you need is 2 inputs and dolby headphones. For me the problem is space (living room), but maybe you are not limited in space if you sit behind a desk. I think the Dolby actually sounds pretty decent for games. I'm running HD595s and my MixAmp puts out just about enough volume (though it does hiss a little when you get close to max). If I upgrade to something with higher impedance I know it won't be enough. My end game setup would be something where I could quickly and easily mix chat volume with game volume for both PC and Xbox on the same device. And a toggle between the two. Right now the MixAmp does pretty good with Xbox, but I do think it could be a little more powerful. Maybe just upgrading from my wireless MixAmp to one of the newer wired models would help. I basically use my wireless as a wired at this point anyway. The PC side is where the real problems are. Right now if I plug in my headphones and mic, those devices take over. And Dolby Atmos automatically turns on, which is great. But getting good balance for chat versus games is trash. I haven't even come up with a decent software solution let alone the awesomeness that is a simple balance knob. I do really want that unified setup though. Something where nice headphones and maybe like a Blue Yeti mic are just plugged in full time, maybe a switch for Xbox vs PC side, and maybe a one click situation on my system tray to go between speakers and headphones... The way it is now as of the first Creator's Update for Win 10 is much better than before. Where I had to manually turn on headphones after plugging them into my PC and then manually enable or disable surround processing, which would often report the incorrect on/off state and was just a general nightmare to deal with. Also, wouldn't feeding MixAmp output into a better Amp kind of defeat the purpose? As in, the audio has already been sullied by the filthy peasant MixAmp? That may just be my misguided impression on how this shit works rather than the reality. For the Hissing and amping problems on the mixamp, I don't have any of those (and my headphones are a lot higher impedance). I don't use the chat mix function on the mixamp though, I simply use the original PS4 mic plugged in the controller (like phone buds) and attached them to my headphones cable. The audio mix between voice and game volume is perfectly fine that way. That means the mixamp is not burdened with the post processing and it gives me plenty of volume (I can set the small nob all the way to game). As for why an additional amp still adds value: Mainly because of volume, but also because of redundancy. Amplifiers are not made to play at the max volume. In some receivers like my old Marantz, you even see it in the volume. It could go from -70 dB (bassically 0 sound) all the way to 0 dB (very loud but with a guarantee of no loss in quality) to +10 (Mega loud with my setup, but the sound quality will suffer). I imagine something similar happens in the mixamp. So the above might solve the loudness and hiss for your Xbox setup (but you loose the option to alter audio mix on the fly, which seems important to you, but it might just be fine on Xbox). I don't know which mixamp you have, but you could connect the PC via USB and the Xbox via optical?
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Post by Pegasus Actual on Feb 1, 2018 14:20:18 GMT -5
It's a MixAmp 5.8. So PC on USB and Xbox via optical doesn't quite work. Or rather it might, but PC needs to be on optical as well via a switch. This thing was designed in the 360 and PS3 era. As such it has a USB chat cable for PS3 and a normal analog cable that works for Xbox 360, and also works fine on my One X with the chat adapter and a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter or whatever it is.
I believe I've tried using the USB chat cable on my PC at some point, and even though it was detected as a device I wasn't getting any sound through it nor was it recording my mic. I think I might know part of the problem, I forget how it works, but I think one short circuits the other. If the analog connector is plugged in then the USB doesn't work at all. Or something like that. That's a bit of a problem as a switch doesn't really help in this case. It's all a little weird as the USB connection runs from the wireless base station (so as to plug into a PS3 console) and the analog cable runs from the wireless receiver (so as to plug into a 360 controller).
I guess another option would be a cheap USB dongle-style sound card dedicated to voice input/output. Then having a switch for the analog and the optical. I'd leave the USB sound as permanent communications channel, but I'd still have to manually change between sound devices in Windows when switching between headphones and speakers. Still that would let me use a nice desktop or boom mic on both systems very easily. For something like Rocket League my preferred setup would be speakers + a mic anyway.
I still don't see a perfect solution. I might buy some cables and a sound card to do some tests to see how viable what I described might be.
I still feel like I want to move on to nicer hardware though:
Something better than my current MixAmp. Even if it is just a newer MixAmp. My understanding is still that the Soundblaster X7 can kind of do what a MixAmp does, but it doesn't have a dedicated volume balance knob so I'm not exactly sure how it works. It might be through a phone app that you can mix sources like that? In which case... no thanks. It seems like the current line of MixAmp Pros is a couple of years old. They used to put out a new one like every year. I kind of want a refresh. They are explicitly made in Xbox/PC or PS4/PC varieties which seems kind of weird. I used to prioritize having the setup work on PS4 as well but I don't think I care at all about that now. PS4 can probably live a life of exclusives played on speakers at this point for me.
Something better than my Sennheiser HD595s. The replacement earpads I installed are kind of crap, even though they do seem to be official replacements. The cable is too fucking long and not removable. That and the add-on modmic pro with its own cable is just way too annoying. Especially when I'm constantly switching it between the mixamp and my PC's front panel.
And of course something to replace the ModMic and maybe live on my desk rather than attached to my face.
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Post by Pegasus Actual on Feb 1, 2018 17:27:16 GMT -5
Screw it, ordered an X7 off Amazon, it dropped back under $300 and seems to tick enough boxes. Going to have to think about what other upgrades to my setup are appropriate but I'll evaluate that once it gets here. If anyone has suggestions for open-back headphones a tier or two above HD595s though I'm all ears (no pun intended).
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Post by illram on Feb 1, 2018 19:10:24 GMT -5
Oooooh welcome to the rabbit hole.
Take a look at the Massdrop AKG7XX (same as the AKG Anniversary K702 edition), HE-400i, Fidelo X2, Beyerdynamic DT990... any of those are really really good and affordable (at least in the US) and a step up from the HD595. But, consider trying the HD595 first to see if you hear enough improvement just from the X7.
You want headphones with a decent soundstage and good imaging. The EQ on the X7 will let you mess with the sound to make it more fun (bass) or more competitive (more treble and "sparkle") so don't worry too much about the headphones natural sound.
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Post by Pegasus Actual on Feb 1, 2018 23:50:38 GMT -5
The HD595 is on its way out for more reasons than just sound quality. They sounded pretty good on a PCI-E soundcard that I had a while back, I forgot what it was, compatibility started becoming a nightmare, but it specifically advertised a headphone amp and allowed you to select the impedance of your headphones.
I think my number one concern, aside from being in the super high-end for normies aka like medium-end for rabbits who have gone down holes, is the comfort factor. The HD595s are actually pretty light, the options you are listing are generally heavier by a solid +20%. So that leads me to Senny HD600 or HD650s, which seem like the super obvious one to two steps up from the HD595s, and are actually even slightly lighter according to the specs. I'm trying to cut down on the marathon gaming sessions, but even so, every ounce counts.
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Post by illram on Feb 2, 2018 3:08:00 GMT -5
It's weird, comfort for me is never a thing in headphones. Maybe I don't wear them long enough? I've never worn a headphone I found uncomfortable.
With weight in mind, the K7XX is lighter than the HD595. It sort of feels like it is just resting on your head, it does not clamp.
The issue with the 650 is it has a very narrow soundstage. I have the Massdrop 6XX and on my X7 it sounds great but for positioning purposes stuff is a little congested. But, it's a great headphone for music and just in general. For gaming though I'd say the 7XX is a better bet.
I've never tried the 600 but it's also very popular.
You could also look at the ATH-AD700x. It is light and recommended frequently specifically for positional accuracy. Not sure how much of an improvement it is over the 595 though.
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Gamma
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Post by Gamma on Feb 2, 2018 4:28:31 GMT -5
I'd add that the K712s are very light too, and are great for general media use in addition to gaming
Competitive-wise the general consensus as already mentioned is AD700x or prob HD598
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Gamma
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Post by Gamma on Feb 2, 2018 4:36:21 GMT -5
I'm just wondering, what EQ presets do you use for competitive play and for general gaming? I have the mixamp TR but I only tend to use the default "ASTRO" preset. From the astro blog these are the eq modes: ASTRO: tuned for serious gamers specifically for the A40 Headset. – Flat: bypasses the EQ block. – Balanced: tuned for daily use. – Tournament: tuned for tournament use, and works great with the TR Mod Kits.
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qupie
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Post by qupie on Feb 5, 2018 8:19:27 GMT -5
K7x is probably one of the best headphones around. I don't think they are less competitive compared to AD700 or HD598 (which are really similar to HD595). The K612 pro I own myself is also really really good, slightly more bassy compared to K7xx but cheaper and more "fun" imho. Honestly, to me, they sound more natural, the K7xx line sounds too analytical, at least to my ears. Both the AKG 612 and 7xx are the most comfortable headphones I have ever tried, because of their unique design (and my relatively big head). Don't buy any 2nd hand K7xx though, because the headband on the older models seems to be super horrible with the "bumps". I do think however, that for Pegasus, the sennheiser PC360/Game one/whatever they are called now would be an excellent choice. They are probably one the most no nonsense option, have a great price/quality and have a mic and decent comfortably to boot. Massdrop also has some sweet deals on one of those models. Gamma. I have not tried any of the EQ honestly, the first one (9-12 o clock) seem to be decent. I like to refrain from equalisers, especially on such an "inferior" device like a mixamp. My headphones have a natural to slightly analytical sound signature though, so I can imagine tweeking if you find yours too bassy or not enough bass. My mixamp has 4 settings, I have a very old one though. not even sure if it bypasses the EQ in my current setting. I hope so....
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Post by Pegasus Actual on Feb 7, 2018 3:50:28 GMT -5
So far I like the Soundblaster X7, though it's only hooked up to my PC. Plenty of power, no hissing, sounds good. SBX surround spacing sounds pretty good, and just having access to an EQ setting is a big upgrade over my old mixamp. Hooking it up to the Xbox seems annoying. SPDIF is simple enough, but seems like the mic has to go straight into the controller, and I guess I'll get analog audio by splitting that headset input and running it to the RCA L/R inputs on the back. So the mic is just going to be a thing that is getting constantly swapped. But at least the headphones can stay plugged in full time. I also like the little headphone hanger they give you, though I don't know if I'll have any good place to use it and still be able to access the controls on the front easily.
The volume knob is kind of a wasted opportunity. It does volume.. and then you can push in for mute. Meh. Would much rather have it cycle through other things like the mixer controls. Adjusting my chat volume in the software is a bit clunky but it will be doable. But it's the sort of thing where I'll always have to pull it up before starting if I want quick access. Like, c'mon a secondary knob or push-to-cycle on the big knob could do wonders here.
I like that I can switch between headset and my speakers (on motherboard sound) simply by powering off the X7. But in contrast I'm not sure how much I'm going to like my PC volume coming through while I play Xbox. It might get annoying with audio balance issues. But on the bright side that's a quick and easy way to play music while playing Xbox and the like. Not that I have any game I play on Xbox at the moment where I don't need the top soundwhoring settings anyway... but still not too bad. Can also pair it with my Amazon Echo through Bluetooth and have that play music with voice commands while playing games on PC and then mixing it all on my headset, seems pretty good.
And PC chat is still in a screwy place, where there's that whole Communication Device interface, but games don't really seem to use it, but it probably works for Discord. Still, I'm not getting even half decent mixing options for that unless I pair the X7 through Bluetooth as a different device so that I can kind of control everything in the X7 software.
For that matter, the new Xim Apex appears to be losing some PC features as far as doing your game configs. So I might need to convert to using my phone to do that stuff. And the X7 has a phone app as well. And my now very old Galaxy S5 can use an upgrade. So, time to get new phone and then tether the poor S5 as a permanent XIM and X7 controller under my Xbox monitor? Seems like it solves a number of problems.
Overall I feel good about the purchase and look forward to messing with the setup just as soon as I clean up my desk and rewire some stuff.
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qupie
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Post by qupie on Feb 7, 2018 5:57:34 GMT -5
Damn son, you really need to get your priorities strait with your gadgets. I never thought I would say this, but one can simply have to many gadgets hooked up at one time. Lul.
I get it, I have been in your shoes in expecting features from your hardware (I really want a 5.1 receiver that outputs 5.1 digital pcm to feed into my Mini-DSP for surround sound without going through a DAC and ADC first). But some features, are simply only wanted by a few, and therefore won't be implemented. It sucks, but what are you going to do about it (other than building it yourself).
X7 sounds cool though.
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Post by Pegasus Actual on Feb 7, 2018 14:12:00 GMT -5
What you need to understand is when you play with scrubs like Dumien a lot of times their cheap peasant mics will start barfing static in your ear at random and you want to be able to deal with it as quickly as possible before it gets you killed. It's probably way easier if you don't play with scrubs. Speaking of Dumien I can't believe he just left my nay-saying as the last post in the Fortnite thread, I really expected him to jump to the game's defense at some point.
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Post by TheHawkNY on Feb 8, 2018 11:05:31 GMT -5
What you need to understand is when you play with scrubs like Dumien a lot of times their cheap peasant mics will start barfing static in your ear at random and you want to be able to deal with it as quickly as possible before it gets you killed. It's probably way easier if you don't play with scrubs. Speaking of Dumien I can't believe he just left my nay-saying as the last post in the Fortnite thread, I really expected him to jump to the game's defense at some point. Ugh, you play with those people? The poors?
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Post by Pegasus Actual on Feb 8, 2018 12:58:52 GMT -5
The poors are the worst. If I had known they were allowed on this site I would have never signed up!
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Gamma
True Bro
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Post by Gamma on Feb 9, 2018 10:22:10 GMT -5
Have you noticed a difference in sound quality, or better soundwhoring with the X7 over the mixamp?
Alternatively, I was thinking of getting the X7 instead of the modi2/magni3 so I can use it for both music and gaming. Though I've heard the schiit is far superior music-wise I'm dubious as to how much better it would sound over the X7 esp since I'm using the k712s for music - if anyone has any insight
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Post by Pegasus Actual on Feb 9, 2018 18:34:11 GMT -5
It's better, but like I said some of that might just be the EQ. I need to go back and check some PUBG replays and runthem through with my X7 vs motherboard audio (with Atmos software). There were a couple of times where I felt like it was better and it did me good, but could easily be placebo. I plug in the X7, excited to try out new tech, so obviously I'm focusing more on sound than I normally would be. Xbox PUBG has no replays, and isn't as convenient to switch between setups.
When plugging in my Xbox I do get some sort of ground loop whining noise with both USB to PC and chat audio coming from the controller to the line-in. Maybe rewiring some of my power setup could fix that. That's one area PS4 probably works better with this thing if you connect bluetooth for chat audio.
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Post by illram on Feb 10, 2018 2:33:01 GMT -5
Have you noticed a difference in sound quality, or better soundwhoring with the X7 over the mixamp? Alternatively, I was thinking of getting the X7 instead of the modi2/magni3 so I can use it for both music and gaming. Though I've heard the schiit is far superior music-wise I'm dubious as to how much better it would sound over the X7 esp since I'm using the k712s for music - if anyone has any insight You could get the X7 and output it to the Magni3. It can transmit its surround mix via lineout or optical. I have a Magni 3 and I can tell you it's not a huge difference. Both the X7 and the Magni are actually pretty clinical sounding, they don't add alot that is not there. For surround purposes its heavily Foxtroting with the audio anyway so to me it doesn't matter. Are you guys using surround at 100? I'd recommend that for optimal positioning at the expense of audio fidelity. Also try changing dynamic between full and night to see which you prefer under the Dolby options, and don't use scout mode, which is terrible.
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Gamma
True Bro
Posts: 127
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Post by Gamma on Feb 10, 2018 4:07:14 GMT -5
You could get the X7 and output it to the Magni3. It can transmit its surround mix via lineout or optical. I have a Magni 3 and I can tell you it's not a huge difference. Both the X7 and the Magni are actually pretty clinical sounding, they don't add alot that is not there. For surround purposes its heavily Foxtroting with the audio anyway so to me it doesn't matter. Are you guys using surround at 100? I'd recommend that for optimal positioning at the expense of audio fidelity. Also try changing dynamic between full and night to see which you prefer under the Dolby options, and don't use scout mode, which is terrible. That's fair, my thinking was using the modi/magni for music only - so no surround processing required and stick with the mixamp for console gaming. As Atmos is gaining traction I thought I could do away with a DSP device entirely and hook up the modi/magni to my console use it for music when required and when gaming enable Atmos for headphones. However, on Atmos unsupported content, like BO3, the audio sounds more akin to stereo than legacy dolby, and sound is muddier with positioning harder to discern, to me anyway. So in light of that, my thinking is buying the X7 for my gaming upgrade, and also use it as my dac/amp for critical music listening, if the difference between x7 and M/M is small like you say I suppose the key question now is, are you able to disable dolby headphone on the x7?
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