CREATIVE Sound Blaster X7 USB DAC with Bluetooth Headphone Amplifier

Product Information

Smart Volume seems to be a combination of compressor & equalizer to adjust overall loudness. For me the night mode is useful when listening music at night when I just want to listen to music softly on speaker, but still want to feel the bass. It sounds different then listening with low volume. Bass is more present with smart volume night mode. Sound quality is naturally going to be dependent on what you connect to the X7 and the sources you’re listening to; it can decode Dolby Digital signals and the DAC supports high-resolution, 24bit/192kHz audio. We tested with an array of headphones, including the Philips Fidelio M2BT and the Sennheiser HD 700, which both sounded fantastic. The latter have an impedance of 150 ohms and only required about 30% of maximum volume, so there’s plenty of overhead for more demanding cans. With USB host mode the X7 makes it viable to use more demanding headphones with underpowered devices, such as smartphones, that would otherwise not provide enough volume. the software is another area which the ZXR is more organized in my opinion....the sound through the control module of the ZXR and the AE9 is pretty similar using my soul impact,with the Zxr more spacious and more revealing through headphones, but don't take my opinion on this one, since mainly and mostly I use speakers.(Edifier SB351) Bluetooth connection announcement, "Device connected"&"Device disconnected" can be too loud and annoying. There should be an option to disable it, or replace it with a simple soft sounding tone. The speaker amplifier is utilizing high efficiency TPA3116D2 Class-D audio amplifier. The maximum output power is 2 x 50W @ 4Ω, but also depends on the type of power adapter. Sound Blaster X7 has 2 types of AC-DC power adapter:

After a few weeks with the Sound Blaster X7, I don’t think its hardware features or software offer a must-have draw for gamers with modest audio setups (though I do love its detachable headset stand, as minor a feature as that is). It’s a cool piece of hardware to have on your desk, assuming space isn’t an issue—the large metal volume knob feels great to spin and can mute music with an easy press. It sounds great and has the power to support some serious speakers. Audiophiles will be happy to hear that its op-amps are easily accessible via a flap on the bottom. the software is another area which the ZXR is more organized in my opinion....the sound through the control module of the ZXR and the AE9 is pretty similar using my soul impact, but don't take my opinion on this one, since mainly and mostly I use speakers.(Edifier SB351) Adjust position of speakers and the volume level of each channel for best audio listening experience Settings are also saved into the X7 after changes are made with the Sound Blaster X7 Control app. [1]The X7 can hook up to any PC or laptop via USB, but that’s just the start in terms of connectivity. A digital optical output lets you connect to a set of active speakers, while RCA and 3.5mm connections let you plug in a set of 5.1 analogue speakers. This is a bit limiting, however, if your sound system extends beyond five speakers and a subwoofer. Be really careful when unplugging the op-amp. Op-amp pins / legs are easily bent when we are not careful.

I'm more of an audiophile, and not a gamer, so I won't review X7 from the gaming perspective, but more on SB X7 overall sound quality and main features. And 5.1 configuration was not tested either since I don't have 5.1 receiver and speaker setup.To equalize the loudness, we play pink noise, and measure it using Dayton Audio iMM-6 calibrated microphone and AudioTool application on Samsung Galaxy S4. First we play music on E-MU XM7 and adjust the volume to comfortable listening volume, and then we play 0 dBFS pink noise. Measured pink noise was around 79 dB (flat, no weighting). The equalizer is a smart digital equalizer. Digital equalizer that smartly calculate the available headroom for frequency adjustment, and automatically adjust the whole spectrum, not only the adjusted frequency, to get optimum result and avoid clipping when there is no more headroom available.

The level of clarity, detail retrieval, spacious imaging, clear instrument separation, are all pretty close. Practically, the differences between the 3 headphone outputs are small, and require revealing headphone to distinguish the differences. With warm sounding headphones it will be difficult to distinguish the differences. All 3 headphone outputs have excellent sound quality, with micro iCan and Sound Blaster X7 are preferable over the 'rather dry' micro iDSD headphone output. And please take note, that the Sound Blaster X7 sound signature can be tweaked further by Op-Amp rolling. Bass enhancement sounds good and probably the most useful feature. The range of bass frequency to be boosted is adjustable by the setting of the low pass filter, in the range of 10Hz to 500Hz. Main stereo line output is using Burr-Brown PCM1794, while the surround channels are using 2x Burr-Brown PCM1793. I didn't test the surround channels, only the stereo line output from the Burr-Brown PCM1794. As expected, SB-Axx1™ DSP is a digital mixer, therefore when playing from both Android and PC, music from both will be mixed and we can hear both at the same time. Yulong DA8 is my reference DAC+Amp. DA8 has fuller midrange and bass, more body and weight to the music. Yulong DA8 also slightly smoother and warmer sounding. SB X7 has higher perceived detail and clarity, though Yulong DA8 also has high level of detail and clarity. SB X7 sounds a little analytic when compared to Yulong DA8. Imaging and spaciousness are comparable. I would say for long period of music listening with my reference headphone, Beyerdynamic T1 & Sennheiser HD800, I prefer the Yulong DA8 headphone output. But for warmer headphones such as Audio-Technica M50, I prefer the Sound Blaster X7.What I observed, playing the same songs, streaming from Android (Samsung Galaxy S4, PowerAmp player 2.0.10, equalizer, tone control, & limiter off) through USB Host port, and PC (foobar v1.3.3) through USB port, non-Direct Mode: In comparison to the Sound Blaster X7 Limited Edition, the standard X7 has 2.2 ohm output impedance, while the X7 Limited Edition has around 1 ohm output impedance. High output impedance amplifier mostly affecting multi-way / multi-driver IEM, due to the crossover circuit, and some impedance differences between the drivers. But single driver headphones and IEMs are not prone to a few ohms differences in the output impedance.