I also setup Zoom H6 with MS capsule, and binaural microphone MS-TFB-2-11847 Master Series by Sound Professionals. The binaural microphones were connected to mic input 1 & 2 of Zoom H6, using a DIY cable. Input 1 & 2 phantom powers set to 12 VDC. The binaural mics were positioned in my ears during recording. E-MU XM7 midrange and treble sound smooth and balanced. The treble is not as transparent and airy as the Chane A1rx-c ribbon tweeter, but still has good upper treble extension. Vocal sounds full and natural. I really like vocal sound from XM7, smooth, full bodied with good detail and clarity. DIY Desktop PC: Gigabyte GA-H77-D3H-MVP motherboard, Intel i7-3770, 16 GB RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1.

With its bundled 24V, 2.91A power adapter, it can deliver up to 27 watts per channel to 8-ohms passive speakers and up to 38 watts per channel to 4-ohms passive speakers. [4]The microphone input is mono. Quality is just average and rather noisy when using mic boost. Stereo microphone input with better quality microphone pre-amplifier is recommended to be the future improvement in the next model of Sound Blaster X series. Enable bass management in Stereo 2.0/2.1 speaker configuration, to use the subwoofer channel when required. Bass level is more or less comparable between the 3, but on micro iDSD headphone output, bass sounds dryer and harder with short decay, therefore bass doesn't sound as full & pleasant as the micro iCAN and SB X7 headphone output. Both micro iCAN and SB X7 have more pleasant bass decay, more natural sounding bass rumble and vibration without sacrificing bass texture. But both micro iDSD headphone output and SB X7 have slightly punchier and tighter bass than the micro iCAN. So for bass, I do slightly prefer SB X7 bass over the ifis, combining the punchy and tight bass with natural decay.

For midrange and vocal, SB X7 sound signature is again, in between micro iCAN and micro iDSD. micro iCAN vocal sounds smoother while micro iDSD leans to analytic. Low gain - volume 100% - eq +12 dB @ 250 Hz (50 Hz automatically reduced for optimum loudness ratio to 250 Hz): Detail and transient are excellent, music feel snappy and lively, very clear and detailed. I guess the high level of detail and clarity probably useful for gaming. Overall the tonal balance is very natural with great clarity and transparency. One of the main reasons for me personally to move away from soundcards and step into the world of USB DACs are the drivers.

Others

Standard unbalanced line input maximum input voltage is 2 Vrms. SB X7 line input can only take 2 Vrms without clipping when the input volume is set to 50%. At 100% input volume, maximum input voltage is only 1 Vrms. I guess the extra 6 dB input gain is to accommodate some low output sources. Anyway, what's important is the sound quality. let me save you some time and money....the ZXR is a class of its own...the AE9 sound too much synthetic, restrained compared to the ZXR, the AE9 sounds lifeless compared to the ZXR. Microsoft® Windows® 10 32/64-bit, Windows® 8.1/8.0 32/64-bit, Windows 7 32/64-bit, Windows Vista® 32/64-bit SP1 or higher

I did test and confirm that the 'SPDIF-In Direct' accepts and plays SPDIF optical signal with sampling rate all the way up to 24bit - 192kHz, including 88.2kHz & 176.4kHz. For the test, I use my RME HDSP Hammerfall sound card in my desktop PC that is able to output SPDIF optical signal up to 24bit - 192kHz, connected to SB X7 optical input. It is Creative Technology Limited's first USB audio device that supports stereo passive speakers. Like the Sound Blaster ZxR, it allows its op-amps to be swapped. The device does not have an encoder but can decode Dolby Digital 5.1 signals. Even when using multi-driver IEMs such my Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10, DUNU DN-1000 and DN-2000, that supposedly should be easier to hear the difference, the sonic differences is still very small. UE TF10 gets muddy and dull on high output impedance amplifier, but that is starting slowly from 5 ohms and above. The 2.2 ohm output impedance of the standard edition is practically low enough to get great sound from TF10, and other multi-driver IEMs. The following is example of the profile script that we can save as xml file. It gives us the info of what is stored in the profile, and what is not: stars for the speaker output sound quality using the standard 69.84 watts power adapter, and 4 stars when using the high power 144 watts power adapter.

Sound Quality and Performance

With the optional 24V, 6A power adapter sold separately, it can drive 4-ohms passive speakers at up to 50 watts per channel.

I really love the transparency & clarity of Chane A1rx-c. The treble from ribbon tweeters sounds really impressive. Overall tonality is quite linear; bass is a little shy as compared to XM7 and BS22, but treble is more transparent with better overall clarity. A little sibilant revealing for bright recording, but not really prone to sibilant. Chane A1rx-c really shines on Classical music. Be really careful when unplugging the op-amp. Op-amp pins / legs are easily bent when we are not careful. Creative Sound Blaster X7 Dac-Amp ราคา คุ้มค่าแบบสุดๆ ยากที่จะหาสินค้าใดหรือแบรนด์ใดมาเทียบเทียมจริงๆ ด้วยราคาเท่านี้แต่ความสามารถที่มาแบบคุณ 10 ต้องบอกเลยว่าทำได้สมกับมาตรฐานแบรนด์จริงๆ ไม่ว่าจะด้วยการออกแบบที่ดูเท่ รูปทรงสามเหลี่ยมพร้อมขาตั้งหูฟัง การเชื่อมต่อที่ให้มามากมายและครบครันทั้งแบบมีสาย รวมไปถึงแบบไร้สาย ชิปภายในที่เลือกใช้แต่ระดับท๊อป ขับเสียงได้แบบระดับ Hi-Res การส่งสัญญาณที่ทำได้ไวมากๆ ไม่ว่าสัญญาณจะมีขนาดใหญ่ขนาดไหนก็ส่งได้สบายๆ แอมป์ขั้นสุดยอดที่ขับเสียงได้ถึง 100 Watt โหมดการปรับเสียงที่ปรับให้เหมาะกับการใช้งานแทบทุกชนิด ทั้งเล่นเกม ดูฟนัง หรือฟังเพลง หากคุณมีลำโพงหรือหูฟังเทพๆ สักตัวมาใช้คู่กัน คอมพิวเตอร์ของคุณก็จะกลายเป็นระบบโรงหนังย่อมๆ อย่างแน่นอน รายละเอียดทั่วไป If Dolby Digital signal is detected, the Sound Blaster X7 is able to decode it. It will display a solid white LED on the Dolby Digital indicator. There is calibration option for the 5.1 speaker setup. I didn't test this feature as I don't have any 5.1 setup. SB X7 has 2 gain settings, normal gain and high gain. At normal gain, the maximum output voltage is approximately 2.1 Vrms, and 6.6 Vrms at high gain. With the IEMs I use for testing, useful range of volume control is up to around 40%, which is quite sufficient.High power, 144 watts power adapter, while the standard edition comes with the 69.84 watts power adapter. while the AE9 is sure a clean and very controlled soundcard, with all those filters options(roll of etc) in soundblaster command, the sound is sure controlled, well organized, but sorry creative...the ZXR with the right opamps is a class of its own.. think of more like the ZXR is the analog choice while the AE9 is the digital version. Overall sound quality from PC is better, better detail and dynamic. Bass is stronger and midrange sound fuller when playing from PC. Profile is a really smart feature from the control panel, and I think it will be very useful when there is a dedicated button for switching between profiles at the front panel of the SB X7. We have a dedicated button for SBX, why not one more for switching profiles? Or probably profiles data is not stored in the SB X7 memory? Not necessary all the profiles, but let say the top 3 or 4 profiles are selectable from the front panel. I suggest Creative to consider a dedicated profile selector button for the next model of SB X series. ifi micro iDSD, Filter: Bit-Perfect, Power mode: Normal, iEMatch: High Sensitivity. Line Out: Direct.