Creative Sound Blaster ZxR review

Thank you for the review!

Couple mistakes though. TPA6120A2 is better qualified as the Headphone Amplifier rather than a simple OpAmp. And more importantly, TPA6120A2 is not replaceable unlike the I/V and buffer stage of JRC2114D or LME49710, respectively.

One question, how do you compare the sound of the ZxR to an Asus Essence STX knowing that they have the same headamp, opamp and virtually the same DAC?

By KelGhu on 2 Jan 2013

Incorrect on 3d positional audio over headphones

The Sound Blaster Z, Zx, and ZxR cards do have 3d virtual surround over headphones. This is taken directly from their website: SBX Pro Studio Surround provides immersion control of sounds not just around you, but also
above and below for a full 3D audio experience. Hear the natural sense of audio depth, spaciousness
and stunning 3D surround effects from your audio content. Enjoy an unbelievably true-to-life audio
experience, whether it's over stereo speakers or headphones.

I have the Zx card and have confirmed this setting does exist in the SW and works.

By txfeinbergs on 5 Jan 2013

KelGhu - you're entirely correct about the TPA6120A2, thanks. We don't currently have a reference sample of the Essence STX, but we'll be doing some side-by-side audio quality comparisons with Asus's newer external Essence One audio processors later this month and we'll report back.

By kat_orphanides on 7 Jan 2013

Virtual surround sound

Hi txfeinbergs and thanks for raising the issue of virtual surround sound. We've actually been talking to Creative about this recently.

Due to an oversight, the driver and controller software for the sound card did not originally have virtual surround settings.

Creative's marketing manager informed us last Thursday that "After reading your review we realized that 5.1 virtual headset surround is indeed not available when using our GUI. It is available when going through the Windows sound configuration. We can easily fix this in our software and will be doing so promptly."

We'll be updating the review accordingly.

By kat_orphanides on 7 Jan 2013

Interesting. I wonder if the US driver has a different GUI than the UK driver or maybe it really isn't working as I thought it was. Currently, when I select headphones on the Speakers/Headphones tab, and then go back to the SBX Pro Studio tab, I can put a checkmark in the Surround box. Does this not actually activate the surround mode for headphones? Good review by the way, I am browsing from the US since your review is the only decent one I have found.

By txfeinbergs on 8 Jan 2013

By way of a quick update, I've just got my hands on a release version of the Z (and the release version of the drivers!). There are some significant differences between it and the ZxR - I can immediately see that there aren't any replaceable op-amps on this card. We're unlikely to be doing a full stand-alone review of the rest of the range , but I'll post any relevant addenda here as I encounter them.

By KatOrphanides on 16 Jan 2013

Review date?

"Review Date: 1 Feb 2013"
What? Today's date is January 21st.

By Kimozabi on 21 Jan 2013

Review date?

"Review Date: 1 Feb 2013"
What? Today's date is January 21st.

By Kimozabi on 21 Jan 2013

We've come from the future to warn you about the machines!

(Seriously, though, we've seen a few instances of this particular glitch lately. Our website team is looking into it.)

By kat_orphanides on 22 Jan 2013

Untrue...

"Incorrect on 3d positional audio over headphones
The Sound Blaster Z, Zx, and ZxR cards do have 3d virtual surround over headphones. This is taken directly from their website: SBX Pro Studio Surround provides immersion control of sounds not just around you, but also
above and below for a full 3D audio experience. Hear the natural sense of audio depth, spaciousness
and stunning 3D surround effects from your audio content. Enjoy an unbelievably true-to-life audio
experience, whether it's over stereo speakers or headphones.

I have the Zx card and have confirmed this setting does exist in the SW and works.

By txfeinbergs on 5 Jan 2013 "

To clarify in order not to mislead people... No soundcard is able to provide true 3d sound via stereo headphones and none of the dedicated 3d headphones provide true positional audio either. Creative have featured the 3d sound gimmick for many years but it is unable to project sound in front of the listener. The sound will only ever appear behind or to the sides. None of the review sites test 3d audio properly.

For anyone wanting accurate positional audio that projects 360 degrees you will need surround speakers.

By feathers on 11 Feb 2013