Cooling is good! The shroud must be left off to make room for the opamps.

Dupe

Hmm you could be right about the power supply and high gain mode. I got a custom power supply from AliExpress and it surprisingly made a big difference for my limited edition x7. Sparkos op amps are an easy upgrade, and a must have for the x7 imo. I also use my x7 for gaming and music...

My x7 with sparkos op amp upgrade and linear power supply sounds absolutely phenominal! Make sure you are using direct mode and high gain mode. the usb input on the back is the highest quality input as far as bit rate goes iirc.

Haven't received them yet. I'll keep you guys updated though.

I have a Philphone on the way, so I am pumped to give them a shot and compare them to my AD2000X and MDR-Z1R. Phil has been awesome to deal with so far!

I’m using my x7 for pc and ps5. Get a Bt-w2 for ps5 for Bluetooth chat and it works flawlessly. I have a couple extra of those too haha. Overall, It’s such a good device , I wonder if they will ever make a proper x7 successor.

Yes. X7 is much much better

I thought I was the only one with backup x7's.....haha but the x5 isn't even close to the x7.

I’ll keep that in mind, thanks!

Sold, sorry. I have an unused sealed one but I haven’t been able to let it go just yet.

I did more testing and was able to narrow it down to a single bit rate causing this ringing. For my setup, the ringing only happens while playing 44.1khz audio via the usb host port. Other bit rates play without issue. Odd....

Mm500 was somehow already sold out and I was ready refreshing the page as soon as it went live….these sales get less and less enticing every year. Only thing I’d want is a 4z or mx4 on a better discount. Maybe the audeze margins are not as good as they used to be

Has anyone tried other dongles besides the w2 that pair with the x7? Do they all provide the same functionality as the w2 via the app etc? For some reason I was under the impression that the w2 was the only one that would seamlessly stay paired with the x7 even after power cycling etc. as well...

Anyone here using the x7 with an iPhone on the new ios17? My x7 control app on iOS won’t open anymore :(

Updates?

Anyone still using the x7 in here with an iPhone on iOS 17? The x7 app doesn’t open for me anymore since upgrading to the newest iOS. I’ve posted on Reddit to the sound blaster subreddit but haven’t heard anything meaningful yet.

Mine exhibits this ringing as well. Did you ever figure out a solution or even a definitive cause? I was doing some testing and my preliminary thoughts seemed to point to specific bit rates causing this ringing sound. But I wasn’t able to reliably replicate this. What lead you to believe this...

what kind of weird behavior is your x7 showing? also, I haven't found a proper x7 successor. x7 reigns king for gaming imo

The x7 with Sparkos OpAmps is an amazing upgrade.

For Sale is a Rare Discontinued Sound Blaster X7 Limited Edition, which is known to be the jack of all spades for gaming and multimedia audiophile sound! I purchased this to backup another x7 that I have, but that one is going strong, so this one must go! Upgradable op amps for ultimate sound...

For sale is a beefy max-spec DC cable from trusted custom cable builder ghentaudio with JSSG360 shielding added, Oyaide gold-plated dc plug, 3% silver solder. Length: 1m, GX16-2(1+) to DC-2.5G Canare 4S8G (OFC) Star Quad, OD 8.3mm, Heavy gauge OFC conductors: 4 x 16awg Cost from ghent ~70...

Nice cable, glws! I would consider it but I'm not quite sure it would work with my MDR-Z1R. The stock cables have 2 rings on the 3.5mm side...

Sheesh, I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger on one of these. From the look of this thread, seems like a nightmare to own....

AliExpress has a couple good options. Feel free to PM for more details, as I don't want to de-rail MLE's thread too much.