Yeah I agree with this. It's a niche within a niche of the industry, and beyond competing with Dolby or Apple or other "brandname" solutions (that can be used by the big boys to sell updated media, drive consumer lock-in, or push new consumer hardware) I don't get the feeling that there is a ton...

Nice summary. I have tried all of those except Nahimic, although I have not tested any recent Windows Sonic audio. Redscape still is the winner in both quality and ease of use, like you I appreciate how I can use it with any hardware I want. (And the fact that even after they shut down, Ryan...

Not last time I checked, sadly. Ryan still promptly answers support questions though, so anyone lucky enough to have a license is still good. But yeah I would love to try out a similarly great and available competitor (that didn't cost $4000 and didn't screw over presale customers *cough*...

Baldur's Gate 3 surround mix is incredible. Like, one of the best surround games I have heard recently. It is a very common occurrence for me to be in game at a bar or in a shop or whatever and hear some random bump or kid yelling and think it is happening in my house upstairs or behind me etc...

I've used both. I'd say SXFI can make a larger "room" with more discrete front cues (like, audio far out in front of you), and rears can also sound a little farther behind which you may or may not like. It adds to the illusion perhaps but some might not like how big the staging can get maybe...

Yeah this is ultimately what ended my use of the GC7. Redscape surround is almost as good as SXFI (rear cues basically the same) and the ability to pump it out to a superior amp puts it over the top, for sure.

No, SXFi is really good. I just haven't used it since I got Redscape since as Chastity said it is better for options to output to better amps. But, as far as technical aspects of surround quality, SXFi is amazing. Very realistic. More realistic rear ques than the X7. If GC7 firmware issues have...

Can you still download Redscape? If so, that and a decent amp. Soundblaster G6 is a good 2nd choice. Soundblaster GC7 has SXFi which is superior to SBX to my ears, however I haven't been following along with whether they have fixed its various firmware issues that were hampering it as of late.

Oh that sucks. Hope it doesn't break! It's all I use now.

Yep out like $1700 or something. Pretty scummy. They are selling full price units with delivery immediately but telling me they are still intending on fulfilling all preorders.

Still waiting patiently for my pre-order that I made 5 years ago. Narrator: The pre-order never came.

5 years of not getting anything, their financial condition, the fact that James only responds to inquiries involving buying something....I mean I have no expectation of receiving it at this point. My only real resentment is the few updates we have received over the past years in which they...

It should be clear by now that they are never going to fulfill the orders.

Currently use Schiit Modius balanced out to Monoprice THX 887 balanced to either HE6se or HD800S, with Redscape (software on PC) for surround audio. Redscape is very good with surround audio like SXFi, but the ability to basically use it with whatever I want is what made me switch.

I have one. SXFi is fantastic, although I have not used it in a little bit so I cannot speak to any firmware issues that may have cropped up. (I think there may have been some recent issues, don't know if they were resolved.). It allows for use of SXFi on consoles, which is nice. But it does...

I love my Monoprice THX AAA 887. Balanced out to my HD800S, clean power, and affordable. This thing has power for days, even gets my Hifiman HE6se loud which is a feat. (Some people use speaker amps to power these cans...) I have not tried it with my X7 (retired it a bit ago), but power and...

Had no idea the GO blu existed. Excellent review! Surprised the Earstudio ES100 didn't make it into the comparator list. LDAC, APT-X, balanced out, same size (maybe smaller?), half the price and comes with a clip even, lol. But that VOLUME KNOB looks damn sexy, not gonna lie. The little tiny...

Looks like exactly the same as the old SXFI dongle but is $10 more? Same DAC, same amp specs. But branded as a Sound Blaster.

Oh wow they make a boom mic version now? I have the Massdrop one that just has the inline mic (in the cord) and that has been perfectly fine for years of using it for work calls. No complaints from anyone. I presume the boom mic version would be perfectly fine in that case...

Let me know how that goes, I'd love to hear how you do it if you don't mind. I tried it with Audacity following the Sourceforge tutorial, but couldn't get it to record all the channels correctly for some reason. I'm sure its possible but I am unfamiliar with the tools so I just gave up. :(

But you can buy one for $4000 and it will be at your door in a week...

There is no separate ARM (or other CPU) in any SXFI device as far as I know. All it's doing is playing preset convolution and equalization that you downloaded to it from a PC or phone. You could record the same convolution manually. (Which is why it is frustrating that they try to lock in SXFI...

Forgot they updated to gen3 recently. May have to dust off the old gc7. I tried the older sxfi amp (first one) headphone out to my Koss Esp950 (via the electrostat amp), it was fine. Just hate the idea of double amping. But your measurements make me a little more comfortable with the idea for...

Many of us have been complaining about this for a looong time. Not just on the GC7 either, their entire product suite for SXFi seems designed to never output SXFi via any line out signal whatsoever. The farthest I got was their official subreddit moderator telling me that engineering told him...

I love that you can use Redscape with anything. My GC7 is gathering dust on the corner of my desk. If they ever change their lame restriction and allow line out, I might go back.