[Maker]

Quote:

SBX Is superior to Dolby Headphone. It trumps it in every department plus it gives legacy support which no DHP card does right. If you're on PC then SBX is the way to go. That's not 100% of the truth however:

 
Is SBX superior even in soundstage? People are reporting that Z serie makes the soundstage much smaller on headphone output. I am trying to figure out whether I should pick Xonar or SB Z. Due to the soundstage issue I think Xonar with Dolby headphones is better, isnt it?

 

[genclaymore]

Depends on the person, I don't like Tru Studio pro that much, I found Dolby Headphone config correctly while using DH1 Ref mode working better for me. Then SBX and CMSS3D headphone.But I found it depends on the headphones I was using.  When I had the AKG 702's I liked Dobly headphone alot more then CMSS3D headphone, Where when I had DT880 pro-250 I liked CMSS3D headphone more then DH. Tru Studio pro seem to be too echoly for me but then It could be the settings, as i still trying out the difference settings.

 

[Axaion]

Depends on the person, I don't like Tru Studio pro that much, I found Dolby Headphone config correctly while using DH1 Ref mode working better for me. Then SBX and CMSS3D headphone.But I found it depends on the headphones I was using.  When I had the AKG 702's I liked Dobly headphone alot more then CMSS3D headphone, Where when I had DT880 pro-250 I liked CMSS3D headphone more then DH. Tru Studio pro seem to be too echoly for me but then It could be the settings, as i still trying out the difference settings.

Thru studio is not the same as SBX Surround apparently, so it cant really be compared like that
@maker, As far as i know, its just the line out being ruined by speaker setup, the headphone port is fine, if you like 5.1, its annoying if you dont, as it resets on reboot and sleep to 5.1, but stereo on it is almost as good as line-out stereo (or better if you dont have a dedicated amp, and your phones need a bit of amp)

 

[watsaname]

I just picked up my sound blaster Z on Saturday and so far I am enjoying it, I think. When I use SBX surround, I don't know really what to think. I feel that it "liven" up everything I am listening to except for VOIP, it kind of makes it sound bad. 
 
What exactly is the use of scout mode. I read the description of it and it just says it makes footsteps sound louder for when you are playing games. When I use it it just seems to turn everything up to very loud levels. Also when you turn it on, it seems to turn off SBX. Are they basically the same thing, just that Scout Mode are specific setting or what? If that is the case why are there profiles for different types of games?
 
I am using a pair of AD700s btw.

 

[genclaymore]

Quote:

Thru studio is not the same as SBX Surround apparently, so it cant really be compared like that
@maker, As far as i know, its just the line out being ruined by speaker setup, the headphone port is fine, if you like 5.1, its annoying if you dont, as it resets on reboot and sleep to 5.1, but stereo on it is almost as good as line-out stereo (or better if you dont have a dedicated amp, and your phones need a bit of amp)

 
I wasn't talking about the 3rd party app that onboards has  the option of using that is limited, I was talking about the Tru Studio pro that is on the Recon 3D card's which is the same exact thing the Creative Z series cards has. The only different is the Z cards has it label as SBX Pro instead of Tru studio pro. I uploaded a pic to show you what i mean. The Z XBX pro can't be that much different then the Recon3D settings for it.
 

 

[Axaion]

I wasn't talking about the 3rd party app that onboards has  the option of using that is limited, I was talking about the Tru Studio pro that is on the Recon 3D card's which is the same exact thing the Creative Z series cards has. The only different is the Z cards has it label as SBX Pro instead of Tru studio pro. I uploaded a pic to show you what i mean. The Z XBX pro can't be that much different then the Recon3D settings for it.

from all comments ive seen of people who tried both, it is not the same, despite the UI being the same but with different colors

 

[Maker]

Quote:

@maker, As far as i know, its just the line out being ruined by speaker setup, the headphone port is fine, if you like 5.1, its annoying if you dont, as it resets on reboot and sleep to 5.1, but stereo on it is almost as good as line-out stereo (or better if you dont have a dedicated amp, and your phones need a bit of amp)

 
from what I understand you can not set he headphones out to stereo. You are forced to use 5.1 which lacks soundstage. Am I wrong?

 

[Axaion]

from what I understand you can not set he headphones out to stereo. You are forced to use 5.1 which lacks soundstage. Am I wrong?

yes, youre wrong, you can set it to stereo/2.0 in windows sound, but it resets back to 5.1 when you reboot or wake from sleep (for 90% or so of users.)

 

[kenammo]

If I understand some of the postings above correctly, some of you are having problems "locking in" your speakers/headphones setting as a default. After reboot, your settings revert to something else. In my ZXR Control Panel, I use the "tools" button (yellow highlight) to open another menu:
 

 
I then choose my default configuration accordingly. It stays locked in after reboots, etc:
 

 
Hope this helps anyone who might be stuck. Cheers!

 

[Axaion]

If I understand some of the postings above correctly, some of you are having problems "locking in" your speakers/headphones setting as a default. After reboot, your settings revert to something else. In my ZXR Control Panel, I use the "tools" button (yellow highlight) to open another menu:




I then choose my default configuration accordingly. It stays locked in after reboots, etc:




Hope this helps anyone who might be stuck. Cheers!

And after all that if you go into Windows Sound, and right click your main output device (for me it just says speakers on Sound Blaster Z) and hit configure, its on 5.1 and not 2.0/stereo, thats the issue were having, you can set it to to 2.0/stereo, but once you reboot/wave from sleep, it defaults back to 5.1 with the headphone port

 

[Maker]

Quote:

yes, youre wrong, you can set it to stereo/2.0 in windows sound, but it resets back to 5.1 when you reboot or wake from sleep (for 90% or so of users.)

 
Ok, I was wrong with this. But even if you set the 2.0, the sound still is not a pure stereo from what I understand. More people stated it really lacks soundstage --->
 
 
Quote:

The sound also changes if you use headphone mode or line out, I prefer lien out because the sound stage is much better. It's a shame that you can't use standard stereo mode when using headphone out and in that case you're stuck with headphone settings (which makes Mirror's Edge sound worse in my opinion).

 
 and
Quote:

 
Yay finally some1 who agrees with me on that. ^^ I always found Creative's headphone setting to have less than ideal soundstage/positioning. Why can't they leave it alone and don't do any processing and have headphone sounding as "stereo" speaker setting which I believe is "untweaked/untouched" from the windows own audio handling system. If I was to criticize the Z-series it would be the inability to pick speaker settings when using headphone out.

 

[Axaion]

Ok, I was wrong with this. But even if you set the 2.0, the sound still is not a pure stereo from what I understand. More people stated it really lacks soundstage --->



 and

I think they used the 5.1(default) option with the headphone port, althought the line-out has slightly better overall quality, so if you have an amp.. no reason to use headphone port at all

 

[Anarion]

yes, youre wrong, you can set it to stereo/2.0 in windows sound, but it resets back to 5.1 when you reboot or wake from sleep (for 90% or so of users.)

Me and my brother belong in the happy 10% then.

@Maker
It's the same difference as in X-Fi cards too. I prefer the stereo mode to headphone mode. The annoying thins is that if you use headphone out, you get the headphone mode in OpenAL games (or when you use Alchemy). Line out doesn't to that but the speaker setup messes up the sound if you use it with headphones (do not install speaker setup and it's fine).

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

I think they used the 5.1(default) option with the headphone port, althought the line-out has slightly better overall quality, so if you have an amp.. no reason to use headphone port at all

 
No, but I actually USUALLY use 5.1 in windows cpanel with all soundcards (but I tested all possible configs ofc to see which works best). The problem here for me personally is unability to pick stereo speakers in the creative config panel with headphone port. With X-Fi and Titanium HD I thought it sounded better using stereo speakers in the driver panel (this is comparable to how Realtek onboard and other soundcards also sounds soundstage wise. Creative's driver-side "headphone" setting to my ears have some kind of signal processing to it and have always hurt soundstage, it becomes a more "pure stereo" and smaller soundstage sound, more closed in sounding (compare open vs closed headphones).
 
The line-out didn't work well for me, the digiZoid ZO is more a "signal strengthening" device rather than pure amping to my ears so if source is non-amped it won't either sound nice running out of a line-out port and certainly it was the case here so to me line-out port wouldn't work and it sounded quite bad, much worse than if I plugged ZO to the headphone port, like night and day (ZO works well double-amped, confirmed by lots of people). So using line-out I clearly don't get anywhere $200+ worth source quality, more like $20.
 
So unability to use stereo speakers when using headphone out is what makes me wanna sell the card pretty much unless there's is a hack to fix this.

 

[NamelessPFG]

I don't know about the Z-series just yet, but in my experience with X-Fi cards, I hear NO difference between stereo speaker and headphone modes (X-Fi control panel side) when listening to music. No degradation in sound or anything.
 
In games, on the other hand, everything starts sounding one-dimensional, with no depth, no distinction of front and rear. DS3D/OAL positioning in particular gets really thrown off.
 
Funny how anecdotal experiences work out...