Wasnt able to check out your stream, but how do you find the positional cues on the gsx 1000? I honestly just heard about it this weekend and am very interested in it as I have been searching out vss solutions. I currently use waves nx, have you compared the two? I find waves nx to be pretty good, but if there is something better I am definitely interested. I however dont really think I want to buy new headphones just for gaming as I am quite satisfied with my senn hd6xx overall, but I have read that the gsx 1000 is going to be underpowered for those. I am currently using a modi2/magni2 stack and have read that its possible to output the headphone output from the gsx to the magni, but it may not be the best idea.
To cut it short:
I think Sennheiser just got everyone beat on virtual 7.1. Well, maybe save for the Smyth Realiser, but let's be realistic now - that thing's out of the budget of most people.
The positional cues in Destiny 2 seem clearer to me on the GSX 1000 than my X-Fi Titanium HD, which is saying something considering that nothing else I tried could win me away from CMSS-3D Headphone even in newer games that just perform 7.1 speaker mixing at most. It's also effectively "driverless" (that is, it uses the OS's built-in USB drivers and nothing more) and only needs a bit of configuration to tell Windows to use it in 7.1 speaker mode, maybe with a side of setting all the communication apps to the "headset" output instead of the speaker one. (Windows also
defaults to said headset output when you first plug it in, so you have to switch it over manually.) It's quite significant given how...
quirky Creative drivers can be at random.
However, in terms of audio quality, it's far from flawless. I don't notice any hiss when connecting my GAME ZERO or PC360 directly (which already gives it a leg up over those old Astro Mixamps based on MLE's impressions), but feeding the output into my X-Fi's aux-in ruthlessly reveals an audible noise floor that I have to dial the input down five or six decibels on before it goes away. By contrast, I quickly tested my Galaxy Note 8 with the same cable and aux input, and despite not being an audiophile phone (that's a niche LG's V-series has all to itself), the noise floor was at least practically silent.
It's one of the big reasons I feel that Sennheiser should shave $100 off the MSRP, as I'm sure your Schiit stack handily spanks it on pure audio quality and amplification, and so does any competent sound card
that also has virtual surround for headphones as part of its driver set. $200+ demands something that doesn't deliver less than the lauded ODAC + O2 or Modi + Magni combos in audio quality, while still packing the awesome virtual 7.1 mix, independent chat mixing (headset output in Windows + volume knob on the side), and a good ADC for the mic input.
Heck, I wouldn't mind a glorified preamp/pro mic interface version of the GSX 1000 that's meant to be used in conjunction with a proper headphone amp, perhaps even an external S/PDIF DAC. It'd leave a pure path for the DSP'd signal to shine through, and still keep the relative driverlessness intact.
But with all that criticism about general audio fidelity, my point still stands:
out of everything I've tried for a virtual 7.1 speaker mix to date, Sennheiser comes out on top. The Smyth Realiser might dethrone it if I get my PRIR recorded in a nice theater, but the chances of that happening are slim to none.
I do admit, I haven't tried Waves NX or anything else software-based that isn't Razer Surround or X-Fi MB2/3 yet. Razer's implementation left me disappointed, and the latter's only something I dabble with if I'm mucking about with an integrated Realtek codec on some computer without an actual X-Fi card installed in the hopes that I can restore EAX support for older games. Maybe the other implementations being sold out there fare a bit better.
