My Personal Gaming Experience: Zx vs AE-7 VS ALPHA S

OK, the difference is really here

Setup is:
5.1 Wooden on Magnat + Jamo speakers (good quality ~60cm speakers)
Yes You can setup range of the setup in meters/ft -> Plays OK, not tested much yet.

Now the Audio-Technica ATH-AD1000X:

It's just Plays exelent, im not in a hurry to mess up with settings either
But i did it, EQ + some tweaks in SBX (Surround 100, Bass 48, Crystalizer at 82)
SB-Z -> You'll have to to get perfect sound stage through settings & EQ.

Next -> I will test BFV & BF1 + some UBI games.

UPD.1
BFV: i can now pinpoint, not only exact location but also +/- the range of the footsteps (Yup, i called this an Upgrade).
Ghost R. Breakpoint: the sound is a notch better than with SBz (Overall Audio in game is 8/10)

UPD.2
I do not expected to get better experience with my Older MP3 320, but Yes it is also a big difference. The sound stage is wider and i can hear more on it.

UPD.3
Played some DOOM E. and it's also better.

PS:
Im really happy with the new Toy
The Dynamic Flow is here for sure, what i mean is the Music on AE7 is just Pure Fun.
Dynamic frequencies/range is just better than with SBZ.
You can hear 32Bit 96KHz

OK, to wrap it up
-> AE-07 is very good sound card, can recommend it to almost every one.

Music = 10/10
Gaming = 10/10
Movies = 10/10
Overall Build Quality = 10/10
Software = 9/10

 

Well, look at Onna getting into the upper end of mid-fi headphones! I'm so proud of him. Perhaps soon he'll get himself a Schiit stack, or maybe a Fulla, or even a SMSL M500.

 

Thanks, but im happy with what i have now
I have one last wish tho, HiFiMAN Sundara (Planar) ... and of course Navi 2

 

@OnnA
I will try BFV one more time to see if I can pinpoint enemy footsteps.
I can certainly tell the difference in BF1 though.

 

Ok I tried BFV again. This time on that Metro map (in the tunnels). And although I could hear enemies in general I wasn't able to fully pinpoint their direction. Footsteps do make certain sounds though.
BF1 and MW2019 are the 2 online games that I can actually tell a difference in.

 

Try:
System: Speakers + Surround (AE-07 have HP at 7.1 by default)
Do not use HP or HP 3D (HeadPhones) , not great IMO.

 

Ok you lost me. Don't use HP or HP 3d??

 

Do not use HeadPhones (HP) settings in BFV (only Normal Surround).

 

ooooooohhhhhhh
Good Call, good call...

 

Cool beans, that worked!

 

You can now rely on Hearing "only".
Pinpoint & shoot

 

True, but the game hasn't been that fun for me. I've really tried to like BFV but it's just not like the other battlefields of days past sadly.

 

Thanks for your review! By the way, were you happy with the ZX before you bought the new card?

SBX seems to work very well with my cans and I was incredibly happy when I made the upgrade to a ZXR years ago. I'm still using the default 67% setting for SBX, calibrated EQ settings from Head-Fi and so far, I get all the audio cues I could think of. I've never tried Scout mode though.

 

SB-Z is a good card but AE-07 is on another level.
Everything is just better.

 

Yes, I was very happy with my Zx card until I realized I was getting audio pinged by console players in MW It will actually take you to play Modern Warfare on console to get an idea how well the sound position is in order to really understand the depth of how important it is in that game. It's incredibly easy yet intuitive. You expect to know where footsteps are coming from. With the Zx it simply failed on audio pinging players. I could hear the footsteps just fine. I couldn't tell you were they were coming from.

The ZxR is in a league of it's own. I couldn't comment on that as it's simply a better audio device then the Zx. If you were to upgrade you would be looking at the AE-9 as the AE-7 would be a downgrade for you.
On the Zx Scout simply didn't work. The audio was simply to low to hear anything without cranking it to 100%. With the AE-7 I didn't have to do that at all. But with Scout on, using the AE7, it removed all other ambient noises so you can hear enemies walking/shooting about. It's very good in MW, BF1/BFV. But it's an acquired taste. You will be playing with no audio ambiance. If that's something you can live with then it will work for you.
For me, after playing the same maps 100 times over I don't have to hear all of that anymore.

 

I've got strange thing going on.
I can't set 384kHz i have only 96000Hz

All jacks are populated:
5.1 3xJack for my Speaker setup
and Mic + H.Phones

Is it because of 5.1 is in use? (Max for 5.1 is 96000Hz)
Do i have to disable 5.1 to get HP maxed out to 384kHz?

All is woking great tho, no complains about Quality

UPD>
I can but only in Direct Mode, here are avaible all suported kHz Ranges
192kHz & 384kHz can be set.

 

Any pics to show your setup in Command? Do you have individual control for center, left/right channels? IE: bass, treble, distance, etc...

 

Yup, all is set up.
We can have 384kHz but in Direct mode.

BTW All is set up and working fine.

Spoiler

 

UPD. ^
IMhO it is Ok, they give us pure direct sound and if You want some effects then 96000Hz should be enough.

 

oh ok got it.