Creative Sound Blaster Z Series

I think he's indicating that the Titan HD is using a pre-amp as a headphone amp.
It can deliver enough current to handle lower power headphones, but this will restrict its dynamic range and potentially cause higher distortion on loud passages.
So its a better idea to use an external headphone amp with that card if your headphones arent easy to drive, even then it may sound better using an external amp on easy to drive headsets as well.

 

ya know what, I thought he was talking about the zxr
I was wrong, don't know what I was thinking
ya the titanium hd doesn't have a hp amp,ok that's right

 

Both the Titan HD and ZXR are really pretty good for recording quality. Usually consumer based cards tend to offer mediocre ADC (recording) quality but both of those cards have a good ADC sections.

 

Plus you don't have to spend $20,000 on pro sound card (unless you have a studio). $200 odd is a lot nicer on the wallet and you still get low latency and decent quality recording. Then you can spend the money you saved on more MIDI gear and better microphones and stay up all night laying down the perfect drum and bass track while sending all your neighbours insane.

 

Just got my ZxR ! now i need another headset

 

I'm sorry but I couldn't read 18 pages and read the 7 first and 5 last pages.

I'm thinking to upgrade to the Z card. Does it worth it over an Asus Xonar DX?

I'm using a Creative 5.1 system and planning to input my TV with optical to that card.

 

From what I gather it's a tad better than the DX, but they do use similar components so I wouldn't "upgrade" to it. It's a better buy if you have nothing though.

 

I'm using the on-board atm and I'm trying to decide whether I should get the Z for 80 euros compared to DX for 60 euros. I suppose it's better if I get the Z?

 

Yes, I would go with the Z. I also opted for one over the DX.

 

Thx a lot. I was looking for a clear answer for 2 days!

 

Its not a tad better, its much much better. I had a Auzen Prelude which was far better than the DX and the ZX is far better than the Prelude.

 

If you intend on watching High Definition TV channels with 5.1 audio, putting the sound through the PC, its worth finding if the card will allow 5.1 compressed input.
I'm pretty sure it isnt permitted on any card, it doesnt work on my Auzentech Prelude.

When stereo is fed in via SPDIF, it works great, but 5.1 gives no sound.
The only way I can get the high definition channels audio to work "through" my PC is to use the stereo analogue outs from my satellite box, giving me stereo only (and slightly lower quality) for everything.
Or use the non high definition versions of the channels with stereo out, to keep using SPDIF, which is better quality for stereo, but 5.1 channels are converted to stereo and are lower quality than if you fed SPDIF straight to a 1/2 decent hifi.


The Xonar DX "should" have better sound quality than the Z, due to the use of better quality DAC.
Whether thats true is down to peoples experience.
The ZXR on the other hand, has as good a DAC for the front channels as the Titanium HD and has good supporting analogue circuits too, this is the card I recommend if you want the best 5.1 experience for gaming/movie/music playback on PC.

Have a read here
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2013/02/11/creative-sound-blaster-z-review/1

Its worth noting that Asus drivers are not updated very often.
Also if play EAX positional audio capable games (older games), the Asus cards dont do a good job of emulating it.
Creatives Alchemy is best at converting EAX calls to OpenAL using the cards hardware processing on windows 7 and 8, but Alchemy is only available on Creative cards.
Asus cards have no hardware processing, they dont have as good OpenAL support for 3D HRTFs.

 

AFAIK both Z and DX use same DAC for front channels but DX is better for other channels. DX lacks headphone amp and the support doesn't look that good. I wouldn't buy DX any more at this point.

 

Oops, well spotted, I was thinking of the D2X.
So yeah, the Creative Z is the better of the 2.

 

the last Creative labs card I had and used for years was my SB live value. was good card, terrible driver support. is there driver support and or update to drivers still far and between?

I been using Onboard sound card in the last 3 builds I had, mostly cause they the same if not better then the sb live value. Or maybe its my 15+ year old Altec Lansing ACS48 2.1 system i still using lmao. One day im a get me pair of the klipsch pro media 2.1 to replace the altec Lansing speakers. which will probably be the day i actual need real sound card too :infinity:

These days I just use my SENNHEISER cx300 II which are the best in ear headphones i had to this date

 

I have used SB soundcards since the SB 16 days. For the past 8 years I have been using the SB X-Fi Elite Pro coupled with Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers. Drivers have never been an issue. I still have these items on my computers and they sound wonderful.

For my primary computer (Win7 Home Pro) I have the new SB ZxR and my old pair of Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers. On my WinXP computer I have the Elite Pro mentioned above and a new pair of Klipsch Promedia speakers. Klipsch has changed the design of the Promedia 2.1 speakers but I'm not having any issues with the sound.

The subwoofer weighs about 2/3 what the older sub weighs. The speaker is slightly smaller. The wiring is hardwired to the satellites and there's no fuse or On/Off switch on the sub box. Some complain the bass is boomy but I have found the speakers to be so efficient you don't need much volume or bass. My old speakers are pretty much the same. I have never needed to turn the volume past 1/4 of a turn or the sub past the white dot mark. These speakers will shake your house apart if you turn them up.

 

main reason i want the klipsh they sounded better then 5.1 speaker set i had, I just get bring my self to spend there prices when I use headphones more, which probably another reason why i still use onboard sound

 

Out of interest has anyone tried recording sound with the new Creative Z series? Is it still really poor quality like earlier creative cards and you still need proper external interface to record (like M-Audio products etc). Does ASIO still randomly commit suicide and stop working when switching between different x86 or x64 apps?

 

I was thinking of selling my Phoebus and getting ZXR but how much sound quality will improve, will it improve? Now i am listening Phoebus with Beyerdynamic T1. I play games and listen music.

Can some one tell which of the cards has better specs.

Thanks!

 

just ordered a Z. let's hope it's better than my DG. the mic is a nice bonus. I've been using my webcam mic for ages. nobody ever complained about my mic output while gaming but this one should sound better. can't wait.