Creative Sound Blaster ZXR

[student]

Hello
I need some advice in the sound section of my setup.

I currently have Auzentech X-Fi Forte sound card paired with AKG K701 and Logitech Z-5500.
I do a lot of gaming and music listening, mostly lossless.
My question is whether this new baby from Creative would be a considerable and worthy upgrade?
Maybe someone got it and would like to share their experience?

 

[jamesriley94]

Creative have gone downhill significantly over recent years with sound cards.

Xonars are the only real choice for the higher end products these days.
Get an STX instead. Apart from external DAC/amps, you won't find any better than the STX.

 

[student]

Thing is STX does not support 5.1 speakers whereas ZXR does. It really comes down to Xense (7.1 support) vs ZXR.

 

[jamesriley94]

Well it's up to you whether you want to sacrifice quality on the headphones in order to support surround sound.
You won't get anything better than the STX for headphones without going for an external solution.

IMO, you don't notice quality as much through speakers as you do headphones - ie - you could run a Xonar D1 and an STX through speakers and not notice a massive amount of difference. Headphones on the other hand is where you really hear the difference.

You could always go for the Xonar ST with the H6 attachment for surround sound?

Or if you're that bothered about quality, you'd actually be better off getting the STX and replacing your speakers with proper monitors, rather than a gimmicky surround sound system.

You have very nice headphones, and it would be a shame if you got an under-par soundcard like the creative and therefore didn't use them to their full potential.

 

[student]

External solution is out of the question, there's no need for that.
My motherboard does not support ST connectivity.
Monitors are actually something I was thinking about. Any recommendations for ~200 quid ?

 

[Kei]

Actually there isn't anything wrong with the ZXR. From a technical standpoint, it is infact superior to the STX as it supports 5.1 via analogue, has digital I/O and the line in ADC is better. (cs5381 vs pcm4220) Everything else is equal as they both utilise the TPA6120A2 headphone amp, use a combo of NJM2114D and LM4562/LME49720 (LME49710 which are the singular version) op amps for the buffer and I/V stages and use nichicon fine gold capacitors throughout. (which is daft since the DC coupling caps on the outputs should be bipolar for best performance. Ideally all audio path capacitors should be bipolar, like the green nichicon ES used on auxentech cards) The dac on the creative is a burr brown pcm1794 and the STX is a pcm1792. (Check the datasheets out for both and you'll find that they have identical performance.

Driver wise, neither are any better or worse than the other. I ran creative sound cards since the early 90's right up to an X-fi and never had any issues. (luck perhaps) My current card is a xonar essence ST with the H6 board for surround. The only thing that i find annoying on the xonar is that GX mode is too buggy meaning no EAX support. (for the few games that use it) TBH, if the ZXR had existed back when i was looking for a new card, I'd have given it some serious thought. The problem with the ZXR is the cost, which i find hard to justify as it is essentially a creative branded essence STX with a few small advantages. (that not everyone would use)

 

[student]

Once i discovered http://www.hardwareheaven.com/pax-drivers/ Creative software is no longer an issue. ZXR is roughly 40 quid more than the STX and 30 less than Xense combo. (amazon.co.uk) I wish there was a cheaper version of zxr without this volume control thing and daughter board both of which are useless for me anyway.

 

[dipzy]

I own the Creative ZX and it works great with my 5.1 speakers. The software is simple to use with some cool features

 

[Vlada011]

CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER NEW Series is INCREDIBLE.
I HAVE Sound Blaster Z and card is really good.
Only that Creative Support if you need than better immediately forget on them.
They will answer you next year, but this series is excellent and people confirm that.
Completely new Creative.

 

[SuB]

Bit of a necro there Vlada...

Also, missleading. If (and I believe it is) the ZXR is based on the Recon3D chip, looking at google it is. Then I imagine it's just as much a pile of shit as the rest of their latest range.

They should have stuck with X-Fi instead of releasing a worse card with a re-badge.

 

[paulstung]

I had the Soundblaster Z when it was first released, and I was overly chuffed for the first week, and then the disapointment set in. It has to be the single most worst buy I have ever bought. It just stopped working within changing a youtube vid, I also couldn't change any settings unless the vid was paused then re started, I wish I had followed peoples advice and went with Asus from the start.

 

[Etlar]

I will also say, stay away from Creative all the way. 2 soundscards have been on RMA and now i only use my onboard before i get a Asus in the rig..

 

[SuB]

I wouldn't say ALL creative cards are bad, the X-fi range were great for gaming, Auzen's X-Fi integrated cards really are top-notch. But anything with that Recon3D chip on wants to be binned. Utter. Trash.

 

[Vlada011]

I saw over net much more good experience with Sound Blaster Z series than bad.
Many of them are people with ASUS Xonar cards. Mine work everything.
But I know for their technical support that not exist.
And I thought on that but I was ready to back immediately card and I say that in shop.
But when I came home I was surprised. I wait exactly that model few months because good experience of people.

 

[tinytomlogan]

from experience the Xonars are epic.

Ive personally used the cheap £40 one and the D2X - both Id happily buy again

 

[Vlada011]

I have old Creative Inspire 5.1 system and I look for card under 100.
I months search over net and notice how people recognize difference between old Creative cards and new Z series.Some even describe as best Creative product and specially difference between Recon3D and expensive Xonar models.
I mean on people without problems who describe sound quality, not Creative Support and previous cards. Even some ASUS motherboards before use Creative onboard chip and I was satisfied as onboard solution. Now this can't compare at all. Customers who look more often for sound card than me and probably change many different models are very satisfied and difference between Recon3D in sound quality is obvious how they say.
I had luck because I find that revision with Nichicon Gold caps as on ZXR model.
With all experience of user of difference card, price, look of card, he is protected with shield and because many people describe as something new and worth of trying I decide to buy Sound Blaster Z few months before she show up in Serbia.

 

[jamesriley94]

I have old Creative Inspire 5.1 system and I look for card under 100.
I months search over net and notice how people recognize difference between old Creative cards and new Z series.Some even describe as best Creative product and specially difference between Recon3D and expensive Xonar models.
I mean on people without problems who describe sound quality, not Creative Support and previous cards. Even some ASUS motherboards before use Creative onboard chip and I was satisfied as onboard solution. Now this can't compare at all. Customers who look more often for sound card than me and probably change many different models are very satisfied and difference between Recon3D in sound quality is obvious how they say.
I had luck because I find that revision with Nichicon Gold caps as on ZXR model.
With all experience of user of difference card, price, look of card, he is protected with shield and because many people describe as something new and worth of trying I decide to buy Sound Blaster Z few months before she show up in Serbia.

Creative cards generally offer more features for the price - surround outputs, headphone amplifiers etc... But in reality, the quality of the sound chips are terrible compared to the more expensive Xonars, even if they have fewer features.
The STX for example doesn't even support 2.1 audio properly, but the sound chip itself is a million times better than anything Creative has ever produced.

People generally choose creative because on paper, they do look more impressive than Xonars with the additional features, 'chavvier looks' with LEDs and tinted covers, and they're happy as they'll have generally come from an on-board solution which of course any soundcard will be better than.

But when compared to the Xonars, they are no where near them in terms of quality.

 

[Kei]

From a technical standpoint, the ZXR is infact superior to the ST/STX as it supports 5.1 via analogue, has digital I/O and the line in ADC is better. (cs5381 vs pcm4220) The use of single opamps on the creative is also a plus as they are supposed to reduce crosstalk. Everything else is equal as they both utilise the TPA6120A2 headphone amp and they both use the same combo of NJM2114D and LM4562/LME49720 (LME49710 which are the singular version) op amps for the buffer and I/V stages. The dac on the creative is a burr brown pcm1794 and the STX is a pcm1792. (Check the datasheets out for both and you'll find that they have identical performance.)

They also both use nichicon fine gold capacitors throughout. This is daft since the DC coupling caps on the outputs should be bipolar for best performance. Ideally all audio path capacitors should be bipolar, like the green nichicon ES used on auzentech cards. The best cards actually don't use electrolytic capacitors in the signal path at all and stick with plastic film. (usually polypropylene & polyester) The main reason you don't see them on sound cards is that they need to be substantially larger than aluminium can electrolytic capacitors for the same capacitance, plus they get expensive. (it's impractical to use film caps much above 1uF) Another thing to note is that nichicon fine gold caps are only rated to 85 degrees and their life span is short, plus KZ are better than fine gold. (having used them when i rebuilt an old amp, they only last 1000 hours at their rated temp) I've switched over to using panasonic FC/FM which have lower ESR, rated to 105 degrees, have a longer lifespan and more importantly, are cheaper to buy too. (plus they are well known for use in audio)

Creative cards were at their best when they were EMU based not this gamer orientated DSP crap. TBH, when i replace my ST for something pcie i'm likely to head down the route of getting a studio card like the EMU 1212M or an mAudio.