Sound Blaster ZxR thoughts and opinions

[Casual Hobbit]

I remember seeing the ZxR a while back and immediately thinking "That's one sexy way to fill a PCIe slot." It may not be as "pretty" as some of the Sound Blaster cards but if you're looking for audio... Can we really care that much about looks? Whenever I'm looking for sound cards I always get drawn back to this one because it has great reviews. Most of the reviews mention how incredible the bass is but... I'm more of an acoustic listener, and I look sharp, crisp, vocals. I guess this topic should be about more than just the ZxR because I am looking for a good soundcard, but mostly I want to know if the ZxR lives up to what I've read online and that I'm not just being drawn to the look of the card. Down to business, is it worth the money? Am I the only one who adores the look? Am I stupid because I'm new to the forum and might be missing some important prerequisite before posting in this section? Just tell me what you guys think of the card, I'm not too worried about price, but if everyone agrees (and I've read online that some people would agree) that this just isn't worth the price, then I might keep looking.

Have a Great Night.

[MayflowerElectronics]

Please read the audio FAQ. Money can be spent on things that actually improve your audio, like buying better headphones.

[X1XNobleX1X]

I remember seeing the ZxR a while back and immediately thinking "That's one sexy way to fill a PCIe slot." It may not be as "pretty" as some of the Sound Blaster cards but if you're looking for audio... Can we really care that much about looks? Whenever I'm looking for sound cards I always get drawn back to this one because it has great reviews. Most of the reviews mention how incredible the bass is but... I'm more of an acoustic listener, and I look sharp, crisp, vocals. I guess this topic should be about more than just the ZxR because I am looking for a good soundcard, but mostly I want to know if the ZxR lives up to what I've read online and that I'm not just being drawn to the look of the card. Down to business, is it worth the money? Am I the only one who adores the look? Am I stupid because I'm new to the forum and might be missing some important prerequisite before posting in this section? Just tell me what you guys think of the card, I'm not too worried about price, but if everyone agrees (and I've read online that some people would agree) that this just isn't worth the price, then I might keep looking.

Have a Great Night.

What will you be using it for? Headphone or speakers?

 

[EmoRarity]

Get better headphones to use on the product before not getting a sound card and getting a FiiO E10 instead. 

[X1XNobleX1X]

Please read the audio FAQ. Money can be spent on things that actually improve your audio, like buying better headphones.

And yes,  best to actually buy better headphones then going for a soundcard. 

[Casual Hobbit]

Please read the audio FAQ. Money can be spent on things that actually improve your audio, like buying better headphones.

I already have a five or six pretty nice headphones, which is what I mainly use, but I also have some Hercules XPS 101's that I'm pretty fond of.

[MayflowerElectronics]

I already have a five or six pretty nice headphones, which is what I mainly use, but I also have some Hercules XPS 101's that I'm pretty fond of.

 

What would you consider your nicest headphone?

[Casual Hobbit]

I have the basic edition of the Sennheiser HD 25-1 that I've been fairly fond of recently.

[Casual Hobbit]

What would you consider your nicest headphone?

I have the basic edition of the Sennheiser HD 25-1 that I've been fairly fond of recently, but my friend is letting me break in his Razer Tiamat elite and I might have to pick one of these up because I'm loving the feel.

[ShearMe]

A soundcard shouldn't have "incredible bass" any more than your car's engine should have a good grip on the road.

[Turkatron]

lol nope

[Turkatron]

A soundcard shouldn't have "incredible bass" any more than your car's engine should have a good grip on the road.

my Ferrari  has static IP and it made me become a pro drifter / racer.

[Casual Hobbit]

A soundcard shouldn't have "incredible bass" any more than your car's engine should have a good grip on the road.

That's one of the things that's been striking me as rather fishy about this card. If a lot of the reviews have things like that in them it's really hard to figure out which review I can count as helpful, so I turn to you guys.

[MayflowerElectronics]

You need to get better headphones first.

[ShearMe]

That's one of the things that's been striking me as rather fishy about this card. If a lot of the reviews have things like that in them it's really hard to figure out which review I can count as helpful, so I turn to you guys.

 

So... want to hear our headphone recommendations instead?  B)

[h264]

That's one of the things that's been striking me as rather fishy about this card. If a lot of the reviews have things like that in them it's really hard to figure out which review I can count as helpful, so I turn to you guys.

 

Honestly, with an output impedance of 33 Ohms, you're more likely to get powerful bass out of your onboard with low impedance headphones.

[Casual Hobbit]

So... want to hear our headphone recommendations instead?  B)

Why not... Just going to play that one off like I meant to do that.

[ShearMe]

Why not... Just going to play that one off like I meant to do that.

 

For $220 (about the price of the ZXR) you could get some AKG Q 701's. Their treble is pretty outstanding which would be good for acoustic music. Unfortunately, you would need some decent amplification due to it's low sensitivity, which adds extra cost.

 

For about $150, the audio-technica ATH-AD700X is a good all-rounder, and doesn't need an amp.

 

For about $50, the Pioneer SE-A1000 is great - the price is just a bonus because the MSRP is $150.

[raxx]

For $220 (about the price of the ZXR) you could get some AKG Q 701's. Their treble is pretty outstanding which would be good for acoustic music. Unfortunately, you would need some decent amplification due to it's low sensitivity, which adds extra cost.

 

For about $150, the audio-technica ATH-AD700X is a good all-rounder, and doesn't need an amp.

 

For about $50, the Pioneer SE-A1000 is great - the price is just a bonus because the MSRP is $150.

What would you consider a decent amp for the AKG Q 701's? The FiiO E10 or something with more power?

[EmoRarity]

What would you consider a decent amp for the AKG Q 701's? The FiiO E10 or something with more power?

E10 or something thing like the O2

[ShearMe]

What would you consider a decent amp for the AKG Q 701's?

 

An Objective2 is all the amp anyone would ever need. I think you can get a kit to build it yourself for about a hundred bucks. Then there's a FiiO E10 DAC and amp that is sufficient - it's normally 80 bucks.

 

You might be able to get away with something like a FiiO E6 to boost your onboard signal.

[Turkatron]

An Objective2 is all the amp anyone would ever need. I think you can get a kit to build it yourself for about a hundred bucks. Then there's a FiiO E10 DAC and amp that is sufficient - it's normally 80 bucks.

 

You might be able to get away with something like a FiiO E6 to boost your onboard signal.

you can boost my signal if you snift my drift.

[mr moose]

you can boost my signal if you snift my drift.

last time I did that I ended up with a muddy top end and my face looked like this :blink: