Headphones & Audio Devices

Amazon has some good deals on headphones right now, must be all that surplus inventory after the supply chain issues.

Bought this on a whim because I like messing around with stuff and I needed something relatively inexpensive that could mix optical in with some other sources and output to multiple sources too.

If you own any good large-soundstage open-back headphones that are listed as SXFI compatible, you have to give this thing a try, it's a very interesting experience. It is by far the most interesting virtual headphone surround that's available anywhere. Even relatively cheap large soundstage headphones like AKG K7XX or the Philips ones sound really good.

(Software was annoying as fuck to setup, but the end result was worth it.)

It's a fun little toy that's compatible with PS4, PS5, Switch and PC, and can mix in from your phone if you want to listen to music while gaming or anything like that.

Mist said:

Bought this on a whim because I like messing around with stuff and I needed something relatively inexpensive that could mix optical in with some other sources and output to multiple sources too.

If you own any good large-soundstage open-back headphones that are listed as SXFI compatible, you have to give this thing a try, it's a very interesting experience. It is by far the most interesting virtual headphone surround that's available anywhere. Even relatively cheap large soundstage headphones like AKG K7XX or the Philips ones sound really good.

(Software was annoying as fuck to setup, but the end result was worth it.)

It's a fun little toy that's compatible with PS4, PS5, Switch and PC, and can mix in from your phone if you want to listen to music while gaming or anything like that.

Click to expand...

After playing with this for a week now. Do not underestimate this thing.

There are many stupid requirements.

You must own SXFI compatible headphones, ideally ones with a large soundstage. Also the headphone amp isn't as strong as some other DACs, so super high impedance headphones are basically out.

You must install a very stupid app on your phone, and take pictures of your ears (no easy task to do alone) and your head. You must then get the phone app to sync with the device. You need to use the actual Creative App to control the equalizer (and the EQ is very important, not an afterthought.) The software is largely fucking garbage, all around, though only the SXFI app (the one for taking pictures of your head) is truly terrible. There are actually two phone apps, one for customizing the device for your headphones and one for controlling the settings of the device when it's attached to a non-PC device.

But once you get it all setup, it is very cool. SBX was very good virtual surround for the time, SXFI is another generational leap past that.

One really neat feature is that it actually presents to Windows as 2 different sound devices. The "Speakers" device is your game sound, and has all your effects like SXFI, EQ, Virtual Surround, etc, applied to it. The "Headset" device is just flat stereo audio. This is what you set your podcast app, Discord, etc, to play through. (If the app you're using doesn't support audio device selection, you can use the System > Sound > Mixer in Windows 10 or 11 to control which app uses which audio output device.) The second volume knob controls the balance between the two, so if you need to turn down game volume and turn up chat or your podcast app or whatever, you can do that very quickly.

It's got line in and optical in and will mix all 3 sources: USB, Line In and Optical without issue, which is really good for me since I use MouseWithoutBorders to control 2-3 different PCs as one PC and want the audio all mixed together.

It's also got line out and optical out, but I haven't tried using it with real speakers. It can do Line out + Headphones if you have speakers but still want to use your headphones for Discord or any other particular app.