My new DAC, the Creative Sound BlasterX G6

[Dom]

I bought the G6 yesterday. Its a DAC/Headphone Amp combo, a 32Bit 384KHz capable DAC for just £100. 👀

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The DAC chip itself is the Cirrus Logic CS43131 MasterHIFI with advanced 32-bit oversampled multi-bit modulator with mismatch shaping technology, capable of 130dB DNR.
It has has a custom-designed Xamp discrete headphone bi-amp, which amplifies both audio channels individually. It can drive 16Ω to 600Ω headphones.

It sounds super-duper good. The best £100 I spent in a while.

 

[Dom]

🔧I should say that anyone using it with Windows 11 should turn off the fast start-up option in the shut down settings of the control panel, otherwise you get this hardware device is not connected to the computer on cold boot.
This is a problem encounted whilst setting up and it doesnt say anywhere in the Creative trouble shooting guide.

 

[plastic penguin]

🔧I should say that anyone using this with Windows 11, you should turn off the fast start-up option in the shut down settings of the control panel, otherwise you get this hardware device is not connected to the computer with the G6 on cold boot.
This is a problem I encounted whilst setting up and it doesnt say this anywhere in the Creative trouble shooting guide.

Looks nice and bijou, never heard of the brand before. As long as it sounds the biz that's all that matters.

 

[plastic penguin]

I bought the G6 yesterday. Its a DAC/Headphone Amp combo, a 32Bit 384KHz capable DAC for just a £100. 👀

View attachment 4822

The DAC chip itself is the Cirrus Logic CS43131 MasterHIFI with advanced 32-bit oversampled multi-bit modulator with mismatch shaping technology, capable of 130dB of DNR.
The G6 has a custom-designed Xamp discrete headphone bi-amp, which amplifies both audio channels individually. It can drive 16Ω to 600Ω headphones.

It sounds super-duper good. The best £100 I spent in a while.

Is £100 new or used?

 

[Dom]

I'm a little suprised you havnt heard of this before. Creative and the Sound Blaster has been around since 1989. If you had the 1992 Wofenstein 3D game you absolutely needed the Sound Blaster Pro, which featured an 8-bit digital audio playback and recording, as well as 16-bit stereo sound support released in 1991.

Anyway I bought it brand new.

 

[plastic penguin]

I'm a little suprised you havnt heard of this brand before. Creative and the Sound Blaster has been around since 1989. If you had the Wofenstein 3D game you absolutely needed the Sound Blaster Pro, which featured 8-bit digital audio playback and recording, as well as 16-bit stereo sound support released in 1991.

Anyway I bought it brand new.

That does seem good value. Never heard of Wofenstein either.

 

[Cricketbat70]

I bought the G6 yesterday. Its a DAC/Headphone Amp combo, a 32Bit 384KHz capable DAC for just £100. 👀

View attachment 4822​

The DAC chip itself is the Cirrus Logic CS43131 MasterHIFI with advanced 32-bit oversampled multi-bit modulator with mismatch shaping technology, capable of 130dB DNR.
It has has a custom-designed Xamp discrete headphone bi-amp, which amplifies both audio channels individually. It can drive 16Ω to 600Ω headphones.

It sounds super-duper good. The best £100 I spent in a while.

My son bought the exact same model a few months ago for his sim rig ( he has two gaming PC's one in the cellar connected to a Pioneer AV receiver and his sim rig in his bedroom). I thought about buying one for my laptop and connecting to my system as it has optical out.

 

[jjbomber]

It sounds super-duper good.

That's all that matters!

 

[Dom]

My son bought the exact same model a few months ago for his sim rig ( he has two gaming PC's one in the cellar connected to a Pioneer AV receiver and his sim rig in his bedroom). I thought about buying one for my laptop and connecting to my system as it has optical out.

I know you guys have expensive DAC's and would not consider this to be true hifi, but ignorance is bliss.

The market is chock full of DAC's and you have to decide what matters. Creative are PC audio specialists with excellent driver's at a decent price level. I'm happy so far!

 

[Cricketbat70]

I know you guys have expensive DAC's and would not consider this to be true hifi, but ignorance is bliss.

The market is chock full of DAC's and had to decide what matters. Creative are PC audio specialists with excellent driver's at a decent price level. I'm happy so far!

To be fair I don't have expensive separate DAC's. After my son bought one for his sim rig, I have been considering this Creative Sound Blaster to hook my laptop up to my hifi and stream.

 

[npxavar]

I have the SoundBlasterX AE-5 which made ripples in the PC soundcard market when released. Sports an ESS9016 DAC with an Xamp discrete headphone bi-amp as yours.

My only complain was that I had to toggle the volume between 6 and 12%. Yes I had it on "600Ohm sensitivity" setting, so that it doesn't go through two rounds of volume control.

I suspect the volume control on yours is better designed. It most probably is digital given the cost, but in theory it can have a completely logarithmic volume curve if the designer so chose. Unfortunately on windows the volume control mimics the mostly linear volume control of most amplifiers.

My headphone audio chain now costs more than my computer and peripherals combined, with the SoundBlasterX AE-5 serving as the SPDIF source.