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Creative Announces Sound Blaster GC7 Gaming DAC and Amp

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Creative Technology today announced the release of Sound Blaster GC7, the first premium gaming DAC and Amp in a new product series specially designed to enhance the user experience of avid gamers, aspiring content creators and streamers. Users can take full control of the gameplay easily with intuitive one-handed controls and fully programmable buttons, and enjoy the award-winning Super X-Fi and Sound Blaster technologies, in Creative's most comprehensive external sound card yet.





Fully Customizable with Quick and Intuitive Controls

The Sound Blaster GC7 is ergonomically designed for ease of use - with intuitive one-handed controls, gamers can make seamless adjustments on the fly easily, and focus on making all the right moves to clinch the crucial win. It also comes with four fully programmable buttons, allowing users to program shortcuts to their liking - for example, launching swift maneuvers during a live stream will be a breeze without having to fuss over the specific controls. This serves as a handy feature for both streamers and content creators, so that they can conveniently execute in-game controls without interrupting their gameplay.

Users can also customize the buttons with their preferred audio profiles for gaming, movies and music right off the bat. Users can also customize the color of the RGB lighting on the control knobs to their liking.

Best of Both Worlds with Sound Blaster Acoustic Engine and Super X-Fi

Fitted with Creative's award-winning signature Sound Blaster audio processing technologies and Super X-Fi Headphone Holography, the Sound Blaster GC7 does not just bring users to the battlefield in gaming; it also offers them a cutting edge over opponents.

When using speakers, users can enjoy Sound Blaster audio enhancements like Crystalizer and Smart Volume through the Acoustic Engine suite, that has been fine-tuned with more than 30 years of audio processing experience, to deliver the sound signature of a top-of-the-range Sound Blaster. Additionally, Scout Mode brings something different to the table as it focuses on detection through enhanced audio cues that highlight every move just as it happens. Whether it's the sound of the enemies reloading their gun or the faintest of footsteps, Scout Mode will amplify the cues so users always remain one step ahead of their opponents.

When using headphones, Super X-FI will immerse users with hyper-realistic audio holography that recreates the same expansive soundstage of a multi-speaker system. Moreover, Super X-Fi's new SXFI BATTLE Mode drives users ahead of the game as it delivers realistic audio cues that not only highlight the direction, but distance as well. Users can then pinpoint the enemies' exact locations with greater precision, and gain that much-needed competitive edge to clinch the win.

The Sound Blaster GC7 is an audiophile-class DAC that offers lower noise floor, lower distortion, and more distinct individual sound effects. Users can also stream at up to 24-bit / 192 kHz PCM playback and can support up to 7.1 virtual surround on both headphones and speakers along with Dolby Digital decoding for a cinematic audio experience for gaming, as well as movies and music.

Communicate Better, Win Bigger

In-game chats are also made seamless and hassle-free with GameVoice Mix. Users can freely adjust the game audio and chat volume easily with a conveniently-placed scroll wheel, so that they can chat with their team mates comfortably without disrupting the gameplay.

It's All Connected

The Sound Blaster GC7 is intuitive and simple to set up with compatibility across various platforms - from PC, Mac to PS5, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Coupled with easy-access controls, excellent audio performance, and cutting-edge features, the Sound Blaster GC7 has all the makings of the perfect gaming audio companion for any avid gamer, aspiring content creator or, streamer.

Pricing and Availability

Sound Blaster GC7 is attractively priced at S$219 and is available at Creative.com.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
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No wireless headphone connection?
 
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No wireless headphone connection?
A wireless headphone already got his own dac/amp and ADC, making a wired dac/amp useless
 
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Finally they catching up with cheapo chinese DAC that has been around, but at the same time lacks of DSD despite providing optical.
 

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I don't see anything that would appeal to content creators. And no word about the accompanying software.
 

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I don't see anything that would appeal to content creators. And no word about the accompanying software.
There’s software for it on the website. I’m just not a fan of optical for using speakers which is the only option.
 

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@Uskompuf

Can you include this picture of ports on the back??

 

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It's a dac/amp with programmable buttons. The right knob allows you to tweak the volume of your game/and your chat app separately without having to alt tab. The programmable buttons can be used for anything, and the knob in the middle is the mic volume and the buttons are to access further tweaks without having to alt tab.

Complaining about RGB on a gaming device is a long lost battle. :D
 
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Slick looking, but
Pricing and Availability

Sound Blaster GC7 is attractively priced at S$219 and is available at Creative.com.

Not sure if it's worth that.......have to see a few reviews first.
 
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All right, no HDMI in/out, no analogs 7.1, just crappy opticals that cannot output anything more than Dolbi/DTS 5.1 ??
Are there any good quality sound systems/sound theaters on USB out there??
 
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There’s software for it on the website. I’m just not a fan of optical for using speakers which is the only option.

For stereo it has a line out. For 5.1 yes, only optical.
 
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I assume the button color can be controlled as well, because that Fisher Price/Crayola color scheme has to go.
 
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What a ridiculous looking product. What is it supposed to look like a turntable, rave it up?
 
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Complaining about RGB on a gaming device is a long lost battle. :D

Pffft. Like Imma let that stop me. :p

*ahem*

grumble grumble RGB grumble grumble useless features grumble grumble kids these days grumble grumble off my lawn.

With that now out of my system, think I'll go write a rant about modern motherboards.
 
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So the G6 actually has a more powerful amp then this right. Also I really wonder who is designing these creative products, looks like a dj designed this or something.
 
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So the G6 actually has a more powerful amp then this right. Also I really wonder who is designing these creative products, looks like a dj designed this or something.
Trust me - if a DJ designed it, it would have way more buttons and knobs... :)
 
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This actually has my interest based on the inputs and outputs alone, seems better than the G6 in that respect.

On the flip side price seems high though.

Does it still have a headphone amp though and same sound quality as G6?

Currently I have a xonar d2x and really want to replace it due to interference across motherboard and very dated broken drivers.
 
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I wish Creative would stop pretending to be audiophile-grade.

This thing doesn't even have balanced TRS outputs, let alone the XLR jacks I use on my cheap volume mixer and USB amp. At best this is a middling-quality gimmick for consumers that is more about the pretty lights on the desk in front of you than the quality of the audio or connectivity to serious hardware.
 
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I wish Creative would stop pretending to be audiophile-grade.

This thing doesn't even have balanced TRS outputs, let alone the XLR jacks I use on my cheap volume mixer and USB amp. At best this is a middling-quality gimmick for consumers that is more about the pretty lights on the desk in front of you than the quality of the audio or connectivity to serious hardware.
Even the chinese are not making a 200$ dac/amp with balanced output/ XLR input, optical in/out and macro buttons :D it's competing with the schiit HEL wich is as expensive and even more basic on the connectivity. But I agree that considering how popular streaming with an xlr mic became, it's odd that creative doesn't try to make an all-in-one product for those people. If they were more ambitious that product could have merged a streaming deck with the audio equipment. (stream deck who are massively overpriced for what is just a bunch of programmable buttons).
Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in California
creative dac/amp are actually doing well in objective and scientific reviews:
Review and Measurements of Sound BlasterX G6 | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum
The guy buying a creative dac is the guy who will most likely use it with a gaming Beyer Dynamic or a gaming Sennheiser, and isn't going to go the extra mile to buy an expensive balanced cable for his HD6xx/HD58x.

To be honest "audiophile" is just a big scary word. The community itself can't come together, when ASR started to show that some "audiophile acclaimed" dac/amp, and headphones weren't as good as they make it up to be on an objective level, a big shitstorm happened and you got a split between people trusting their ears and those trusting measurements.
 
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Even the chinese are not making a 200$ dac/amp with balanced output/ XLR input, optical in/out and macro buttons :D it's competing with the schiit HEL wich is as expensive and even more basic on the connectivity. But I agree that considering how popular streaming with an xlr mic became, it's odd that creative doesn't try to make an all-in-one product for those people. If they were more ambitious that product could have merged a streaming deck with the audio equipment. (stream deck who are massively overpriced for what is just a bunch of programmable buttons).
Schiit Audio: Audio Products Designed and Built in California
creative dac/amp are actually doing well in objective and scientific reviews:
Review and Measurements of Sound BlasterX G6 | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum
The guy buying a creative dac is the guy who will most likely use it with a gaming Beyer Dynamic or a gaming Sennheiser, and isn't going to go the extra mile to buy an expensive balanced cable for his HD6xx/HD58x.

To be honest "audiophile" is just a big scary word. The community itself can't come together, when ASR started to show that some "audiophile acclaimed" dac/amp, and headphones weren't as good as they make it up to be on an objective level, a big shitstorm happened and you got a split between people trusting their ears and those trusting measurements.
I mean, https://www.google.com/search?q=umc204hd is under $100 and does a lot of the audio lifiting that this does. Different product for a different market, but quality audio and mixing with audiophile-grade inputs/outputs doesn't have to be expensive. Creative intentionally ignored proper inputs/outputs.

This may not be a terrible product, I'm not having a go at that. I'm having a go at Creative for clearly branding this "audiophile" whilst having only mickey-mouse connectivity for beginners and people who don't know better:

1617446686139.png
 
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I mean, https://www.google.com/search?q=umc204hd is under $100 and does a lot of the audio lifiting that this does. Different product for a different market, but quality audio and mixing with audiophile-grade inputs/outputs doesn't have to be expensive. Creative intentionally ignored proper inputs/outputs.

This may not be a terrible product, I'm not having a go at that. I'm having a go at Creative for clearly branding this "audiophile" whilst having only mickey-mouse connectivity for beginners and people who don't know better:

View attachment 195089
Creative actually used to have a brand that used to do products like that Behringer, but they apparently weren't making enough money of it, since they pretty much killed it.

And again, "audiophile" is just a big word that have nothing to do with being a professional in audio, it just means that you like to listen to music on "quality equipment". There's a lot of "audiophile" brands that are still selling amps (Fiio K5, XDUOO XD-05) and headphone that can't use a balanced plug (Beyer, DT 880,990,770,1990, AKG K702, K712 Sennheiser HD599, HD560s) and a lot of Audio-Technica "audiophile" branded headphones) . Heck, the Schiit stack Wich is among the most popular set up for beginners and budget minded "audiophile" doesn't offer balanced. Over the years I've really come to dislike that word :D. I have a HD58X that can go balanced, but everything that I read doesn't make it sounds like it's worth to spend the extra money for the cables (especially when balanced still can't make it's mind between 2.5mn, 4,4mn jack and XLR, and there's a huge "audiophile" taxe on those cable/adapters.)
1617447171077.png
 
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