Creative Sound Blaster X1 DAC & headphone amp review

Old-timers may remember Creative Labs as the company that unlocked the sound potential of early PCs with the Sound Blaster sound card. The company famously demonstrated the potential of a portable digital music player with his Nomad series of MP3 players in 1999, and in 2006 he famously settled his $100 million patent infringement lawsuit against Apple. This suit was related to some of the design elements of the iPod.

Creative Technology co-founder and CEO Sim Wong Hoo died suddenly on January 4, 2023, leaving the company to continue making affordable speakers, headphones, and devices like the Sound Blaster X1 DAC and reviewed headphone amplifier You need to check whether here. This required the same kind of practice and patience as opening up his PC and installing his one of Creative’s original sound cards in the 1980s, with great electronics inside and his It’s a small unit with DSP software.

James Barber/Foundry

A DAC takes a digital signal and converts it into an audible analog audio signal. Even the most expensive computers, tablets and phones don’t have his high quality DAC hardware built into them. When you connect a high quality external DAC to your device, it takes over the audio signal processing, resulting in a high quality DAC/amp combo. It also delivers high quality amplified audio to headphones or passive speakers.

This was a frustrating product to review because this DAC does some things very well. But my overall experience was overwhelmed by Creative’s jerky software weirdness. If you can accept the limitations of the software, or expect better versions to be released in the future, we recommend purchasing the Sound Blaster X1 with its considerable hardware strength.

Creative Sound Blaster X1 Specifications

Creative Sound Blaster X1 is incredibly small, measuring just 0.4 x 0.7 x 2.6 inches and weighing just 0.5 ounces. It has a 3.5mm headphone jack on one side and a USB-C port on the other. X1 comes with a 5″ USB-C cable to connect to your playback device.

The unit is black and features dedicated buttons for play/pause, volume up/down, and the DAC’s Super X-Fi digital signal processing. Inside the unit is an AKM4377 32-bit DAC and a Texas Instruments Burr-Brown INA1620 dual audio operational amplifier.

James Barber/Foundry

The DAC can handle bit streams up to 24-bit/96kHz. That’s good enough for high-res audio streams from services like Amazon Music HD, Apple Music, and Qobuz.

Dedicated customers will notice that the Sound Blaster X1 details are not printed directly on the unit, but instead covered in stickers on the back of the unit. Apparently, this is because his DAC was originally marketed as the Creative Super X-Fi Amp, but was renamed when Creative made the device compatible with a range of processing apps.

Listen to music with Creative Sound Blaster X1

James Barber/Foundry

When it comes to playing music on the Creative Sound Blaster X1, it’s best to ignore the software and just plug and play. I used a DAC on my MacBook Air running macOS 13.1 and streamed music from Qobuz. I plugged the Sound Blaster into his USB-C port on my computer and listened through Focal Celestee headphones.

Using a USB DAC on an Apple computer, you’ll need to dig into the settings and find Audio MIDI Setup to select the output format for the stream: 16-bit/44.1kHz CD quality, 24-bit/96kHz High Definition, or anything in between. something.

Listen to the 24-bit/96kHz stream of the 2022 remaster of Bill Evans’ 1980 jazz album you have to believe in spring We then compared the Sound Blaster X1 playback to the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt. Songs like “We Will Meet Again” have more detail and a richer soundstage with the Sound Blaster X1 compared to the listening experience when headphones are plugged directly into your computer’s audio jack. I was.

But the X1 couldn’t keep up with AudioQuest’s pricier DragonFly Cobalt, which has a male USB-A port and a USB-A to USB-C adapter for my laptop. was connected. Evans’ piano has better sustain and longer decay with DragonFly Cobalt. If you’re a heavy listener of jazz or classical music, the Sound Blaster X1 is certainly better than what you’d get with a standard connection, but he’d recommend looking at one of the more expensive options. You want to get the most out of your Hi-Res music subscription.

Listening to Soundtracks with Creative Sound Blaster X1

To use X1 on your computer, you need to install both the Creative app and the Super X-Fi app. I managed to complete the head mapping process, the process of taking a series of photos of my head, using the Super X-Fi iPhone app. Creative adjusts its digital signal processing based on the shape of your ears and skull.

Once you’re ready to load and watch, you’ll probably want to turn on the Super X-Fi DSP feature using the button on your DAC. You are now ready to experience the full Sound Blaster X1.

I set the playback to surround mode and then watched a 2022 Brad Pitt action movie bullet train Via the Apple TV app. The movie’s iTunes stream has a Dolby Atmos sound mix, and after running the mix through the Super X-Fi DSP, the X1 delivers a much better surround experience than watching a movie with headphones directly connected to your computer. provided.

James Barber/Foundry

To be clear, this surround experience was designed by Creative to work with a DAC and is not necessarily the same as what you would get if you had a proper Dolby Atmos setup in your home theater. Looking at your face a few inches away from the screen in , is very effective.

The Creative desktop app also includes Crystal Voice and SmartComms Kit panels aimed at improving microphone output for online meetings.Acoustic for tweaking sound when Super X-Fi feature is off There is also an Engine.

The Equalizer app might be the most important, as you can use the standard X-FI settings as well as adjust the style of music and a whole list of video games like Call of Duty, Fortnite, League of Legends and more. and some others. This setting provides an important clue that the biggest audience for this DAC/software combo may be gamers, rather than listeners whose primary interest is music.

The Super X-Fi app, mostly by Creative, claims to have custom tuning for Audio-Technica, Sony, Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Bose, and several other collections of headphones. The Sony MDR-7506 is the only pair I own that was on the list, but to be honest, I didn’t see much of a difference between custom tuning and the default setting of “Unknown Headphones.” I’m not sure anyone who bought the Sound Blaster X1 should care if their favorite can isn’t on Creative’s list.

Using Sound Blaster X1 with your smartphone

James Barber/Foundry

I’ve used the Sound Blaster X1 with both an iPhone 13 Pro Max and a OnePlus 10T Android phone. Both were running the latest versions of their respective operating systems. To connect to my iPhone, I needed a USB-C to USB-A adapter to connect to the Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter. I was able to connect directly to my Android device using the X1’s USB-C cable.

I used the Sound Blaster X1 strictly as a DAC and headphone amp passthrough and the results were very good on both iPhone and Android. That said, Android users have a much better experience because they don’t need bulky adapters.

The Sound Blaster X1 has nothing to indicate the resolution of the audio stream. This is a feature that is almost standard on USB DACs from DragonFly, iFi and Questyle. If you’re paying extra for a streaming service that offers hi-res audio, the Dongle DAC is sure to get you what you pay for, which is great news. This isn’t necessarily a required feature, but it’s a feature many listeners want.

James Barber/Foundry

Don’t expect to use Super X-Fi software tweaks on your mobile device. There are versions of the app available in both the iOS store and the Google Play store, but I’ve found that it’s not available on both phones I’ve tried. The app wouldn’t launch on my Android device and repeatedly froze my iPhone. I’m not sure what Android users should do with the above head mapping. The software probably works with older versions of Android.

The experience might be less frustrating if Creative dropped the mobile app entirely and made it clear that surround sound processing is a computer-only feature. This is the kind of contradiction that makes it difficult to review something like the Sound Blaster X1. There are features that could reasonably be described as broken, but the actual sound experience provided by the device is do Working on the phone is worth its price.

Should I buy Sound Blaster X1?

I’m not a gamer and TechHive is not a gaming site, but I think the ideal customer for the Creative Sound Blaster X1 is a gamer who also watches movies on his computer. The Surround Sound DSP in the Super X-Fi app greatly improved my experience watching movies on his MacBook Air. While not reproducing the exact Dolby Atmos mix that the engineers created during the session, the filmmaker also didn’t scale the film’s visuals to fit his 13-inch laptop screen.

If you’re looking for the kind of sophisticated user experience promised by brands like Sonos, Apple, or Astell&Kern, the Super X-Fi experience leaves nothing to be desired. There’s a lot you’ll love once you’ve dug in and found what’s available, but the learning curve is steep for most users.

However, some customers don’t consider this feature a bug, and they will be happy with the treasure hunt element of Creative’s software. The Sound Blaster X1 certainly offers good value for its price, even if you’re using it on a non-cellular phone and don’t want to take advantage of the DSP processing available in computer software.

If you can turn a blind eye to its flaws, you might find yourself quite happy with the Sound Blaster X1’s experience.