EPOS Sennheiser GSX 1000 Virtual 7.1 Gaming Audio Amplifier - Interface: USB 2.0, USB Audio 1.0 - Total Harmonic Distortion: 0.005% THD @ -3dBFS - Headphone Frequency Response: 0 ~ 48kHz - Recommended Headphone Impedance: 16 ~ 150 Ohm - Line Out (AUX) Frequency Response: 1.5Hz ~ 48kHz - Ports: mini-USB, 3.5mm Headset, 3.5mm Microphone, 3.5mm Loudspeaker - Cable Length: 1.2m - Built-in DAC and EQ Modes - 1000237 - 2 Years Limited Warranty
It is ok at 99 but you would have rocks in your head to pay rrp.
There's no way this was 349 surely
EDIT: sh1t people are charging that
Yep! They used to be $300-350 lol. Mwave have had them for $150-170ish for the past few months. $99 is a ripper of a price! It seriously boosted my sennheiser G4ME one (original) headset to a different clarity of sound.
If your mobo has a 1200 or 1220a audio chip, you don't need this dac. Older on-board chips don't come anywhere near what this can produce!
Thanks, bought. I have some powered monitors, and it was a pain unplugging them from my DAC each time I wanted to use headphones.
EDIT, I wasn’t charged delivery
Yes, delivery is free. Ad should be updated.
Yep, free delivery until 30/06
They’ll be out of stock within 24hrs at this price.
Im not sure what you mean? Do you mean unplugging them to use on a console?
So, I run a USB-C DAC.
When I want to use the DAC to drive my headphones, I have to unplug the powered speakers.
Ohhhh, what dac are you using?
@AydenFX: Audioquest Dragonfly Cobalt, which I don’t recommend.
It sounds fine, but I was once into the whole MQA thing - the build quality is terrible and I am sure you could get something that sounded better and had more features.
I also have a HiFiDIY DAC which does a good job for 5x cheaper than the Dragonfly
@giventofly: Ahh I see, thats why I was confused.. My focusrite can power my hefty monitors + 990 pros.
Oh shit will this go ok with my new HD 560s?
Love my HD 560s!
If it's just for music probably not, but at the same time $99…
True they are easy to drive and I have gaming headphones. Won't bother.
yeah
at 70 percent volume they will be fine
the 560s aren't that good of a set to need anything high power
Anything higher like a 599 though nah
The gsx is fine,at this price it's (profanity) amazing,but at the 179 it usually is,it makes no sense not to get a creative g6 or pay 20 bucks more get a Shitt ful
No, it's barely better than on-board sound. There's better dongles for less than this.
Please give examples. I’m genuinely interested
https://andyaudiovault.com/donglemadness/
Plenty of affordable 4 & 4.5 star options there, and the Tempotec gear has a fair bit of power, especially for dongles.
Price error? Maybe it was supposed to be $299?
Did I need it? No
Is it a bargain? Yes.
Did I buy it? Heck yes
Thanks op, bought one!
So do I plug it into my computer or something? Bought it because of the price and hype now need to figure out what it does…
That’s the way, buy now, think later
This is the way, now wonder what it does.
Says it ends on the 30th, not the 12th
Are these better than the Astro A40 headphone amp?
imo yes but that's that's me. Some people may say no due to having similar specs side-by-side. The A40amp is an older sound chip which has its uses. Is it worth the upgrade? At this price YES! Any more $$ no
How is the noise floor on these?
Hmm… some random nerds complaining about this: https://linustechtips.com/topic/867000-gsx-1000-bbad-sound/
But anyway, this kit is getting a bit old, and I'm a bit concerned about ongoing support…
This thing is actually really great, I bought one a while back to try out.
I did return it because it couldn't power my headphones to be loud enough, unfortunately.
Better off spending the money on an ES 100 MK2 tbh
I'm worried about this now, I've got HD6XXs. What headphones did you use?
I have the Sennheiser 598s, which I have had for many years. Don't get me wrong the GSX is pretty great IMHO. Just a tiny bit underpowered.
I also tried them with my Sony MDR 1-RNCs and it was the same. It sounded fine and the 7.1 was nice, but not loud enough for my butchered ears lol.
I think this thing might deliver a bit more performance.
https://www.mwave.com.au/product/creative-sound-blaster-x3-h…
These are max 150ohm, so won’t be good for our HD6XXs
This thing is from like 2016-17?
Bingo. Long superseded, but people screw their nose up at audiophiles and the marketing teams feast on their ignorance.
GSX
For
Medium range headphones,but doesn't get loud enough
For..
Anyone with a GSP series,or other gaming headset,will be more than enough
Against-Doesn't have enough power to drive anything past a HD599 for example
Spot on, I used it with my Sennheiser 598 and found it lacking.
Only good if you're headphones are on the verge of needing an amp, these struggle to power a 6XX
I'm using GSP 602, do I need it?
Also, would my speaker be beneficial from it?
My current setup is GSP 602 =>corsair st100=>PC USB
speaker to aw3423dw monitor=>DP to PC
Definitely not
does this thing have a mute button? i just want an external mute button for my headphones. the dac would be a bonus.
16bit 16khz microphone quality… be very careful about plugin your mic into this DAC
So what does this do haha?
And… it's gone, price error?
OOS :(
Got no idea what this thing does, could someone tell me if this will work with Focal Eclear Headphone? Thanks.
This would completely undermine the Elear.
Elear doesn't need much amplification at all, but I wouldn't get this for them, nowhere near as hard to drive as a 650/6XX
The quality of the DAC matters for sound reproduction (aliasing, which can impact tonal reproduction of the analog signal it spits out), and the amp matters for any fast voltage ramp requirements for a dynamic headphone.
Looking at the impedance curve for the Elear you can see there is a bump centred on 55Hz, so a good amp will clean up the low and sub-bass, which would improve over all detail.
So no, it's not as simple as P=(V^2)/R, and this is a shitty old DAC/amp combo.
@jasswolf: Not disagreeing with you, and not saying that you won't get an improvement with one, but overall it's a minor improvement compared to a major one for the 6XX. A/Bing mine with and without an amp, a lot of people wouldn't have any issues running one straight from a decent phone
@cille745: I just very clearly explained why that's wrong, so yes you are disagreeing with me.
Get a better DAC, get a better amp.
@jasswolf: What did I state that was wrong?
I agreed with you that due to the impedance curve of the elear, an amp will clean up the bass which improves detail, just not in a way that transforms the headphones like the 6XX. You can get around 90% out of the elear with a good phone with a decent DAC. I have two perfectly good amp/dacs that should have no issues driving them (Schitt Stack and Woo WA7), and they simply aren't worth it for the improvments. You won't "completely undermine the elear" unless you're driving it off a bad phone.
@cille745: A headphone at the level of performance of the still needs a better DAC than this product, and still needs a better amp than what it is in this product.
After spending $500+ for a good headphone, this would leave you wondering what the fuss was about. Considering the bass is a huge part of the sell for Focal's open back offerings, leaving it performing sluggishly in the low-to-sub bass completely undermines the purchase.
I can't be any clearer than that.
@jasswolf: Hi Jasswolf,
Just wondering is the amplifier best suited for Focal Eclear the same sort of amplifier we use in the movie room? E.g., could I get a property Amplifier and use it for home theatre and Focal Eclear headphone? Sorry I'm complete Newbie here.Thanks a lot.
@guichenmin: If your speaker/receiver amp has a headphone jack, that's an ok starting point but typically not as well constructed as the rest of the unit. I'd certainly recommend that over this device.
A speaker output directly wired to a pair of Focals would likely be dangerous. That's a technique seldom used beyond some very low sensitivity headphones such as the HIFIMAN Susvara.
A good choice to jump up from that would be the Schiit Asgard 3 for $400 new or max $300 used, then a decent external DAC to pair with that ($100 for the Khadas Tone Board at the bare minimum).
Audio Science Review can offer some guidance but their focus on what are still fairly limited measurements can steer you in the wrong direction without really testing how an amp handles high current requirements (planar headphones) and notable voltage swings (most dynamic headphones as impedance climbs). Currawong on YouTube might be able to provide some guidance for DAC (or other amp) options from the subjective side.
Snoozed and losed. Watched 1 too many youtube videos. Was never in the market for one but sure would've been a nice treat.
It's shite, consider yourself lucky.
Rather buy a creative G5 for $40 more…
Most reviewers state that the GSX 1000 competes with the Creative G6. The Creative G5 is well behind both.
That said, I have the GSX 1000 and the G6 and I prefer the G6. It's slightly better.
How is the creative G5 Behind the GSX 1000? this can't even drive 300 ohm devices while the G5 can?
Higher Ohms doesn't necessarily mean better quality. If you need to drive 300-600 ohm headphones then you're obviously going to be better off with the G5 or G6, but the G5 is the lower version of the G6 and the G6 is a direct competitor to the GSX 1000
https://www.soundboxlab.com/head-phone/gaming-headphone/senn…
Price changed to $149.00 now. Not going to commit for $50 more.
Hi Gents,
I bought this GSX 1000 amp without thinking as the price was so attractive LOL
I have a steelseries arctis 7 wireless and considering an upgrade, May i ask what 7.1 gaming headset may be a good match with this GSX1000?
Cheers <3
You don't need a 7.1 headset. The GSX simulates 7.1 on any normal headphones/headset.
Just look for a good quality wired headset, or a good pair of headphones and an external mic.
I use the DT990 Pro headphones myself, and I have a boom mic to go along with it. Those headphones are awesome. There's are good alternatives as well, just depends how much you want to spend.
Is that a micro-b port?
I am tempted to buy even at $150 as a backup. That is how much I paid for mine second-hand and regret nothing. FYI, these work quite well with Linux too, there are a few tweaks that you need to do but afterward, they are great. I use them to WFH, the 4 profiles make it easy to switch between meeting setup (where voice is important) to more base for music, to speakers (through an apm) for when I am sick of the headphones. When I read the reviews some years ago everybody was saying that it is hard to drive some headphones but I do not have those so they drive what I have just fine.
FYI. In Windows for gaming, things get even better. It installs 2 sound cards: one for sounds, and one for communication. I have my discord going through the communication soundcard so I can always hear my friends clear, while being able to control the sound of the game/music independently from the wheel. The main controlls 7.1, bass, etc do not work for the communication soundcard (thank god, why would I want to hear my friends in 7.1).
So I would call it the perfect gaming DAC too. I read about the SB one before I bought mine, I do not believe it has all these features even though it can drive better headphones.
The only feature that the GSX 1200 has that this one does not is some sort of local voice network. I cannot think about why I would use it unless I run a esports team.
Mine was posted today. Thanks OP.
Got mine today. Super happy with it. Everything I wanted - now it is so easy for me to change output devices.
If anyone is getting any distortion, or feedback, highly recommend one of these to isolate noise: https://hifimediy.com/product/usb-isolator/
Also, the sound was muffled at first, because Windows defaulted to the headset output (within sound options) - need to change it to speakers output in windows sound settings.
Don't need but wtf this is cheap