Review on 🎧 Enhanced Sound Blaster GC7 Game Streaming DAC Amp with Programmable Buttons, Super X-Fi, 7.1 Virtual Surround, Battle Mode, Scout Mode, GameVoice Mix, for PC, PS4/PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox by Robert Hardin

At the time of writing, only one person has reviewed this device, posing as an expert and offering a detailed review, but ironically never in the Review about it mentioned The most important aspect of this device: the sound quality. So here's my rundown of the things that matter most to me and probably most other people. I'm not an audio expert, I'm not an audiophile and I don't have an extensive resume in DAC usage. I'm a Twitch Partner streamer with many viewers who closely follow any changes to my stream. I'm a music lover and avid gamer and I'm good at technology in general. I used to stream with the DAC built into the Asus ROG Throne (ESS 9118), which was actually pretty good quality for my mic and sound. Since upgrading to this GC7 I've had repeated praise from all my viewers for the improved audio and microphone quality, with many saying it sounds studio quality. Music sounds a lot better and I've noticed little nuances in many of the songs I've listened to frequently that I've never noticed before, games produce brighter, more detailed sounds, and the levels of customization for everything audio-related are up terrific. The voice quality of my microphone has also improved greatly compared to what all my viewers have been saying to me since I installed it. However, that's where all the good stuff ends. Other than that, the Super X-FI setup was a royal pain in the neck. Seriously, I couldn't think of a more non-intuitive way for Creative to manage the customization process. You need to download the Super X-FI phone app, calibrate the head shape in the app, download the Windows creative app, customize everything there, and then download another Super X-FI Windows app that can load your profile . created from the app to your computer, which then connects to your Creative for Windows app. The icing on the cake here is that the Super X-FI doesn't have a profile for my Sennheiser GSP 600 headset, and even when I try to select a Sennheiser PC38X, which uses the same driver as the GSP 600, the sound quality is abominable. All in all, I've spent a lot of time setting up Super X-FI for my headphones when they don't even work. Don't worry if your headphones aren't on the supported list, which is disappointing as the Super X-FI should be a key selling point for this product. Oh, and there's another app specific to the GC7 that you can download to your phone to control the GC7 remotely from the phone app if you want. Thus, a total of 4 applications need to be installed (2 on phone, 2 on PC) to fully use this product. Additionally, the creative app is basic, if a little buggy. Profile changes sometimes aren't saved, they load into a weird profile with settings you never enabled, and switching app profiles with special buttons isn't always responsive and you have to press the button multiple times and then you win, you know not what profile you're in unless you're looking at the app, which almost defeats the purpose of a dedicated hotkey. The hotkeys aren't very customizable either: only built-in device options like sharing profiles, enabling scout mode (which I don't need), etc. and custom options like launching an app (like Spotify) aren't needed. . . not save after reboot, which is also annoying. The center button cluster isn't very useful and almost never needs to be adjusted on the fly, and the right knob for the game voice mixer isn't very handy or useful either, and both take up most of the real estate of the device's panel . The RGB is a nice touch, wish it would light up more than just a circle around 4 dedicated keys and tiny knobs. I personally like the front outputs for my particular setup and find them convenient to use. Overall I really like the unit in terms of sound quality, it looks clean, it's easy to install and set up (except for the Super X-FI) and it does its job well for the price. The software is still buggy though, Super X-FI is a waste of time if your headset doesn't support it and a pain even if it does, and I really wish the property was better utilized than the current average/proper buttons and buttons. Macro buttons like the ones on Streamdecks would be much more useful, especially since this product is aimed at streamers. So this unit is a great DAC, but none of the streamer-focused features are particularly useful as buggy software detracts from the value because it's on sale and should be aimed at streamers. My recommendation: buy a quality DAC for better sound quality, buy a streaming deck or looper for streamer-related features, and don't even think about it if your headphones aren't Super X-FI capable. In the end I returned mine for the Shiite Hel 2. Overall Sound Quality: 5/5 Microphone Quality: 5/5 Installation Process: 1/5 User Experience: 2/5 Build Quality: 4/5 Value: 2/5