SennheiserGSX 1000 Gaming Audio Amplifier - Black/Red

I bought this in 2016, and have used it daily since. Build quality is still immaculate, just like it was brand new.Depending on what I'm doing, whether I'm playing a game, watching video, listening to music, or a combination of the three, I switch between my connected speakers or headphones with just a simple tap.When listening to the headphones, I regularly switch between 2.0 and the simulated surround setting.As many other reviews have mentioned, whatever magic algorithm Sennheiser put into this box to make the simulated surround setting is INCREDIBLE. I've tried most other "fake surround" solutions on the market, and I've yet to find one even close to this.I originally used this with Windows 7, then 8, 10, and now on windows 11, and it's actually got even easier to use with each Windows iteration. Back with Windows 7/8 there was a few extra setup steps that needed to be done that are now handled automatically the first time it connects.Lately I've mostly been enjoying the 2.0 HD sound setting, which does require going into windows sound settings and manually selecting the higher bitrate sound to enable the HD sound.My only (very minor) complaint is that I wish the higher bitrate HD sound worked with the simulated surround, but unfortunately when you enable the higher bitrate it locks out the surround sound function. Not a huge deal, but if I had to come up with a complaint that would be it.

This thing is beautiful and the sound is much better than motherboard audio. The surround sound algorithms are also a huge improvement over Dolby Atmos or Razer Surround for software virtual 7.1 options.Update 05/29/2018 -I have used this for about 6 months now. I've grown so accustomed to it that I forgot what bad audio sounds like. I play Overwatch a lot. At least 4-5 times a week for a couple hours at a time. I used to play on motherboard audio with Dolby Atmos enabled in-game. For poops and giggles I decided to give that a try again after using the GSX 1000 for 6 months. It was terrible going back to my old audio setup. Even though my headphones are still good. I use Sennheiser's G4me Zero headphones. Motherboard audio + Dolby Atmos sounded muffled like I was listening to the game through ear plugs in my ears. The GSX 1000 7.1 audio is so much more accurate as well as much crisper and cleaner sound. I can never game again without the GSX 1000. You don't know what you are missing until it is taken away. It is easier to tell the difference after using it for so long now.Also be sure to read the manual. While it is plug and play you still have to configure a few things on your computer to make sure it is working properly and to the best of its ability. This thing is capable of 24 bit audio at 96KHz. I think when you first plug it in it defaults to 16 bit 48KHz. For 7.1 surround sound to work it needs to be on 24 bit 48Khz or lower settings. The 24 bit 96KHz option it has is for HD 2.0 Stereo only. I read up a lot on this product before purchasing and noticed a lot of audiophiles complaining about how this performs with music and most of them say you can buy a better DAC and Amp for cheaper. While I agree if you are only listening for music there are probably better and cheaper options like the FIIO products, but in Sennheiser's defense I really think the audio for music on this thing is incredible and still miles above motherboard audio. It has presets for movies, music, and FPS gaming. Make sure you select the music preset on it and it will sound a lot better for music. I think this thing will work on headphones up to 50 ohms. So it won't drive very high end headphones, but this thing wasn't designed for music. It was designed for gaming. The reason why you drop the money on this thing is because of Sennheiser's proprietary virtual 7.1 surround sound algorithms. Sure you can buy a nice DAC/amp that can drive 600 ohm headphones, but you will just have very high quality 2.0 stereo sound. Not 7.1 virtual surround sound. You could try Dolby Atmos to virtualize the surround sound, but it won't be nearly as good for gaming as this is since Sennheiser's 7.1 algorithms make it much easier to pinpoint the direction of the origin of a sound. This is crucial in competitive gaming. Imagine hearing footsteps on a nice DAC/amp with 600ohm headphones in 2.0 stereo. The sound quality of the footsteps are going to sound very high quality. You will definitely hear the footsteps, but you will have no idea what direction it is in. Throw dolby atmos into the mix for virtual surround sound. Now there is some directional assistance. Now you can tell the footsteps are behind you somewhere, but not accurate enough to know from which side behind you. Now add Sennheiser's 7.1 virtual surround sound. Now you can hear and know exactly where your enemies are as if you were in the game yourself being able to use your own natural hearing ability. This is why you buy this, because you want the best directional sound advantage. You won't find that anywhere else. I don't know why the haters of this product don't understand this. If you are only listening to music then go buy a FIIO DAC/amp for cheaper than the GSX 1000. The silly thing is though that although an arguably better DAC/amp for audio quality is cheaper than this. The headphones that you would want to pair it with are more expensive for HD audio. You probably have to spend $400 on the Sennheiser HD 600 headphones for a noticeable jump in audio quality over the Game Zero headphones for $250ish, so it is truly more expensive overall to go the audio quality only route.To sum things up. If all you know is motherboard audio you will definitely not be disappointed in this product for everything. Especially gaming. This is the best gaming audio solution I have ever tried. It does great with music and movies too. This is a great all-in-one audio solution for everything you would need it for if all you know is motherboard audio. Make sure you have decent headphones. It probably won't do you too good if you only have $30 headphones. I'd recommend anything at least $100 or more from Sennheiser to get the right experience with the GSX 1000. I have the G4ME Zero model which are very good and you can probably find them cheaper now than when I bought them.If you have already spoiled yourself with 300-600ohm HD audio headphones with other high end audio equipment then you will probably be disappointed sacrificing very good sound quality for great sound quality with great directional sound. (You will still sound like a baby though if you complain about it) However if money isn't an issue you could use the GSX 1000 as your virtual 7.1 driver and then use your own DAC/amp as a pass-through to drive your massive expensive HD audio headphones and you could probably get the best of both worlds from there.

**The Good:** The Sennheiser GSX 1000 has the best surround downmix I've ever heard. The imaging is excellent. Spooky even. It is disorienting having precise directional audio right next to your ears at first, but you get used to it.This unit has separate audio devices for Main Mix (gaming audio), Voice Chat mix (side volume control with center notch), and microphone. No more going into Discord to adjust the overall volume level of your group chat if it's too loud or soft, or adjusting in-game audio to compensate. Microphone can be heard in headphones (next to zero latency) with two volume settings, or can be turned off entirely. Reverb also has two loudness settings or can be turned off, which can emulate the natural reverb of speakers in a room.The main volume control sets the volume level in Windows, which means you can use any volume control to change the volume on the GSX 1000, in Windows or on your keyboard.Onboard EQ settings adjust from neutral, more bass heavy, or more treble heavy to suit your headphones and personal taste. You can also set the sound to emphasize front or rear sounds more, or set to neutral.Noise floor is low enough that it's not noticeable in game. It will certainly be better than onboard audio in this regard.Display dims automatically and pops back on when you hover your hand over the device.No software settings! Everything is controlled on the front and side of the unit. All you have to do is plug it in, tell Windows it's a 7.1 channel audio device, and you're good to go.**The not so good:**Microphone output and voice chat playback are limited to 16 bit/16Khz. For gaming this isn't a huge dealbreaker, as we're talking about headset mics and you're likely using a bit of noise reduction anyway. But if you're a streamer, especially if you're running more of a "broadcast" grade mic, you would absolutely want to run your mic through a different preamp into a dedicated audio capture device. The rear mic input on my motherboard sounds better than the GSX 1000 mic input, whereas the GSX 1000 is a big improvement over the noisy front inputs on my PC case due to the lower noise floor and lack of audio pollution.I looked up audio samples for the mic channel of the GSX 1000 before purchasing but they didn't mention the low bitrate, and they were hosted either on Youtube or (worse) Soundcloud. Soundcloud's compression is trash, and it's even worse when you embed Soundcloud playback on an external site. The mic output from the GSX 1000 sounds MUCH better than anything I heard online, and is very usable, but it's not broadcast quality. Keep in mind that most people boost their audio samples to make them loud which introduces another layer of bad compression artifacts, making the sound gritty. I did the same research before buying the Sennheiser Game One headset and all the audio samples I found sounded like trash, but in real life it sounds great.**Don't buy this if:**You want a device for music listening, and especially if you want "fake surround" for your 2 channel audio. Fake surround always sounds hollow. There is a setting to switch from 7.1 to 2.0 but if you're primarily looking for a music playback device there are better options.If you have higher impedance headphones you need a proper headphone amp to get the best sound. You CAN daisy chain the GSX 1000 into a headphone amp and that will provide fuller, smoother sound for more demanding headphones. The GSX 1000 is plenty loud for games, but it's not all about volume.

Every other dac/amp I own accepts 2 sources. For example I can plug in my Xbox and PC. There are simply not enough inputs on this device. There is the USB power that takes PC audio from your computer, then there is headphones, mic, and the output (speaker). That is all. This is all. This is way to basic for my needs. The audio quality is excellent and the device is really cool looking, it just does not meet my needs at all. I would highly recommend the Fulla 3 over this. It's cheaper and it accepts more source devices. It's also less gadget looking, just a solid metal box with a volume knob.Edit (2.20.2021): I like it but it needs more power.I'm new the the DAC/Amp thing so forgive my lack of knowledge above. I'm still learning. Playing around with this thing I learned a ton and I love it now. Here are the pros:1. Adjust your monitor playback settings so that whatever you play through your monitor (PC or Console) will output from this device. Boom! The USB will send all signals that are displayed on your monitor to this device.2. The large digital volume readout. I use a USB volume control under my desk to physically turn my volume up or down. My dac is placed on top of my monitor so I don't always want to extend my arm to turn it up and down. Here I simply reach under my desk right next to where I sit and I can see the volume numbers increasing or decreasing.3. 7.1 audio is a thing to experience. It really feels like surround sound. The first time I used it I whipped my head around because I had no idea if the sound was coming from my headphones or from something in my room. The 7.1 provides a distant sound which actually makes everything sound more realistic. If just using stereo sound when playing an FPS for example then all sounds are blasting through your ears (even if it is directional audio). With 7.1 all I can say is it feels like you are really there.4. I love that when you plug in headphones it does not automatically default to them. Most other dac/amps don't do this. This is great because the GSX is over an arms distance for and I don't always want to have to stand up, hover over my desk, and plug them in or take them out. With this feature I can always leave my headphones plugged in if I want and just push one button to select speakers or headphones.I needed some time to play with this thing to figure it out. I have been using the Creative G6 for some time. I really do like that one as well. Personally I'd say they are equally as good. This one just has some of the features I mentioned above that I really enjoy.One major con:This thing lacks some serious power. To push your higher end headphones you will find that this amp can't do it. I attached my liquid spark amp to it and it did help, but now the question is do you want to pay the GSX1000 and an additional amp?After playing with this for a day I wanted to compare it to my Creative G6. My little G6 can power anything I throw at it. Even when the gain was low it sounded louder than the GSX + Liquid Spark.For the casual gamer with entry level to mid level headphones this is a good unit. If you are looking to use this to push some power hungry headphones and want a unit for music and gaming then I'd look elsewhere.I found this unit to be overpriced. Also, at this point the unit is around 4 years old. The price should have gone down at this point.I recommend with some serious hesitations.

I paired these with my Moondrop Aria IEM’s, and although the sound quality is fantastic, I just wish they were louder. I wouldn’t recommend for gaming. Razer sells a great USB sound card that amplifies your audio tenfold (though less quality), and I would recommend that more for gaming, especially since it’s cheaper.That said, when paired with the Aria’s, I love using this for my music.The build quality is also 10/10, very sleek and with cool features.