At first we would like to thank Creative for offering us a sample of their Sound BlasterX H7 Gaming Headset for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About Creative:

 

“Creative is the worldwide leader in digital entertainment products. Founded in Singapore in 1981, Creative started with the vision that multimedia would revolutionize the way people interact with their PCs.

 

Famous for its Sound Blaster sound cards and for launching the multimedia revolution, Creative is now driving digital entertainment with cutting-edge audio solutions, premium wireless speakers, high performance earphone products and portable media devices. The company's innovative hardware, proprietary technology, applications and services enable consumers to experience high-quality digital entertainment - anytime, anywhere.

 

Since launching the phenomenally successful Sound Blaster sound cards and setting the de-facto standard for PC audio in 1989, Creative has been able to leverage on its leading-edge audio technology, a huge user base of 400 million, and strong brand name to expand into the exciting lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment (PDE) market.

 

Creative is now well recognized as a global leader for product innovation in the audio and PDE segments, offering consumers a complete, high quality digital entertainment experience through Creative's hardware, software applications and services. Finding the perfect balance between form and function, Creative strives for every product to be a sensory feast for the eyes and ears.

 

Today, Creative is spearheading new product categories with its groundbreaking Sound BlasterAxx audio enhancement devices and solutions, highly-acclaimed Creative D5xm Signature Series of modular Bluetooth wireless speakers, Aurvana premium headsets, Sound Blaster wireless gaming headsets, and cross-platform Sound Blaster Recon3D for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC or Mac.

 

These products and solutions are marketed to consumers and system integrators through a worldwide distribution network that includes traditional marketing channels, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and the Internet.

 

Moving forward, Creative's mission is to expand its leadership role in the lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment market, using groundbreaking technology and leading-edge designs for not just the technically-savvy consumers, but for everyone who enjoys entertainment. With strong focus on user-friendly interface, multiple features and cool industrial designs, the Creative brand is synonymous with lifestyle Personal Digital Entertainment.

 

Creative's global corporate headquarters is located in Singapore, in the heart of the Asia-Pacific region. It has regional business units in the US (Milpitas, California), Europe (Dublin, Ireland) and Asia (Singapore).

 

Creative is a public listed company on the main board of the Singapore Exchange (SGX) since June 1994.”

 

Product Features:

 

7.1 SURROUND SOUND GAMING HEADSET FOR THE DISCERNING GAMER

 

Made for the discerning gamer, Sound BlasterX H7 combines comfort and durability with the best audio performance available, with a built-in 24 / 96kHz USB DAC for high definition digital audio immersive gaming.

 

Tapping into our rich history of creating bleeding-edge audio algorithms, our engineers have crafted an audio engine optimized for gaming. The Sound BlasterX Acoustic Engine Pro is a suite of fully customizable audio processing technologies developed and tuned specially for the Sound BlasterX H7 to deliver new levels of audio immersion and precision for the ultimate competitive advantage.

 

X-Plus offers several specially-tuned audio profiles for popular competitive games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Simply select the game you are playing and X-Plus will take care of the audio configuration.

 

Sound BlasterX Acoustic Engine Pro includes Scout Mode™, designed to help you hear beyond what you see. Gain a distinct tactical advantage in combat!

 

Dual Sound Signature

 

The Sound BlasterX H7 is engineered with two custom audio settings that give you control of the realism of your entertainment. Whichever and whatever your entertainment is, you can choose between the Analog mode and digital USB mode for a tailored and immersive experience.

 

The Analog mode is designed to replicate the original signature of your audio.

 

For Immersive Audio, or for Competitive Gaming

 

When connected via USB mode, you will have the choice of selecting BlasterX Acoustic Engine profiles to improve the overall immersion, as well as X-Plus Mode1 designed with specially-tuned audio profiles for popular competitive games.

 

X-Plus is specifically developed with pro-gaming requirements. When configured, X-plus relegates non-critical audio cues specific to most popular competitive games today. So, it bumps up the key audio cues for an extra gaming advantage!

 

H7 is tournament-ready, you can save your X-Plus sound preferences right into the headset, so it will reproduce your sound configuration without any need to install software when you're connected to different gaming setups.

 

Important audio cues are made more obvious without the distractions of other less crucial sounds. Spend less time discerning what you hear and react faster! X-Plus Mode offers the competitive edge you need.

Immerse yourself in thunderous explosions and the crisp clanking of your shots! Acoustic Engine mode improves the overall audio sphere to give you the best entertainment experience in not only games but movies and music as well!

 

Lightweight, Ergonomic Design

 

Finished with a premium blend of soft-touch plastics, memory foam and plush leatherette to complement its sturdy metal architecture, the H7 boasts superior comfort and ergonomics for you to wear all day without feeling tired.

 

Reinforced Steel Headband and Aluminium Architecture

 

The H7 is built with a durable reinforced steel and aluminium architecture that keeps up with your gaming - day in, day out, at home, or on the go. The sturdy steel headband ensures a snug fit on your head with minimal flex for ultimate stability.

 

50mm Full Spectrum Drivers

 

Large, responsive 50mm FullSpectrum drivers deliver powerful bass and astounding clarity. Rated at 118dB/mW, the H7 is among the loudest gaming headsets of its class. Feel every bone-shattering explosion and the rattle of gunfire as you immerse yourself in games like never before with the H7.

 

Tilt Driver Design

 

The Sound BlasterX H5 is designed with a tilt driver implementation that creates a mini acoustic chamber to minimize resonance within the earcups. The result is that you experience extra clarity across the frequencies and better sound separation where every detail crisp and clear.

 

Detachable Noise-reduction Microphone

 

You can remove the microphone from the headset when you do not require them, allowing your headset to be even more compact, or use them as a pair of headphones.

 

One-touch Convenience

 

With the inline remote, you're in control of your music, volume and voice calls - easy and convenient!

 

Seamless Connectivity

 

The H7 offers a wide range of connectivity options to equip you with the holistic experience you need for your gameplay.

 

Use the USB input to your PC or PlayStation® 4 and enjoy the full digital audio experience that your game has to offer!

 

The 3.5mm 4-pole jack cable option can be used with any smart device such as your iPhone and iPad, as well as our present gaming consoles with analog headphones output such as Xbox® One.

 

 

Product Specifications:

 

 

 

One of the latest gaming headsets from Creative is the Sound BlasterX H7 which does come with large 50mm full-spectrum drivers, both USB and analog connectivity, an integrated 24-bit/96kHz DAC and 7.1 surround sound gaming support for the hardcore gamer. The product is being shipped inside a really cool plastic circular enclosure, which is fully sealed with a transparent film on the outside:

 

 

 

The packaging is composed from two plastic components, the top one being made from clear plastic, while the bottom area from black plastic. The top layer acts as a window so we can take a look on how the headset does look like even without unsealing it;

 

 

 

The bottom area of the packaging features a large sticker, describing the main product features in multiple languages, along with the BlasterX Acoustic Engine software download link, the package contents, compatible platforms, but also some product serial numbers:

 

 

 

After removing the top transparent plastic cover, we will get to see the headset well secured inside with Velcro straps so it won’t be damaged during transit:

 

 

 

Under another thin layer of plastic, we will get to see the rest of the bundle, along with the documentation:

 

 

 

Speaking of the documentation, we do get a World Wide Warranty leaflet, along with the Quick Start Guide:

 

 

 

Inside the guide, besides the technical specifications we will also get to see the main product components and the software side of things:

 

 

 

This headset comes with “Dual Sound Signature” feature, meaning that we can use it on USB with its integrated DAC but also on analog interface so it is compatible with a wide range of devices; we are missing though the inclusion of the Y adapter cable so we could connect it to sound cards right away:

 

 

 

 

The microphone is detachable from the main unit, is fully adjustable and has a thick sponge cover pre-attached:

 

 

 

 

With this headset, Creative is using a combination between black brushed metal for additional reinforcement and high quality plastic construction of the earcups; the earcups come with a closed design and on their outside we will get to see the product logo:

 

 

 

 

Each cup houses a 50mm driver with a tilted design so the resonance will be minimized inside the earcups; large drivers are good news because we have experienced similar models with other brands and could say that they offer a good amount of bass, while having balanced mids and highs. These are rated 118dB/mW, making the H7 one of the loudest gaming headsets of its class; Creative is using a separation interface made of memory foam covered by leatherette, which we found as being really comfortable while used for long periods of time:

 

 

 

The left cup sports a similar design as the right, but here we will get to spot some additional interfaces; first we will spot the braided cable which comes out of it:

 

 

 

 

Nearby we do have the compartment for installing the included microphone:

 

 

 

Microphone installation can be performed in a snap:

 

 

 

The reinforced steel headband combines with the aluminum architecture of the earcups mount; these can be fully adjusted so they would fit any head sizes and shapes:

 

 

 

The headband is using quite a bit of memory foam, which is also covered in leatherette for comfort:

 

 

 

On the top area of the headband we will get to see the branding again:

 

 

 

The headset cable ends up with the in-line remote which does also include the 24-bit/96kHz USB DAC; the top area is imitating brushed aluminum and also comes with the microphone on/off switch:

 

 

 

 

Besides the volume controller, we can also use the remote for taking voice calls, thanks to a separate button:

 

 

 

The dual-mode interfaces can be seen on the other side of the remote (analog jack and USB port); it is pretty obvious that the DAC audio effects and headset LED lighting system won’t be available while having the headset connected on analog:

 

 

 

The “X” sign on each cup is LED-lighted and the effects can be configured via the software interface:

 

 

 

We will be able to use the Sound BlasterX H7 advanced features only after installing the driver from the Creative website; it is a good time to mention that if you have another Creative headset/sound card installed on the same system you may run in a bit of trouble. We did install first the product on our gaming/test system which also had a Sound Blaster ZxR and we ended up with a malfunctioning BlasterX console after the computer rebooted. To be more exact, only the Voice FX tab did appear and this one was not having functional options either. We have then proceeded to install the headset on another system, where we have encountered zero issues. The Sound BlasterX button on the top left corner of the main interface does show the currently selected profile, the detected compatible devices and allows entering “demo” mode for showing the device capabilities. Also here we do have the volume controller:

 

 

 

The Profile tab allows us to select a pre-defined SBX profile depending on the game/genre we are playing; we can also import new profiles to the application:

 

 

 

Acoustic Engine comes next, which provides us with settings for the Surround, Crystalizer, Bass, Smart Volume and Dialog Plus BlasterX Acoustic Engine features; the same area has some preview samples which help fine-tuning these easier:

 

 

 

The effects which are not needed can be easily turned off:

 

 

 

Equalizer tab provides us with a 11-band EQ which can be fully customized:

 

 

 

Several presets are also available for us to choose from:

 

 

 

Scout Mode is found with many of the latest Creative products and gives us a tactical advantage in some games:

 

 

 

Voice FX can alter our voice while in conferences and we can have quite a bit of fun with it; it is also fully customizable:

 

 

 

Different presets are available for us to choose from:

 

 

 

An Advanced Settings menu is also available with its own sub-sections; first we do have the type of output we would like to have; Virtual 5.1 Surround and Virtual 7.1 Surround can be fully emulated from software:

 

 

 

 

Mixer is in charge of setting the volume levels for both playback and recording states:

 

 

 

Illumination settings of the “X” logo can be further customized by setting it to pulsate with the tune, or with different other settings:

 

 

 

From the top right corner, we can configure more software-specific options and also check out the software version:

 

 

 

 

Despite the fact that we are dealing with a steel reinforced headband, brushed aluminum and large cups which do hold 50mm drivers that should add some weight, the Sound BlasterX H7 headset remains quite light, having about 364g. By including a 24-bit/96kHz USB DAC, Creative is basically offering us a 2-in-1 product, but can be only used when the headset is connected via USB. If the product is plugged in via analog connection, the DAC is bypassed and the audio quality will highly depend on the sound card/CODEC we are working with.

 

Sound BlasterX H7 is a fully-featured product which gives us the same type of customization we have seen along with the G5 7.1 USB Sound Card. The microphone can be connected in just a few seconds and provides good sound quality in conferences, as we have seen when chatting with friends via Skype.

 

The headset was also used for watching different video clips in Youtube, but also movies and some of the latest TV shows. BlasterX Acoustic Engine gives us quite a bit of customization options for the audio material, so we can keep working with those settings until it fits our preferences. We did continue with Carmageddon: Reincarnation, GTA V and Portal 2 via both analog (via Sound Blaster ZxR) and USB connections and found out that they offered a similar experience. If you do only have a regular Realtek CODEC, the DAC included with this headset will noticeable improve the overall experience and offer at the same time much more configuration options.

 

The Sound BlasterX H7 headset can be found online for about 130 Euros.

Creative Sound BlasterX H7 Gaming Headset is Recommended For:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Creative for making this review possible!