EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition Dac Amp Audio Amplifier/External USB Sound Card with 7.1 Surround Sound, Side Tone, Gaming DAC and EQ, Headphone Amp Compatible with Windows, Mac, Laptops and Desktops

What’s up! I’ll keep this review short and simple. I’ve tested and used many amps and dacs on the market, and they all have their purposes and niches. This product is meant for someone who: A) Doesn’t need to drive anything above 250ohms. B) Is particularly looking for Dolby VSS 7.1 rather Atmos. C) Wants to switch audio inputs easily. D) Wants to separate chat audio from game audio. The Dolby VSS processing is top of the line, and performs better than Atmos on this device. It is notably better than anything I’ve used before, and the regular EQ profile is very neutral. Directional audio is first class in this product, so for FPS titles, it’ll shine above the rest. I attempted to drive a few headphones with this product, and anything over 250ohms just wasn’t loud enough. It did drive my DT990s well enough, but I’ve recently settled on the slightly warmer version, TYGR300s (50 ohms). The ability to plug both my headphones in AND speaker setup is very handy. You can set four presets on this device and I have one for my headphones and one for my speakers. As for separating game audio from chat audio, it works very similar to an Astro mixamp. There are two channels: chat and game. Set your game to the correct channel, and your chat audio. The large center wheel effects game audio, while a small wheel on the right side effects chat audio. Overall 5/5 for my usage, would definitely recommend.

Bought this because I was looking for an easy volume control knob and a way to seamlessly switch between speakers and my headset. This fits the bill perfectly. The virtualization effects are really good too, better than almost anything else out there, and the volume knob is the smoothest thing i have ever used. this thing feels like its floating, for real. the screen is great and super clear, and the sound quality is of course excellent. sidetone works well too. only complaints are the price, and that the chatmix wheel doesn't completely mute the chat when its all the way to zero. i also wish the LED was changeable to a different color (would love a blue or green) but functionally that doesn't affect anything.

I am updating my review after 3 years of use. Overall, this is a good piece of equipment. It works great with lower impedance headphones like the Sennheiser Game Ones. The amp had plenty of juice to power a gaming headset. Gaming headsets typically don't take much to power. Usually around 50 - 100 impedance. I recently upgraded my headset to the Sennheiser HD 650s. These are higher impedance. Around 300ohms. The GSX was not able to power these headphones to their full potential. They did sound decent gaming. But while listening to music, I had to turn the volume all the way to 90 for it to be loud. Because I like the features of the GSX 1000, I decided to keep it and just buy an additional amp. I decided to go with the JDS Labs Atom+. I have the GSX 1000 plugged into the JDS Labs Atom via the headphone jack with an aux to aux cable. And my headset is now plugged into the Atom amp. This way, I am able to fully power the headphones with the Atom amp while still getting the gaming benefits of the GSX 1000. I really do like the 7.1 virtual surround sound on the GSX 1000. It really does sound great in big open world games. Or chaotic shooters like Battlefield. I would not use the 7.1 in competitive FPS games such as Counter-Strike. But for other less competitive games, the 7.1 is great. Better than most virtual surround offered by competitors. The GSX 1000 also offers side tone, and a chat mixer. I really liked the idea of the chat mixer to be able to control discord volume separately. However, I have never been able to figure out how to get that to work correctly. You can also hook up desktop speakers to the GSX 1000 through the speaker input jack. And you can effortlessly switch between your headset and speakers with the push of a button. TLDR: Great device for lower impedance gaming headsets like the Sennheiser Game Ones. For any harder to drive headphones such as the Sennheiser HD 650s, you will need to get an additional amp to unlock the full potential of the headphones. The GSX simply does not have enough power for near audiophile headsets. 7.1 Virtual surround is much better than competitors offerings. Chat mixer has never worked correctly for me.

I am unable to configure this unit to use high quality audio despite following all instructions from both Sennheiser and EPOS. I attempted to contact Sennheiser Support to no avail. They refused to help me and punted me to EPOS support, giving me two different phone numbers that are both out of service. Sennheiser gives the excuse that they no longer work with EPOS despite having designed and sold this product under their name. EPOS appears to no longer provide consumer electronics and the support form is geared towards business users only. This product appears to be no longer supported by either company and they want to play hot potato with their customers while still collecting over $230 for what they are BOTH advertising as their product. Unacceptable.

This was a nice upgrade from the gen1. The settings for all the streaming applications takes a little getting used to. Once you get everything setup working the sound quality is great.

I love this thing so much. Having had a Turtle Beach PX22 headset several years ago with an in-line control for adjusting the chat volume versus the game volume, regaining that functionality with this Dac has been amazing. In addition to being able to individually control the general volume versus the volume of chat, having a handful of pre-configured audio mixes for swapping between gaming, music and video is a welcome boon. Add to that a quick way to toggle between your headset and another audio device such as desktop speakers and I never want to go back to not having this device.

Works

Really good product the sound is just #ChefKiss. It looks super premium and it's easy to install. Great for speakers and also great for headphones. The amp is doing a good job also for sound seperation. Super fast shipping. I recommend!

With this setup and 7.1 audio i hear details and birds, guncasings falling on the ground etc when i play red dead redemption 2, hugely immersive. I have had issues with no sound sometimes when i boot the pc, but its fixed with reboting the DaC

Magnifico 7.1, aconselho, o som quando jogas fica noutro patamar, muito envolvente consegue identificar todos os pormenores.