EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition Review – 7.1 Touchscreen Gaming Sound Card

EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition is a gaming sound card with 7.1 emulation audio and separate game and chat audio output. What immediately catches the eye in the card is a beautiful touch screen LED display, it is needed to control the functions of the card. The price of the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition gaming sound card is $140.

The feature of this sound card is that all the necessary functions are at hand and conveniently placed on the touch screen. Turning on 7.1, selecting different equalizer presets, system volume, game/chat volume and other features are displayed on the screen and all you need to do is click on the desired setting, no need to enter the program or go to the desktop.

The strongest point of the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition gaming sound card is the sound you get right out of the box, without any tweaking. Below I will compare the sound of my Realtek ALC887 integrated sound card ($5 😀 ) with my external Steinberg UR242 sound card ($140). Looking ahead, I will say that I was satisfied with the results, about what I expected. Compared to the Realtek ALC887 and any integrated sound card (integrated into the motherboard), the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition is a step up in sound. Therefore, if you have been thinking about upgrading your PC’s sound for games, movies, and music, then I recommend taking a closer look at the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition.

In the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition review, I will tell you about the capabilities of this gaming sound card, the main pros and cons that I found during a month of testing, and I will conclude whether this card is worth its $140.

 

⚙️ Specifications and packaging

 

📌 About EPOS

 

EPOS is a Danish company that manufactures devices for gamers: gaming headphones, sound cards, webcams, microphones. As well as devices for business users – speakerphones, devices for conferencing, etc. You can read more about EPOS on their official website eposaudio.com.

💎 Appearance

The design of the playful sound card EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition is made in black and red colors and in a strict square shape, without rounded corners.

The design itself is laconic and the sound card looks monolithic. EPOS is a Danish company, and here you can feel the influence of Scandinavian minimalism, which is close to my heart. There are no pretentious elements and nothing superfluous to distract the eye while playing.

On the top of the card is a touchscreen display with a volume wheel around it. The display contains almost all the controls, which are highlighted in white and red. The circular lighting under the volume wheel looks great, moderately bright so as not to distract from the battles. In the middle is a round touchscreen with a volume meter in the middle and 6 clickable icons, each of which is responsible for a specific function. In the 4 corners of the screen are 4 touch buttons for selecting a saved sound preset and a few other settings.

On the right side is the balance wheel for game and chat volume. Rubberized, with a pronounced ribbed texture – easy to use.

On the bottom of the card are: 1 rubberized oblong leg and 1 plastic oblong leg stand. The card does not go anywhere when interacting, the rubber foot fixes the device securely on the table. Upper plastic leg – can be elegantly transformed into a stand, for convenient tilting of the sound card towards the user. It’s a great solution, I used the card only tilted during the test, it’s much more comfortable.

There are 4 connectors on the back: a USB-C connector for the power cable, a 3.5mm headphone output, a 3.5mm speaker output and a 3.5mm microphone output.

Appearance – seasoned, stylish and gaming. Red, black and white colors look harmonious. The card has no unnecessary, useless or frilly design elements. Just symmetry, minimalism and austerity. The design is a big plus, for a month of testing it has not become boring to me and is still pleasing to the eye.

🔨 Build Quality

The build quality of the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition is excellent. There are only 3 moving elements in the card: a large volume wheel on the front, a game and chat volume wheel on the right side, and a lower stand leg. When using them, there are no backlashes, uncharacteristic sounds, cod, and other things. The large volume wheel turns smoothly and effortlessly. The right gaming and chat wheel is quiet and smooth. Leg stand – fixed securely and has 2 positions: folded / unfolded.

The card body is made of high-quality matte plastic, the large volume ring is made of aluminum. The touch screen is made of glossy plastic and collects fingerprints. These prints are only visible when the light source is reflected from the glossy screen into your eyes. During normal use of the card in front of you, under the monitor, the prints are not visible and did not bother me. Although I am a perfectionist that I have been trying to kill in myself for a year, and usually fingerprints on the screen and any stains/dirt annoy me.

The assembly is great. The EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition sound card feels solid and solid.

🎛️ Management and Functionality

4 elements are responsible for controlling the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition gaming sound card.

1. Large touch screen, on which :

• The master volume level is displayed in the center, from 0 to 99. It is regulated by a physical wheel regulator, around the screen. The knob is convenient to adjust even without looking.
• EQ icon on the top right: EQ preset switch, there are 4 modes: off, music, e-sports and movie. The presets are well done, I used them actively.
• The little man icon on the right: 3D Gain. There are 3 modes: Off, Front Boost, Back Boost.
• Circle icon at the bottom right : switch from 2.0 stereo to 7.1 virtual surround sound and vice versa.
• Left bottom icon: Sidetone or the audibility of your voice through the microphone in the headphones. There are 3 modes: ++ high audibility, + low or neutral, no sidetone.
• Right icon: reverb level or echo, there are 3 modes: ++ open world (maximum), + closed room or neutral (middle level), no reverb.
• Speaker icon top left: switch from headset to speakers and vice versa. When switching to speakers, only the equalizer presets from the settings are available: off, music, eSports and movie.

I liked the touch screen, although it took me a while to get used to it. There are no false alarms, the icons are easy to press, other icons do not stick when pressed.

The big plus of this screen is that it won’t eat your eyes out while you play. It turns off after 10 seconds of inactivity. To activate it, you have to put your hand or finger about 5 cm from the screen and after 1 second the screen “wakes up”. I’ve been using this card for a month now and it still looks cool 😎 .

2. Total volume wheel around the screen. The volume level is changed by scrolling the illuminated control ring, which is synchronized with the Windows system sound settings. One quarter turn to the right = 0 to 99 percent increase.

3. 4 touch buttons at the corners of the sound card – are responsible for switching presets and saving your settings, as well as for tournament mode and resetting to factory settings. In addition, the last settings you made are automatically saved when you turn off the computer, but I still recommend saving them separately.

To save your settings in one of the 4 slots, you need to go to the desired slot, wind everything you want and hold the preset button for 3 seconds, after that you will hear a beep and the volume control will blink – this means the settings are saved. To switch to a different Preset, press the Preset button 1 time.

Tournament Mode disables all buttons on the touch screen. To toggle between on and off, press and hold the upper left and lower right buttons simultaneously for 10 seconds. In Tournament Mode, you can only adjust the overall volume with the physical wheel and the chat volume, all other buttons are disabled. In addition to blocking, Tournament Mode also turns on “aggressive microphone noise reduction,” which makes your voice a little louder and clearer through the microphone. This can be a very useful feature in a competitive environment where there’s a lot of noise.

To reset all settings to defaults, press and hold all 4 side touch buttons for 10 seconds.

4. Game/Chat volume wheel on the right side of the card. The middle position is physically fixed when 50% game sound and 50% chat sound, which is convenient. The top position away from you – the maximum sound of the chat. This wheel allows you to find your balance of volume, with different dynamics of the game.

Another useful feature of the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition is a separate sound output for the game and for the chat. This feature is very convenient for multiplayer team games or streaming. This is how it looks in Windows:

Management – comfortable and functional. Without the manual, I would not have figured out all the features. I’ve described ALL the controls, but there are pictures in the manual, so if you don’t understand something or something doesn’t work, go ahead and read.

I didn’t get used to the touch controls right away, but I use them less often than the general volume and the game/chat volume, which are controlled by physical twists. Perhaps a control implementation like the one in the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition is optimal for me.

In the proprietary program EPOS Gaming Suite, the sound card is displayed, but there are no active settings available, since everything you need is already in the card itself.

🎙️ Sound recording

The EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition card can record at 16 bit/48 kHz.

Below, I compare 2 entries through a Sennheiser Game Zero Gaming Series gaming headset to my standard Realtek ALC887 integrated card ($5) and EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition ($140).

 

I was pleased with the quality of the microphone recording through the EPOS gaming sound card. This is more than enough for you to be clearly understood in chat and not be asked again. Of course, a good gaming headset is the basis for a good voice transmission, to choose one, welcome to the ranking of the best headphones with microphone. But as you can hear, the sound card dramatically affects the quality of the recording when using the same Sennheiser GAME ZERO Gaming Series headphones.

🔊 Sound quality

I will compare the sound of the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition game card with my 2 standard sound cards: my Realtek ALC887 motherboard integrated sound card ($5) and the sound of my Steinberg UR242 external sound card ($140).

I compared the sound using Sennheiser Game Zero Gaming Series headphones in Resident Evil 4 and CS GO. I compared the sound of music on 3 tracks of the group Taking Heads – I recently discovered them, they are divine, deleted the repeat button. I also watched the movie Casino Royale (2006) – excellent dynamics, music, explosions. For the test, that’s it!

Sound in the game Resident Evil 4

 

I admire the way Capcom works with sound in their games, you can see that they go to great lengths to make the game world sound phenomenally realistic. The sounds of footsteps, enemies, objects, the surrounding world, moving elements and voices, everything sounds amazing. For me, the latest remakes of Resident are the best games in terms of sound design, but how do you like Resident in terms of sound atmosphere, maybe there are better games?

• Realtek ALC887 ($5) – positioning is average, only left-right, top-bottom is felt, there is no question of depth. The sounds of cars, nature, animals, etc. sound unnatural. During action, the sounds get mixed up, sometimes it is difficult to determine where the enemy is.
• Steinberg UR242 ($140) – The positioning is good, the depth of the sounds is felt, the sounds are more accurately outlined on the stage, it is always clear where the enemy is. Vocal timbres are more natural. Sounds of nature, animals and objects sound better and more realistic. But the sound is dry, there is not enough dynamics, which is why the immersion in the game is weak.
• EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition ($140) – The positioning is excellent, especially in eSports mode. With 7.1 turned on, you get a complete immersion in the game, more volume and space, the positioning of enemies is a little blurry, but not critical and worth it. The sounds of nature, animals and objects sound realistic. In a dynamic game, the sounds do not fall into a mess. Above, below, left, right are perfectly drawn. There is depth, near and far is also good.

Result. The Realtek sound card wins back in the resident for its $5, but no more =). The Steinberg UR242 makes the sound tighter, more detailed and more natural, but dry, though readable. EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition – makes the sound for this game readable, detailed, voluminous and full-bodied. More bottoms and tops, effects, hits, shots – everything sounds juicy and pleasant. I especially liked the e-sports mode. 7.1 mode, which adds color to the game. EPOS WIN.

Sound in the game CS GO

• Realtek ALC887 ($5) – mid-level positioning. It is not difficult to determine where the enemy is, but in battles, in Temko on Dust 2, with a cannonade of shots of the game 15 by 15, it can be problematic to do this, all sounds fall into a mess. The effects of gunshots and explosions are weak and “artificial”.
• Steinberg UR242 ($140) – positioning is much better. It is easy to determine where the enemy is, with high dynamics, the sounds do not fall into chaos. The effects of gunshots and explosions are natural, but not bright enough. The sound is dry for jokers. Left, right, up and down, closer and farther – they are well drawn.
• EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition ($140) – positioning on an excellent level, both in eSports mode and without, better than Steinberg. With high dynamics, the sounds do not mix, it is clearly possible to determine where they are shooting from. The enemy can be heard a kilometer away, and it is easy to determine from the footsteps where the enemy is moving. The effects of gunshots, explosions and bullets are fat and heavy, not artificial like Realtek and not dry like Steinberg. Enemy positioning is perfectly drawn, left, right, up, down, closer, farther. The esports mode adds even more precision, which affects reaction speed. For jokers, EPOS is perfect.

Results. The Realtek sound card caused more negative emotions in the counter, there are no effects, the positioning is average, the sound often falls into chaos. Steinberg’s sound is too dry, although with positioning and detail – the order. The sound in EPOS – seemed to me ideal for shooters, bright and powerful, but not so much that it was artificial and cloying. I especially liked the sound in esports mode, the positioning is perfect, all sides are clearly drawn, enemies are easy to identify. EPOS WIN.

Sound when listening to music by Taking Heads

• Realtek ALC887 ($5) – There is space, but synths, percussion, and bass fall into chaos, sounding together without separation across the stage. The space is compressed, often giving the impression that the sound in the left and right channels is coming from a very narrow hole, squeezed and crumpled. The electric guitar has lost its pleasant timbre, the sound of the synthesizer is slightly distorted, the vocals are pushed back. Sound from the category, well, at least there is something.
• Steinberg UR242 ($140) – After the Realtek ALC887, it’s like looking out of a washed window that’s 4 times bigger. There is space on stage, percussion is better heard, each instrument is separated and clearly positioned on stage. Vocals, drums, guitar, synths, bass, everything sounds full and natural. It’s the sound I’m used to and like.
• EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition ($140) – After Steinberg UR242, the window seems to have narrowed a bit, by about 20%, but everything remains at a good level in terms of clarity and detail. The bass is a bit less, the detail is about the same. The general impression is that EPOS delivers about 80% of the quality of the Steinberg UR242.

The result. The Realtek ALC887 sound card for its $5 gives a good sound, but this is from the category of “well, at least there is some kind of sound and it seems you can even listen to music”. Steinberg UR242 – produced the best sound, which is understandable since the Steinberg UR242 is a card for working on music and listening to music, not for gaming. The EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition scored 80% quality in the overall Steinberg impression, which is the great result I was hoping for. It is important to understand that the EPOS is a gaming sound card, where the sound is sharpened specifically for toys and a lot of functionality is only available for games. Not all of this functionality is found in Steinberg, but the fact that it reproduces music almost as well is definitely respectable. Steinberg – WIN, but kudos to EPOS for the level of quality they were able to give against the background of 2 musical ”

Movie Sound – Casino Royale (2006)

I was pleased with the results of the sound quality of the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition, about what I expected . In relation to Realtek ALC887 and any default integrated card, EPOS is a step up in sound. Very conditional – 3 steps up. Since the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition is better than all the integrated motherboard solutions (integrated sound cards) that we take as a basis, it is better than all budget solutions for gaming and non-gaming cards in the region of $ 100, and finally this is the best solution among gaming sound cards in around $250 for games, music and movies.

• Realtek ALC88 7 ($5) – Dialogues sound good, but in action moments the music is poorly separated from effects, knife strikes, sounds of blows, shots and screams. Everything falls together and the immersion effect is lost.
• Steinberg UR242 ($140) – excellent separation of effects and music. The positioning of sounds is better, there is depth, volume and naturalness. More low frequencies, but they do not cover the mids and highs. The sound is dry and analytical.
• EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition ($140) – More bass, music and effects are perfectly separated. The effects of gunshots, blows, explosions have become more “fat” and “bright”, like watching a movie in a theater. I especially liked the “Cinema” mode, where the sound really becomes what it needs to be for cinema.

The result. The Realtek ALC887 sound card produces an ordinary sound, there is no immersion, effects and music fall into a mess. Steinberg UR242 – perfectly separates and arranges sounds in space, dialog and music sound more natural, music and effects do not mix. EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition – creates sound with the effect of immersion in the movie, like in a movie theater. Detail and separation remain as in Steinberg, only dryness disappears, sound volume, brightness and richness appear, especially in the “Cinema” preset mode. EPOS-WIN.

I was satisfied with the results of the sound quality of the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition, about what I expected. Compared to Realtek ALC887 and any standard integrated card, EPOS is a step up in sound. Very conditional – 3 steps up. Since the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition is better than all integrated motherboard solutions (integrated sound cards) that we take as a basis, it is better than all budget solutions for gaming and non-gaming cards in the region of $ 100, and finally this is the best solution among gaming sound cards in around $ 250 for games, music and movies.

How does the 7.1 sound emulation work?

EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition uses the proprietary EPOS 7.1 Surround Sound technology (more about the technology). This is all interesting, of course, but it tells us nothing. What do we have here?

Actually, everything is classic. In some games 7.1 is positive, in some games it is negative. It depends on the game. For example in CS GO – for me the 7.1 mode was superfluous, in 2.0 the positioning is better, especially with the “Cybersport” equalizer preset. But in Resident Evil 4, it’s better with 7.1 than without. In Resident Evil, I really turned up the volume, even turned up the reverb a bit, and in general it proved to be a killer in terms of immersion in the dark zombie atmosphere of this world. So, like I said, you have to experiment and try different things from game to game.

In music and movies – I did not like the way this function works. The sound gets smeared. In no earphones or sound cards, the 7.1 emulation made the sound better for me, in music or movies. But as for the presets, the situation there is much more interesting, and we’ll talk about it below.

Che with presets and effects?

EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition – has four professionally tuned audio presets: “Cinema”, “Music”, “ESports” and “Neutral”. And speaking of “professional”, this is not a red word, the engineers at EPOS are really confused =) . Usually the default presets are technically badly implemented. But guys, I’m just being funny here. In games, especially shooters, the “e-sports” mode adds accuracy in positioning and identifying enemies, the sound becomes more collected. In movies, the “cinema” mode adds brightness and “fatness” to the sound, with it the sound is much better than without, better immersion. In music, the “music” preset also makes the sound more interesting, but you should understand that

About other features

There is a function that allows you to adjust the level of reverb, which increases the accuracy and expressiveness of the spatial perception of the game. I have used this function occasionally, it is far from being needed everywhere, but it adds space. I think this effect is suitable for a certain type of toy, where there is a laid-back and relaxed atmosphere that can be made even softer.

You can also set the direction of the sound to front, back, or neutral – to focus attention. Honestly, I did not find a use for this feature. I played around with it for the sake of experimentation, but the best mode for me is neutral. Maybe you can find a use for this, or have ideas, write in the comments 🙂 .

The Sidetone effect is useful for understanding how well you can be heard in a chat. This feature is used in CS GO. Convenient and cool ^ that there are several modes.

The transition function from headset to speakers is conveniently implemented. In fact, EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition – completely closes the issue of pumping the sound of your PC. The card is suitable when using a headset and when using speakers, and the sound is switched with just 1 touch of the finger.

I was pleased with the presets and functionality. Mostly I used the switching presets for movie, music, e-sports. Often used the 7.1 inclusion. Less often I used the front and rear positioning, and even less often the reverb.

The coolest thing is that you can save your sound settings. Here is an example scenario of how to use it. A toy comes out, you are experimenting with the sound and wind up with the same sound just for this toy, save the preset and turn it on when you play this toy. 4 slots – 4 saved sounds. Fantastic, what more can I say?

How is the 2nd version of the Epos GSX 1000 different from the first version of the GSX 1000?

The first version of the GSX 1000 differs from the GSX 1000 2nd edition in the recording quality, the new product supports 16 bit 48 kHz. The GSX 1000 2nd edition has a USB-C port (versus micro-USB) and the 2nd edition has an aluminum volume control.

EPOS has 3 game sound cards for sale:

1. EPOS GSX 1000 2nd edition ($140) is a no-compromise option for gamers.
2. EPOS GSX 1200 ($200) – outwardly a GSX 1000, but there are 2 additional connectors for combining up to 8 such sound cards together and additional functionality. This is a card for team competitions, there is the necessary functionality to get the perfect sound for the whole team.
3. EPOS GSX 300 ($40) – which I reviewed (see here). This is a good budget gaming sound card, with 7.1 and a lot of additional settings in the EPOS Gaming Suite. It makes 100% of its $100 worth.

🏆 Bottom line – pros and cons

The EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition is a great $140 gaming sound card that is well worth the money. This gaming sound card will not only give you a new level of sound if you have previously used the built-in sound card in the motherboard (Realtek, etc.), but will give you a boost several levels above the default PC sound at once. This card will give you useful functionality for toys that will greatly improve the sound, making it more accurate or interesting. The functionality is ergonomically placed on the screen, so you can play for a long time and save your sound settings for a specific game.

The sound presets are excellent, I used them all the time, 7.1 is also excellent but not always needed, the default 2.0 sound is great for games, music and movies. This card is better than any integrated solution, this card is better than any budget gaming card in the $100 range, and finally, this is the best solution I have come across among gaming sound cards under $300.

The market for gaming sound cards is small compared to external sound cards in general. In the future, I plan to test the CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER X4 and the M-Game RGB, which are the only gaming sound card solutions on the same level as the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition. But judging by the ergonomics, looks and features, I doubt I’ll like them more than the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition. But bookmark MyChooz.com so you don’t miss new reviews 😉 .

And let us know what you think about the EPOS GSX 1000 2nd Edition in the comments!

💸 Buy EPOS GSX 1000 sound card:

 

• Buy the EPOS GSX 1000 sound card on Amazon

❔FAQ

Why are there 2 devices displayed in the sound settings in the system? Here attention, I set it wrong for the first time!

The default playback settings should be set to “Speakers” (i.e. “Speakers”) GSX 1000 2nd, it is this device that is responsible for playing surround sound. The sound card’s “Chat Interface” is a separate channel and must be set as the default communication device. This will properly configure the GSX 1000 2nd in-game and in Discord (or any other in-game communication application).

How does the chat volume control work?

This knob (the wheel on the right side of the card body) works with Discord, TeamSpeak, Skype, and other in-game chat applications, as well as in-game chats, provided the game itself correctly detects and uses the GSX 1000 2nd Edition card’s chat interface as the default communication device. Therefore, in order for the chat audio volume control to work properly, you must first set the GSX 1000 communication audio as the default recording device in the Windows audio settings.