sound device upgrade.

hey guys, basically ive just bought some fidelio x2s to go with my other headgear i use on my pc and was wondering if i wanted to upgrade my sound hardware( currently have a xonar u7 ) which would the bast way to go . Would it be better to get a better soundcard or from what i keep reading get a ..is it a dac and amp?..would these do the job of a soundcard?. i do understand its mostly down to money but its just an enquiry at the moment. If you guys could give me some examples of what i could do and the cost that would be great ...cheers all.

If you want virtual surround sound for gaming then you absolutely need a DSP. This can be in the form of an internal sound card or an external USB driven device such as the Xonar U7. The best one on the market is the Sennheiser GSX 1000, which retails around the £200 mark. It's main weakness is that the built in headphone amp is pretty weak but as you would be using the X2s that shouldn't be a problem as they are very easy to drive.

If you are more interested in music and virtual surround isn't required, then something like the Schiit Fulla 2 (£110) or a Schiit stack, comprising a Modi 2 (£100) and either a Magni 2 (£100) or Vali 2 (£150), should you like some tube goodness, would be a very good way of keeping your X2s fed with good audio.

The external DAC/Amp solution doesn't provide any support for a microphone, so should you wish to use it for gaming you would have to use your motherboard audio.

Cheers for that m8...... must admit I was looking at a few vids about the gsx 1000.... but at that price it's abit out of range at the minute.....silly question but would that be a significant upgrade from my u7?

Sound quality wise, likely to be not much, if any. Positional sound wise, most certainly. Positional sound is the only reason to buy the GSX really.

Thanks for the reply's chaps

As Marsman says, sound quality wise there would be little difference as the U7 has a very capable DAC and you don't need a powerful amp to drive the X2s.

Thanks guys but just another quick one. How would the gsx1000 compare to say the soundblaster x7? . Looks a nice bit of kit but is a bit pricey.

Same thing again, the X7 would have better audio quality but the Sennheiser would have more precise positional audio.