Require a headphone amp for PS4/PC

dacads · 1 Jun 2014 at 19:37

Looks cheap I doubt it will be as good as the FiiO E17, I know £100 is over your budget but it will be worth it sometimes it's better spending more so you don't end up regretting going cheap. I'm sure the E17 would be a worthwhile investment.

Psycho Sonny · 1 Jun 2014 at 20:31

E17 is portable so it can be used with your phone, etc so it's the best device as an all rounder.

If you don't want portability then I'm sure fiio or some other company must do a DAC/AMP with both USB and optical inputs

felton1592 · 1 Jun 2014 at 23:43

Psycho Sonny said:
E17 is portable so it can be used with your phone, etc so it's the best device as an all rounder.

If you don't want portability then I'm sure fiio or some other company must do a DAC/AMP with both USB and optical inputs

Yeah, this will soley be for desktop use. I'm happy with my audio quality and levels on my PC with my sound card.

It's really just "re-routing" the audio from my PS4 so I can get it straight to my headphones, rather than the rubbish audio hardware in my monitor making things quiet.

Ryanr1987 · 2 Jun 2014 at 09:18

Get yourself a Mixamp for your ps4 to game in surround sound. It drives pretty much everything. For your pc a simple cheap Fiio E7.

Psycho Sonny · 2 Jun 2014 at 09:45

felton1592 said:
Yeah, this will soley be for desktop use. I'm happy with my audio quality and levels on my PC with my sound card.

It's really just "re-routing" the audio from my PS4 so I can get it straight to my headphones, rather than the rubbish audio hardware in my monitor making things quiet.

well then you need a DAC/AMP setup which uses optical in.

there's so many options out there, schiit, fiio, etc. it all depends on your budget, are you looking for cheap as possible or what?

for competitive gaming though nothing will beat a MIXAMP, that's the only thing which supports surround sound for gaming, which means being able to hear where people are around you.

so it depends on what games you normally play and whether they are online, etc.

Marsman · 2 Jun 2014 at 10:49

If spending £100 on a E17 is too much of a stretch, just get a cheaper headphone amp only and take the audio output from the monitor to the amp. Topping NX1 would be a good buy for thirty odd pounds.

felton1592 · 2 Jun 2014 at 15:09

Psycho Sonny said:
well then you need a DAC/AMP setup which uses optical in.

there's so many options out there, schiit, fiio, etc. it all depends on your budget, are you looking for cheap as possible or what?

for competitive gaming though nothing will beat a MIXAMP, that's the only thing which supports surround sound for gaming, which means being able to hear where people are around you.

so it depends on what games you normally play and whether they are online, etc.

Mixamp does cost quote a bit, and my headphones aren't surround sound either. But I take it this means I can add a mic eventually.

I'll most likely grab a cheap alternative for PS4 and wait to save up to get a good amp for PC.

Marsman said:
If spending £100 on a E17 is too much of a stretch, just get a cheaper headphone amp only and take the audio output from the monitor to the amp. Topping NX1 would be a good buy for thirty odd pounds.

That looks quite sleak, it's nice. My only problem is it doesn't do optical. Wouldn't taking the audio from the audio output of the monitor still make it rubbish? Or do I assume the digital data uses it as a path, then it gets processed in the amp?

felton1592 · 2 Jun 2014 at 16:21

Okay going to go with the NX1, apparently beats the E11.

I am concerned about routing the audio through my monitor to the amp, surely the amp is just going to amplify badly processed audio it receives from the monitor?

Should I buy this "optical to 3.5mm cable" and have the sound go directly from the optical output of my PS4 right into the amp instead?

dacads · 2 Jun 2014 at 16:56

That's toslink to mini toslink

No such cable exists in reality you can't convert digital to analogue with a cable

Ryanr1987 · 2 Jun 2014 at 17:03

My Mixamp Pro cost me £60 brand new. If you look around you will get a bargain. Any headphone can be used. I don't know how people can game in stereo. My Q701 with Mixamp gives me basically the real thing. Open world games sound incredible! Before my Mixamp I sucked at COD Ghost lol now I can hear everything! Go Dolby and don't look back.

dacads · 2 Jun 2014 at 17:13

Ryanr1987 said:
My Mixamp Pro cost me £60 brand new. If you look around you will get a bargain. Any headphone can be used. I don't know how people can game in stereo. My Q701 with Mixamp gives me basically the real thing. Open world games sound incredible! Before my Mixamp I sucked at COD Ghost lol now I can hear everything! Go Dolby and don't look back.

Yes I've googled mixamp pro and it's available for £60, which is within OP's £80 budget.

Ryanr1987 · 2 Jun 2014 at 17:16

What I also love about the mixamp is that it exposes or brings out a phones soundstage. Soundstage is so slight in stereo between headphones.

felton1592 · 2 Jun 2014 at 17:29

Ryanr1987 said:
My Mixamp Pro cost me £60 brand new. If you look around you will get a bargain. Any headphone can be used. I don't know how people can game in stereo. My Q701 with Mixamp gives me basically the real thing. Open world games sound incredible! Before my Mixamp I sucked at COD Ghost lol now I can hear everything! Go Dolby and don't look back.

Does the headphone have to support surround sound? I don't think mine does. I am tempted to get a surround sound gaming headphone and that mixamp for the PS4/possibly PC gaming but get a proper desktop amp and stick with my modded fostext headphones for everything else. The Topping NK1 will eventually be used as an iphone only device for my music then!

rids57 · 2 Jun 2014 at 17:45

the mixamp simulates surround sound (very effectively) so you can use any stereo headphones

felton1592 · 2 Jun 2014 at 17:45

dacads said:
Yes I've googled mixamp pro and it's available for £60, which is within OP's £80 budget.

Please can you send me a link? I saw one on ebay for £60 but it's outside the UK and a 2-3 week wait on delivery.

If not, would the "Turtle Beach Ear Force DSS2 Surround Sound" be fine for the PS4? It has an optical input too.

Ryanr1987 · 2 Jun 2014 at 17:46

felton1592 said:
Does the headphone have to support surround sound? I don't think mine does. I am tempted to get a surround sound gaming headphone and that mixamp for the PS4/possibly PC gaming but get a proper desktop amp and stick with my modded fostext headphones for everything else. The Topping NK1 will eventually be used as an iphone only device for my music then!

Nope, any headphone can pick up Dolby, it's the mixamp that is able to do Dolby and nothing to do with the headphone.

If you want to get the absolute full experience get a headphone that can produce engaging minds, wide soundstage and a full but balanced bass and good treble.

I love to be engaged, I like the space to sound open, playing GTA and chilling listening to to sounds of nature, wind blowing.g in your ear and just hearing little world sounds in distance.

Also the ability to play FPS games, hearing that open space with footsteps everywhere so you can just decimate people

There's so many headphones out there but if someone put a gun to my head and said pick one to last you a lifetime, I'd go AKG 65th anniversary or Q701 on a lower budget.

felton1592 · 2 Jun 2014 at 17:58

Ryanr1987 said:
Nope, any headphone can pick up Dolby, it's the mixamp that is able to do Dolby and nothing to do with the headphone.

If you want to get the absolute full experience get a headphone that can produce engaging minds, wide soundstage and a full but balanced bass and good treble.

I love to be engaged, I like the space to sound open, playing GTA and chilling listening to to sounds of nature, wind blowing.g in your ear and just hearing little world sounds in distance.

Also the ability to play FPS games, hearing that open space with footsteps everywhere so you can just decimate people

There's so many headphones out there but if someone put a gun to my head and said pick one to last you a lifetime, I'd go AKG 65th anniversary or Q701 on a lower budget.

I have a pair of modded fostex, they're about 50 ohms but they don't have an amazing soundstage, it is there though. They also mostly shine with the mids.

If I can get a good price on the mixamp that is UK only, I will. Otherwise, I am considering that turtle beach one!

If I buy an amp for my PC, it HAS to be a quality one (past £100 mark). I think mixamp/turtle beach will provide the audio volume and use of microphone for PS4 just fine! Luckily I cancelled my order on the NK1.

Psycho Sonny · 2 Jun 2014 at 18:27

first of all stereo headphones > surround headphones

second of all 99% of people use a mixamp with stereo headphones because of point one

thirdly if you plan on using a topping nx1 with anything it's best used with a "line out" signal not a headphone jack signal.

so if your planning on using it with an older apple device you need fiio L9 LOD which costs about £7.

this takes the dock connection of an ipod touch or older iphone and converts it into a line out signal.

if you plug a 3.5mm headphone jack into a amp it's already been amp'd by the amp inside the phone/ipod, etc so your double amping.

your best bet is to search mixamp into ebay, look at auctions or cheap BIN's and buy one of them.

now the last point being your headphones don't have a mic, they don't need one all you need to do is buy a seperate mic for £1.50 and plug them in.

this would be a lot easier if you read/searched for the following threads.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18587134&highlight=official+ps4+headset

that first thread covers the PS4 in detail as well as mixamps, headphones and mics, etc.

this one is more for pc gaming

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18595084

Ryanr1987 · 2 Jun 2014 at 18:28

felton1592 said:
I have a pair of modded fostex, they're about 50 ohms but they don't have an amazing soundstage, it is there though. They also mostly shine with the mids.

If I can get a good price on the mixamp that is UK only, I will. Otherwise, I am considering that turtle beach one!

If I buy an amp for my PC, it HAS to be a quality one (past £100 mark). I think mixamp/turtle beach will provide the audio volume and use of microphone for PS4 just fine! Luckily I cancelled my order on the NK1.

Some Stax 007 pads will help with your modded T50RP. The Alpha Pads that Mrspeakers sale are pretty good for bass but they make the sound too congested. Stax pads are deep, give you a more airy sound. In general though Planars have more of a deep stage with not much to talk about left to right. Mids are great though but you won't get the best experience.

The DT770/D2000/D5000/ where two of the best I've tried closed back.

For £120 the K612 pro is amazing, look into those.

felton1592 · 2 Jun 2014 at 18:33

Psycho Sonny said:
first of all stereo headphones > surround headphones

second of all 99% of people use a mixamp with stereo headphones because of point one

thirdly if you plan on using a topping nx1 with anything it's best used with a "line out" signal not a headphone jack signal.

so if your planning on using it with an older apple device you need fiio L9 LOD which costs about £7.

this takes the dock connection of an ipod touch or older iphone and converts it into a line out signal.

if you plug a 3.5mm headphone jack into a amp it's already been amp'd by the amp inside the phone/ipod, etc so your double amping.

your best bet is to search mixamp into ebay, look at auctions or cheap BIN's and buy one of them.

now the last point being your headphones don't have a mic, they don't need one all you need to do is buy a seperate mic for £1.50 and plug them in.

this would be a lot easier if you read/searched for the following threads.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18587134&highlight=official+ps4+headset

that first thread covers the PS4 in detail as well as mixamps, headphones and mics, etc.

this one is more for pc gaming

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18595084

Oh, I have a microphone. It's finding an amp that accommodates both optical and mic support which I see both the DSS2 Dolby Processor and mixamp does.