Philips Fidelio X2 with Sound Card + Amp?

[Busterofwar]

How well would the Philips Fidelio X2 headphones work with a Fiio A3 amp connected to an Asus Xonar DX sound card? Its primary use will be gaming with Dolby Headphone technology turned on for surround sound. If any of this is sub-optimal, go ahead and suggest an alternative. Thanks.

 

[Marine-RX179]

The DX doesn't have a built-in headphone amp, so there should be not problem for you to use it in conjunction with a headphone amp.

But to be honestly I am not sure if it is really going to make much noticable improvement as the X2 should be pretty easy to drive.

 

[Busterofwar]

The DX doesn't have a built-in headphone amp, so there should be not problem for you to use it in conjunction with a headphone amp.

But to be honestly I am not sure if it is really going to make much noticable improvement as the X2 should be pretty easy to drive.

Thanks for the reply. If the DX+A3 combo isn't really worth it, do you have any suggestions for which sound card should I go with? I don't mind if it's internal or external, and my budget is pretty flexible as long as I get what's best for the headphones.

 

[Marine-RX179]

Thanks for the reply. If the DX+A3 combo isn't really worth it, do you have any suggestions for which sound card should I go with? I don't mind if it's internal or external, and my budget is pretty flexible as long as I get what's best for the headphones.

Try to find a cheap 2nd hand Asus Xonar STX for may be under £70.

I am using it along with likes of stereo DAC such as Aune T1 MK2 and DacMagic XS, and I think the STX is still better than them by a nose. It was certainly one of the best purchase decision that I made.

 

[Marsman]

If you can grab a used Xonar Essence STX for around £70, then that would be ideal.

If you don't come across one or would prefer to buy new, Xonar U7 would be a good choice. It's a very good external card, similar in quality to the DX and Soundblaster Z, and has a fairly decent albeit not particularly powerful headphone amp. The lack of power doesn't matter so much as the X2's don't need that much power really. That would only be of concern if the headphones were inefficient and needed more power, like AKG K702. I don't really see the point in seeking out a sound card without a headphone amp though just because the X2's don't need one; the U7 is a good card, regardless whether you need the headphone amp or not.

You get speaker and headphone connections, which is useful if you want to connect speakers up. With the DX, you'd need to use the front case audio connection in order to use both headphone and speaker without swapping. You also get a volume control knob, which again can be very useful and a gain setting on the headphone amp; unlike the Soundblaster Z, which doesn't. That's only got high gain output, so the volume can be very loud even when Windows master volume is set to 15-20%, when using sensitive headphones. The Soundblaster Z is a good card, and that's the only real downside, lack of gain control.

STX has all of the above and a much better DAC and headphone amp. Easily worth the £70 if you can find one.

 

[Busterofwar]

If you can grab a used Xonar Essence STX for around £70, then that would be ideal.

If you don't come across one or would prefer to buy new, Xonar U7 would be a good choice. It's a very good external card, similar in quality to the DX and Soundblaster Z, and has a fairly decent albeit not particularly powerful headphone amp. The lack of power doesn't matter so much as the X2's don't need that much power really. That would only be of concern if the headphones were inefficient and needed more power, like AKG K702. I don't really see the point in seeking out a sound card without a headphone amp though just because the X2's don't need one; the U7 is a good card, regardless whether you need the headphone amp or not.

You get speaker and headphone connections, which is useful if you want to connect speakers up. With the DX, you'd need to use the front case audio connection in order to use both headphone and speaker without swapping. You also get a volume control knob, which again can be very useful and a gain setting on the headphone amp; unlike the Soundblaster Z, which doesn't. That's only got high gain output, so the volume can be very loud even when Windows master volume is set to 15-20%, when using sensitive headphones. The Soundblaster Z is a good card, and that's the only real downside, lack of gain control.

STX has all of the above and a much better DAC and headphone amp. Easily worth the £70 if you can find one.

The reason I looked at the DX+amp rather than the STX is because of the 1/8 impedance rule I keep hearing about. (Eg. The output impedance of the headphone jack on the STX II is 10 Ohms, meaning I'd be better off with a lower impedance sound card/amp, or a headset with 80 Ohms or more.) Is there any truth to that, or is the STX really my best option?

 

[Marsman]

For gaming, I wouldn't worry about that. If that rule is to be followed, it's much more important for music than it is for gaming; and even then, it's really only experienced headphones users who are going to that concerned. I very much doubt the average user would be able to notice any difference in the sound if the 1/8 rule were followed or not.

 

[rids57]

The X2 experiences a fair sized impedance "hump" of about 30% between 30Hz and 110Hz, so an amp with a high output impedance would probably be noticeable as loose and boomy sub-bass. This is only going to be noticeable when listening to music and even then, only if you have something better to compare it to. In game, those frequencies are only going to be caused by explosions and so won't be noticed.

It amazes me that when it comes to sound cards, the manufacturers seem to totally ignore damping factor when it comes to headphone output. Asus are actually a lot better than Creative in this respect, with most of their cards having a maximum of 10 ohms output impedance, while Creative gives us 22 ohms with the SB Z(x) and a whopping 38 ohms with the ZxR.

If you don't already have the headphones, the AKG K702 would be a better match as they are unaffected by damping factor and have a bigger sound stage and greater positional accuracy.