Requirements to power 250 ohm headphones

Same headphones, I still use an old creative AE5. I’d probably go for something external next time to free up airflow in my case, a G6 for example, although I know there are better options.

Amazing headphones btw.
 
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I used a Creative AE5 with 250ohm DT990s, its more than powerful enough but then the built in headphone amp goes upto to 600ohm cans. Not tried the headphones with onboard audio
 
TBH there are various factors involving current and voltage so even a powerful headphone amplifier doesn't necessarily drive any given headphone well. Some soundcards have decent power outputs some do not. Some onboard audio actually has quite powerful current capabilities but not always great voltage output. Personally unless needing gaming features I'd err towards an external DAC/AMP these days.

SpudMaster said:
I used a Creative AE5 with 250ohm DT990s, its more than powerful enough but then the built in headphone amp goes upto to 600ohm cans. Not tried the headphones with onboard audio
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Frustratingly the AE5 almost but just misses the mark with my Sennheiser HD600s :( it has the power to drive them but just doesn't quite bring them to life like I know they can do - largely I think because the output voltage is marginal for them.
 
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Rroff said:
TBH there are various factors involving current and voltage so even a powerful headphone amplifier doesn't necessarily drive any given headphone well. Some soundcards have decent power outputs some do not. Some onboard audio actually has quite powerful current capabilities but not always great voltage output. Personally unless needing gaming features I'd err towards an external DAC/AMP these days.
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Any recommendations?

Tempted by the G6 for gaming.
 
CaptainRAVE said:
Tempted by the G6 for gaming.
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To be honest it is hard to beat the AE5 for gaming, aside from maybe the positional audio on the Sennheiser/EPOS GSX1000 but there are other downsides to that device, nothing has really moved on in the gaming audio space OS and games wise and the AE5 makes the best of a bad job.
 
Rroff said:
To be honest it is hard to beat the AE5 for gaming, aside from maybe the positional audio on the Sennheiser/EPOS GSX1000 but there are other downsides to that device, nothing has really moved on in the gaming audio space OS and games wise and the AE5 makes the best of a bad job.
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Maybe I’ll stick with it a bit longer then.
 
You don't need a gaming audio device for positional in games, it's all software anyway. There's alternatives that work just as well, the Zen Can is a fantastic option.

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Check the above, worth giving the trial a shot but try out Dolby Atmos Headphone and DTS:X too for comparison. If you get on with any of those solutions it seriously opens up your options, but for the money you'll be very hard pressed to beat the Zen tbh.
 
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