Gamers, What's Your Audio Set Up?

Raymond Lin · 28 Dec 2025 at 11:52

Alz_D said:
After deciding to dust off the old K712 and deciding I need some kind of headphone amp, I've somehow ended up with a Wiim Ultra, Fosi K7, Bayerdynamic 900 X Pro and a set of (rather incredible for the price) Adam T5v. Not sure how this happened

Think I'm done. Might spend some time actually listening to it all now....

Audio does that to people !

I went for years not buying anything and in the space of 6 months in 2024 I bought the Sony XM4, Edition XS, Judo XA-20, Topping DX5ii, Fosi Audio I5, Onix Alpha Xi1 and about 4-5 IEMs...

Alz_D · 28 Dec 2025 at 14:16

Raymond Lin said:
Audio does that to people!

I'll be honest after a few hours last night getting everything set up and listening for a bit, I'm amazed at how good all this sounds for a relatively small budget (compared to what you can spend).
The sound stage is excellent as is positional audio. The sounds itself for music and game blows away the S880db I had before by a margin.
Impressed with the Wiim also. I know I could have technically run without it but glad Santa brought me one.

mrk · 28 Dec 2025 at 21:29

It was said a while back but bears repeating again that for a few hundred quid today you can get desktop audio that people paid close to 5 figures for in generations gone by. The barrier to hi-fi entry has shifted so massively in a short space of time it's quite insane really and no wonder the big high street names are feeling it after all these Chinese brands started doing things better and cheaper.

Timber · 29 Dec 2025 at 11:14

I agree with @mrk, although I think it's bit of a perfect storm. I think there's been an explosion in the headphone audio space over the last 15-years where demand and commercials have gone through the roof. I think some of it is actually driven by increased online presence and gaming with online, streaming and multiplayer all becoming the norm. All added to the explosion of music streaming etc. In the US particularly you've had the likes of DROP, Apos, Schiit all come about and deliver bargains where it be things like the HD 58X/6XX, or Gremlin for $120, or the first Schiit products for $99 each. All aligned to Fiio, SMSL, Topping (could also chuck in a few brits like iFi and Chord here) etc. pushing the boundaries lower and lower in price. Even to the point where traditional PC audio companies like Creative have had to adjust, or gaming headsets have matured to become 'good' becuase they realised basic stereo quality was important.

But given you can get a set-up like a Fiio K11/R2R, or HD 560S for just over £200. It is ridiculous value and there's loads of other examples. It feels like one of the few product areas where the greed hasn't gotten a hold in the way Nvidia has ruined their GPUs, or memory companies like the 257% increase in profits and so on. So we should probably shut-up here for fear of them noticing!

Freakbro · 29 Dec 2025 at 11:20

mrk said:
My WARMER review went up this week:

Review: FiiO's WARMER R2R Tube Buffer DAC hits all the musical notes at a great price

FiiO outs a mainstream DAC that many have waited a long time for, a fully balanced R2R DAC with tubes. It sounds amazing, looks classy, has mechanical VU meters, and is priced to appeal to all.

www.neowin.net

Video review racked up 25k views

Heh, I read that review, didn't spot it was done by yourself! :cool:

I bought the K11 R2R a while ago to compare a ladder dac to mine on my hifi. I liked the sound, but the bass handling of the K11 wasn't as good as the Qutest I've got, but that didn't surprise me as they're not really in the same ballpark, so I'm going to use it on my PC.

What model are those speakers on your desk btw, they look nice.

mrk · 29 Dec 2025 at 21:08

Timber said:
I agree with @mrk, although I think it's bit of a perfect storm. I think there's been an explosion in the headphone audio space over the last 15-years where demand and commercials have gone through the roof. I think some of it is actually driven by increased online presence and gaming with online, streaming and multiplayer all becoming the norm. All added to the explosion of music streaming etc. In the US particularly you've had the likes of DROP, Apos, Schiit all come about and deliver bargains where it be things like the HD 58X/6XX, or Gremlin for $120, or the first Schiit products for $99 each. All aligned to Fiio, SMSL, Topping (could also chuck in a few brits like iFi and Chord here) etc. pushing the boundaries lower and lower in price. Even to the point where traditional PC audio companies like Creative have had to adjust, or gaming headsets have matured to become 'good' becuase they realised basic stereo quality was important.

But given you can get a set-up like a Fiio K11/R2R, or HD 560S for just over £200. It is ridiculous value and there's loads of other examples. It feels like one of the few product areas where the greed hasn't gotten a hold in the way Nvidia has ruined their GPUs, or memory companies like the 257% increase in profits and so on. So we should probably shut here for fear of them noticing!

It's all about demand too, the average listener doesn't know what they are missing so are no wiser with say an onboard soundcard desktop active speakers they have had for a decade or old gaming headsets with 7 drivers and so on.

With GPUs vendors have been milking marketing to the eyeballs, with audio, you simply have to be in the know, otherwise all you may well know are the usual high street big names like BOSE and the like as "top tier" with the rest falling into popularity groupings. It's only in the last couple of years that Topping, FiiO, Aiyima, Schitt etc have started to gain a hold with general users here in the UK I think and it is only getting stronger whilst prices remain consistent, at leats for now.

Freakbro said:
Heh, I read that review, didn't spot it was done by yourself! I bought the K11 R2R a while ago to compare a ladder dac to mine on my hifi. I liked the sound, but the bass handling of the K11 wasn't as good as the Qutest I've got, but that didn't surprise me as they're not really in the same ballpark, so I'm going to use it on my PC.

What model are those speakers on your desk btw, they look nice.

Small world eh

The speakers are Triangle Comete 40th Anniversary - They are hand made in France!

Timber · 29 Dec 2025 at 22:34

mrk said:
It's all about demand too, the average listener doesn't know what they are missing so are no wiser with say an onboard soundcard desktop active speakers they have had for a decade or old gaming headsets with 7 drivers and so on.

With GPUs vendors have been milking marketing to the eyeballs, with audio, you simply have to be in the know, otherwise all you may well know are the usual high street big names like BOSE and the like as "top tier" with the rest falling into popularity groupings. It's only in the last couple of years that Topping, FiiO, Aiyima, Schitt etc have started to gain a hold with general users here in the UK I think and it is only getting stronger whilst prices remain consistent, at leats for now.

The GPU and Memory comparisons were me being a bit silly really. There's so few GPU makers the market can be abused and with the OEM model it's largely broken. Although a bit like audio the vast majority of PC users aren't on expensive GPU's they are on whatever is in their laptop.

Grim5 · 29 Dec 2025 at 22:46

Anyone here using Focal Clear's for gaming?

mrk · 5 Jan 2026 at 12:05

Fiio estimates that the tube life of the Warmer should be up to 7 years if used for 4 hours a day every day. This kind of estimate assumes the use case being a listening setup as opposed to a desktop setup where someone would be gaming/content consuming and generally working away whilst listening to music etc, this use case in my case can extend those hours to as much as 12 hours a day if working from home.

My estimation for the kind of usage I will be giving it is probably anywhere up to 4 years of tube life which I think is pretty fair for this kind of heavy usage.

In other news I see Luxsin has teased the new model saying it has more features, as if the X9 wasn't already feature packed lol:

Raymond Lin · 5 Jan 2026 at 12:07

I believe that is the model down from the X9.

mrk · 5 Jan 2026 at 12:22

Hmm I'm not too sure as Terry mentioned that it's the special edition so i took that to mean new features in a more compact form factor - Let's see as it's supposed to be announced any moment now with samples being sent out.

Edit* I saw the hf thread updates now, yeah seems a cut down version in black and silver, with the actual upgrade to the X9 also coming out. So this one could be an "X8". As long as the DAC remains AKM Velvet and not switch to Ti/ESS etc then all's good, probably ideal for those who don't care for the extra features of the X9 and just want the Velvet sound along with connectivity.

Timber · 5 Jan 2026 at 20:42

mrk said:
Hmm I'm not too sure as Terry mentioned that it's the special edition so i took that to mean new features in a more compact form factor - Let's see as it's supposed to be announced any moment now with samples being sent out.

Edit* I saw the hf thread updates now, yeah seems a cut down version in black and silver, with the actual upgrade to the X9 also coming out. So this one could be an "X8". As long as the DAC remains AKM Velvet and not switch to Ti/ESS etc then all's good, probably ideal for those who don't care for the extra features of the X9 and just want the Velvet sound along with connectivity.

So maybe a £500-600 sort of K15-ish box? Something built around a cheaper AKM chip. That would be cool.

mrk · 5 Jan 2026 at 23:02

I get the impression the DAC chip will remain AKM Velvet as this is now the house sound for the brand and people seem to like it a lot - What will be reduced is the amount of hardware level features like probably the advanced DSP options and maybe even no PEQ, just the AKM DAC filters and stuff remain which would make sense. Hopefully the linear PSU stays given the housing appears to still be large enough to accommodate like the WARMER does.

mrk · 6 Jan 2026 at 07:45

Building on what we learned from X9, X8 introduces several meaningful upgrades. One highlight we think you may find especially interesting is that X8 is the world’s first audio product to integrate an AI assistant specifically designed for EQ tuning, helping users achieve more accurate and personalized sound adjustments in an intuitive way. More detailed information will be announced on January 9th.

Review samples now going out!

Timber · 6 Jan 2026 at 08:15

mrk said:
I get the impression the DAC chip will remain AKM Velvet as this is now the house sound for the brand and people seem to like it a lot.

If you look at AKM's website they use the Velvet branding in regards to any of their chips; 4490/93SEQ, 4499EX etc. And most recently about the newer 4497S/98EX chips. So that's why assumed the X8 might just be using a cheaper AKM chip vs. the X9. So the K15 vs. K17 scenario.

I noted it in the other thread, but interesting to see some of the new audio products coming out already in 2026 (I assume CES in LV). I take it you're down for a review sample?

mrk · 6 Jan 2026 at 08:32

Yep they emailed this morning about samples!

Raymond Lin · 6 Jan 2026 at 09:06

Dibs for ~~sloppy~~ faulty seconds! lol

On another note, still no sign of my ZMF.

mrk · 6 Jan 2026 at 09:35

If it's better as a headphone and pre amp than my A90 Discrete then I'll be swapping them out I reckon

Assuming it has XLR in and out of course, otherwise A90D stays!

Timber · 7 Jan 2026 at 17:38

Probably best off in this thread, but another (kind of) 'gaming'-orientated release; Fosi Audio DS3 DAC & Headphone AMP Dongle for $136.

Dongle DAC with ESS chipset, aimed at HiFi & Gaming. Has a new XMOS chip that can do surround 7.1 virtualisation into stereo. Doesn't mention PS5 at all, as I suspect the surround sound might be PC-dependant. But it should work as a plain stereo DAC/AMP with UAC 1.0/2.0 support.

Although no mention of mic input, which is odd as I think this is a product that might appeal more to laptop, tablet and console gamers and that might be a deal-breaker.

Head-Fi Forum thread link

Angst · 7 Jan 2026 at 18:06

Timber said:
Probably best off in this thread, but another (kind of) 'gaming'-orientated release; Fosi Audio DS3 DAC & Headphone AMP Dongle for $136.

Dongle DAC with ESS chipset, aimed at HiFi & Gaming. Has a new XMOS chip that can do surround 7.1 virtualisation into stereo. Doesn't mention PS5 at all, as I suspect the surround sound might be PC-dependant. But it should work as a plain stereo DAC/AMP with UAC 1.0/2.0 support.

Although no mention of mic input, which is odd as I think this is a product that might appeal more to laptop, tablet and console gamers and that might be a deal-breaker.

Head-Fi Forum thread link

Seems odd that they wouldn't include a mic input on a product like that.