A bit confused on dac / amp any help?

tresoldipaolo

tresoldipaolo

tresoldipaolo

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Hey there , i was wondering if anyone can make a bit of clarity out of the jungle ,of DAC/amp for me , because i have been reading about for the last 4 days , and still more confused than ever . My headphone bundle , old now , died , Asus xonar xense, and Sennheiser pc 350 , so I bought a pair of Beyerdynamic 770 pro 250 ohms, studio , so with coil cord, that make it impossible to connect to the back of my PC , so might be time for upgrade ,any forum i have read , advice to go for a amp minimum or dac/amp for this headphones , i have the problem tho that i use a microphone, speaker , and headphone ,in different time , and i don't see how a single dac/ amp can fulfill all this , unless i spent 500 plus , that a no go , my budget be more like 150 if not less , and the asus strix rad pro its actually less than that , but yes its a sound card , do you have any suggestion ? , i will not like also to have to buy 4 different devices for have decent sound , ps i do use for gaming mainly , and music yes , movie too .
Mobo asus saberthoot z87
2 speaker edifier
Mic antlion Modmic .
Thank you if you can help
 
Creative Sound Blaster Z (OEM) and an extension cable for your DT770s would cost you around £70. :)

That would drive your headphones and speakers nicely and support your microphone too.

I had the DT990 pros, which also had a curly cable, so I just got a 2m stereo extension cable, which is left permanently plugged in to the rear of the sound card and the other end is left on my desktop, for connecting headphones whenever I wish.

You can switch between the headphones and speakers via the sound card software, so no need to unplug anything.
 
Or you could get a DAC, that can run speakers and headphones. Use an extension for your mic and use USB/Optical out to the DAC.

I use a Topping, think it was about £100 but I'm sure theres cheaper.
 
I see ,thank you , altho this it's where it get confusing for me ,as a newbie with this .
I see the topping(Topping D3 USB&Optical&Coaxial&BNC DAC black . 199 maybe a cheaper one ) as the jack for headphones yes, and I see the connection for the speaker too ,but then the mic how i am going to do it ? connect to my mobo? , will i be able to switch between them with no problem or better again will window 10 recognize all input , or will be a struggle throw setting anytime i switch ?
 
Nvm. i think i got the point , extension from 3.5 to usb or optical , then connect to dac ? , still :will all be recognized by window 10 , steam etc , or will create a problem of setting priority?
 
I suggested the sound card because you were complaining about it all being too complicated and with a sound card you've got everything in one place.

Sound quality of the SB Z should not be noticeably different to the Xense

If you want a little more power from the amp and a more detail oriented DAC then the Strix Raid pro or DLX will also do nicely
 
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Yes that my feeling too rids57 ,i will hate to go to setting every time , with window 10 especially ,that, already imbalance headphones for not particular reason than be window 10 i dont see all the stuff go smooth , what you think about that yamaha tho ? that all in one place too ?
 
The Yamaha might be a good buy if you were to get a desk mic in the future but generally, the cheaper audio interfaces have quite weak headphone amps and you may end up needing an additional headphone amp to power the DT770s.
 
Yes i was reading about problem of isolation , and also reading about amp for the microphone but did not see any mention for the headphone amp , so it night well end up in pain , to buy another device, sound card will do for now again , to go back to our conversation do you think a sounblaster z will be improvement over a xonar or the same ?
 
Thank you for all the help so far, I will stick to traditional mode atm , and hoping to have a better clue in future , sound its something I am new on implementing , so that help a lot already , thank you
 
Are the edifier active speakers (powered with their own on board amp) ?

If so what I did with my yamaha hs5 was get an smsl SD793-II for 40-50 quid run it from the motherboard optical, plug the speakers into the rca out, headphones into it too, my modmic goes back to the on board motherboard mic in.

Then you have control over headphones separately, with the SMSL volume and speakers can be turned on or off.
 
neil_g the edifier r1600 t first model have a control panel for bass treble and are connected to wall power , so i suppose they have yes an amp inside , but not sure , i can't seem to find the full specs for it . I thought about it too the only thing its , did you had any problem then to switch between the use of one or the other with window 10? or its pretty much straight forward , will window recognize as playback device the smsl and control all from there or will i need to download that realtekpain again?
 
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