Amp / DAC required?

Squaddie33 · 30 Apr 2017 at 19:29

Is anyone please able to advise me if I will need an amp/dac to get the most out of headphones if listening to spotify via my pc or is the mobo on-board audio good enough? My motherboard is an MSI Z97 Gaming 7 and the headphones I am considering buying are the Momentum 2.0 over-ear wired.

many thanks

rids57 · 30 Apr 2017 at 20:02

Momentums are easy to drive and Spotify isn't going to push the limits of your on-board audio, so I would say you are probably good to go with what you already have.

The on-board audio of your particular mobo is roughly equivalent to an entry level sound card. The only problem you may run into is interference, as the audio section of your mobo is operating in a very electrically noisy environment and is not screened. Best way is to just plug the headphones in and try it.

Rroff · 30 Apr 2017 at 20:09

Echo the above - my Momentums are incredibly easy to drive directly from a soundcard or even portable device.

Looks like the onboard audio on your motherboard is a bit better than the afterthought it is on many boards but still an external DAC might be beneficial.

Squaddie33 · 30 Apr 2017 at 20:11

Thanks a lot for your reply

I was going to buy the headphones and try them first, I was just concerned whether or not I need to start planning to save for an amp, but it looks like I won't which is a nice bonus

Rroff · 1 May 2017 at 00:40

I'll just say Momentums will be headphones you either love or hate and may or may not want to use all the time - they have very good detail but some of the mid-range is a bit recessed so as to give them their "trick" bass - you might find the bass a bit much for general usage or you might love it.

Also make sure you use the correct cable for the device if you have a selection of cables - the 4 pin one tends to have poor compatibility with anything other than the intended device (apple or android) which can result in channel leakage and degraded sound quality.