Headphone Amplification for desktop setup.

puro

puro

puro

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Joined
5 May 2009
Posts
6
Hello everyone.

I am in the process of upping the quality of sound from my pc, mainly for headphone use. Im looking to buy an amp to power my Beyer Dt770 80 ohms. I was initially going to get the ASUS Xonar Essence STX sound card. However from reading reviews, it appears as tho its not that compatible when It comes down to the gaming side of things. The reason I was looking at the new asus card was that its had some good things said about its headphone amp. I currently have a Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer card. For the people who own the Xonar card and play games frequently with it, what are your thoughts?

Instead of changing my sound card, I have been looking at USB AMP/Dacs. I have found a few that i am interested in. These are as follows,

iBasso D10 Cobra
http://www.ibasso.com/en/products/show.asp?ID=39

Ray sams Emmeline "The Predator"
http://www.raysamuelsaudio.com/products/predator

Headamp Pico
http://www.headamp.com/pico/index.htm

As these are 'portable' it will allow more flexability with my Ipod and other MP3/UMP Devices.

What are your thoughts here, If I was going to go for the USB Amp/Dac route, will I be encountering the same problems that the Xonar faces in terms of compatability with games. Does anybody here own any of thoes Amp/dacs? I would love to hear your feedback.

Cheers for reading.
 
The newest Xonar drivers seem to have sorted out a lot of gaming problems I was having. There are still a few games where higher EAX levels don't work on Xonar though, meaning you have to use EAX2. Where Asus have simulated higher level EAX (for example Bioshock and Assassin's Creed) it works very well.

Having owned X-Fis previously, I'd say having Dolby Headphone with Xonar is a huge benefit. On balance I'd rather have an Xonar than an X-Fi. I actually bought a X-Fi prelude with the intention of getting rid of the Xonar, but after listening to both I kept the Xoner.
 
I've heard nothing but rave reviews about the picoamp over on head-fi, but without having any experience with them (or any other amp for that matter) it really isn't my place to recommend. Your best bet would be to check out head-fi.org though; an absolute goldmine of information on there for all types of audio enthusiast.
 
I believe that the ASUS Xonar Essence STX sound card had an onboard headphone amp (which is supposedly very good) and also supports Dolby Headphone which I understand is better than CMSS3D in some games. It should hold its own on the gaming front.

I am considering this soundcard for my gaming rig.
 
I'm using a Beresford tc-7510 connected via optical to my X-Fi gamer, and using Sennheiser 595's. It sounds better than anything else I've owned.
I'm not audiophile enough to know how it compares against other headphone amps, but it seemed pretty favorably reviewed when I was researching before the purchase. Cost about 110 quid.
 
Zarf said:
I'm using a Beresford tc-7510 connected via optical to my X-Fi gamer, and using Sennheiser 595's. It sounds better than anything else I've owned.
I'm not audiophile enough to know how it compares against other headphone amps, but it seemed pretty favorably reviewed when I was researching before the purchase. Cost about 110 quid.
Click to expand...
I can confirm the Beresford sounds better than an X-Fi (or Xonar) connected to a ProJect Headbox II.

Much clearer, punchier and quieter soundstage.

gt
 
Ive got a Little Dot 1+ amp which is very powerful and sounds great i send a signal to it from a USB "HOTAUDIODAC" its a great box for about £40 which needs no drivers and plugs straight into the usb port it can b used to drive can's straight from it or line it into something else but i would definatly recomend it its very good!
 
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