need a sound card and maybe an amp?

deFiniLoGy · 4 May 2014 at 23:32

Cookeh said:
Dont forget the £600 USB cables

And another £600 for power cable + Plug + IEC + fuse

rids57 · 5 May 2014 at 01:00

that's the cheap stuff

Cookeh · 5 May 2014 at 10:07

deFiniLoGy said:
And another £600 for power cable + Plug + IEC + fuse

Each, of course. If you buy all 4 for £600 then it will be really low quality and you wont get any separation or clarity in the treble.

RavenXXX2 · 5 May 2014 at 10:11

Cookeh said:
This is, of course, correct and not something I am trying to do. However, the OP only mentions one game - BF3 (presumably BF4 as well to) - both of which have their own drivers, and thereby negating a real need for soundcard-based positional audio.

DT990s really deserve something more than your expensive-but-otherwise-run-of-the-mill soundcard to do them real justice for music imo, they are fantastic cans for the money.

You don't need any gimmicks like dolby headphone to get positional audio, it can all be done in windows sound settings or the sound card settings. I just tried Skyrim with 5.1 selected in windows and it has great positional audio, this will be the same with the odac.

Cookeh · 5 May 2014 at 11:17

I am well aware of that, perhaps you should read my posts again - you've essentially echoed my thoughts

rids57 · 5 May 2014 at 14:30

RavenXXX2 said:
You don't need any gimmicks like dolby headphone to get positional audio, it can all be done in windows sound settings or the sound card settings. I just tried Skyrim with 5.1 selected in windows and it has great positional audio, this will be the same with the odac.

That's because sound cards and motherboard audio both support 5.1 - an external DAC doesn't

deFiniLoGy · 5 May 2014 at 14:39

rids57 said:
That's because sound cards and motherboard audio both support 5.1 - an external DAC doesn't

Well there are some that does support dolby decoding.

E.g. Astro Mixamp

However, most quality DAC for audiophiles don't.

gjc10212 · 5 May 2014 at 15:42

rids57 said:
On head-fi I would agree with you because they deal almost exclusively with listening to music but this is a computer forum and most threads, including this one, involve gaming and movies too. To have anywhere near the same audio experience you would need to add a sound card anyway, to get dolby headphone for the positional audio and that would negate the DAC on the O2D.
A pet gripe I have with the O2 lineup is the aesthetics, it looks like a hobby project. NwAvGuy did a brilliant job of designing the circuitry but neither Epiphany or Mayflower have changed the prototype layout at all. I can't for the life of me see why they can't move the power socket and the input to the rear of the case, even if the case had to be slightly bigger.
Then you have the convenience of being able to leave headphones and speakers plugged in all the time and just switch over with a couple of mouse clicks, rather than fishing behind the computer to switch the plugs around.
Sure, a dedicated headphone amp & dac has it's place and for listening to music in stereo they will sound wonderful but they are not a blanket solution for every other thread.

http://www.headnhifi.com/O2-ODAC-fully-modded

and ltd ed. JDS Labs - http://www.jdslabs.com/products/48/o2-odac-combo/

rids57 · 5 May 2014 at 16:10

Proves it can be done, now it needs to be done as standard with both the O2 and the O2D.

pgi947 · 6 May 2014 at 21:44

Wow forgot about this thread momentarily!

So good DAC over a sound card? I won't be listening to much music tbh mostly gaming and I got my dt990's relatively cheap.

I am leaning towards a DAC now as its looking like I'll be getting the z97 classified which has some creative 'core3d' audio chip so presume this could drive positional audio when required?

deFiniLoGy · 6 May 2014 at 22:44

pgi947 said:
Wow forgot about this thread momentarily!

So good DAC over a sound card? I won't be listening to much music tbh mostly gaming and I got my dt990's relatively cheap.

I am leaning towards a DAC now as its looking like I'll be getting the z97 classified which has some creative 'core3d' audio chip so presume this could drive positional audio when required?

If you're not keen on music, sell off your DT990 and get something cheaper and use to extra cash for something else.

And if you don't listen to music, don't get a DAC, use on-board output as many gaming motherboards support.

If you have many cash to spend on, get an AMP first, to drive your DT990.. Then get a DAC..

Although after all I will suggest you to get a ultrabook and play music from there as desktop sounds really crap without a linear power supply and proper EMI shielding... which cost more than a decent ultrabook!

Cookeh · 6 May 2014 at 23:57

deFiniLoGy said:
If you're not keen on music, sell off your DT990 and get something cheaper and use to extra cash for something else.

And if you don't listen to music, don't get a DAC, use on-board output as many gaming motherboards support.

If you have many cash to spend on, get an AMP first, to drive your DT990.. Then get a DAC..

This. TBH there are better gaming cans than the DT990s - 990s are excellent for music, good for gaming - but for around £120-150 you could get some cans that are much better suited to purely gaming and have better positional audio.
A few examples of this would be the ATH-AD700X or AD900X