New audio setup - HD650~ + SB ZxR or else?

[Redrum333]

Hi folks,

I'm trying to complete my rig with a better sound system, which I now consider to be Sound Blaster ZxR soundcard + HD600/HD650/HD660S/HD700/AKG 1207PRO headphones or alike.

My current setup consists of Sennheiser PC 363D headphones powered by Z270E motherboard soundcard. It's nice and comfy, but I'd like a step-up to match the rest of my rig. Vast majority of my activity on the PC is gaming (mostly Overwatch + grand variety of other types of games) - so a proper/precise scene of sound is mandatory for the headphones I want to buy - but I also like to listen to music.

My questions would be - would the difference in sound be clearly discernible by just buying the ZxR soundcard and leaving the old headphones? Secondly, would this new card be able to drive the aforementioned list of headphones, or at least use up most of their potential? If not, what exactly would I need to make these headphones reach their full potential? (and to do that, would ZxR be needed at all?)

Cheers!

EDIT: I'm planning to use Modmic 4.0 as a replacement for the old mic.

 

[Redrum333]

I wouldn't get a sound card to go with the Sennheiser headset. There wouldn't be enough gain over the included USB dongle to warrant spending £100+.

I'm not using PC363D's USB card.

honestly it depends on what kind of gaming you do, if its professional online gaming then getting something that has less emphasise on base would be best

I'm playing ranked matches in Overwatch - not on a professional level, just competitive though. In terms of music, my music taste is too varied to be specific, mostly rock/metal is played.

Creative's newest card the AE-5 is better buy.

That's also a question. For example - if I got JDS Labs OBJECTIVE + OAMP with a pair of headphones - say HD660S - would an addition of ZxR/AE-5 as a source of sounds/music matter at all for cleanliness/scene precision, compared to the mobo soundcard?
I could start with just buying the AE-5/ZxR for now, and I'd go for a proper combo and a pair of headphones later when I'm ready money-wise and I'm sure I picked the right headphones.

 

[Redrum333]

Not sure why you'd use the onboard audio over the USB dongle that comes with the PC363D's, unless the motherboard you have has Creative audio onboard and therefore something like SBX prodtudio already; otherwise if the game being played doesn't have positional sound algorithms, you'd just get plain stereo.

I never got that issue. I could always hear the enemies around me in all games, and I've never used the dongle - but in my previous config I used Xonar DX after switching from mobo's soundcard.

Does make some sense to buy a sound card first, as you've already got a very good headset.

Yes, I think I'll start with AE-5 then. But one question - if I got the O2 combo I mentioned before - would that adversely affect the output to the heaphones if I just connected the output of the soundcard to the combo? (effectively amping the sound signal twice)

For the headphones: Personally, I don't think the HD6**/700 range is a good choice if the first priority is gaming. As esat has said, they are tuned for music enjoyment. They are a great choice if music is the main concern, but don't perform as well when it comes to gaming compared to some other headphones; such as AKG K712; which is what you might have meant.

Well, I've heard opinions of people enjoying gaming on some HD6** headphones - that's why I wanted to seek an opinion here. But yes, I know that AKGs are quite popular among gamers.

 

[Redrum333]

If you connect an external DAC and amp to a sound card, then all the sound card is doing is passing on DSP effects. A £50 Soundblaster Z OEM for example, will pass on SBX prostudio to an external DAC the same as a £120 AE-5. The difference in sound quality between the two sound cards is irrelevant, because that would be down to the external DAC and amp.

So for now it would be safer to either keep with my built-in soundcard or get a cheaper, custom soundcard without any amp so that we don't get any problems with double amping of the signal? Doesn't SB Z have a headphone amp though?

 

[Redrum333]

The idea is that you would use an optical cable from the Sounblaster Z to an external DAC and RCA cables from DAC to amp.

Thanks for making that clear. And so there is little to gain in future by picking SB ZxR or SB AE-5 over SB Z for the use of setup with amp+dac combo connecting through optical out you mentioned?

 

[Redrum333]

Ok, I got AE-5 for the moment - the difference in sound on the headphones was simply drastic.

The issue is the computer suddenly stopped booting correctly with the PCI-E ports enabled (shifted power from front USB3.1 to the PCI-E) - I turn on the PC, it sits tight for 2-3 seconds and turns off - during next boot it changes the setting from PCI-E to fron USB3.1 panel and I can't use the card.

Wonder if that has anything to do with power requirement, although that should not be the case as I'm not running SLI or something.