Q701/K701 Gaming setup

The 7.1 you hear through headphones is virtual, not physical, so the daughterboard is not used. The STX uses Dolby Headphone to create a virtual surround sound using either six or eight channels which are mixed down to two channels while adding the positional cues. I used it extensively while playing Skyrim and it was very convincing. Some of the more modern games such as Battlefield 4 have their own drivers to do the same thing and in that case you just select stereo in the card's driver panel. For other games though, choose 8 channels, hit the gaming button and you'll get a pretty effective surround sound effect.
 
But I thought it was the daughter card that was providing the 7.1 surround? Sorry if I'm being a bit of a spanner about this, but I don't understand the difference between the Asus Xonar Essence STX II and the STX II 7.1.
 
1) 7.1 surround: You get this through a full 7.1 set of speakers or a multi-speaker headset (not the greatest). This is taken care of by the daughterboard.

2) Virtual surround: You get this through stereo headphones and is produced by the main audio processor chip on the main board.
 
Ahh, I understand now, I was getting confused between the two. Sorry Rids.

I do not have any speakers and do not intend to get any, and I take it 7.1 won't be great on the K702's.

Therefore, the standard STX II seems to be my best option. Wonder how it will compare to Asus's Supreme FX 2014
 
Yeah no need for the daughter card, I got the K702 from GAK. Free ND delivery and always been good for me.

You still get the virtual surround etc from the main card.
 
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Hey guys.

So I just got the K702's and a Mixamp Pro 2013 edition last week.

Only got a little bit of free time to play with them over the weekend though so I haven't really explored the new setup fully.

Two things I noticed immediately when I'd set everything up:

1. The volume was a little on the low side even when turned up full on the Mixamp

2. With the Mixamp volume turned up full, there is a quiet but still audible hiss

I'm wondering if this might be because I have the USB plugged into a USB port on the PS4 in order to supply power to the Mixamp. The PS4 sees this connection as a chat connection and gives the option of outputting either "All Audio" or else "Chat Audio" via the USB.

Now I simply have the Game/Chat dial on the Mixamp turned all the way to the Game end, but I'm wondering if having the USB connected to the PS4 is causing some kind of interference?

As I said I haven't had the time to play around with the connections or anything yet so it may simply be a case of switching the cables. But has anybody else experienced any similar issues?

Sonny, I'm looking in your direction :D

Cheers lads
 
Ryanr1987 said:
Are you using the optical cable?
Click to expand...


Yep, using the supplied optical cable. I verified the cable was not faulty before installing it.


Straz said:
Not sure the Mixamp has adequate power for those, could be wrong.
Click to expand...

AFAIK the Mixamp can provide adequate power for the K702's as long as I'm not using a mic for voice chat at the same time. But I could be wrong about this.
 
I do not have that specific mixamp.

My mixamp has 2 parts a transmitter and a receiver, because it is wireless.

My transmitter is powered by a socket (plug), the receiver uses a lithium battery (much like a old nokia phone).

I use a chat cable made by turtlebeach which plugs into the DS4, the USB chat cable isn't guaranteed to work on the PS4, lots of complaints about it being too quiet.


First of all make sure only chat audio is being transmitted by USB/DS4 chat cable. All game audio is through optical (toslink).

Make sure the dial is set 100% to game and volume to 100%.

Ideally the AKG requires to be double amped. Which is why I bought the Schiit Vali to double amp mine but MLE states the mixamp on it's own is enough to power the AKG's so long as you do not use voice chat (dial 100% to game).

Have you done everything as above?
 
Psycho Sonny said:
Have you done everything as above?
Click to expand...

Yep, that's how I have it set up.

I've just tried plugging the USB into my PC to supply power to the Mixamp, same result with the hiss/buzz. It's not mad loud or anything but it's enough to do me head in ha!

Then I tried connecting the USB to the plug from my phone charger and powering the Mixamp from the mains. Same result.


The slightly lower volume thing might just me not being used to the new cans, and also being so used to the HD650's.

But the buzz/hiss thing....I don't know what might be causing it. It's only audible when the volume is turned up to 3/4 and higher, and as far as I'm concerned that is the one place I want the volume to be especially as I find the 720's slightly quieter than I'm used to.

Perhaps the optical cable is faulty? Although AFAIK if an optical cable is faulty the sound will drop in and out and will crackle or cease entirely.

Perhaps I should contact the seller/manufacturer and see what they can do for me. It could even be the unit that is faulty.

Really hate when this happens, new gear is supposed to be happy times!! Ah well, fingers crossed I can get something sorted...
 
Freegrazer said:
Yep, using the supplied optical cable. I verified the cable was not faulty before installing it.




AFAIK the Mixamp can provide adequate power for the K702's as long as I'm not using a mic for voice chat at the same time. But I could be wrong about this.
Click to expand...

The K702 is not difficult to drive but it does sound a lot more quieter. Thinner spacious headphones seem to have this issue. Any simple amp with decent power will give them a bit of a boost. It will save you turning the smaller knob all the way to game audio.

As long as you are getting surround sound it will only be an extra amp you will need.
 
If the mixamp is brand new, I would look at getting a replacement before looking at double amping.

There shouldn't be a huge amount of hiss, but MLE does state the newer mixamps are worse for it than older ones iirc.

Have you read MLE's reviews on all 3 mixamps?
 
Yeah I read the reviews and saw the comparisons. They do say that the Mixamp 5.8 gives the least amount of noise/hiss of the 3.

I have a FiiO E12 that I tried with the Mixamp last night. I turned the volume on the Mixamp to half way, and then turned on the E11 and turned that to half way. The noise was just amplified and was of course louder than usual.


I think I'm going to have to contact the seller and get a replacement unit. It still could be the cables but I'll want to avail of the refund/exchange before the 14 day returns thingy runs out
 
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