X-Fi Titanium HD headphone amp?

Does this card have a built in headphone amplifier? I don't think it does after doing more research.

I bought it and was almost positive it does, but I guess I will return it tomorrow if not. Hopefully someone here will know.

The other day at Best Buy I saw this card for only $79.99. On the back of the box it mentioned that it could be used with headphones up to 330 ohms.

I went online and it turns out that this card is actually $179.99

I went in to the store today and they sold it to me for $80. I was honest and told them the truth and they still let me have it for $80 despite ringing up at $180. It wasn't just on sale.

So right now I may return it. I thought it would be a cheap way to power some of my headphones, but now I don't even know for sure if it actually has a headphone amplifier built in. On the specifications for the USB version it says it does have one, but this one doesn't. Or does it?

If it does I wonder if it can drive the HD-600? If not, that's OK. I have a desktop amp for that, but it'd be nice. I would just try it out, but I don't want to open the box and install it for nothing.

I've checked all the chips and maybe i'm dumb, but I honestly can't figure this out. For $200 retail you'd think it would. I must be missing something.

Thanks for the replies. Strangely, the US creative site doesn't even list the specifications. I guess I didn't even notice them on Creative's asia website. On the actual box it does say it supports up to 330 ohm headphones, but it's hard to know if this really means that it still has an amplifier on the card. I don't think Creative would say it supports them without an actual amplifier being on the card.

For $80 I'll definitely keep it. Hopefully it will power my HD-600 well as a backup, but maybe not. I guess I can also connect my Schiit Asgard to it and see how that works instead. I hope the soundcard alone will power my HD-600, because I'd rather keep my desktop amp upstairs instead and away from my computer. It probably will not work for an AKG k701 I imagine.

I wanted to get an Asus card that can drive even 600 ohm headphones, but I don't really want to fork over $170+ right now when I rarely listen to music on my computer.

A $80 card that could maybe drive the HD-600 isn't such a bad deal!

Has anyone else had good results with higher OHM headphones on this card? I'm kind of worried it will be really bad. I'll be able to open it and install it on Tuesday if I don't hear anything bad. I planned on keeping it in the box until I did some more research into it and got a few replies to my original post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ViciousXUSMC 

If you have some expensive high ohm headphones its probably worth your investment to get a dedicated dac/amp for them at some point to fully extract the quality they can achieve.

 

You can probably find some good deals here on the forums in the for sale section when the time comes.  If not there are lots of fair priced products out there.

Yeah I just bought the Schiit Asgard desktop amp on the forums a week ago. It should do the job fine and the Titanium HD would only be for backup use. I usually don't like to use my computer for music listening and only use it for music around 20% of the time. I do however need to invest in a DAC. I only have the Nuforce Mobile and I don't really like it.

Right now the only high ohm headphone I have is the HD-600, but my two other headphones need an amp to sound best. I also want to get the k701 again, but the Asgard probably isn't a good match for it, but that's OK.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_taboo 

$80 bucks?

I may have to swing by Best Buy for once.

My goofy Best Buy still had them on the shelf a whole 3 days later at $80. You take them to the register and they're $179.99

I'm surprised they haven't fixed this yet. I bet i'm not the only person who got a deal.

Before checkout I asked a sales person "Is this the right price?" and they said yes. I even told them at checkout they had told me this. I think the only reason they let me have it for $80 is that it was labeled at that price.

I haven't opened mine and i'm still deciding. It seems some say they do have an amp and others say they don't. There is no external power connector on the card itself. I have my doubts it will really be good enough for my HD-600.

I could sell it and pocket the difference, but I'd feel like a dirt bag and kind of dishonest somehow. It's not like i'm buying a PS3 on release day and selling it for $1000 though.

I may just end up returning it and getting a Asus card for 600 ohm headphones. Right now I guess I don't need an computer based amp as much as I originally thought since I just bought the Schiit Asgard a week ago.

Wonder if that will work with 600ohm headphones. Doubt it.