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Amp? DAC? soundcard?

post #1 of 5
4/8/11 at 3:34am
Thread Starter 
Hi.
another noob looking for some help ....
I'm new the audio scene and just started enjoying the first steps of audiophilia... smily_headphones1.gif

Now I need some advise on what my next step / upgrade should be.

Currently I am listening to my HD 595's via the on board sound card of my ASUS Crosshair IV Formula board (SupremeFX X-Fi built-in 8-Channel High Definition Audio).
I mainly listen to FLAC music, watch MKV 1080p concerts and watch some BlueRay videos... Gaming is very casual and should not be a concern...

I have these options in mind for now:

1. AUDIO2DJ soundcard (can get it for free from a friend)
2. getting a headphone amp (NuForce Icon uDAC-2)
3. headphone amp and DAC separately (I noticed the FiiO E9 and E7 DAC)
4. upgrading the soundcard to ASUS Xonar Essence STX
5. ???

any comments, any recommendations are more than welcome!

thanks.
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post #2 of 5
4/8/11 at 4:00am

If you get uDAC 2 you shoild be perfectly happy.

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post #3 of 5
4/8/11 at 4:27am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Szadzik View Post

If you get uDAC 2 you shoild be perfectly happy.


Thank you.

How big of an improvement would you say will this give?
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post #4 of 5
4/8/11 at 5:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by martinsc View Post


Thank you.

How big of an improvement would you say will this give?


First of all you will get clean signal instead of that from your internal card - polluted by all the internal stuff of your PC. Second, you will get better sound quality. 

 

By how much? I am unable to say, but based on the headphones you own, you should get 20% increase as the headphones you have are not very sensitive to amping.

 

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post #5 of 5
4/8/11 at 7:15am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Szadzik View Post





First of all you will get clean signal instead of that from your internal card - polluted by all the internal stuff of your PC. Second, you will get better sound quality. 

 

By how much? I am unable to say, but based on the headphones you own, you should get 20% increase as the headphones you have are not very sensitive to amping.

 


Thanks a lot!



I guess I'll go for it then smily_headphones1.gif

Unless anybody has other ideas? Maybe something different?
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