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General Headphone Amp Configuration

post #1 of 9
7/14/11 at 7:14pm
Thread Starter 

I recently just picked up a Sennheiser HD 650 and a NFB-12 Audio GD amplifier to go with it. I received the products this afternoon and I would just like to know if I am getting the most out of my setup.

 

Here are a few questions that I was hoping could be answered,

 

1. Should I have the amplifier turned up to 100% volume and control my volume via my computer volume mixer or should I just adjust my amplifier volume to control my volume? Does it make a significant difference as to which way you control the volume? Is it damaging to the headphones or amplifier/DAC to be using 100% volume on the NFB-12?

 

2. Are there any recommended configuration settings for the amplifier (default playback device) on Windows 7? As in setting the default output format to a much higher quality? Such as 2 channel, 16 bit, 44100 Hz vs 2 channel 24 bit, 96000 Hz? Is there a significant difference?

 

3. I use Foobar as my audio player, are there possibly any recommended equalizer settings/configurations that are meant to be used to get the most out of these headphones?

 

4. Would you suggest high or low gain on the NFB-12 amplifier for my Sennheiser HD 650?

 

5. Finally, is there a significant sound quality difference between using a USB cord to relay your sound vs a coax cable? 

 

Thanks in advance!


Edited by Yyong - 7/18/11 at 9:53pm
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post #2 of 9
7/14/11 at 8:27pm

I'm looking for the answers to these questions too as I bought the same setup and it should be arriving shortly.

 

Would really appreciate some feedback, I'll be watching this thread closely.

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post #3 of 9
7/15/11 at 11:42am

Regarding the volume control, I would use the volume knob on the amp.  Not only is it more convenient (and safer), you're likely to get better quality sound that way.  Less amplifier hiss, and no truncated audio signal by letting your digital source dictate volume.

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post #4 of 9
7/15/11 at 2:43pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by lbj View Post

Regarding the volume control, I would use the volume knob on the amp.  Not only is it more convenient (and safer), you're likely to get better quality sound that way.  Less amplifier hiss, and no truncated audio signal by letting your digital source dictate volume.



Interesting, thank you for the response. That still leaves the other three questions unanswered but I appreciate the help lbj. Another question just occurred to me after playing with my amplifier yesterday, what are Head-Fi's thoughts on using low gain vs high gain? My NFB-12 unfortunately doesn't have a dial that allows me to control the "number" of gain, it's just between low or high. 

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post #5 of 9
7/15/11 at 3:10pm

I would use whichever gives you better range of volume control.  In general, you'd probably use low gain for sensitive headphones and high gain for less-sensitive headphones.  Apologies if this is too simplistic...

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post #6 of 9
7/15/11 at 7:23pm

My computer doesn't have a coax input. Will this drastically affect the sound quality vs USB?

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post #7 of 9
7/18/11 at 9:31pm
Thread Starter 

Bump, still looking for some detailed answers from all of you experienced audiophiles out there! Help a brother out smile.gif

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post #8 of 9
7/18/11 at 10:23pm

This is just my preference:

 

1. I use ASIO4ALL with Foobar2k, so basically it forces the DAC/soundcard do the rendering without being affected by program used except EQ or DSP. I hear all the same with Asio when testing with different media player, and always set the volume knob of the software around 50 - 70%. Window's volume control has no effect when using Asio.

 

2. I don't have any 24/96k HD music, almost are lossless and 320k lossy, so 16b/44.1k is enough for my need.

 

3. Flat EQ is recommended, but if you wanted to tweak a bit to favor your taste, feel free to tune.

 

4. I don't have a NFB-12 so have no idea, but to be safer, you should use low gain first with your 650, if it isn't sufficient power to driver it properly, set to high gain then.

 

5. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, depends on your usb cable's quality. I just use Coaxial as suggested from a seller, engineer, he said that spdif is much better than usb, no matter what people said...

Just my 2cents

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post #9 of 9
7/19/11 at 9:03pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the thorough responses zhunter, they've helped a lot.

 

I've been playing around with these cans and the amplifier for a few days now. Let's just say, my experience and entry to the world of audiophiles has definitely been a pleasant and extravagant one. I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to music anywhere else but my computer, the sound clarity and overall soundstage of these headphones is indescribable.

 

All that aside, I've just started using the WASAPI output support for Foobar, what are your thoughts on this? Should I change my default data output format on Foobar to emulate 24 bit, even though most of my music are loseless (FLAC) files that were recorded at 16 bit? Would altering the default data format be detrimental to the sound or would it actually give the music a new-found clarity?

 

Can anyone also show me where an optical cable would connect to an onboard PC sound card as well? I'm tech-savvy enough to know my way around the computer, but the optical cable I was provided for my amplifier is sort of strange. Just wondering where and how it looks like when it's plugged in and functional.

 

I apologize for the strings of questions on top of each other, just kind of new here and would really appreciate some assistance!

 

 

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