I've asked assistance on this of others, and once in another thread, but I believe that thread was far too fast-paced for my question to keep up x]. I have been on my search for a good setup of gaming & music equipment for a while, though I've been focusing more on finishing up my computer build as of late.. I would first like to ask though, if it's possible to use a sound card as both a DAC and gateway to Dolby Headphone? This is the setup I envision using:



If that is possible, I need advice on this setup to work together (For PC Gaming):

1. Headphones
2. Amp
3. Soundcard

 

Headphone

    I have spoken to a head-fi'er or two, but wanted to know everyone's opinion. I've tried Ultrasone Pro 550's, Pro 900's, HFI-580's, Sony XB500, LCD-2's, Beyerdynamic T1's, and Sennheiser HD600/650. Out of all of these headphones, I absolutely loved the positioning, separation, massive sound-stage, and tonality (as in, while extremely clear & detailed, I didn't perceive it as analytical/cold, resulting in music being engaging rather than boring) of the Beyer T1's, and really, really disliked the HD600/650. Also, I don't think I want to own completely open cans; if I had a choice, it would be the semi-open design of the T1, as it didn't seem to leak as much as the open cans did.

 

My two gripes with the T1? the bass, while extremely clean, was almost non-existent... also the dang set of headphones cost 1.2k, insane. So as far as headphone goes, I'm essentially looking for a semi-open (or closed, if sound-stage is hardly sacrificed) set of cans that share the qualities of T1 (especially for that beautiful sound-stage), with more bass impact, as I will be using these for both SP and MP games, I like the theatrical bass/rumble, and at a lower price-point.

 

At first I thought the DT990's were the perfect match, then I read of the sharp treble & sibilance, which had me looking elsewhere; that, and it was completely open (not semi-open as I had previously believed). Then I gazed my direction to the DT880's, and found that they were extremely bass-light, moreso than the T1, and there have been reports of odd rear positioning/imaging issues. So now I turn to the community for direction.

 

Amp

   I really have to do some more research when it comes to amps, but I've been considering either the Matrix M-Stage or Lovely Cube.

 

Soundcard

  I'd need the soundcard to have a PCIe interface, accept input from an amp, and would (naturally) want it to have Dolby Headphone capabilities. I need advice on this area as I have no idea what the difference is on the 8+ Xonar varieties. That, and there are also creative/other brand cards that I thought I should possibly look into.

 

 

 

I hope the combination you guys recommend would culminate into a great gaming/everyday-use audio setup C:

 

Asus Essence STX+Matrix Quattro+AKG K702 or Pro 2900 and DT880, DT990 are great cans for music and gaming.

Quote:

zarim said:

Asus Essence STX+Matrix Quattro+AKG K702 or Pro 2900 and DT880, DT990 are great cans for music and gaming.

Click to expand...

Why the Essence STX over others?

K702 has no bass, and is fully open. Pro2900 is fully open, leaks a lot. DT880 is anemic in bass and has that reported rear blind spot, and DT990 has harsh highs, recessed mids, and is fully open itself, so leaks quite a bit.

bumpidy?

Heya,
 
Ok, let's clear up a few things. The DT990 does not have harsh highs and sibilance. On a clean DAC and amplified with my Little Dot, I'm not getting fatigue and I'm listening to Journey right now. I have the headphones and listen to them, so I'm not just repeating someone on the internet who doesn't even have much time listening to the headphones. DT990's are my primaries at home because they just have a great sound stage, sound good overall and have great bass. That brings us to point two, anemic bass? Really? Who the hell even came up with that. DT990's have awesome full rich bass. They're one of the bassier open headphones. If you want more, you'll look at the Ultrasone 2900's.
 
That said, here's a few things.
 
1. Soundcard is your DAC no matter what for gaming, no exceptions, because it's the only way to keep Dolby Headphone which is critical to your setup.
2. Because your DAC is fixed and limited in choice, you do not need to get very crazy amplifiers and/or headphones because everything will be limited by the quality of said DAC.
3. Because of the above two points, you do not need an amplifier unless you simply want to play with tubes for the fun of tube rolling. The soundcard you will likely get will have a good enough amplifier.
4. Because you're limited on DAC and amplifier is way less important here, your headphone selection should reflect your source. You don't get T1's for example to play a game. Why? Source is not high quality. No point in buying flagships to listen to compressed games.
 
So to save you tons of money and headaches, games do not have super high end recorded lossless quality audio. So investing in a crazy setup to just listen to compressed audio is going to net you a giant loss. You only need two things for a nice quality gaming setup. One, a soundcard that provides you with a good clean DAC and amplification is usually always built into these newer soundcards. Two, a pair of headphones that are comfortable, give you the sound range you prefer, and give you sound stage. That's two items. No need for anything else. Adding an amplifier, external, to this will not do much, if anything, again, unless you go strictly tube amp, for the purpose of tubey sound and/or tube rolling. Not recommended for gaming. Again, compressed audio is your source. No point in going hifi for a 100% guaranteed compressed source.
 
HD Titanium is the soundcard for you.
BeyerDynamic DT990 600ohm or Ultrasone Pro 900 or Shure 940.
 
Open headphones give you sound stage. Semi-closed is next. Closed is dead last. So what's more important? Sound stage for positioning? Or the worry of leaking? Get the Ultrasones if you want minimal leak and some sound stage. DT990's or Shure940's for more sound stage if leak doesn't matter.
 
Good rumbly, rich, theatrical bass. Everything else is great. Remember you can EQ things that do not suit your taste perfectly--few headphones are perfect for each ear. Nothing wrong with adjusting via EQ anything that isn't perfect for you. Need to tone down a certain frequency that fatigues you for gaming for hours? EQ it. Want to bring out mids a bit more? Slight EQ change and you're good to go. A properly EQ setting on a headphone will give you what you want. You simply need a headphone with enough range to cover it. And the above do it.
 
Again there's no point in getting super high end stuff to listen to compressed gaming audio. It's not going to sound better. The higher you go with the equipment, with an unchanging compressed source, the worse it will end up sounding and the more sour the bill for it will taste.
 
Very best,

I kind of agree with his notion.  If not amped with a tube amp and driver tubes that actually subdue the treble a little bit, the DT990 when amped a bit sounds pretty harsh, but the whole sibilance and harshness thing is considerably moreso the fault of the recording you're listening to than the headphones itself.  People on head-fi seem to downplay that and blame the treble spike of the headphone way too much.  On a solid state amp, the DT990 do sound rather shrill in general, but on a warm tube amp they're a bit more natural sounding, yet still give that treble emphasis that a lot of people like.  
 
Even when properly amped, the bass of the DT990 is a bit lacking and light.  They are by no means a bass monster as some members would have you believe. Their mid-bass is nicely firm and punchy, but their sub-bass is about what you'd expect out of an open headphone.  Below 70hz they begin to start going below neutral, and in a couple songs their sub-bass presence isn't enough to really reinforce the bassline. 
 
I think in order to get the kind of bass you're after, you'd ideally want to go with a closed headphone.  Both the Beyerdynamic DT770 and Denon D2000 perform exceptionally well for gaming I've heard, and the latter doesn't sacrifice on soundstage too much, but the former is more comfortable.

Quote:

scytus said:

Why the Essence STX over others?

K702 has no bass, and is fully open. Pro2900 is fully open, leaks a lot. DT880 is anemic in bass and has that reported rear blind spot, and DT990 has harsh highs, recessed mids, and is fully open itself, so leaks quite a bit.

Click to expand...

There is no perfect headphone, even the sennheiser states, and stax sr-009 are not perfect to everyone's like. T1 is probably one of the most easy driven
and neutral among other flagships( lcd-2 recessed highs,rather small sound stage/ HD800 lite on bass result in lean mids and prominent treble etc ). If you wanna 
hone solution for all i think this is ur best bet. A WA3 can drive it very nice($400). Out of curiosity , what part of HD650 makes you really dislike em.