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Computer Gamer looking to get into a better audio set up

post #1 of 10
9/26/11 at 11:33am
Thread Starter 

 

Hello all! After landing a decent paying co-op, I've been looking to upgrade my audio experience with gaming and music (Classic and Alternative Rock, Electronica, and Jazz). Right now I'm running my father's old Sony Stereo and Speaker set up (Don't know the model number of the stereo off the top of my head, but the speakers are huge.) and I purchased the ATH-M50 headphones a few months ago and I love them.

 

Back when I bought them, I did a little bit of research on which headphones to get, and people kept mentioning pre-amps and amps (Yeah, I'm a bit of a newbie, but everyone has got to start somewhere.) but I couldn't really afford much else besides the headphones. Also, I do not have a dedicated sound card in my computer.

 

So my question is what should I start focusing on upgrading? I'd like to focus on getting the most out of my headphones. Also, I'd like to be able to hook up my PS3/Xbox 360 up to run with my headphones as well. I'd like to stick with external but if there is a dedicated sound card that just blows everything away for a decent price I may have to stick with that.

 

Folks over on Reddit have recommended some of the following:

Astro Mixamp

HRT MusicStreamer II+

Presounus Hp4 AMP

Nuforce Icon HD

Asus Essence STX

Maverick Tubemagic D1

HT Omega Claro Plus

 

As for budget, I don't have one per say, but I understand there is a point of diminishing return when it comes to buying technology.

 

Thanks guys and girls.


Edited by RandomShortGuy - 9/26/11 at 11:43am
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post #2 of 10
9/26/11 at 12:31pm

FiioE7/E9 , dac and powerful headphone amp all in 1.

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post #3 of 10
9/26/11 at 3:40pm

I got the Essence STX  a while ago, paired with my PC350's it sounds great. (im a Fps gamer)

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post #4 of 10
9/26/11 at 6:18pm

Nice choice of headphones; check out the new fiio e-10; here is a review, http://www.headfonia.com/.  Might be just what you are looking for and the price is right for around $80.

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post #5 of 10
9/26/11 at 6:28pm

If you want to use the headphones with the Xbox 360 and PS3, the Astro Mixamp is very useful. Dolby Headphone helps simulate surround sound, and it works with consoles.

 

For internal soundcard, if you choose that, the Essence STX is hard to beat. Powerful headphone amp with very good distortion and noise levels, alongside quite possibly the best DAC in sub-$200 or $300 territory. Unfortunately the amp has a high output impedance, which isn't a good thing with your low impedance headphones. It's still a better option than the E7/E9 (the E9 also has high output impedance), and it also has Dolby Headphone if you game or watch movies on the PC.

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post #6 of 10
9/27/11 at 4:33am
Thread Starter 

I just wanted to be sure, but the external DAC/AMP essentially does the same thing as an internal sound card? I've always been about visual quality first and foremost but now that I've upgraded my computer's video cards, I'm realizing I don't know anything about audio quality.

 

I don't need 5.1 or 7.1 surround as I'm only using my headphones and the two stereo speakers. 

I've pretty much narrowed my list down to the Maverick Tubemagic D1 and the Hifiman EF2A. However, seeing as I don't know anything about sound cards, I'm keeping an open mind to those options. 

 

I'm leaning more towards the D1 because it has an optical port, and my motherboard has one (along with PCI & PCIE x1 slots as well).

 

Thank you guys for responding to my thread.

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post #7 of 10
9/27/11 at 5:51am

I got the Asus Essence STX along with the ATH-M50s as my first step to audio and didn't regret it. Although you'd probably get better value for money if you got an external setup.

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post #8 of 10
9/27/11 at 10:20am

What PC games do you generally play?

 

I'm mostly asking to weigh in the value of EAX support. If your games of choice don't use it anyway, then it's a matter of comparing CMSS-3D Headphone and Dolby Headphone, which I won't get into.

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post #9 of 10
9/27/11 at 11:26am
Thread Starter 

Just finished Witcher 2 and Hunted. I casually play LoL, but I'm definitely going to get Mass Effect 3, Diablo 3, Skyrim, Old Republic and MW3.

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post #10 of 10
9/27/11 at 1:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomShortGuy View Post

I just wanted to be sure, but the external DAC/AMP essentially does the same thing as an internal sound card? I've always been about visual quality first and foremost but now that I've upgraded my computer's video cards, I'm realizing I don't know anything about audio quality.


That's right, except most external setups won't have Dolby Headphone or CMSS-3D for games and movies. The exception to that is the Astro Mixamp and several external Creative products, as they're designed for gaming.

 

The Essence STX will do just about everything a comparably priced external setup will do, and it will do it better. Its only weakness, as far as I can tell, is the output impedance. The ATH-M50 has a pretty flat impedance curve, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I bought the card as a replacement for a $995 Benchmark DAC1, one of the best available DACs and amps from an objective standpoint. The moment I listened to the card, I packed the DAC1 up. I didn't hear a difference. I still regret not doing a blind test between the two, but I'm not too worried about it. Here's some numbers if you want to try to make sense of them. That's great performance. I only wish they did headphone amp tests with low impedance loads, too.

 

Don't plug any low impedance headphones with wild impedance curves into it (Sennheiser HD598 for example), and you won't need to buy another DAC or amp for a long time. Plus you get Dolby Headphone. It's not made for gaming like X-Fi cards, but it works well enough.

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