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Help with Sound card to go along with Beyerdynamic DT770/DT990 Pro

post #1 of 6
12/28/11 at 9:44pm
Thread Starter 

Hello,

 

After reading a lot of threads and reviews here, I narrowed down my choice of headphones to DT770 pro 80ohms/DT990 pro for my late night gaming needs. Before I purchase though, I have a few questions....

 

I already have an X-fi card, but while testing my friend's headphones (G930), I found that I prefer the "dolby headphone" feature a lot more than CMSS-3D. The dolby feature makes me feel that the sounds are coming from actual speakers in my room rather than the "voice in your head" feeling of headphones.

 

After doing some more reading today, I realized that X-fi sound cards don't have the dolby headphone feature. :(

 

So, I wanted to find a cheap alternative, just for headphone use. The Xonar DG sound card has the "Dolby headphone" feature, that would fit my budget, but I am unsure of using a relatively low quality sound card to go along with my more expensive headphones.

 

Does it matter what sound card I have if I just want to use the Dolby headphone feature, which presumably is software-based? Will the sound card adversely affect the sound quality of games?

 

I don't care about movies, music, etc. I will use my speakers and the creative x-fi for those.

 

Thanks so much!


Edited by roggan - 12/28/11 at 10:30pm
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post #2 of 6
12/28/11 at 10:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by roggan View Post
Hello,

After reading a lot of threads and reviews here, I narrowed down my choice of headphones to DT770 pro 80ohms/DT990 pro for my late night gaming needs. Before I purchase though, I have a few questions....

I already have an X-fi card, but while testing my friend's headphones (G930), I found that I prefer the "dolby headphone" feature a lot more than CMSS-3D. The dolby feature makes me feel that the sounds are coming from actual speakers in my room rather than the "voice in your head" feeling of headphones.

After doing some more reading today, I realized that X-fi sound cards don't have the dolby headphone feature. :(

So, I wanted to find a cheap alternative, just for headphone use. The Xonar DG sound card has the "Dolby headphone" feature, that would fit my budget, but I am unsure of using a relatively low quality sound card to go along with my more expensive headphones.

Does it matter what sound card I have if I just want to use the Dolby headphone feature, which presumably is software-based? Will the sound card adversely affect the sound quality of games?

I don't care about movies, music, etc. I will use my speakers for those.

Thanks so much!


The Asus Xonar DG comes with a halfway decent headphone amplifier rated up to 150-Ohms.

The Beyerdynamic DT 32-ohm version(s) cost to much, I would guess the 250-Ohms would not work their best plugged into the DG.

So I'm guessing you will have settle for the DT770 Pro 80-Ohm, good sound, lots of good bass (at least I like it).

 

The Dolby Digital (Dolby Headphone surround sound) feature on Xonar cards is great for movies and helps in some games.

 

 

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post #3 of 6
12/28/11 at 10:37pm
Thread Starter 

Hey,

 

Thanks so much for the fast response!

 

I guess, the Asus Xonar DG will narrow my choice further. In a way that is a good thing, because I was having a hard time deciding between the 2 headphones... :p

 

So, if a sound card can drive the headphones well, there is no difference in what what kind of sound card you have in regards to gaming or movies?

 

I don't have audiophile ears by any means, but I can tell what sounds good and what doesn't. ex. onboard vs my x-fi via my speakers. I usually don't use headphones much, but I still want to make sure that the audio quality of the headphones while gaming won't be limited by the sound card I use.

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post #4 of 6
12/28/11 at 11:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by roggan View Post
Hey,

Thanks so much for the fast response!

I guess, the Asus Xonar DG will narrow my choice further. In a way that is a good thing, because I was having a hard time deciding between the 2 headphones... :p

So, if a sound card can drive the headphones well, there is no difference in what what kind of sound card you have in regards to gaming or movies?

I don't have audiophile ears by any means, but I can tell what sounds good and what doesn't. ex. onboard vs my x-fi via my speakers. I usually don't use headphones much, but I still want to make sure that the audio quality of the headphones while gaming won't be limited by the sound card I use.


Creative Labs cards use CMSS-3D

Most Asus Xonar card use Dolby Digital.

For gaming the Sennheiser HD-558s are open headphones and only 50-Ohms, cheaper then the Beyerdynamic DTs.

 

If you went with the Beyerdynamic DT880/990 models you would want the 250-version(s), which would not really work with the DG.

If you got the Asus Xonar Essence STX ($180) that would easily work with just about any headphone.

Which computer speakers do you use?

 

 

 

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post #5 of 6
12/29/11 at 1:18am

If you want to keep the X-Fi DSP for genuine EAX 3/4/5, you could get an Astro Mixamp and connect it via S/PDIF, making sure to turn on Dolby Digital Live on the X-Fi end...but if EAX is not a concern for your games, it would be much simpler just to get a Xonar Essence STX and also get a powerful dedicated headphone amp along with it.

 

We'll just have to agree to disagree on CMSS-3D Headphone vs. Dolby Headphone, though...while neither makes the sound particularly distant to me, DH has nothing on CMSS-3D's directionality when playing DirectSound3D and OpenAL-based games, especially regarding the sense of height. (For anything with a software audio engine that downmixes everything to 7.1 at the most, though, they're about equal there.)

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post #6 of 6
12/29/11 at 8:14pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the replies. I think I will just get the DT770 80 ohm version, so that it works well with my current setup.

 

I looked into the Astro Mixamp and Xonar essence, and I think those are is just additional costs that I do not need right now.

 

As for Dolby headphone vs CMSS-3D, I agree that it is just a matter of opinion. However, I only play single player games, so I don't need to pinpoint anyone's footsteps. I just want immersion and somewhat decent virtual surround. For me, dolby headphones is better in that regard. Although, I was messing around with my creative control panel today and the added EAX effects like "theater" "jazz club" etc did make my current headphones sound closer to the dolby headphones, but not quite the same. I will keep messing around with the other settings. All I want is that the sound in games go farther away from my ears. Those EAX effects do that but add additional "echoey" effects that I dislike.


Edited by roggan - 12/29/11 at 8:16pm
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