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HD 558 Sound card / AMP

Apr 9, 2012 at 5:04 PM Post #16 of 23
Quote:
papander said:
The thing is that hd558 costs ~180$ and now he is going to spend extra ~150$ in hopes of that it will alter the sound to his liking.
To me it makes more sense to spend that ~330$ on new headphones.
Click to expand...


I agree that the headphones are the most important factor regarding sound quality. In fact, I am probably one of the very few here that would even consider an HD600 or DT880-250 straight from Realtek HD audio as an alternative to an amplified HD558. However, it is not quite true that the HD558 cannot benefit from a better source that has low output impedance (see =2861]here why) and is less noisy than typical onboard audio. I did not suggest anything $150, by the way, the E10 is half as much at most. I would also have recommended the Xonar DG, but I do not have it, and there is no objective information available anywhere on its headphone amplifier performance (apparently, NwAvGuy does not like internal sound cards, and will not test them), so I do not suggest using a device I know not enough about.
 
 
Apr 9, 2012 at 5:17 PM Post #17 of 23


Quote:
raazal said:
Quote:
purpleangel said:
Even though I gave a few options.
I would say to just get the Asus Xonar DG and use it by itself. $27.00 and there is a $10 mail in rebate this month.
Save the left over cash for your next "upgrade".
Click to expand...

Also, with the Xonar DG I'll have to connect my 558's using a 6.35 to 3.5mm socket. Would this be a problem sound wise?
Click to expand...


Not a problem sound wise that I would know of.
A company called Hosa makes 3.5mm (1/8") Male to 6.35mm (1/4") Female short cable adapters.
 
 
 
Apr 9, 2012 at 5:25 PM Post #18 of 23


Quote:
stv014 said:
Quote:
papander said:
The thing is that hd558 costs ~180$ and now he is going to spend extra ~150$ in hopes of that it will alter the sound to his liking.
To me it makes more sense to spend that ~330$ on new headphones.
Click to expand...

I agree that the headphones are the most important factor regarding sound quality. In fact, I am probably one of the very few here that would even consider an HD600 or DT880-250 straight from Realtek HD audio as an alternative to an amplified HD558. However, it is not quite true that the HD558 cannot benefit from a better source that has low output impedance (see =2861]here why) and is less noisy than typical onboard audio. I did not suggest anything $150, by the way, the E10 is half as much at most. I would also have recommended the Xonar DG, but I do not have it, and there is no objective information available anywhere on its headphone amplifier performance (apparently, NwAvGuy does not like internal sound cards, and will not test them), so I do not suggest using a device I know not enough about.
Click to expand...


I've tested the Xonar DG with most of the headphones I own.
The Xonar DX with Fiio E11 might sound a little better, but it's 7 times the cost of Xonar DG (after mail in rebate).
Just depends on how much cash the OP is willing to spend.
 
 
 
Apr 9, 2012 at 5:26 PM Post #19 of 23


Quote:
purpleangel said:
Not a problem sound wise that I would know of.
A company called Hosa makes 3.5mm (1/8") Male to 6.35mm (1/4") Female short cable adapters.
 
 
Click to expand...



Thank you for all the advice. I ended up ordering the Xonar DG, hope it will fulfil my expectations. I read the drivers aren't very good tho and there may be some problems getting it to work properly.  There is a driver that supposedly works better than the official one. If anyone has any experience with this let me know. 
 
Thanks again
 
Apr 9, 2012 at 5:30 PM Post #20 of 23


Quote:
purpleangel said:
I've tested the Xonar DG with most of the headphones I own.
The Xonar DX with Fiio E11 might sound a little better, but it's 7 times the cost of Xonar DG (after mail in rebate).
Just depends on how much cash the OP is willing to spend.
 
 
Click to expand...


Thank you, I've decided to make just a small upgrade now. Maybe in the future when I upgrade my headphones I'll consider getting something better to drive them.
 
Apr 9, 2012 at 5:31 PM Post #21 of 23


Quote:
raazal said:
Thank you for all the advice. I ended up ordering the Xonar DG, hope it will fulfil my expectations. I read the drivers aren't very good tho and there may be some problems getting it to work properly.  There is a driver that supposedly works better than the official one. If anyone has any experience with this let me know. 
 
Thanks again
Click to expand...



EDIT: here is a link to the unofficial Xonar driver website I mentioned: http://brainbit.wordpress.com/category/uni-xonar/
 
Apr 9, 2012 at 6:20 PM Post #22 of 23


Quote:
raazal said:
Quote:
purpleangel said:
Not a problem sound wise that I would know of.
A company called Hosa makes 3.5mm (1/8") Male to 6.35mm (1/4") Female short cable adapters.
Click to expand...

Thank you for all the advice. I ended up ordering the Xonar DG, hope it will fulfil my expectations. I read the drivers aren't very good tho and there may be some problems getting it to work properly.  There is a driver that supposedly works better than the official one. If anyone has any experience with this let me know.
Click to expand...


I do not see a lot of problems with the Xonar drivers.
 
 
 
Apr 11, 2012 at 7:45 AM Post #23 of 23
Just wanted to thank you all for your advice. The Xonar DG arrived this morning and I couldn't be happier with it. It's everything I've hoped for. Whether it's music or games it's just a whole new experience and everything sounds amazing and I feel like my HD 558's finally have some space and power.
 
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