Asus Xonar DG

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zebutsu 

Hey guys! I got the ATH-M50's and I'm not really getting any good sound from them because of my motherboard. Is the Asus Xonar DG going to give me more than 80% of full use of my ATH-M50? 

Will the DG improve the audio quality over the motherboard's built in audio, yes.

How much, can not say.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zebutsu 

Do you know about a sound card or dac that would really give almost or the best of my ath-m50?

The Fiio E10 USB-DAC-Headphone amplifier ($80) is better at driving headphones then the Xonar DG ($14-$24).

But the E10 offer no surround sound, where as the DG comes with Dolby Headphone surround sound.

I have the DG. I only use the optical out, but I tried the headphone out (with adjusted gain) and it sounded pretty good on my A900s. Better than a standard line-out or my on-board audio out at least. The DG is more like a little gain circuit than a real amplifier. But hey, the FiiO portable amps are pretty much the same thing. The DG should be good enough for the M50 and it's pretty damn cheap too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zebutsu 

What would be equal to the Fiio E10 for a better price? 

Also; Thank you so much mate! You've been really helpful the past few days.

Equal to the Fiio E10 for a better price....nothing.

On eBay there is a Muse brand DAC-amp. for $60, but not sure how the quality compares.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zebutsu 

Alright, but is there any better sound cards for a few more bucks that could really boost the ath-m50 even more?

The E10's headphone amplifier is in some ways better at amplifying 50-Ohm headphones then sound cards.

Also the Audio Technica ATH-M50 (50-Ohm) will not improve that much no matter how good an amplifier you use.

The Xonar DG ($30) and the Xonar Essence STX ($180) are about the best you can do for driving headphones, for a sound card.

An Xonar DX or D1 sound card ($55-$90), with the Fiio E11 ($65), might make a slight difference over the E10.

Let us know how much of an improvement you're getting with your Xonar DG + M50

My onboard sound (VIA High definition Audio) has decided to start buzzing. It's very faint but noticeable and can be distracting. I'm thinking about getting one of these most of my headphones are either 32 or 40 ohm and I think my VIA onboard audio is only meant for 16 ohm headphones. It seems like a good bang for the buck seeing as the DGX and DX are much more expensive but offer marginally "better" sound. I will keep posted. If I can't fix the buzzing I will definitely get one. If I can, hell, I might get one anyway I feel like I should be getting a bit more out of some of my FLAC and XM files.