[Bloodflowerz]

Hello all
 
I'm going to be re-purchasing an Xbox 360s. I wanted to use my Beyer T1's or some Ultrasone headphones for gaming.
 
I'm in the process of buying a headphone amp.
 
I need to bypass the DAC in the Xbox so I can run a good source to my headphone amp.
 
xbox 360 -------> External DAC -------> Headphone Amp -------> Headphones
 
I don't want to spend too much since I use my Xonar STX as a DAC for my PC, and I spend most of my time PC gaming and listening to music on my computer.
 
What would you guys recommend from these for my Xbox:
 
Arcam rDAC -  Wolfson's WM8741 -£300
 
Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 - Wolfson WM8742 24-bit DAC - £200
 
Musical Fidelity V-DAC mk II - Burr-Brown DSD1796 - £200
 
Audioengine D1 - AKM4396 DAC – £200
 
Arcam rLink - Burr-Brown PCM5102 DAC - £149.00
 
FiiO D3 -  Cirrus Logic CS4344 DAC - £30
 
Kind Regards,
 
-B

 

[NA Blur]

As far as I have tried the Xbox 360 will not run a driverless DAC because it does not allow access to the necessary drivers / install features.  I have tried it with my Total Bithead with no luck.  This means you are going to have to take the digital out and process it through a DAC externally unless you just want to use the DAC already inside the Xbox and simply run the left and right ( Red and White ) RCA connectors into the analog inputs on your amp if it has them.  I think the DAC is probably pretty darn good inside an Xbox 360 because the audio has never been noisy, hissy, or distorting.

 

[Bloodflowerz]

Thanks for the reply.
 
Yes, this is exactly what I am referring too; having an external DAC to do the processing.
 
It will need to be a driver-less solution, so I will take the optical out from the Xbox and plug that into the DAC; in turn plugging the DAC into my headphone amp.
 
Cheers.
 

 

[Bananaheadlin]

Since this thread is pretty much done I have a question hope the XBOX owners in this thread can help. Is this how the XBOX processes sound?

If TV DAC
XBOX -> HDMI digital -> TV DAC -> AMP (or not?) -> Headphone/Speaker

If XBOX DAC
XBOX -> Internal DAC -> Component analog.out -> AMP -> Headphone/Speaker

Is this how it works? If that is so, would the best way to get the best audio out of the XBOX is through analog out because the DAC on the XBOX is probably better than the DAC on the TV?

 

[Bananaheadlin]

Bump. Anyone know?

 

[fcpchop88]

why not use the turtle beach dss. I got mine for like 60 bucks I think. It uses a digital optical and gives you 5.1 digital dolby surround sound. I would say stick to the first version which is 5.1 vs the 2 version which claims to be 7.1 but I've read that the 7.1 is kinda bs and you should stick to the original version if possible. I pair it with senn's hd555 and it makes a truly great gaming setup, with lots of sounds stage, plenty of bass, and great positioning. It's a dac and amp but if you truly need you can strap an additional amp to it and double amp it.

 

[Bananaheadlin]

That's a great headset setup for gaming, but I am trying to utilize my current equipment to get the most out of my XBOX's audio and not purchase new ones.
 
Thanks for the advice; any idea about how the audio is processed though?

 

[conquerator2]

Quote:

why not use the turtle beach dss. I got mine for like 60 bucks I think. It uses a digital optical and gives you 5.1 digital dolby surround sound. I would say stick to the first version which is 5.1 vs the 2 version which claims to be 7.1 but I've read that the 7.1 is kinda bs and you should stick to the original version if possible. I pair it with senn's hd555 and it makes a truly great gaming setup, with lots of sounds stage, plenty of bass, and great positioning. It's a dac and amp but if you truly need you can strap an additional amp to it and double amp it.

 
I have the newer one and its identical just has the 7.1. extra... I would go for the newer version (the one which comes with the PX-5,PX-500,...)