[The Puddle]

A FiiO E10K should also be just fine.

 

[buke9]

 

Your not going to find a huge difference in sound at that price. Some will be a little better than others but not that you can tell a huge difference. Some like one and not the other as you might like the other. You should go for what you thought you should go for the first time you started to make a choice of what you wanted.

 

[Kevinsantoast]

  Your not going to find a huge difference in sound at that price. Some will be a little better than others but not that you can tell a huge difference. Some like one and not the other as you might like the other. You should go for what you thought you should go for the first time you started to make a choice of what you wanted.

Hm. What if I get an ODAC and bypass the Omni's dac and just use it as an amp? The Omni supposedly has a 3.5mm input. Would it be PC > ODAC through USB > Omni through 3.5mm? And another USB to the Omni for power. I just need to set my audio device to the ODAC in Windows, right?

 

[buke9]

  Hm. What if I get an ODAC and bypass the Omni's dac and just use it as an amp? The Omni supposedly has a 3.5mm input. Would it be PC > ODAC through USB > Omni through 3.5mm? And another USB to the Omni for power. I just need to set my audio device to the ODAC in Windows, right?

I don't see a audio input into the omni. After looking again I think there is a 3.5mm input it shows a dap input to it I think. If so then you are ready to go. Will you hear a difference that you say yesss. I doubt it but you might. I think you have to spend more but i want to be proved wrong. I think the Schiit Yggdrasil beats a Auralic Vega by a lot. I would take either but would want the Yggdrasil.

 

[mindbomb]

I use a k7xx with dolby headphone dh1. It's actually one of the best headphones to use with virtual surround sound. The issue with stereo, for gaming, is that sounds like gunshots are ambiguous in terms of whether they are coming from in front of you or behind you.

 

[audiophizile]

  I use a k7xx with dolby headphone dh1. It's actually one of the best headphones to use with virtual surround sound. The issue with stereo, for gaming, is that sounds like gunshots are ambiguous in terms of whether they are coming from in front of you or behind you.

And dolby headphone helps this? I tried it again the other night and while I didn't hate it as much I feel like I need to turn it up much louder to hear where things are in general making my footsteps sound louder and my own gunshots deafening. Stereo seems to balance sound from my character and all other sounds much better. I do feel that sometimes front to back can be a bit difficult in stereo as you said. I just didn't notice if DH helped...

 

[Sinik]

i(ll be using the k7xx with my jds labs c5d, which i just love because it has a bass boost option

 

[audiophizile]

Either way I am still looking for an amp and dac or amp/dac combo that I could get under $200 that would make the k7xx investment worth it. If a sound blaster z on its own is as good as any sub $200 setup than I obviously would get that but I have a hard time with there not being an option under $200 that would be better than the $70 sb z by itself. A magni/modi stack with shipping is $220-$240... If it wasn't for the wife I probably would not even be posting here but our savings account is extremely important to her

 

 

[PurpleAngel]

I did consider that option but did not think it would get as much out of the cans. The only virtual surround I've used is the Dolby headphone built into the mixamp but I'm not a fan of it vs the stereo sound. Stereo sounds much cleaner and easier to pinpoint things to me. Would the sound blaster z DAC be as good as sub $100 external DAC if putting it to a magni 2 uber? I wanted to keep DAC and amp around $150 or so but am considering spending a bit more for the Magni 2u for the preamp outs... I guess I'm wondering how much difference am I going to notice between something like a SD793-II,SD-192 pro, sound blaster z, etc for use as a DAC vs getting a modi for roughly double the price? Sorry I'm a bit new to the headphone area

 
You can get a Bravo Ocean (with pre-outs) sent to your door step for $120, then use whatever is leftover in your audio budget for a DAC.
Used Asus Xonar DX or D1 sound card (same DAC chip (CS4398) as the SB-Z).
Hifimediy USB DAC, $30-$70

 

[audiophizile]

   
You can get a Bravo Ocean (with pre-outs) sent to your door step for $120, then use whatever is leftover in your audio budget for a DAC.
Used Asus Xonar DX or D1 sound card (same DAC chip (CS4398) as the SB-Z).
Hifimediy USB DAC, $30-$70

That may be what I end up doing. I appreciate the advice a lot, thank you. Probably end up with a DX or sbz with the magni 2 not uber though. I've looked at tons of comparisons of the sbx and DX and am having a hard time deciding. I am not really a fan of Dolby headphone as I've stated so I may try the sbz just to see if that surround is any better to me. Anyone know the stereo sound difference between the sbx and sbz if using an external amp? Also, would the sbz having the separate front speaker out vs the headphone out be better for running to an amp?

 

[PurpleAngel]

  That may be what I end up doing. I appreciate the advice a lot, thank you. Probably end up with a DX or sbz with the Magni 2 not Uber though. I've looked at tons of comparisons of the sbx and DX and am having a hard time deciding. I am not really a fan of Dolby headphone as I've stated so I may try the sbz just to see if that surround is any better to me. Anyone know the stereo sound difference between the sbx and sbz if using an external amp? Also, would the sbz having the separate front speaker out vs the headphone out be better for running to an amp?

 
The SB-Z and Xonar DX/D1 all use the same CS4398 DAC chip.
With the SB-Z, if you connect an external headphone amplifier to the SB-Z's headphone jack, your doubling amping,
which technically is a bad thing, but in real world terms maybe not really be that bad.
The SB-Z's Front Speaker jack would do a better job (at least slightly better) at feeding an analog audio signal, to an external headphone amplifier, but the SB-Z can not send it's SBX headphone surround sound thru the speaker jack.