[Griffinhart]

Obligatory warnings: first post, newbie to audio in its entirety, also it's half-past 5 AM where I currently am. I'll try to keep this post as cohesive as possible, but no promises on not making anyone rage at my stupidity.
 
Hmkay, with that out of the way...
 
So I have an ASUS Xonar Essence ST sound card. I'm looking to replace it with an audio-gd FUN DAC.
 
Why do I want to replace the sound card? Because my PC's motherboard set up is such that I can't fit a second video card (ATI Radeon HD 5850) because the PCI slot for the sound card is between the two PCI-e slots for the video cards, and the HD 5850 is a double-wide; the second video card would lie flush with the first card, totally occluding the PCI slot between them, meaning that there's no space for a sound card.
 
Why am I choosing a FUN DAC? Because I told an audiophile friend (he got me into this mess, actually, about a year ago, when I asked him to recommend me a pair of headphones...) I was getting a pair of BeyerDynamic DT990/600 ohm headphones (which I am currently wearing and listening to a Touhou remix with). He told me a needed a good amp/source/something. I told him I wasn't made of money. He told me about the FUN DAC and linked me to a review of it here on Head-fi (which I don't have right at this moment). It seemed like what I wanted.
 
So, now that I've introduced the scenario, here's the question: is it at all reasonable to expect to offload all audio processing duties formerly handled by my ASUS sound card to the FUN and/or free software? And I mean all audio duties, not just music - I game on my PC pretty heavily (yeah, yeah, I know - I should probably get a dedicated 7.1 gaming headset or something, but to heck with that noise, my desk is cluttered enough as it is and I'm spending enough money already, gorramit).
 
Bonus question: how well does the FUN DAC play with DT770s? I know I said I own a pair of DT990s above, and I do, but I'm looking to replace them with DT770s - mostly because I demoed a friend's pair of DT770/250 ohms for all of 30 seconds and fell for the bass with the immediacy of a heart attack. As much as I love the DT990s (and I do), they just don't have the kind of thump and boom I want (I grew up listening to a lot of electronic noise, graduated to heavy metal in middle school, and then discovered the wonderful world of Touhou in college last year, so... yeah).
 
-- Griffinhart
 
Edit To Add: Incidentally, I also pipe my Xbox 360's audio through the ASUS sound card (and video through to my monitor; I have an older X360 model that doesn't come with HDMI) so I can get output to my headphones as well (mostly so that I don't have to screw around with two different audio output devices); can the FUN DAC handle this as well?

 

[Griffinhart]

Anyone? Someone? No one? :<
 
-- Griffinhart

 

[haloxt]

Never tried that sound card. I would also consider FUN version B+alternate wm8741 dac chip for $15 more, or Sparrow version B+wm8741. Read both product descriptions on the audio-gd website, and see which suits your needs best. If you don't need a lot of tweakability, or low and high gain switch, I would go sparrow instead of FUN, because it is cheaper and smaller form factor. According to audio-gd they sound the about the same, but FUN has more options to change the sound around and dac out and preamp out. To use dac/preamp out in the sparrow you have to use the headphone out jack, which according to audio-gd is fine to do.
 
Oh, and you won't get to use the special DSP or surround sound stuff in games with a FUN or sparrow. But in my opinion, the texture and imaging the sparrow gives far outweighs the artificial surround sound in games. It's really like cheating imo.

 

[AirForceTeacher]

I'm certainly not an audio expert, but I do work on computers. You're going to run into some problems on the gaming side. Any digital recorded audio for the games will be fine, probably awesome, but if your games include any midi audio you'll probably lose it-I don't think you can get an all software MIDI synthesizer. As far as the Xbox, I looked at the vendor page and the FUN has line level inputs so you can connect the Xbox to those.

Dont let this discourage you Someone else may be able to correct me on the MiDI statement above, or your games may not use MIDI, or you may not even care.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I'm not familiar with the FUN, but does it have an amp built in? If not, you will need to buy an amp.

 

[AirForceTeacher]

Quote:

I'm not familiar with the FUN, but does it have an amp built in? If not, you will need to buy an amp.

According to the vendor web page it does. 

 

[Griffinhart]

Quote:

I'm not familiar with the FUN, but does it have an amp built in? If not, you will need to buy an amp.

 
The FUN DAC is actually a pre-amp/DAC/amp all in a single box, which is one of the main reasons why I want it (seeing as I can get all three for < $500, and I'm on a tight enough budget as I am).

 
Quote:

I'm certainly not an audio expert, but I do work on computers. You're going to run into some problems on the gaming side. Any digital recorded audio for the games will be fine, probably awesome, but if your games include any midi audio you'll probably lose it-I don't think you can get an all software MIDI synthesizer.

 
Hm, could I run a secondary, external USB sound card for gaming then? Sounds like I'd have to do switching around WRT plugs/ports, but that'd just be a minor hassle.
 
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by haloxt /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Oh, and you won't get to use the special DSP or surround sound stuff in games with a FUN or sparrow. But in my opinion, the texture and imaging the sparrow gives far outweighs the artificial surround sound in games. It's really like cheating imo.

 
As for DSPs, as far as I know I don't use them. Surround sound might be an issue though - "surround sound" as in 5/7.1, or as in stereo 2.0? Since I'm using my DT990s for all audio, I'm used to (and don't mind) stereo 2.0. Like I said earlier, I know that if I really wanted good gaming audio I'd go with a gaming headset, but I honestly don't care that much.
 
-- Griffinhart

 

[Omega17TheTrue]

The FUN easily usurp your sound card in every way, no contest, i have a compass -which is the old fun version- it is night and day difference between creative xfi fatal1ty and it.
 
A sound card is too small,lacking clean powerful current and isolation to be compare.

 

[Griffinhart]

Hm, and I just found out about the Practical Devices XM5, which from what I've read is much more appealing to me in that it's cheaper (by about $200) and portable (which is a huge plus, since I'll be flying across the US come this winter for holidays, and I won't have my home rig with me).
 
I mean, yeah, it's probably going to suffer a quality hit because it's not a full-sized amp, but I know that - I mean, if I wanted the utmost best in quality, I'd be spending a crapton more money.
 
The only thing I don't know is how well it can drive a pair of 600 ohm DT990s or DT770s...
 
-- Griffinhart

 

[darknessproz]

You might want to look into the Audinst HUD mx1. Reviews have compared it favorably against the Audio-gd FUN

 

[Riku540]

Quote:

Edit To Add: Incidentally, I also pipe my Xbox 360's audio through the ASUS sound card (and video through to my monitor; I have an older X360 model that doesn't come with HDMI) so I can get output to my headphones as well (mostly so that I don't have to screw around with two different audio output devices); can the FUN DAC handle this as well?

Off topic but you should look into getting an Astro Mixamp. Not only will it produce superior audio to your headphones, but it will give you the best 5.1 Dolby surround decoding as well. It is widely regarded here as one of the best console gaming headphone companions.

 

[Griffinhart]

I can't seem to find any sellers for the Audinst (apparently it's an eBay seller, but searches for "audinst", "HUD-mx1", or the like don't return any results).
 
It's half-past 6AM and I just came back from staffing/volunteering for an all-night LAN party at my school. I am about to make a decision out of pure exhaustion and annoyance at this quandary I'm in.
 
I'm gonna commit to the Practical Devices XM5. I checked out their warranty, and it looks like I can get a full refund (with shipping and handling, too!) within 30 days if I'm not satisfied (and as long as the unit isn't busted to pieces or anything). So, worst-case scenario, I don't like it and return it for a full refund. I dunno audio-gd's return policies off the top of my head, but it seems like it'd be a hassle to return from US to China, so...
 
Yeah. Here we go, my first DAC/amp purchase.
 
Wish me luck.
 
-- Griffinhart ("A fool and his money are soon parted.")