[Griffinhart]

Okay, so this one's a bit complicated.
 
Headphone chain*: ASUS Xonar Essence ST -> S/PDIF Optical -> Yulong D100 -> Headphone output -> headphones (either AKG K702 or BeyerDynamic DT770 Premium 600 ohm ver.).
 
Speaker chain: ASUS Xonar Essence ST -> S/PDIF Optical -> Yulong D100 -> RCA line-level output -> Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II.
 
Does this sound psychotic? I'm not entirely sure. Mostly, my question is - should I be running the speakers through the D100 or through the Essence ST? Mostly I use headphones for music and speakers for everything else (gaming and videos, typically), but if I just need background noise, I'll use the speakers for that as well.
 
I wired things the way I did because it's less of a hassle running everything through the D100: set D100 to Optical In, set PC to output through Essence ST's optical, and then I can use speakers or headphones simply by turning the relevant volume knobs. If I use the Essence ST for the speakers (and cut out the D100 from the speaker chain), I'd have to toggle between the Essence ST's optical and speaker outputs depending on whether I want to use headphones or speakers.
 
*: I'm planning on picking up a pair of XLR to RCA cables, mating them with RCA to mini-stereo, and connecting to my Practical Devices XM6, which will then amp my phones. Does that sound psychotic?
 
-- Griffinhart

 

[Griffinhart]

Hm, no one?
 
-- Griffinhart

 

[germanium]

I understand why you did what you did but seems like a total waste of a perfectly good soundcard which has superb dacs & only a few minor mods away from sound that not only rivals high end DAC's but surpasses most all of them for a pittance financially speaking. Your speakers you have though really can't take advantage of that improved sound though. Your headphones may though.
 
Your external DAC is probably not nearly as good as the Essense ST is especially once modded & it's really not that much of a hassle to switch outputs on the card. 2-3 click is all it takes (I have the Essense STX card).

 

[Griffinhart]

I actually wanted an external DAC for two reasons:
 
1. the Essence ST won't fit on my motherboard if I choose to CrossFire video cards (the first PCI slot is situated between the two PCI-e slots, and the second PCI slot is too low).
 
2. a computer is a hot box full of electric. That's going to introduce noise to the environment, and it's actually why I'm really wary of internal soundcards as a matter of principle.
 
Also, for the longest time I wasn't using the Essence ST at all; I have a Practical Devices XM6 and I was using that (in its USB DAC + amp capacity) to power my phones, because the ST felt/sounded really anemic after having used the XM6 as an amp (that's also another reason why I'm using a separate, external DAC from the ST - the D100's high impedance head-out gives both the K702 and the DT770s much more punch than the ST, even when I had the ST in high impedance mode).
 
I guess the question I asked is more in relation to the speakers than it is to the headphones; I'm currently more-or-less satisfied with the headphone sound (though I'm seriously tempted to invest in a Little Dot Mk III with my leftover Christmas money... but that's for a different thread).
 
-- Griffinhart