[driver 8]

Note: I'm new to DAC's and headphone amps and have never owned or experienced either.

I was originally looking for a DAC/AMP combination to use with the HD650's I ordered for my PC, but I read that DAC's bypass sound cards and therefore can't make use of gaming specific features, which I'm interested in preserving. Can't say I really want to switch between my sound card and hypothetical DAC on a regular basis, so whatever solution would allow me to improve the driving power behind my HD650's and keep my sound card in use would be perfect.

My sound card is an X-Fi Xtremegamer. I know it's not a high quality audio source by any means, but an amped HD650 would still sound pretty great through it to someone who's been using an unamped HD555 for the past few months, right? Or is there something I'm overlooking here?

My budget is $200, but I'm willing to go a bit above that if need be. Was strongly considering a Cute Beyond but am obviously open to suggestions.

Thank you.

 

[abellaw]

I have never heard of DAC's disabling certain features in games, more specifically what were you refering to??

As far as an amp with a PC i would not recommend it as an amp basically amplifies what comes out of the source. I am not sure how good your soundcard is but i would say the old "garbage in garbage out" addage may apply.

I like the cute beyond amp very much but have never tried it with the 650's so i am not sure how well they pair up

 

[driver 8]

In a thread about a USB DAC I was reading earlier a poster stated that a DAC is pretty much an external soundcard, and that features like EAX can't be used with one since the X-Fi chip isn't technically your source. Another poster said that they didn't use their DAC while gaming for that reason, so that's where the notion in my original post came from.

 

[abellaw]

Oh i get what you are saying i think i know what you mean and i am not sure as to how far it is true, but it seems reasonable.

Have you thought about using any other sources if a DAC is out of the picture??

 

[driver 8]

Aside from my PC, not really. If you meant aside from my sound card, I thought about getting a higher end one, but then I'd still have to invest in an amp and by that point I'd be going beyond what I was hoping to spend (yeah, I know that's unavoidable here).

Was just wondering if HD650's with a $200 amp from my sound card would be better than HD650's straight from my sound card without any big cons.

Wait, thinking about my earlier post a bit more, does the thing about unusable sound card features only apply to USB DACs? Would I still have EAX support if I hooked my sound card up to a DAC with an optical connection like some offer?

 

[iriverdude]

Unless the soundcard encodes discrete multi-channel gaming to a standard multi-channel codec such as DTS, you'd only get stereo. Or you could use digital out for Hi-Fi playing, and 5.1 for gaming. I've got onboard optical out to my av pre-amp, and X-Fi 5.1 RCA out to the gaming audio system.

 

[abellaw]

Well i agree using the computer is one of the easiest ways to listen to music. I am not very informed about soundcards but i would say take the general consensus on your sound card.

I would say an amp would be a definte improvement for the HD-650 no matter what, but i think that through your soundcard you wont be maximizing its potential

 

[driver 8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif Unless the soundcard encodes discrete multi-channel gaming to a standard multi-channel codec such as DTS, you'd only get stereo.

I think the card had a few headphone specific features, like some sort of emulated surround sound, though, I could be wrong about that since I'm not too knowledgeable on any of this.

 

[iriverdude]

With HD-650's I'd definietly be using a dedicated headphone amplifier. Also DAC useful as I find soundcards to be quite noisy, for example I can hear noise through the analogue out on the X-Fi. Never experienced that with Hi-Fi gear. Using a DAC with stereo system not a negative reason, since you're no longer getting surround in gaming anyway. Just losing EAX and that's not a big loss just in stereo.

So yeah I'd look into DAC & headphone amp from the X-Fi.

Quote:

I think the card had a few headphone specific features, like some sort of emulated surround sound

I'm talking about probably unability for the soundcard to drive big headphones, such as HD-650. Not easier to drive headphones say Grado SR's

 

[abellaw]

I have always heard people talking about noise when listening to either gaming or stock soundcards.

iriverdude when you say noise what do you mean exactly when you say "analogue noise"

 

[driver 8]

Looking at DAC/amp combinations again, the Fubar III looked alright, but it lists a 16bit, 48khz sampling rate on its website. Isn't that kind of bad, or do sampling rates work differently with USB DACs?

The Tianyun Zero was my original choice, but I read some awful things about its reliability.

 

[iriverdude]

Background noise, higher noise floor, and unusual sounds like humming, noise when scrolling web pages. Something you should not get, but I do. It's not bad but compared to analogue out from full size CD players and totally silent Hi-Fi pre-amps, it's noticeable.

 

[abellaw]

Ok thanks for clearing that up, i have heard some of that stuff too. I use an nuforce icon mobile as a DAC and i was happy till i listened to music on a cd player.

I think i need to upgrade my DAC to get a similar listening experience out of my computer, iriverdude which DAC if any do you use?

 

[iriverdude]

Lexicon MC-8 av pre-amp. I'm currently listening HTPC M-Audio ASIO4ALL, soundcard coaxial digital out->MC-8-Zone2->Arcam Alpha 9-Headphone out->Grado RS-1's. But I also connected onboard soundcard on the gaming PC (optical) to the MC-1.

 

[driver 8]

I've decided I'll get a lone amp now and judge the quality myself, then get a DAC in a few months, or when I have some birthday money to blow or whatever. That way I'll ultimately end up with the ability to use amped 650's through my sound card or through a DAC. And I figure a dedicated amp is just a better performer than an amp with a DAC built in anyways,

That being said, what do you guys think is the best amp I could get for around $200? I think I'd rather stay away from a Tube Amp like the Mini Millet since they seem more fragile, but I have no definite stancei n that regard.