Again, For same reasons mentioned by "vicjohn" above . . .   I'm also buying HD700 and currently on the way, they are going to be my first premium quality headphones I think it's the time for me to upgrade from HD595 which I owned four years ago I'll pair them with CI Audio VHP-2+VAC-1...

Sound Blaster Digital Music Premium HD or (X-Fi HD USB) advertised headphones-drive capability <= 330 Ohm but in reality it can’t fully drive high impedance headphones, I hooked Sennheiser PC350 which are 150 Ohm to both X-Fi HD USB and Asus Xonar Essence stx and noticed that Asus Xonar...

Helpful post:     http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/519358/x-fi-titanium-hd-headphone-amp#post_7015120  

  Here's a review from Amazon uk for the USB version of X-Fi HD:    http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003RRY3WE/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d1_i2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=05ACSWKSC05ZKWHNVHDQ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

  A Chinese website posted preview of internal components being used inside sound blaster X-Fi HD version in asia (renamed to: sound blaster digital music premium HD) : http://www.soomal.com/doc/10100001585.htm     

On my side, I Modded the opamps and PSU cap separately on my X-Fi Elite,, And the major difference of SQ in changing the PSU cap to Black gate was the the tightness of bass considerably . . .

That's great I'm waiting for your impressions . . .

VHP-2's users I need your reply Please . . .

Hello, I'm planning to buy VHP-2 to use it with HD595 thru X-Fi Elite Pro (Modded with LM4562 & Black Gtae Cap) which I think a really great source . . . Is VHP-2 a great combo with sennheiser HD595 (50 Ohm)? Is it enough to use VHP-2 without VAC-1 ? or any other opinion?

Well, I'm planning to buy VHP-2 to use it with HD595 thru X-Fi Elite Pro (Modded with LM4562 & Black Gtae Cap) which I think a really great source . . . Is VHP-2 a great combo with sennheiser HD595 (50 Ohm)? or any other opinion?

Hello, Previously, I used HD595 with SB Live 24 bit! External and I found: 1. Good source for driving HD595, but 2. Poor sound quality ( high THD % ) . . . because of poor opamp as I guess, I opened it and found inside opamp from not any popular manufacture, I can't remember it now...

check with this thread for more details: X-fi Elite Pro Breakout vs. E-MU 0202

Quote: Originally Posted by s1rrah Did the addition of the LM4562 to your L/F outs improve headphone performance much? As I told, the output current of LM4562 is 26mA which is not enough for driving some headphones to their full sound and the headphone performance will be...

Quote: Originally Posted by s1rrah 1. Are there any threads discussing your process of modding the breakout box? Difficult for you? How about the learning curve for someone like myself with no solder experience? 2. In the future, when I purchase a desktop tube amp (Darkvoice 336i...

I don't have E-MU 0202 but . . . I did the opamps on both card and breakbox, moreover the DAC for the headphone output in breakbox is CS4392 (114db) and the others in all outputs of card are all CS4398 (120db), my opamps mods are as follows: NJM2114(Front-L/R CH) ------ replaced with ---->...