Thank you for your suggestions.     (btw, I edited in the correct spelling.  It was very late, lol. :p )

I am looking for a DAC.  Somewhere between $100-$400.  I know that is a big range, but I am trying to weight factors.   I used to be a big fan of Schiit, and was looking at getting a Schiit Bifrost.  I even upsold myself to a Bifrost Multibit.  However, before I ordered one, they ended up...

    I have the HD595 and HD650 headphones.  The HD650 is hands down better for music.  I also prefer the HD650 for single player games.  The headphones are all around better, and they also have more bass, so you get impact out of explosions and such.   However, if you are looking for...

Has anyone compared the Bottlehead Crack with the new Schiit Vali on the HD650s?  I am just curious of the differences.     I ordered a Vali, and it has already been shipped.   But now I am wondering if I should have ordered a Bottlehead Crack kit instead.

      I have seen that thread.   But most people tend to say that it is too much for headphones like the HD650 (and HD595).   Most claim it only really works well for power hungry headphones like the HE-500, HE-6, or even the LCDs.  They even mention that the HE-400 is too sensitive.  ...

      By the way, I am basically in the exact same boat as you.   I use a Creative Titanium HD soundcard as my DAC.  Currently my setup is:   TitaniumHD rca out --> Emotiva Mini-X --> Arx A1b speakers TitaniumHD rca out--> Emotiva Mini-X rca out  --> Astro Mixamp --> HD595   (The Astro...

  Not to make you feel bad, but you missed an amazing deal just a couple days ago.  I got a new pair from Sennheiser for $291.

    I think I am leaning towards the Vali.  Not much info on it, just a lot of hype, but that can also be part of the fun and excitement - trying out something that not many people have yet.   I will be anxious to hear what you will have to say about them, as you are in a position to...

I just ordered the HD 650 a couple days ago.  It should arrive shortly.    I need an amp.   I am considering either the Schiit Magni or the Vali (or possibly the asgard 2).       I already have an Emotiva Mini-X a100 that I use for my 2.0 speakers on this same system.  It has outs that I...

Quote:   The ground loop makes sense.  I could avoid that by using the outlet to power it instead of the usb port.  However, I actually use the usb port as the input for my microphone.     As far as needing the Mixamp, I will not be needing it soon.  Now that I have the Titanium HD I...

Asking me about the amp inspired me to try some things.   First of all the "amp" is an Astro Mixamp.  Not exactly the ideal headphone amp, but it has worked well with my Sennheisser 595.   I also have an Emotiva Mini-X A-100 (speaker amp) that powers some Arx Ab1 speakers.     I...

I am outputting via RCA into an external amplifier.  I even swapped out the RCA cables (just incase), with no effect.     I also tried switching my mouse to 4 different USB ports.  I can hear the mouse in all of them.  Two of the USB ports were on the front, the other two were on the back.  

Quote:     Yes I have the onboard disabled in bios.  I also have it disabled within windows as well.  Only the Titanium HD is enabled to handle any sound.   Any other ideas?

I just recently got a Titanium HD.  I installed it and tested out the 3d positional effects, and they seem decent enough.   However, I can now hear a series of beeps when I move my mouse.  I assume it is some sort of interference, but I cannot seem to figure out how to get rid of it.    ...

Has anyone used the Razer Surround program? http://www.razerzone.com/surround?src=pgm.91612700&utm_source=RazerStore&utm_campaign=RzrSurround&utm_medium=edm_EN What exactly is this? Is this essentially a program that handles the DSP portion? So if you could output via optical and used...

I cannot say for certain with regards to headphones, but burn in/break in is definitely real with regards to woofers and subwoofers in speakers. I am not sure if there is much breaking in with the tweeters and midrange drivers in speakers though. There is a definite day and night difference...

Yes. You do not HAVE to use the RCA output. It is possible to use the headphone output, and then use an adapter to convert it to RCA, and then go into the Magni amp. But there is not much point to that. The Titanium HD and ZxR both have RCA outputs, so it is best to use those to plug into the...

Supposedly even with a 2.0 or 2.1 speaker setup, it can somehow give positional cues. Probably not as well as with headphones, or with a 5.1 or 7.1 setup, but probably better than just a typical stereo output. However, it might tweak the sound in such a way as one might just prefer a...

You will not be hooking anything up to both amps. You will use the RCA output of the card to the RCA input of the Magni. The RCA output of the card is not amped. So you do not need to worry about that. You will be bypassing the amped headphone output of the card entirely.

If he does the GPU --> HDMI ---> AVR route, won't that bypass the DSP of the soundcard? Which would negate any benefits of positional sound effects?

  I do plan on making a purchase soon, but my main concern at this point is to learn how this all works. For instance, this "powerful" emotiva speaker amp, really is not that powerful at all. 50watts @ 8ohms is only 666 milliwatts @ 600ohms. Yeah, that is pretty high, but it is not that...

  So would something like the Emotiva XDA-2 solve the issue with higher sensitivity headphones? http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/processors/products/xda2 According to the page it says: "With its precision analog resistor ladder volume control that maintains resolution even at low...

Quote:   Yes, I know the Emotiva has a shared ground, and that you can safely use TSR to banana clips or XLR to banana clips. :)   I was just trying to understand why the resistor adapter worked well in MalveauX's configuration but not in Biscuitz'.

Also, I found the speaker selector that I think Modulor was referring to.  I saw it before actually.  However, that does not solve the issue I was concerened about.   I was worried that the emotiva amp might need to be turned up more to power the speakers than the headphones.  While I am...

Quote:   I was actually considering having him do exactly this.  I was going to get a female TRS to banana plugs, and another female TRS to male TRS with a 500 ohm resistor in it.   I also have a pair of Sennheiser HD595.  I figured that using a 500ohm resistor would help with them...