Hi,   I just purchased a pair of DT990s from another HeadFi'er, and a Xonar Essence STX to go with it since I cant get an external DAC/AMP setup right now.   Now I installed the drivers for the Xonar card and everything went well.   However, when I plug in my headphones (through the...

have done a lot of research, but need some help from the pros    I bought a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80's - will be used 65% gaming (FPS (Battlefield 3) so positional cues are very important), 35% Movies (likely via home theater receiver on separate TV, with some occasional PC movie...

Hello! I am new to good audio, but I really like it so far.   I have bought [used] HD558 from amazon, and loving them so far! They are amazing!    However, my integrated audio card [z68 extreme3 gen3 mobo]  http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme3%20Gen3] isn't pulling...

My Asus Xonar Essence STX just came in today and to my dissapointment I can only fit it in my case by putting it right under my graphics card which causes it to overheat when I play any video games that are GPU intensive. I've been able to listen to it while not playing any games and I love the...

Well i just got rid of my Logitech X-540 5.1 as i dont use 5.1 for gaming anymore i use a headset  and i want better speaker sound quality . Im now after some 2.1 speakers but i have no idea what to get. Mostly will be used for music (pretty much every kind) while im not at my pc (have a...

Hello all!    I was wondering if something like an asus xonar essence one would be a good combo with the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Premium 600 OHM Headphones? Or would this be overkill? Would it be better to just get the xonar essence stx with a Schiit Asgard headphone amp?   Thanks in advance!  

hey fellas,   just got some HD 558's with a Xonar D1 on the way. will i benefit from an amp ? if so any recommendations?   cheers

Greetings from the cold... :)   Need a little bit of advice. I'm considering acquiring a dedicated amp for my HD800s. Right now, the headphone is connected to my computer using a SAA Endorphin cable & an Asus XONAR Essence STX audio card.   I thought, at first, to get a WooAudio but the...

hi, i was looking to upgrade my home system, as i am just playing out of my computer at the moment, through my horrible dell speaker. i was wondering what what amp/dac should i get, as i am planning on buying the dt990 pro's for home use next year. I was thinking the nuforce icon hdp, but i...

Hello guys, I just registered and it's my first post, and I'm probably gonna sound like a total noob for the next few paragraphs but please help me out.   So I recently purchased an HD650 (it arrived today, in fact) and as I'd expected I really want an amp/dac combo for it. I've done some...

Hey. I got the AKG K550s, I have used em mostly with my laptop at uni but decided to get some iems for that instead. So now im plugging them into my gaming computer at home instead, the only problem now is low sound and lack of elements in the sound. I understand this is due to the bad onboard...

Hello everyone!    Hope someone can give me some sound advice...    I currently listen to AT M50s powered by an ALO "The National" AMP from a Macbook Air via the headphone jack using Fiio cables.   I have some money that i want to spend on upgrading the system... but I'm stuck in the...

Hello all! I had a i Sennheiser HD 595 for almost 2 years (wich felt really comfortable), and recently i bought a Denon AH D2000. Well, i do not need to say that i was really impressed with the sound quality, it was the best headphone i ever had. But  after an hour or so, i started to feel...

Hey All,        We all know the drill - I cant link to the blog or paste his opinions, but most of you will have read the scathing criticisms of RMAA as a measurement tool etc. Those who want to turn this into another philosophical debate, please read no further.        My needs are...

As the title says, is my sound card enough?   I have ordered a pair of Audeze LCD-2s and my old headphone amp finally died. Will my sound card be enough? I already switched out the opamps for some ones more to my likeing.

The following article shows the results of a farily extensive test of the Xonar D1 PCI sound card. In my opinion, this card is very good value for its low (less than $100) cost, and can - if used in a machine where interference is not an issue - even compete with the ODAC. It is also available...

Hey,   I am looking for a portable combined headphone amp and usb dac, is there anything that betters the E17 without going crazy money? Can get the E17 for about £85 brand new now.   Was considering a Xonar STX but it would then restrict me to one source, where as i can use the E17 as a...

Hi Guys,   Well I posted a while back about my X-Fi Forte analog outs dying on me so I have been forced to use the DAC on my Z5500 (from the digital out of the X-Fi Forte) to power my HD 555s.  I have personally found the Logitech's headphone out to be awful compared to the Forte's headphone...

I've been talking with harman kardon about their hk 990 integrated amplifier to make sure the headphone out will be an upgrade from the one in my hk 3490 and they told me it uses the TPA6120A2.  I looked up the specs on google and it looks really high end but I saw some posts about it not being...

I was hoping for some help in choosing some headphones for a gift. Budget is $100-200 and as it says in the title the user has an Essence STX and listens mainly to Rock with some gaming and TV streaming too.   Any suggestions appreciated.

So thats the setup Im using, just got the little dot last night and im having trouble getting it set right. I hear a low hiss when i have my littledot in the setup, if its my sound card powering my akgs no hiss. Maybe I have the gain wrong my the little dot? Im using the the stock tubes so maybe...

I've currently got the Sennheiser HD-800 and the Objective 2 headphone amplifier.   I've always bought new stuff like amplifiers and DACs and always assumed and thought the music sounded different on the new thing. Then at some later date I would set up this test where I can listen...

What is the sonic impact of violating the 1/8th rule with matching headphone impedance to amplfier output impedance?  Does the bass get mushy?  Distortion?  Is it linear where the worse the ratio is the worse the sound?  I have an amp that has an output impedance of 10 ohms and headphones that...

Dear members of Head-fi.org, I am sorry to do this to you but after trawling through 7-8 pages on the search function I started to get quite bored and confused and now I need your help!   I am a computer guy but I don't know that much about audio, for some reason the information doesn't seem...

[Edit] Dang I just realized this should have went to the amp subsection. My bad guys.   Hey guys, I know some of you may say that this has been discussed already, but there are a few finer points that I want to hammer out which I haven't found an answer to.   I have already decided on...