Featured Sponsor Listings

(117dB SNR DAC 2+7.1 and 600 ohm AMP) Asrock's new audiophile friendly motherboards

Jan 8, 2014 at 3:08 AM Post #16 of 69
I fully agree with  happycamperjack.  I recently built a new computer with the AS Rock Z87 Killer and  4670K  a couple of weeks ago and was  quite surprised by how good the sound was with my Sennheiser HD580 and my ATH-A900X headphones. I put the motherboard in a Antec P280 case which has great shielding for the front headphone and Mic jacks. It is absolutely quiet with no noise whereas my previous case an Antec 900 was noisy with my creative card. This onboard blew away my old creative card. It has great bass and textures and just sounds great. I am using a good power supply. 
 
Jan 8, 2014 at 9:34 AM Post #17 of 69
Yea, the bass texture is very impressive with this setup indeed. All in all a balanced sound, maybe tiny bit on the bright/analytical side but nothing extreme. But I dig the bass texture/power especially followed by the very natural sounding midrange (not too warm nor recessed) followed by the slightly sparkly highs that have suprisingly good detail/clarity to it. I haven't tried any other Z87 boards besides the ASrock Extreme6 Z87 than the ASUS ROG Gene VI but it slaughters that board in sound quality to my ears, the bass quality is so much better and the highs are not veiled like they are on the ASUS, in fact annoyingly much so for a source. But to its defense, the midrange did sound quite "organic" and had lots of body and was full of this "soul" but the ASrock again has a more accurate midrange but as a personal preference I quite like that "artificially romantic" (weird way to say I know xD) mids of the ASUS board (I get slightly the same feeling compared with ZxR too which have also more of a tube-like midrange like the ASUS Gene VI) but as a whole I greaaatly prefer the sound of the ASRock setup.
 
Feb 7, 2014 at 4:33 PM Post #18 of 69
How does The purity perform compared with a E17? Or the dgx?
I believe it has a amp buildin.
I have done some reasearch and it seems as rock has been serious about soundperformance.
Read plenty of reviews, not many is useful, but let's face it the only opinion I value is on headfi.

So what are your views? Tbh all my music is PC based. I have been looking to find a amp,dac combo for my PC. Even considered the asus dgx.
 
Feb 7, 2014 at 4:52 PM Post #19 of 69
tan1415 said:
How does The purity perform compared with a E17? Or the dgx?
I believe it has a amp buildin.
I have done some reasearch and it seems as rock has been serious about soundperformance.
Read plenty of reviews, not many is useful, but let's face it the only opinion I value is on headfi.

So what are your views? Tbh all my music is PC based. I have been looking to find a amp,dac combo for my PC. Even considered the asus dgx.
Click to expand...

Well, I wouldn't bother with DGX as that thing is not even shielded.  I'd get the motherboard first and see if that's good enough for you. For a $150 (or cheaper) motherboard it's not a big deal. 
 
On the side not, I've heard the MSI Z87-G65 has a similar, but better TI Amp than Asrock Z87 killer. But I'm not sure how well that thing is shield as it is surrounded by PCB caps. 
 
Feb 7, 2014 at 5:01 PM Post #20 of 69
happycamperjack said:
Well, I wouldn't bother with DGX as that thing is not even shielded.  I'd get the motherboard first and see if that's good enough for you. For a $150 (or cheaper) motherboard it's not a big deal. 

On the side not, I've heard the MSI Z87-G65 has a similar, but better TI Amp than Asrock Z87 killer. But I'm not sure how well that thing is shield as it is surrounded by PCB caps. 
Click to expand...


Just reading it. Seems msi has also improved USB out for dac compatibility. Also gigabyte sniper has even op amps you can change. But tbh the sniper is way out my budget. Not sure about the msi.
While the asrock can be had for 80€. Really cheap

I wonder when headfiers will catchup with these relatively new technology. Because I wonder the impact of these motherboards will have on the cheaper dac,amp combos.or desktop combos. How will they perform.
Anyway Seems the Computerworld has found us.
 
Feb 7, 2014 at 5:48 PM Post #21 of 69
tan1415 said:
Just reading it. Seems msi has also improved USB out for dac compatibility. Also gigabyte sniper has even op amps you can change. But tbh the sniper is way out my budget. Not sure about the msi.
While the asrock can be had for 80€. Really cheap

I wonder when headfiers will catchup with these relatively new technology. Because I wonder the impact of these motherboards will have on the cheaper dac,amp combos.or desktop combos. How will they perform.
Anyway Seems the Computerworld has found us.
Click to expand...

Hmm I'm not sure how USB out can improve DAC, as it's just digital signals. Maybe higher stable voltage? I didn't consider Gigabyte Sniper because it's using the Creative chip, which has 102db SNR and doesn't support 7.1. It's funny how this gen of high end motherboards seem to feature worse audio than mid low end boards. They probably expect high end buyer to buy a discrete card anyway.
 
But for sure it's gonna have a huge impact on the mid low end DAC and Amp market. I think 70% of the users here would be satisfied with the current gen of mobo. I say it's about damn time!
 
Feb 7, 2014 at 6:04 PM Post #22 of 69
I read somewhere that the USB signal could be affected.
Seems the 115 db is based on the alc 1150.

The msi h87 g43 is same price as the fatality. Very excited to try this.
 
Feb 8, 2014 at 8:36 AM Post #25 of 69
rpgwizard said:
I have a Z87 Extreme6 but it seems like it's got the same config for audio and I can really vouch for its superb audio quality, I've never heard onboard close to sounding this good, I am trying to sell my ZxR as with Q40 it sounds worse than the ASRock's onboard config, could be partly due to impedance mismatch and partly due to the ZxR doesn't have good synergy with this headphone/amp. Unlike you at least my Extreme6 has a bit problems with EMI noise but perhaps it's been addressed in these newer models. It's possible for onboard audio to be pretty noise-free these days, I tested an ASUS Z87 Gene VI that was practically EMI noise-free even with my ZO amp at the max volume out of the headphone jack but I thought the ASRock sounded way better why I sticked with it.


Be sure to use the front-panel though as that one is amped with the config that supposedly is able to pull off 600 ohm headphones, otherwise you get a more dull sound from the backpanel. 


How exactly does it sound, I'd describe it as pretty balanced, maybe slightly towards analytical/bright sounding which pairs well with my slightly warm Q40. The ZxR sounds warmer in comparision (gets too warm sounding for this headphone/amp).
Click to expand...


How does it compare with dac, amp like e17
 
Feb 13, 2014 at 2:13 PM Post #30 of 69
Hey all, I have the ASrock Extreme6 Z87 using Purity Sound with my Senn HD 560 Ovation II's , Miles Davis Tributes and jesus it sounds amazing. I mostly use the HD 560 II's they're 20 years old now but damn do they sound amazing.
 
I came looking in here because I just now for first time ever plugged them into the rear panel jack and they sound better to me. Maybe I was over driving them on the front jack they are 300ohm but the highs sound much brighter to me on front jack. I think I just maybe had it up to loud or something. But I came looking because there was clearly a difference in what I was hearing, at times the highs were killing me on front jack, but now everything is in perfect balance using rear jack.
 
I don't have any noise that I can detect either on my board front or rear jack. And I'm pretty nit picky when it comes to that too so I don't think there is any on my board. I've had mine since July 2013.
 
I really been getting back into listening on headphones because I bought new cable and ear pads(original from Senn) and I always held the sound of them as the best sound I've ever heard. So I went back to listen to everything I own again. Here is video of them, see the ear pads though in pad shape still the replacement ear pads haven't come yet. So I'm sure sound will change some with brand new original pads come.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top