[d4rkka0s]

Hello All,
 
I am new to the forum and have a few questions to ask.
 
I currently have Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD sound card that's hooked with a y-splitter in the headphone port in order to have my speakers and AD700s play simultaneously. I do this because the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD can only support speakers or headphones but not both. Because of this I currently have the AD700s on full blast in volume at all times. I would like to know what are my options to control my headphone volume. Should I buy a headphone amp or an inline volume controller/adapter? If I choose any of these routes, how will it affect the sound quality? I usually use my headphones for FPS games, movies, and music at night.
 
Any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[devhen]

In the Sound Blaster driver/software you should be able to set one of your other connections to be an output as well and then get rid of the Y-splitter and use the windows sound control panel to set either the speakers or headphone as the output depending on which one you're using.
 
Otherwise you risk losing sound quality because of the Y-splitter and you'll have volume issues like you're describing. With the headphones and speakers as separate outputs you'll have separate volume control over each one.
 
Edit: It looks like, with that sound card, you'll need to either configure the 3.5mm microphone jack to be an output or just connect your speakers to the RCA outs with an RCA-to-3.5mm adapter or whichever connection your speakers use.

 

[d4rkka0s]

Hey devhen, there is no option to convert my other connections as output using the sound blaster software. Even if there is, as long as the headphone jack is in use, it mutes the speakers regardless of whatever connection I choose (RCA or 3.5mm). This is one of the major flaws to the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD.

 

[devhen]

Ouch. You could get an external dac/amp to use with the headphones and just use the sound blaster for your speakers.

 

[d4rkka0s]

Is there any external dac/amp that you would recommend without diminishing the sound quality?
 

 

[garetz]

Get a fiio e17, i love it with my ad700.

 

[devhen]

Yeah the E17 would be good. You can use most any small or portable dac/amp because the AD700 doesn't need a lot of power. The Fiio's are definitely well regarded in that area. Another would be the Headroom Total Bithead. Its $99 right now on their website:
 
http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps/amplifiers/headroom-total-bithead.php

 

[d4rkka0s]

O wow. I am sorta broke after buying the soundcard and ad700s. You guys think an fiio e6 can do the job or sennheiser hzr62 stereo volume control can do the job?
 
 
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HZR-62-Stereo-Volume-Control/dp/B000H0K8VY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359172551&sr=1-1&keywords=sennheiser+volume+control
 

 

[wolfetan44]

Quote:

O wow. I am sorta broke after buying the soundcard and ad700s. You guys think an fiio e6 can do the job or sennheiser hzr62 stereo volume control can do the job?
 
 
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HZR-62-Stereo-Volume-Control/dp/B000H0K8VY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359172551&sr=1-1&keywords=sennheiser+volume+control
 

I think E6 could do well.

 

[devhen]

Quote:

O wow. I am sorta broke after buying the soundcard and ad700s. You guys think an fiio e6 can do the job or sennheiser hzr62 stereo volume control can do the job?
 
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HZR-62-Stereo-Volume-Control/dp/B000H0K8VY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1359172551&sr=1-1&keywords=sennheiser+volume+control

 
No. The E6 is an amp only, with no dac, and the Senn volume control isn't an amp or a dac. They both use regular 3.5mm headphone jacks as their input so you would still have the problem have having to connect to your sound blaster's hp jack.

 

[devhen]

You might check the FS forum for a used E7, E17, or Total Bithead. Other than that, I'm not familiar with any cheaper amp/dac's that I can vouch for on sound quality. I did a quick search on eBay and there are some for ~ $50 but again, I can't vouch for their quality. They might be decent though.

 

[d4rkka0s]

I just need to be able to lower the volume of the headphones right now and not fixing the problem with the splitter to the headphone jack. It sucks to constantly plug and unlpug and at the same time lower my volume through the volume mixer. I thought the amp or a volume controller can lower the volume?
 

 

[devhen]

Ah yes, sure, in that case the Senn volume controller should work for you but you may want to upgrade to an external DAC/amp in the future to get the best sound quality since connectors like the y-splitter and volume controller can degrade the signal.