Adding an amp to ZXR and AD900x??

[hakka]

I'm wondering if there's any benefit at all to adding an external amp to the Creative ZRX and Audio Technica AD900x? And how much $$ would I need to spend.

Mainly used for gaming and a little bit of music listening.

Thanks.

 

[PurpleAngel]

I'm wondering if there's any benefit at all to adding an external amp to the Creative ZRX and Audio Technica AD900x? And how much $$ would I need to spend.
Mainly used for gaming and a little bit of music listening.
Thanks.

The Creative Labs SB-ZxR headphone jack does have a high output impedance, which is not the best match for driving lower Ohm (impedance) headphones, like the 40-Ohm ATH-AD900X.
The Impedance issue might be causing the ATH-AD900X to have a bloated (louder, less detailed) bass, as the AD900X is somewhat bass light, the bloating my be a benefit.
So a (solid state) headphone amplifier, with a low output impedance, would technically be a better match for driving the ATH-AD900X (improved detail?)
But, you would be connecting the external headphone amplifier to the Front Speaker jack on the SB-ZxR, for feeding the best possible signal to an external amp.
And the SB-ZxR can not send it's SBX Headphone surround sound thru the Front Speaker jack, so you would be getting stereo audio, not SBX Headphone.

Guess you could buy a used O2 (Objective 2) head amp or used Schiit Magni head amp.
And plug it into the SB-ZxR's Front Speaker jack, use it when you listening to music.
Guessing at most you would have slightly better detail and slightly less bass.

You could sell off the SB-ZxR and replace it with a SB-Z card (used off eBay) and connect an external DAC/amp to the SB-Z's S/PDIF optical port.
The Creative cards can send their SBX Headphone out the S/PDIF ports (optical/coaxial).

But in general I do not think it's worthwhile buying a head amp or DAC/amp or replacing the SB-ZxR (just for the AD900X).
Maybe just save up your audio budget for buying the next set of headphones and plug them into the SB-ZxR.

 

[hakka]

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't realize I'd lose the SBX processing on the RCA outputs. I'll stay with the current setup.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I didn't realize I'd lose the SBX processing on the RCA outputs. I'll stay with the current setup.

You can use a DAC-HPamp or DAC and HPamp, as long as the DAC has the same SPDIF input as the output on the ZXR (SPDIF optical). The DSP chip handles both Dolby Headphone and SPDIF output so SBX processing stays on that signal, it just bypasses the ZXR's DAC.

 

[hakka]

You can use a DAC-HPamp or DAC and HPamp, as long as the DAC has the same SPDIF input as the output on the ZXR (SPDIF optical). The DSP chip handles both Dolby Headphone and SPDIF output so SBX processing stays on that signal, it just bypasses the ZXR's DAC.

The way i have my pcie lanes and watercooling configured means i cant use the daighter board of the zxr, so no Spdif output.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

The way i have my pcie lanes and watercooling configured means i cant use the daighter board of the zxr, so no Spdif output.

Then just use the ZXR. If you can pull it off without having to mess around with the tubing maybe try the AE-5 - it has a low output impedance and a lot more power than just older soundcards having a high gain setting that they call "Pro Gamer Extreme" or whatever. Practically everything you'd want in an external amp for anything but harder to drive headphones in a really quiet reference (ie fanless) system (ie not using a gaming rig that has to cool a lot of components).