| Originally Posted by fraseyboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Stereo means 2 channels/speakers. To get 5.1/7.1 you would need 5 speakers and a sub or 7 speakers and a sub. Since headphones only have 2 speakers, they are only capable of stereo. An external USB DAC like the Bit Head you mentioned, would give you a lot better sound quality than an X-Fi for everything audio based. Ignore your friend 
What you could do though, is get a soundcard like an X-Fi, then if it has an optical or coaxial connection, use that to go out to an external DAC. That way you could get all the EAX features of the X-Fi for gaming and movies, but still have the sound quality of the external DAC. About these K601's... So they're quite fun? Does that mean they have ultra bright treble? |
| Originally Posted by MusicallySilent /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yea they are more ohms however from my understanding there are a few things that determine how hard to amp Impedence Current needed Voltage swing (I think that is one of them) From what i have heard while the AKG 701 has low voltage it needs a ton of current because it is very current/power hungry |
| Originally Posted by MusicallySilent /img/forum/go_quote.gif Go here Audio Cables - Optical Toslink Scroll about half a page down to where it says toslink to miniplug, that is what you would use to connect a DAC to your xfi card If you used the airhead you would use the DAC chip in the x-fi as the airhead is only an amp, there is a plethora of home dacs for optical and home amps and home amp/dacs For on the go use you could get something like the Ibasso D1 which can take analog, usb, digital coax and optical. Products In the d1 you can roll opamps to get a sound that suits you better, there is a whole forum on it in the amps section, though they have upgraded and changed opamps since the original release If you dont want to pay that much you can just get any old amp, ex the airhead instead of bithead and use that, check out the amp forum for suggestions. If using an amp with your xfi you want to make sure the jack is set to line out so it doesnt amplify the signal otherwise you are double amping a signal if you feed it into a amplifier, if you want to use it with no amp then make sure it is on headphone, for a dac make sure it is on optical out I think you keep bringing up headroom amps partially because you searched headphone and they came up, way back when i joined a year ago i thought headroom was the only amp maker... boy was I wrong |
| Originally Posted by Faizan21 /img/forum/go_quote.gif hey thanks for the great response so basically for wat i need... shud i get a external DAC, then get the toslink to mini-plug, and connect that to optical out in my x-fi card... and then plug in the K601's to the optical out in the DAC? then i can get better sound quality from DAC, and the 3d effects from soundcard? correct or no? or do i need to get just an amp and not a DAC, bcuz there is already a DAC in my soundcard... an amp like the airhead (thats the only one i know of that is relatively cheap, im sure there are others that may be also better), but i wud connect my K601's to the airhead amp's optical out, and then use the mini-mini cable provided from the airhead to connect that to my x-fi card's optical out? is that correct? iono y, but im just still a bit confused as to wat exactly i need to get something to connnect my K601's too, and then have that connect to my x-fi card, and have x-fi 3d features work, and the sound quality of the headphones be better cuz the amp or w.e. i think id be better off with someone just telling me exactly wat i need to get, and leaving it at that lol... i think its best if i just get the damn bithead, cuz i can use taht with an mp3 cuz its an amp/dac, and for my labtop, i can connect it to my x-fi card then connect my K601's to the bithead, and i dont have to buy any seperate cables cuz the only cable i need comes with the bithead (the mini-mini)... sorry for the troubles lol |
| Originally Posted by MusicallySilent /img/forum/go_quote.gif Since you seem confused, you dont connect headphones to optical, except one discontinued audiotechnica phone Here are ways to get sound Soundcard headphone out->headphones Soundcard line out->mini to mini/rca->amplifier->headphones Soundcard optical out->Mini to toslink->DAC->Amplifer (either external using cables or internal)->headphones USB->DAC->Amplifier all in one Optical must go through a DAC to get to analog sound for headphones USB must go through a DAC to get analog sound for headphones Line out must go through an amplifier because it doesnt have amplification so you cant hear it Headphone out will work by itself but not very well Only point of something like Ibasso D1 is there is probably a better DAC than the one in the x-fi Check out the amps forum for some ideas Airhead IBasso T2 C&C box(s) Mini^3 Many more. |
| Originally Posted by vvanrij /img/forum/go_quote.gif Will an Airhead amplifier de better with my K601 than a soundblaster-optical-denon avr receiver-k601 combination? |
| Originally Posted by MusicallySilent /img/forum/go_quote.gif As for the ipod, if you are skilled you could make a lineout dock, otherwise you could ask someone about making you one if you pay for their parts/trouble, probably 20 bucks or so and that will be better than headphone out, only problem may be how airhead inputs/outputs are at an angle. Also if the airhead comes with a power brick, it will probably sound better when plugged in than running on batteries, generally higher more consistent voltage, more power etc. I would reccomend you get a set of 4 AAA rechargeable batteries, i have energizer ones that are 1200mah or something like that, i use them in a TI graphing calculator and they last forever. |
