Changing OP Amp on Xonar DSX, need help!
May 4, 2015 at 4:36 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 19

killerline

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Hey! totally noob with this so hugs 
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I want to buy a new gaming headset and all I've seen that is good for it is HyperX Cloud and Siberia V3. But the HyperX mic sucks balls and in my experience the Siberia (v2 at least) has a little weak bass in sound and mic. So then I saw the Sennheiser PC 350 (SE) But it requires 150 OHM. WTH?!
The thing is I use a sound card, Xonar DSX with changeable op amp 
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 . Don't want to waste it and buy a dedicated AMP. So can anyone with experience recommend any good OP Amp that still has good quality? Saw these and I though they seemed pretty decent? 
Their maximum impedance is 600 ohm so should do for every headset out there. Really need help guys. If you got any other solution don't hesitate to tell me! 
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 But all I really want is to buy and use this headset to it's fullest with my soundcard 
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What I do on my pc: I'm a casual gamer, and I live home. Don't want too much, by that I mean the looks etc Siberia series, I like the looks of those 
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And I want them to have good bass in both sound and mic. Anything more? Just ask!

A said, I'm a huge noob with audio and I'm new here but I believe the surround sound will stay, doesn't have anything to do with the OP Amp? 'Cause their Amplifiers.
 
May 4, 2015 at 6:56 PM Post #2 of 19
  Hey! totally noob with this so hugs 
color]

I want to buy a new gaming headset and all I've seen that is good for it is HyperX Cloud and Siberia V3. But the HyperX mic sucks balls and in my experience the Siberia (v2 at least) has a little weak bass in sound and mic. So then I saw the Sennheiser PC 350 (SE) But it requires 150 OHM. WTH?!
The thing is I use a sound card, Xonar DSX with changeable op amp 
color]
 . Don't want to waste it and buy a dedicated AMP. So can anyone with experience recommend any good OP Amp that still has good quality? Saw these and I though they seemed pretty decent? 
Their maximum impedance is 600 ohm so should do for every headset out there. Really need help guys. If you got any other solution don't hesitate to tell me! 
color]
 But all I really want is to buy and use this headset to it's fullest with my sound card 
color]

What I do on my pc: I'm a casual gamer, and I live home. Don't want too much, by that I mean the looks etc Siberia series, I like the looks of those 
color]

And I want them to have good bass in both sound and mic. Anything more? Just ask!

A said, I'm a huge noob with audio and I'm new here but I believe the surround sound will stay, doesn't have anything to do with the OP Amp? 'Cause their Amplifiers.

 
I'm fairly sure replacing the op-amp on the DSX will not improve (power wise) the DSX's ability to drive headphones, it should help audio quality.
The jack on the DSX used for headphones is more like a line-output, that also pretends to be a headphone jack
A FiiO E11K headphone amplifier ($60) will easily drive the PC350 (SE) headphones and the E11K's line-input can be connected to the headphone/line-output of the DSX.
You could also just replace the DSX with a Sound Blaster Z ($65-$85), as the Z built in headphone amplifier can easily drive 150-Ohm headphones.
(sell off the DSX).
 
The HD558 sells used for around $75 and should provide surround sound as good as the PC350.
And the retailed box version of the SB-Z comes with a mic.
 
May 5, 2015 at 4:12 PM Post #3 of 19
So wait, if I were to buy the FiiO E11K Kilimanjaro 2 that I would connect to my soundcard, I would keep my current sound quality and be able to power the PC 350 SE? 'Cause I don't have that great of a budget and have much other shiet to buy so. And I really do like the sound of the DSX =)  
 
But when I read online I saw the LME49722 it said it can power up to 600 Ω and even my current OP Amp NE5532, can do up to 600 Ω. 
So I don't see the problem here? 
 
About the HD558. Why the hell would I want to buy a Surround headset (they connect with USB, they use their own sound card) when my DSX already has 8 channel audio? In XonarSwitch I've put so it's on 8 channel audio on my current Siberia v2 and it seems to work good.
And I don't like used headsets (not other things either for that part), their all soft and weird and yeah. Here's the link to that cheap OP chit
 
Sorry for all the questions, trying to learn :wink:
 
May 5, 2015 at 8:25 PM Post #4 of 19
About the HD558. Why the hell would I want to buy a Surround headset (they connect with USB, they use their own sound card) when my DSX already has 8 channel audio? In XonarSwitch I've put so it's on 8 channel audio on my current Siberia v2 and it seems to work good. And I don't like used headsets (not other things either for that part), their all soft and weird and yeah. Here's the link to that cheap OP chit

 
"Why the hell would I want to want to buy a surround headset?
Maybe because in the first post you said you wanted to buy a headset
 
Here in the first post "I want to buy a new gaming headset".
 
May 6, 2015 at 9:07 AM Post #5 of 19
Yeah but not a surround one (as said, my sound card can already carry surround sound for me). You know (no crap you do) there is stereo gaming headsets out there? And now when you know what I mean can you recommend me any other? As said, want good bass and good quality overall. A little around 100 $ is the max limit. And good mic for that part! 
But don't you recommend the PC 350 SE? And would you be so kind to answer my other 2 questions :=) 
  1. So wait, if I were to buy the FiiO E11K Kilimanjaro 2 that I would connect to my soundcard, I would keep my current sound quality and be able to power the PC 350 SE? 'Cause I don't have that great of a budget and have much other shiet to buy so. And I really do like the sound of the DSX =)  
 
2. But when I read online I saw the LME49722 it said it can power up to 600 Ω and even my current OP Amp NE5532, can do up to 600 Ω. 
So I don't see the problem here? 
 
Sorry for all the questions, trying to learn :wink:

 
May 14, 2015 at 4:07 PM Post #8 of 19
  Please, cmon guys! Came to this forum 'cause I thought it was awesome and very active... 
And in the features section, it says easily drives 600Ω Loads. So can the N5532 too. So the DSX should be able to power the Sennheiser PC 350 SE easy? 

The LME49722 op-amp might be designed to drive up to 600-Ohm, but I doubt the DSX was designed to be able to take advantage of that feature.
 
May 17, 2015 at 9:39 AM Post #11 of 19
What do you mean? I'm no expert clearly but still, isn't it the OA that determines the "power output" of the sound card? And if they made this feature, why would the card not be able to take advantage as you say of it?


Sometimes companies don't use features of chips because it costs them more and it won't change the sales . not many people care about output power, so if they can save $5 per card by not using more parts, they will.

On a separate note, the gain of an OPamp is usually simple to change. Not sure if your issue is gain or current tho. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can answer that and then go from there
 
May 17, 2015 at 10:20 AM Post #12 of 19
Sometimes companies don't use features of chips because it costs them more and it won't change the sales . not many people care about output power, so if they can save $5 per card by not using more parts, they will.

On a separate note, the gain of an OPamp is usually simple to change. Not sure if your issue is gain or current tho. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can answer that and then go from there

1. Yeah, that makes me kinda mad tho... I would gladly pay 5 more bucks for more power output -_-
 
2. Don't understand that statement :0
 
3. Do you think I should buy this OPamp? I have heard positive reviews from it and. Your opinion? Even if I buy it and don't like it, the lost would be around 5 bucks so nothing wasted really.
 
May 17, 2015 at 10:25 AM Post #13 of 19
1. Yeah, that makes me kinda mad tho... I would gladly pay 5 more bucks for more power output -_-

2. Don't understand that statement :0


I am not an expert by any means, but different amplifiers are limited by either current or voltage, depends on the amp (i think). That is why you can't just say that since an amp puts 4w into 8ohms that it puts 2into 16. The amplifier might not be able to swing the same voltage at a higher load, so you might only get 1.75w into 16 ohms.

What I'm saying is that it might solve your problem to change a few resistors to increase the voltage gain of an OPamp circuit. Without a schematic it will be difficult quite frankly but you might be able to.
 
May 17, 2015 at 11:23 AM Post #15 of 19
  I have no clue how to do crap so. What do you mean by changing a few resistors? You mean on the card? 
And would you be so kind and see me 3. in the last post :3

Does your opamp on the sound card have a socket?  If not, forget it.  You are obviously not ready for SMD soldering and parts removal.  As for changing the resistors to adjust gain, I doubt seriously there are any resistors on the sound card that are not SMD - forget it.
 
If your opamp has a socket, (DIP-8), then yes, you can change the opamp.  (You can change it even if its SMD, but it takes a pro or experienced DIY-er.)  The thing you need to do, though, is look at the opamp that's there.  What kind is it?  Read the label on the opamp and then look up the datasheet.  The datasheet for the opamp will tell you the operating conditions for the opamp.  From that, you can start to pick other opamps that fit into the same voltage/current category.  That will at least narrow down the search for what will work.  As DutchGFX says, opamps are designed to work with certain voltage and current supplies.  If you pick an opamp that's not compatible with your soundcard's voltage and current supply, it won't work and may burn up the opamp or something else on the soundcard.
 
This isn't as difficult as it sounds - most opamps work within acceptable limits of certain design classes.  For instance, there are opamps that work with 24VDC, 12VDC or even 5VDC.  There are few that stray inbetween those numbers, but it's important to know which.
 
Also, opamps come in two stereo configurations: single channel per opamp, or two channels within the same opamp.  The same opamp series may be available in both.  It could be DIP-8 or DIP-16.  These are all things you need to investigate.  Unless you can find some specific articles online where people have changed out the opamp on your specific sound card, you have a lot work and research to do - much more than you can get answered here.
 
You could try the DIY section of Head-Fi, but most people over there do not mess with soundcards.  I'm not sure you realized how difficult a question you were asking, especially for this section of Head-Fi.
 
Anyway, good luck. 
smily_headphones1.gif
 
 

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