[darky_mtp]

You can ear noise from 124 dB SNR ?

 

[Evshrug]

There's different sources of noise... I'm no audio engineer, but with sensitive IEMs I get a little constant background hiss from my standard X7. There's quieter background on my E5, and the E1 is totally silent, but normal headphones don't pick up the hiss/noise and the E1 is too weak of an amp for low-sensitivity harder to drive headphones.

 

[darky_mtp]

I don't have IEM but I guess that ZxR with very sensitive devices like Shure E5 is a mismatch.
ZxR is designed toward high impedance, hard to drive headphones.
Using DT880/250 with a Z, I don't have background noise at all and plenty of power.

 

[NoOneLt]

I have had Creative Zxr for 3 years. I can say it is very functional soundcard for daily uses but nothing more. It has background noise and headphone output is not powerful for planars especially for hifimans.  

It can make you deaf, at least my can's say so, and what noise....?

 

[genclaymore]

Being louder and being correctly driven are two totally different things. Just because it get loud, it does not equal to property supplying the current that the HE-500 needs to sound the way that it should. All it really doing is making you hear the HE-500 very loud while performing very well on the sound blaster zxr's headphone amp. Those HE-500 would benefit greatly from an external headphone amp. I have personally used an HE-500 those headphone's and need a lot of current, I haven't seen an sound card that even supply at-least 1W for them or even 800-900mw for that matter.

 

[NoOneLt]

No one says someone should get ZxR to drive planars, getting ZxR exclusively for that would make no sense... also specifications of ZxR is not a secret, and it can normally drive regular phones with normal sensitivity up to 600 ohms to pretty loud levels. And with HE-500 maybe it has something to do with high ZxR output impedance and very low HE-500 sensitivity.. Though i did'n had any problems with ZxR + M50X, but of course  they are much more sensitive. 400i ann S sounds fine also.

 

[genclaymore]

I know no one was telling people to buy an Zxr to power the HE-500, I hope not as that would be an nightmare.The reason why the ZXR won't work that well with the HE-500, is due to the steep current that the headphone need at it's 38 ohm's impedance which I mentioned already. I learned the hard way with that, when I first got the HE-500, i had an little dot 2 MK at the time and I to go months until I got something that could feed them the power they needed. I never used the HE400i/s but i sure that's alot more easier to supply current to then the HE-500. Now I had used an DT880 premium 600 with an STX before in the past and it worked fine,but I don't recall the reason why I moved to an headphone amp from plugging it directly into the STX hp amp.
 
Most people here know not to plug the HE-500's into an sound card, but I have seen couple of people else where that don't know and do it. Then they wonder why every thing is off and blame the headphone's, when its the sound card hp amp at fault, a couple of days ago I seen some one buying an asus strix soar just to power the HE-500 but then they thought the headphone was high imp and not an very low imp.

 

[NoOneLt]

  Now I had used an DT880 premium 600 with an STX before in the past and it worked fine,but I don't recall the reason why I moved to an headphone amp from plugging it directly into the STX hp 

Maybe it was just an itch for upgrade  
 
 

  I never used the HE400i/s but i sure that's alot more easier to supply current to then the HE-500.

I just tried 400i with ZxR again, not an A/B but in 600 ohm mode it drives them pretty loud and i don't fell they sound bad, though with Vali 2 sound seems bit more pleasant, not day and night difference, i would forget the difference in 3 minutes, but with Vali 2 ZxR works in Stereo direct mode, maybe this also makes difference. 
 
And i don't like loud, so what is loud for me could not be that loud for someone else.

 

[Doomjoon]

So, this thread has been dead for about a month, but it is kind of an official one, and I'll revive it with an experience/review of op-amps I have recently acquired for my ZxR. They definitely deserve it.
Sparkos Lab's SS3602, they have been mentioned a few times on these forums, and when they were, people talked about their amazing performance, expensive price, and their rather hefty size. All of these are true, but they bring much better sound than many other op amps of the same price, as long as you can give them a proper shove in there.
 

-"Mother, do you know what THESE are?"
-"Uhh... toothpicks?"
-"These are operational amplifiers. That cost almost 80$. Made in America."
 

 
I've only used the I/V slots for SS3602's, I don't care about the buffers since I'll only use the headphone out. If you need buffers though, I've heard others recommend using SS3601's for that. Also notice that these are rather big, which produces two potential problems:
 
-You won't be able to fit the EMI shield back, but the EMI shield really doesn't matter that much, especially in my case since I'm pretty sure that my GPU's backplate, which sits directly below my ZxR, acts as an EMI shield of it's own. Also I've heard people say that the EMI shield can actually cause problems, probably has something to do with grounding, I don't know. And last, if you really want the EMI shield, I've also heard that it might be possible to cut holes in the EMI shield for the amps to pop out.
-This also makes the sound card take up considerable space in your actual case, in fact, it would be best if you could reserve 2x PCI slots for the card alone. If you can't, you might be able to squeeze it in there like I did, but you might cause damage to your card or whatever is blocking the card, as it will make the card sit diagonally. My system appears to be working fine though.
 
 
Now, let's talk about actual sound performance:
 
MUSIC: I'm definitely very satisfied with these. The amps produce a neutral signature, it doesn't favor anything, but at the same time it somehow makes everything shine. The bass is tight and punchy, which is precisely what my fanatically neutral DT880's need. The highs are absolutely brutal, in a good way, and the mids are pleasant and give great backbone to music, although I feel like they -MIGHT- be a little bit recessed. Could be wrong though. They give a greater sense of imaging and 3D space in music. Every note is detailed and has character, every harmony is layered and yet whole, and the harmonies are given a lot of depth and height (and I'm not talking about sound signature).
 
The main reason why I am so self-surprisingly satisfied with these is a bit more subjective topic. I'm an avid listener of avant-garde music that focuses on atmosphere more than the actual "music". Various modern forms of metal, ambient, jazz, post-rock, things like that. And in this music crispy clear highs aren't always a good thing, and bloated bass isn't always a bad thing. It's atmospheric music, it chases atmosphere, not sound quality, and sometimes it has to sacrifice sound quality to bring more atmosphere. But the thing is, these op amps don't really ruin it. It's up to the musicians and producers to decide how something is supposed to sound like, and these op amps make whatever they made shine. I know it's a word I constantly use, but I have no other way of describing it. Still though, I'm not sure if I can really call it "better", but it is different, and I think that I'm gonna stick to it, as more often than not, I do like the difference.
 
However if you don't listen to this type of music, then these op amps are no-brainer. At least as long as the aforementioned problems of price and size don't bother you.
 
GAMING/MOVIES: Well, as you have probably already gathered, to use a crude image, the bassy impact of a sword hitting flesh, and the afterward treble of the sword slicing through it, cannot sound better than with these op amps. This is especially true with my DT880's, they complement each other so well. The killer highs of the DT880's are brought to an even greater glory, and the deep but neutral bass is made punchier. Everything from explosions, bullets whizzing around, and arms clashing, to dialogues, footsteps, and wind, is in an apex of sound. I really cannot imagine them being better.
 
What else is there to say? They are amazing and well worth the cost.

 

[bcschmerker4]

Thanks, @Doomjoon, for the test results on the SS3602.  I already have 'em under consideration for the I-V of my ASUS® XONAR® STX™, and have a modified RFI shield under consideration, as both my 'puters put the PCIe x1 slot right next the PCIe x16, which is why I picked the STX in the first place.  The SS3602's just need some clearance, and I'm looking at the sort of jigs necessary to hammer appropriate-size bumps in a stock-replacement shield.  Similar mods would be needed for the Creative® SB1270, SB1356, and SB1510.

 

[Doomjoon]

Indeed, but as I said, EMI shields really don't seem to do all that much, especially if you have a quality power supply, and a GPU backplate also seems to act as an EMI shield, but I could be wrong on that. In any case, lot of problems attributed to EMI are usually not EMI at all. So yeah, the SS3602's are worth sacrificing the shield for. But of course, if you can make it work with a shield, all the better.
 
 
EDIT: Although, I wonder, what would happen if I were to put the anti-static bag that the amps came in, or that my GPU came in, in between of my GPU and the ZxR. Probably a bad idea actually, since they are usually conductive on the outside.

 

[bigbeard]

I have a question about sbx pro studio.
 
I have a sound blaster z, HD800, and DAC/AMP. I always gamed at 67% surround, and the sound was very clean and also distinct.
 
However, I also have an X7 (don't use it on my pc), and in that thread, people recommend to use 100% surround for immersion. I tried this on my Z, and I feel like the sound is mixed together/muddled, lowering the sound quality. At the same time, I feel like its easier to pinpoint a sound. At 67%, I could clearly hear the direction of sound, but pinpointing it is more difficult.
 
What do you guys have to say about this? What do you use? Also, does the x7 have better sound processing than the sound blaster z for surround? Should I just use that for my pc?

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I have a question about sbx pro studio.
I have a sound blaster z, HD800, and DAC/AMP. I always gamed at 67% surround, and the sound was very clean and also distinct.
However, I also have an X7 (don't use it on my pc), and in that thread, people recommend to use 100% surround for immersion. I tried this on my Z, and I feel like the sound is mixed together/muddled, lowering the sound quality. At the same time, I feel like its easier to pinpoint a sound. At 67%, I could clearly hear the direction of sound, but pinpointing it is more difficult.
What do you guys have to say about this? What do you use? Also, does the x7 have better sound processing than the sound blaster z for surround? Should I just use that for my pc?

 
I doubt the SB-X7 would offer better headphone surround sound, then the SB-Z
 
Did you disable the motherboard's on-board audio, in the BIOS, when you installed the SB-Z card.
There is a small chance active on-board might have a negative effect on an add-on internal sound card.
 
If setting the volume to 67% works best, might as well just leave it that way,

 

[bigbeard]

Yeah I definitely have audio disabled on board.
 
Maybe I am just used to the separation of 67% because I was using it for years. What do you use, and why?

 

[jincuteguy]

   
I doubt the SB-X7 would offer better headphone surround sound, then the SB-Z
 
Did you disable the motherboard's on-board audio, in the BIOS, when you installed the SB-Z card.
There is a small chance active on-board might have a negative effect on an add-on internal sound card.
 
If setting the volume to 67% works best, might as well just leave it that way,

 
The X7 does in fact has better surround sound than the Z card.  I had both before and I can tell you that the X7 sounds a lot better and the surround sound is better.  At first I thought the surround sound would just be the same since they both have the same tech, but it does in fact sounds better on the X7.