DAC for gaming and music

[EmojilessPsykop]

I am looking for a DAC that I could use for gaming and music within 500EUR.

The requirements for the DAC are that it can produce a big 3D soundstage and good imaging, and works well with my current gear:

Meridian Explorer 2 -> Massdrop CTH -> HD6XX/K7XX

and hopefully upcoming gear I've helped kickstart: Verum One and Vokyl Erupt.

So I would be swapping out the Meridian Explorer 2. I use HD6XX for music and K7XX for gaming. I enjoy CTH+HD6XX combo for music, but music and gaming on K7XX not so much - sounds very lifeless.

What Im considering now:
Modi Multibit - would be a good pairing with MCTH for music as I've read but seems like not particularly good for gaming as it might introduce lag to the sound. Currently Meridian Explorer has this and annoys me very much.

Creative G6 - SBX is rather interesting, could hook it up to CTH or future wise pass virtualized sound on to another DAC.

What else should I look into?

 

[PurpleAngel]

DACs normally do not produce anything "3D".
But it seems like your looking for good sound stage for music audio.
Do you need headphone surround sound, for FPS gaming?

 

[boomhaur]

You can buy creatives virtual surround sound by itself. So that should open up your options.

 

[PurpleAngel]

$30 for Creative's SBX Headphone software.
$59 (+tax/shipping) for Hifimediy optical DAC.
So for around $100 you could add SBX Headphone surround sound, for gaming.
PC > optical DAC > Massdrop CTH

 

[HyperNov4th]

DACs normally do not produce anything "3D".
But it seems like your looking for good sound stage for music audio.
Do you need headphone surround sound, for FPS gaming?

I say FPS game if you are playing it competitively stereo sound is easier for players to find where the sound in the game came from.