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Do i need a sound card to properly hear these?
Jun 24, 2013 at 2:34 AM Post #16 of 58
7.1 headphones use multiple 3.5 jacks the plug to the 5 recievers behind your pc. You can buy cheap soundcards like what purple is suggesting but don't expect much. Besides, 20 bucks is cheap it woldn't hurt to try.
 
Jun 24, 2013 at 2:37 AM Post #17 of 58
Quote:
baconbriefs said:
I currently use a rebranded version of this for my HD518:
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829128010
 
Sounds great without an amp, and already really loud at 30% volume.
 
I also used to use the Realtek ALC888 and ALC892 for PC speakers, but the HD428 I bought 2 years ago sounded so anemic when plugged into them. I got a Xonar DG and it was a huge improvement, at least for me. My music sounded like, well, music.
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Sadly, I couldn't use the Xonar DG anymore because I switched to a mITX motherboard so I just the external DAC above.
 
DG - PCI slot
DGX - PCI-E slot
 
Personally, I'd get the DGX because a lot of new motherboards today do not have any PCI slots anymore. It would be a bummer if you got the DG and the new motherboard you wanted didn't a slot for it.
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Can a PCI-E fit work in a PCI slot?  My current PCI is taken up by my wireless adapter, and my other slot is covered by my 2 video cards.  SO i almost have to get the PCI slot as its the only slot I have open at the very bottom of my motherboard.  Perhaps i can slide the DGX in between the 2 cards? below the SLI connector? Ill look tomorrow...but I think its completely covered up. 
 
Jun 24, 2013 at 2:41 AM Post #18 of 58
tato23 said:
Hmm okay...well this will be a tough decision for sure.  Perhaps the 20 dollar DG could be a safe way of testing to see if the sound is better. Thanks a lot guys, hopefully more opinions will get in here and can help me decide on what to go with.  


For now the 7.1 works, but when i test it on the realtek program i can't hear the subwoofer.  I can hear all the other channels, just the sub is silent, so ill do some digging and maybe find out why that or I may be wrong. is.  The lows come out fine on the music, just not sure why its not on the headphones. Perhaps cause its actually trying to find speakers and the headphones cant simulate a direct sub. 
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you have true 7.1 surround headphones the ones with multiple drivers? I think you need to use those kind of cans so that you could use your 7.1 option.
 
Jun 24, 2013 at 2:44 AM Post #19 of 58
tato23 said:
Can a PCI-E fit work in a PCI slot?  My current PCI is taken up by my wireless adapter, and my other slot is covered by my 2 video cards.  SO i almost have to get the PCI slot as its the only slot I have open at the very bottom of my motherboard.  Perhaps i can slide the DGX in between the 2 cards? below the SLI connector? Ill look tomorrow...but I think its completely covered up. 
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nope, they have different sizes.
 
Jun 24, 2013 at 2:56 AM Post #20 of 58
Quote:
tato23 said:
Can a PCI-E fit work in a PCI slot?  My current PCI is taken up by my wireless adapter, and my other slot is covered by my 2 video cards.  SO i almost have to get the PCI slot as its the only slot I have open at the very bottom of my motherboard.  Perhaps i can slide the DGX in between the 2 cards? below the SLI connector? Ill look tomorrow...but I think its completely covered up. 
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One way to improve audio quality is get something like the Audio Engine D1, $175, you plug it into the motherboard's S/PDIF (optical & coaxial) output.
and plug the ATH-AD700 into the D1, it should have about the best audio quality the AD700 is capable of outputing.
Your would need to enable S/PDIF output in the "Sound" subsection in control panel.
You would be able to use the features of the motherboard's built in audio control panel.
 
Jun 24, 2013 at 7:16 AM Post #21 of 58
lejohn said:
you have true 7.1 surround headphones the ones with multiple drivers? I think you need to use those kind of cans so that you could use your 7.1 option.
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In my experience they all suck. Its more of a gimmick. To actually locate sound you need a head and torso as well as real time information. Multiple drivers in a headphone will be many low cost drivers instead of 2 great ones. The head and torso are missing and time information is either missing or calculated to a "standard ear". If yours differ from that norm it won't work. Same problem with 2 driver surround sound emulation. For some it will work ok, for others it is just annoying. I can't use it, I get a headache fast and locating enemies in gaming is sort of ok but I use 2 channel and its better for me.


OP: Plug in headphones, turn the sound way up without audio playing and do things like opening programs, moving the mouse around, dragging windows around. If you hear anything, noises or static, your o board sucks. If you don't hear anything, you don't really meed a soundcard. In that case get an amp if you need the volume increase because your chosen headphones are hard to drive with onboard.
 
Jun 24, 2013 at 2:00 PM Post #22 of 58
Quote:
ev13wt said:
In my experience they all suck. Its more of a gimmick. To actually locate sound you need a head and torso as well as real time information. Multiple drivers in a headphone will be many low cost drivers instead of 2 great ones. The head and torso are missing and time information is either missing or calculated to a "standard ear". If yours differ from that norm it won't work. Same problem with 2 driver surround sound emulation. For some it will work ok, for others it is just annoying. I can't use it, I get a headache fast and locating enemies in gaming is sort of ok but I use 2 channel and its better for me.


OP: Plug in headphones, turn the sound way up without audio playing and do things like opening programs, moving the mouse around, dragging windows around. If you hear anything, noises or static, your o board sucks. If you don't hear anything, you don't really meed a soundcard. In that case get an amp if you need the volume increase because your chosen headphones are hard to drive with onboard.
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Okay i have the volume maxed out, and I get no noises or static.  So your vote then is to go with an amp for my AD700s?  What do you guys think?  So far the sound isn't bad, but these are on my 280 pros, we will see how i feel with the AD700.  

My problem is I have always used g35's, those have been my best headphones, so that's my only basis of comparison to if the sound is good yet.  Perhaps I have never heard REALLY good headphones with a sound card before so i am not sure if I will be able to tell if I am getting a mediocre sound, and if that sounds the same as my g35's.  I have no clue if I will be able to tell if my sound quality is good or not :frowning2: 
 
Jun 24, 2013 at 2:29 PM Post #24 of 58
Quote:
baconbriefs said:
I'd get the Xonar DG. You get a DAC and amp for $20. You also get Dolby Headphone for your games and movies. Your logitech G35 also uses Dolby Headphone for its virtual surround.
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Wait..im confused..again lol.  I get an amp with the xonar DG? And just for the record, DAC stands for dedicated audio card right? 
 
Jun 24, 2013 at 3:02 PM Post #26 of 58
Quote:
baconbriefs said:
DAC =  digital to analog converter, you could also call it a sound card in PC terms. Dedicated audio card also fits, lol.
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The Xonar DG comes with an entry level amp and Dolby Headphone which is why it is very popular with headphone gamers.
 
https://www.asus.com/Sound_Cards_and_DigitaltoAnalog_Converters/Xonar_DG/#overview

 

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Ah okay, the amp is built in... So how does it work? All the amps i have ever seen are external like the DSS and the Astro Mixamp. What features will the built in amp provide? 
 
Jun 24, 2013 at 7:32 PM Post #28 of 58
Quote:
tato23 said:
How does the built in amp compare to an external amp? Is it less features? 
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Not really that much difference, with the amp built into the sound card, you get a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), amp
and some movie/gaming surround sound features (audio processing chip), good value for the price.
 
External amps are not affected by any electrical noise that might be inside the computer and you can move it around from source to source.
But a "bare" headphone amp. does not have a DAC or surround sound features.
You can buy external DACs that you can hook between the head amp. and your source (like a computer)
There are external head amps that also come with a built in DAC.
 
There are external sound cards with the same features as an internal sound card, but sound quality would only be decent, at best
 
Jun 24, 2013 at 7:53 PM Post #29 of 58
Quote:
tato23 said:
hi all, 
 
Alright i am upgrading my headphones from g35's to AD700, the cans arrive Wednesday. Now i have used on board sound all my life.  Do i need to have a proper sound card or amp here immediately when they arrive to properly test the headphones? If they are gonna be better than the g35's just plugged into on board then that will be great and give me a couple of days to figure out what soundcard I want. 

What do you guys think?  I just need to know if i need to order a low budget sound card NOW that will make these cans sound amazing for mostly gaming and some music. Or if i can wait a couple of days to see if i like the cans first. 
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It depends on whether or not the stock motherboard is good or not. 
I would bet it is good enough.
 
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