[Nekrono]

Hey guys, I'm wondering what is the cheapest way to get Dolby Headphone on these cans. I'm really not an audiophile and mainly bought these headphones because a lot of people said the soundstage was great and that was my main reason to buy them. So far I've been using them with Razer Surround Sound software and a basic FiiO E02i amp that a friend gave me just to get a bit more volume.
 
I'm looking for two things, firstly to get Dolby Headphone sound and secondly to increase the volume/soundstage to get a little bit more out of these headphones, I know there is potential in them that I have not unlocked but I don't have that much money for a proper amp setup to go with them.
 
So far I'm looking at getting the ASUS Xonar U3 amd/dac combo as $40 matches my budget and it has Dolby Headphone.
 
My question is this, is the Dolby Headphone in this USB soundcard the same as the Dolby Headphone in other high end soundcards? Am I gonna be missing something?
 
And also, would this be enough to drive the AKG Q701's? At least at the same volume that I get with the FiiO E02i?
 
Please help me as I am not really an audiophile and my knowledge in this area is very limited, I just want to get the best directional audio and decent volume as connecting the Q701's directly to my PC makes them sound too low for me.
 
Thank you!

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Hey guys, I'm wondering what is the cheapest way to get Dolby Headphone on these cans. I'm really not an audiophile and mainly bought these headphones because a lot of people said the sound stage was great and that was my main reason to buy them. So far I've been using them with Razer Surround Sound software and a basic FiiO E02i amp that a friend gave me just to get a bit more volume.
 
I'm looking for two things, firstly to get Dolby Headphone sound and secondly to increase the volume/sound stage to get a little bit more out of these headphones, I know there is potential in them that I have not unlocked but I don't have that much money for a proper amp setup to go with them.
 
So far I'm looking at getting the ASUS Xonar U3 amd/dac combo as $40 matches my budget and it has Dolby Headphone.
 
My question is this, is the Dolby Headphone in this USB sound card the same as the Dolby Headphone in other high end sound cards? Am I gonna be missing something?
 
And also, would this be enough to drive the AKG Q701's? At least at the same volume that I get with the FiiO E02i?
 
Please help me as I am not really an audiophile and my knowledge in this area is very limited, I just want to get the best directional audio and decent volume as connecting the Q701's directly to my PC makes them sound too low for me.
 
Thank you!

 
The AKG 700 series headphones like a lot of power to sound their best and the U3 head amp is not that powerful.
You could connect an external DAC (or DAC/amp) that has an optical input, to the U3.
 
Do you have a budget?
 
Me, I would get a used Asus Xonar DX (or D1) sound card and a Bravo Ocean tube (hybrid) headphone amplifier.
Buy them used off eBay.

 

[Nekrono]

My budget is around $40. 
 
I was looking into getting an Asus Xonar DG sound card, it has Dolby Headphones and also an AMP, would that be better than the Xonar U3? Seems like it is, sure it might not be ideal to drive the Q701 properly I guess but maybe it will do better than the Xonar U3?

 

[PurpleAngel]

  My budget is around $40. 
 
I was looking into getting an Asus Xonar DG sound card, it has Dolby Headphones and also an AMP, would that be better than the Xonar U3? Seems like it is, sure it might not be ideal to drive the Q701 properly I guess but maybe it will do better than the Xonar U3?

 
The Xonar U3 & DG come with weak headphone amplifiers.

 

[v4lve]

For gaming you'll probably get better placement but as mentioned earlier those are hungry headphones and would be best served with an outboard amp (eventually)

 

[Nekrono]

Right now I've settled for the Sound Blaster Audigy FX sound card, I found Dolby Headphone to have too much echo/reverb for my liking. 
 
After hearing multiple comparisons between DH, SBX, CMSS-3D I came up to the following conclusion about each:
 
CMSS-3D:
 
- Best positioning out of the three.
- Average soundstage. You don't feel like you're in a huge room but neither in a small one.
- Sound EQ/Quality a little on the treble side only, the commonly referred "tin can" sound.
 
Dolby Headphone:
 
- Positioning not as good as CMSS-3D, if CMSS-3D is 10 out of 10 I would put DH at a solid 7.5
- Biggest soundstage of all, you do feel like you're IN the game, it's easy to picture you in there and have a good idea of how close or far away the sounds are coming from.
- Having the biggest soundstage seems to come at a heavy cost in the sound department as there is too much echo/reverb added to the sound, I just can't get used to it, it sounds too bad for me, I feel like I'm in a tunnel.
 
SBX Pro Studio:
 
- Positioning is not as good as CMSS-3D but better than DH in my opinion. The sound transition between one point to the other (from left to right for example) is much smoother than DH although the rear cues are not as good as DH.
- Soundstage is a bit narrower than CMSS-3D, it's the smallest of the three but not that much smaller than CMSS-3D. I guess you really need some good open back headphones with great soundstage so this does not bother you.
- Sound quality is the best out of the three as it combines the crispiness of the CMSS-3D without the "tin can" sound and also the more explosive sound of DH but without the echo/reverb.
 
SBX Pro Studio seems the most balanced out of the three, great sound, good positioning and decent soundstage.
 
Also the card I ordered says it supports an AMP for 600ohms headphones so maybe it can drive the Q701's decently, if it doesn't then I guess I'll have to get a decent AMP in the future, probably something like the Mayflower O2.
 
Anyway this is my conclusion after just reading and listening to youtube comparisons, etc, after I receive the card I'll update it if needed.

 

[arkantospt]

Thanks for the info Nekrono.
I need some HELP.
My audiophile knowledge is amost zero. I also bought the AKG Q701 for the same reasons, after reading the 'Video Games Headphones' thread.
 
I have a Creative X-Fi Xtremegamer Fatality, without amp. (Had it already before the headphones)
When I connected the headphones for the first time directly to the soundcard, hoping it would be an enormous difference in sound, it was disappointing. Was the same sound awareness as some cheap headphones. Maybe the soundcard is not anything special? Maybe I need an amplifier? but for some reason the sound was just average for such a sound card with such headphones, no?
10 years ago, I used a cheap pair of Dolby Headphones, plugged on a usb port, and it had more detail in games. Honestly, I would use those cheap headphones today if wasn't for my cat have ripped the cable ^^
 
Now, because sound matters to me as I'm also musician, and I have time to fix my setup and get full efficiency of the material I have, I need some help to understand how to do it.

1st question is: Is the soundcard bottlenecking my system? Should I just get rid off it? Or is there still many space to improve the sound?
 
When I realised the Q701 didn't have good positioning awareness (maybe just when setting the driver with 5.1 with CMSS-3D on, but the sound source was not smooth and was awkward to listen to) I tried to install Dolby Digital Live and DTS connect pack (without being sure it would work), but since it needed an activation key and I was not able to get it, I contacted Creative and they answered me the pack was discontinued. I tried by several ways to get Dolby digital (since it was/is my only past experience of good awareness) but didn't manage to get it working.
 
Moving to the DAC/Amp. option - to take advantage of the headphone's potential: seems like these headphones, in particular, need high impedance source to drive them (right?) (I guess I must research on this subject as from what I know, impedance means resistance, and I'm not seeing how higher resistance will give more power to the headphones - just showing my ignorance) - does this means it needs what kind of amplifier?

And should I connect the amplifier to the soundcard on theh flexijack (Digital I/O (SPDIF) / Mic) or have have an amplifier/soundcard(usb)?
I thought I would just connect a cable from this jack to an amp. and then to the headphones.
 
I guess not. After reading more, I read here that I needed to buy this module, to connect to the flexijack.
 
Then I read here (Amazon reviews) that the Digital IN and OUT (SPDIF) does not provide Dolby Digital enconding, neither 5.1 (more than 2 channels), You would always have stereo.
I guess this is not a problem for me, since I want to use an amp with Headphones, so I will still max out the card properties with a DAC (right?)
Will a DAC/amplifier give better sound detail and enfazise the CMSS-3D virtualization?
If they say the Dolby Digital does not work on SPDIF in/out, I guess I will not even consider it.
What about SBX PRO Studio? Is it possible to get SBX PRO Studio with this card?

So I have already this DAC at home (I think it is a DAC - since it has digital In and line-out for headphones ):
photo1
photo2
photo3
I must be a really newbie, because (i dont see any power source and) I thought the signal-in was not enough as power source for it to work, and it needed its own power source, but I guess the only thing that can provide more power is the USB port.

Then I realised (if I assumed correctly from the ports I saw) that the only port in the DAC that I could connect to the soundcard, would be the Digital-IN.
So, can I connect a TOSlink cable with a jack adapter on one tip  (or a cable like this) to connect into the soundcard's flexijack? Or I always need the Digital I/O adapter?
 


I'm sure many questions here may sound dumb, but since I researched a lot and my eyes and time are getting shorter, I'm willing to interact with people xD to receive help.

Thanks in advance.