First HiFi Setup Questions and Advice Please :)

[omega392]

Hello all. I managed to get myself into the Massdrop Sennheiser HD 6XX drop and I think I'm going to be pretty happy with the results. I've already got a pair of Sennheiser PC 363D headphones that have what look to be the similar padding and I love their comfort. These came with a small USB Soundcard that I was thinking of using with the 6XXs but the more I looked into them the more I was being lead slowly away from that idea. I like the sound that comes out of these, it's pretty clean to my ears but I don't really have a reference tbh. I'm not sure the jump from 50 to 300 Ohm will take very well with this thing. Being that the drop won't be shipped until December I've got some time to decide so I thought I'd ask you guys.

My computer is used for about 20% music listening, 20% tv/movie watching, 1% occasional video edits, and probably 59% gaming. Rough numbers but probably a good description.

The 6XXs will be my first foray into real HiFi audio. They will be used with my computer which I just rebuilt in January, the inbuilt audio does have some DAC USBs according to the mobo page. ( https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z270X-Gaming-9-rev-10#kf ) I'm pretty technical but still relatively new to the HiFi scene. When it comes to these things the only thing I can glean from it, is that it has a more controlled power signature out of these specific USB ports. I'm not sure if these ports work AS a DAC or are meant to POWER a DAC or something else. I'd appreciate it if someone could take a look at that and clear up the matter for me, as well as maybe suggest a few price appropriate dac/amps.

As for the dac/amp, I've seen a handful of them show a response rate of about 20Hz-20kHz, is this going to be a serious limitation vs the 10-40kHz that the headphones are capable of? If I remember right those levels are about what the ear can hear right? The cans are going to be 200$ with the drop but they are, according to reviews, just as good as their 300-400$ counterpart. I'm probably happy with spending about that much on a nice dac/amp combo to push them. I'm well aware that there are sound signature differences between different DAC/AMP and that I really need to listen to them to get the best idea of what fits best for me. I'm in southern CA around the LA area and am curious if there is anyone who knows of any good spots to try out a few dac/amps to get a taste for a few of them?

Also, for gaming is there any sort of significant sound delay between output at the board and output at the cans? Does it increase with each device in line linearly? Or is the difference so slight it's negligible?

Thanks in advance for all the help. Really looking forward to my first HiFi setup.

 

[serman005]

Hello all. I managed to get myself into the Massdrop Sennheiser HD 6XX drop and I think I'm going to be pretty happy with the results. I've already got a pair of Sennheiser PC 363D headphones that have what look to be the similar padding and I love their comfort. These came with a small USB Soundcard that I was thinking of using with the 6XXs but the more I looked into them the more I was being lead slowly away from that idea. I like the sound that comes out of these, it's pretty clean to my ears but I don't really have a reference tbh. I'm not sure the jump from 50 to 300 Ohm will take very well with this thing. Being that the drop won't be shipped until December I've got some time to decide so I thought I'd ask you guys.

My computer is used for about 20% music listening, 20% tv/movie watching, 1% occasional video edits, and probably 59% gaming. Rough numbers but probably a good description.

The 6XXs will be my first foray into real HiFi audio. They will be used with my computer which I just rebuilt in January, the inbuilt audio does have some DAC USBs according to the mobo page. ( https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z270X-Gaming-9-rev-10#kf ) I'm pretty technical but still relatively new to the HiFi scene. When it comes to these things the only thing I can glean from it, is that it has a more controlled power signature out of these specific USB ports. I'm not sure if these ports work AS a DAC or are meant to POWER a DAC or something else. I'd appreciate it if someone could take a look at that and clear up the matter for me, as well as maybe suggest a few price appropriate dac/amps.

As for the dac/amp, I've seen a handful of them show a response rate of about 20Hz-20kHz, is this going to be a serious limitation vs the 10-40kHz that the headphones are capable of? If I remember right those levels are about what the ear can hear right? The cans are going to be 200$ with the drop but they are, according to reviews, just as good as their 300-400$ counterpart. I'm probably happy with spending about that much on a nice dac/amp combo to push them. I'm well aware that there are sound signature differences between different DAC/AMP and that I really need to listen to them to get the best idea of what fits best for me. I'm in southern CA around the LA area and am curious if there is anyone who knows of any good spots to try out a few dac/amps to get a taste for a few of them?
Check out The Schiitr (Schiit Audio Store)
22508 Market Street

Also, for gaming is there any sort of significant sound delay between output at the board and output at the cans? Does it increase with each device in line linearly? Or is the difference so slight it's negligible?

Thanks in advance for all the help. Really looking forward to my first HiFi setup.

The Schiitr
22508 Market Street
Newhall, CA 91321
323 230 0079

They have all the Schiit stuff and you can demo stuff. Probably worth the drive over into the Valley, IMO to get a good look at the gear. You should check it out.

 

[Dulalala]

The 6XXs will be my first foray into real HiFi audio. They will be used with my computer which I just rebuilt in January, the inbuilt audio does have some DAC USBs according to the mobo page. ( https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z270X-Gaming-9-rev-10#kf ) I'm pretty technical but still relatively new to the HiFi scene. When it comes to these things the only thing I can glean from it, is that it has a more controlled power signature out of these specific USB ports. I'm not sure if these ports work AS a DAC or are meant to POWER a DAC or something else. I'd appreciate it if someone could take a look at that and clear up the matter for me, as well as maybe suggest a few price appropriate dac/amps.

If it's a USB output, there's no way it can work as a DAC. USB outputs digital, not analog. The function of a DAC is to convert digital to analog. From what I understand, the USB DAC UP2 is just a USB port with sufficient voltage and low noise.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

The 6XXs will be my first foray into real HiFi audio. They will be used with my computer which I just rebuilt in January, the inbuilt audio does have some DAC USBs according to the mobo page. ( https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z270X-Gaming-9-rev-10#kf ) I'm pretty technical but still relatively new to the HiFi scene. When it comes to these things the only thing I can glean from it, is that it has a more controlled power signature out of these specific USB ports. I'm not sure if these ports work AS a DAC or are meant to POWER a DAC or something else. I'd appreciate it if someone could take a look at that and clear up the matter for me, as well as maybe suggest a few price appropriate dac/amps.

When motherboards are advertised with "DAC-Up" USB ports (or whatever other brands call theirs - this is the problem with marketing departments trying to look cool all the time), it just means they'll provide a constant 5v, 1000mA output, as opposed to how in some cases there's just a single power stage so when you connect more than one device the output drops. That basically means that USB power-dependent DACs will not have operational or SQ issues that would normally come from getting less power than what its supposed to get to function properly.

As for the dac/amp, I've seen a handful of them show a response rate of about 20Hz-20kHz, is this going to be a serious limitation vs the 10-40kHz that the headphones are capable of? If I remember right those levels are about what the ear can hear right? The cans are going to be 200$ with the drop but they are, according to reviews, just as good as their 300-400$ counterpart.

Human ears can only barely hear anything outside of the 20hz to 20,000hz range. Regular music programs barring a few genres and some SFX on movies barely have any information below 40hz and typically nothing below 20hz.

Manufacturers of headphones and speakers are stating wider response graphs but they're just padding their numbers. Even if the headphone/speaker does cover that entire range, 10hz and 40000hz could be -20dB vs 1000hz. Coupled with human hearing range that doesn't cover that frequency, even if those frequencies are in whatever you're listening to, you will not hear them.

If anything, really wide range headphones that don't drop off drastically on one end just means they'll have less distortion on the frequencies in that end. That's why a planar driver with a range stated as 5hz to 50,000hz isn't better because its response is slightly wider, but because there is less distortion and it's actually flatter all the way down to 5hz.

I'm probably happy with spending about that much on a nice dac/amp combo to push them. I'm well aware that there are sound signature differences between different DAC/AMP and that I really need to listen to them to get the best idea of what fits best for me. I'm in southern CA around the LA area and am curious if there is anyone who knows of any good spots to try out a few dac/amps to get a taste for a few of them?

You can look up where Schiit's Schiitr, the demo room, is. It's somewhere on their website. Bring your HD6XX and try them with whatever they happen to have set up down there. There's also one in Costa Mesa somewhere behind the college campus there - they're a Grado dealer so the address is somewhere on Grado's dealer network page.

That said, if you're only going to use them for "20% music," I really don't see the point in spending that much on a DAC-HPamp for those (or the HD6XX themselves, but you're in the drop already). If you're using it "59% gaming" it won't matter as long as you're not clipping or getting obvious noise and distortion. I mean it's not like you're gonna go, "wow that MP3 SFX of an exploding grenade or Macedonian lancers crashing into the Roman skirmishers sounded a heck of a lot better using (insert equipment here)" when your attention is mostly on the visuals and game objectives, like fragging or outflanking.

Personally I'd sooner just get a Strix Soar and use that for the 20% of use for music too, and save the money to buy the $60 earpads for those headphones because when they wear out the sound just sucks. Unless you're really curious about how a Meier Corda Jazz FF and Schiit Modi Multibit, along with the HD6XX, will make for effortless, really dynamic, very black background (ie, high signal to low noise ratio) playback quality.

Also, for gaming is there any sort of significant sound delay between output at the board and output at the cans? Does it increase with each device in line linearly? Or is the difference so slight it's negligible?

You'd have to have serious software issues for that to happen.

 

[cossix]

Just get the Magni 2 and Modi 2, 100 bucks each I believe. That's pretty much the default setup for most people getting into the hobby. It's inexpensive enough to be affordable, but good enough quality that you don't feel upgrade urges for a long while, if at all. IMO anything cheaper than the Schiit M&M stack or the Mayflower O2 isn't worth the money, and anything more expensive is not very beginner friendly for those with a modest budget. I'd vote Magni2/Modi2, you'll love it

 

[jengasmartkit]

Schiit amps are great for entry level. Their quality is impeccable and is actually great value for money in my opinion compared to its competitors