[Chairman]

Hi,
 
So I picked up a Scarlett 8i6 today to use primarily for recording music, but also to be used as a DAC/headphone amp for listening to music through my DT880 pros (250ohm).  I thought this would sound better than my current set-up, which is the DT880s plugged into a Xonar DX via the front panel headphone jack on my computer case.
 
I'm relatively new to hi-fi audio so my ear isn't the greatest, but the 8i6 just sounds so much worse.  The sound has less space and way less clarity.  It's difficult to differentiate between instruments and it's kind of...muffled I guess, compared to the Xonar DX.  There's also far less volume through the 8i6, which isn't a huge issue since it's loud enough for me if it's cranked, but I get way more volume through the front panel with the Xonar.  I'm guessing this is because there's an amplifier in the front panel audio, but it still seems strange to me that the amp in the 8i6 has so little driving power.
 
So what I want to know is if there's anyone that has experience using the 8i6...am I just doing something wrong? Or is it really that much worse than my $80 Xonar? Honestly it might even be worse than the default Realtek audio that's on my motherboard, from what I can remember.  
 
I hope I just overlooked something in the setup...I've got the 8i6 plugged into a USB 2.0 port and I'm listening via the 1/4 inch headphone jack on the front.  I haven't messed around much with settings in Windows, other than setting the 8i6 as the default audio playback device.  Hopefully someone can shed some light on this!
 
Thanks!

 

[Arve]

Note that overall, The Focusrite 8i6 is a very good interface, but the headphone output is not: Relatively low power, and a significant output impedance (not enough to tilt the frequency response of a 250 ohm can, though). With cans that are not trivial to drive (read: Your 880's), I would choose a separate amp.

 

[samwell7]

Just to add in case anybody is thinking of buying the 8i6 and using it as a headphone amp, I have that interface and the headphone out really does sound bad with lower impedance cans, for some reason my Jaycar pro monitor headphones sound good out of it but my MDR V'6s sound sibilant and lacking low-end, my K702's sound even more tilted toward being bright and my HD600's don't like it either, although their FR doesn't sound hugely changed by it the soundstage shrinks considerably comparing it to my o2