[FatEskimo]

I'm going to be getting the LCD-2 and I need a good amp + DAC combo to go with them. I don't really have a budget but I'd like to spend as little as possible while being able to take full advantage of the LCD-2s. I don't know if it matters, but here's what I'll be using the headphones for (from another post I made on Reddit): 
 
"I will be using these for: metal (usually very fast (Avenged Sevenfold, Five Fnger Death Punch)), rock (Rise Against, Senses Fail), rap (fast (Eminem, Hopsin, Tech N9ne) and slow-pased (Hollywood Undead (more of rap-rock actually), JayZ)), hardcore dubstep (think "Centipede" by Knife Party), and CS:GO (for this game I need to be able to hear sounds very clearly and be able to tell exactly where they're coming from)."
 
Should I just go with the O2 + ODAC or would something else be better for these?

 

[jodgey4]

I'd personally just go with the O2/ODAC, unless you need more inputs/outputs. USB overrides your soundcard, so if you have one, it'll basically be useless after you get the ODAC.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Originally Posted by FatEskimo /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
"I will be using these for: metal (usually very fast (Avenged Sevenfold, Five Fnger Death Punch)), rock (Rise Against, Senses Fail), rap (fast (Eminem, Hopsin, Tech N9ne) and slow-pased (Hollywood Undead (more of rap-rock actually), JayZ)), hardcore dubstep (think "Centipede" by Knife Party), and CS:GO (for this game I need to be able to hear sounds very clearly and be able to tell exactly where they're coming from)."
 
Should I just go with the O2 + ODAC or would something else be better for these?

 
If you use a USB DAC it will bypass the DSP chip on the motherboard or soundcard. You will have to use either a DAC with SPDIF input (provided your motherboard has gaming audio and the same kind of SPDIF output), or you use a USB soundcard like the Xonar U3 first.

 

[FatEskimo]

If you use a USB DAC it will bypass the DSP chip on the motherboard or soundcard. You will have to use either a DAC with SPDIF input (provided your motherboard has gaming audio and the same kind of SPDIF output), or you use a USB soundcard like the Xonar U3 first.

CS:GO has a "Headphone" option that can be used in place of Dolby

 

[ProtegeManiac]

CS:GO has a "Headphone" option that can be used in place of Dolby

 
Does it bypass the DSP, ie the virtual surround is embedded in the game itself? If that's the case then it would work, although likely only for this game.

 

[jodgey4]

Yes, it uses DTS Surround for the headphone option. I've begun using that over my Dolby sound card and 5.1, because I didn't feel that the 10 second it takes to switch from USB to optical from my sound card was worth it. Lol. They're different, one's not better imho. Different headphones react better, Dolby seems to help add depth at loss of a sterile precise sound... But I digress.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Yes, it uses DTS Surround for the headphone option. I've begun using that over my Dolby sound card and 5.1, because I didn't feel that the 10 second it takes to switch from USB to optical from my sound card was worth it. Lol. They're different, one's not better imho. Different headphones react better, Dolby seems to help add depth at loss of a sterile precise sound... But I digress.

 
That's nice. On the games I have the headphone option doesn't work for depth as well as using 6ch or 8ch setting on Xonar settings and the game, then letting the external soundcard use its DSP to downmix the multichannel signal into headphone virtual surround.