[Melee]

I am building a decent system for my desktop PC. It will be used for approximately 40% Gaming, 40% Music, 20% Movies and TV Shows. Right now, I've ordered a pair of Sennheiser G4ME Ones + Sennheiser G4ME Zeros (their new red/white gaming headsets) to test and see if one of them fits my needs. If not, I'll probably swap to something like a pair of AKG K712s, Sennheiser HD650s, or something along those lines.
 
My first question is will an Astro Mixamp make a great addition to a setup since I will be playing games quite a bit and that will enable surround sound? I'm not sure how well it would work to drive these headsets/headphones or whether it would need an additional amp or dac to provide enough power. I haven't tried a real amp + dac setup yet so I have no experience on how different it would be or if the virtual surround sound would even be worth it when compared. I have tried the Mixamp but it was with the Astro A40 headset, which I'm not that crazy about. Would the Mixamp replace either the Amp or DAC?
 
As for the Amp and DAC, have there been any new releases in the past year or so that are top in bang for your buck right now? I was researching this quite a lot back then and I believe that the Schiit Magni and Modi were regarded as amazing for the price at that time. I think the Fiio E09K + E07/E17 were also highly revered then. Are these still the go to setups and what would be an ideal combination in reference to other components in a system?
 
My final question is how do computer sound cards factor into the mix? I know some of them have built in Amps but I have no clue if they are worth the purchase or only useful if you aren't utilizing a dedicated separate Amp and DAC.
 
I apologize for the lengthy post but I hope it was clear enough and makes sense. haha I'm quite new to this type of components so I didn't want to make an ill advised purchase.
 
Thanks!

 

[Melee]

Bump.
 
Also, after further research, I have learned that the Mixamp would act as the DAC in an audio setup, as would a sound card, so my question there would shift to what is the better option to add to a nice desktop amp between the Mixamp, a dedicated sound card, or a Schiit/Fiio DAC? I know that Dolby Headphone is an emulated surround sound option but for those of you who have extensive experience with both Surround and Stereo gaming, is there a huge difference between the two since the surround is emulated or is the quality of a nice DAC a large enough improvement to make it an irrelevant point?
 
As for my current onboard sound in my computer, I have an Asus Maximus V Formula Motherboard which contains their SupremeFX^™ IV audio solution. How does this compare to these other great, affordable options?
 
Right now, the options I've discovered on my own and am currently considering are:
 
Headphones
 
Sennheiser G4ME Zero / G4ME One (Ordered both and will test them soon.)  +  Sennheiser HD600 / HD650  +  AKG K712  +  Beyerdynamics DT880 / DT990
 
Amplifier
 
Schiit Magni  +  Schiit Vali  +  Fiio E09K
 
DAC
 
Astro Mixamp  +  Asus / Creative Sound Card  +  Schiit Modi  +  Fiio Products (E07K / E17 / E18 / E12  -  I'm not sure on all of these Fiio models. I believe all of them are Amp/DAC combos, if I'm not mistaken, so would I even need anything additional?)
 
Microphone
 
Blue Yeti  +  Antlion Modmic  +  Zalman Clip-On Mic (Least Price for Clear Mic with no background noise. I use voice chat in games, skype, and stream plus record videos quite a lot.)
 
 
Are there any notable additions that I should consider or anything that should be removed? I know a few of these aren't amp related but I figured it would be better to ask here than make a new thread.
 
Thanks!

 

[Melee]

Bump.

 

[moby1974]

Yeah I am in the total same boat lol
 
Want to use my AKG 712 with PC and PS4, this means I need a DAC/AMP that works on both, say a usb powered (just use port on ps4 and pc) and takes optical input (again from both machines, but guess one at a time, a dac with 2 digital inputs be costly)
 
I have a Xonar U7 external sound card for the pc, its a dac with a slight headphone amp, lacks a little bit of juice, could live with that but I cannot use it on ps4 (no optical input)
so I need to know do I sell Xonar and get a new dac that will work with both, and then a amp, or is there a dac/amp as one that has what I need.....also if it will do 5.1 virtual surround with headphones or is that more a sound card thing....arrrgh its not easy lol