Headphone amp with digital in?
Jul 18, 2005 at 9:52 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 33
skiguy411

skiguy411

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After screwing up the analog outputs on my audigy 2 zs, I decided to see if there was such a thing as a headphone amplifer that has a digital input? The digital out of the Audigy is working fine.

Or does anyone know of a better way to be able to use my HD595s with the digital out of my Audigy?
 
Jul 18, 2005 at 10:18 PM Post #2 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by skiguy411
After screwing up the analog outputs on my audigy 2 zs, I decided to see if there was such a thing as a headphone amplifer that has a digital input? The digital out of the Audigy is working fine.

Or does anyone know of a better way to be able to use my HD595s with the digital out of my Audigy?



Porta Corda with USB-in just click on Meier Audio at the top of the page under "please support head-fi's sponsors".

The Headroom Micro Amp and Micro Dac these are two seperate little units. Click on Headroom at the top of the page under "please support head-fi's sponsors".

These are the only two I remember now. There might be more.

BTW, you are better off using USB instead of any digital out from your Audigy. USB has two way communication and significantly reduces if not eliminates jitter from the equation. Both products support USB. The only reason to go optical or coaxial is if you are playing 24/96 sources from your computer. The Micro DAC accepts such signals only via optical and coaxial. Odds are that you are not though.
 
Jul 18, 2005 at 10:37 PM Post #4 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by skiguy411
Well the main reason I wanted to keep using the audigy was because of the gaming features (such as eax)



Oh I see, I guess the Audigy does some sort of surround simulation that you use for your headphones. Then I guess you could use the digital out on it to a headphone amp.

However, since the Porta Corda is USB only and only other option I know of is the Micro DAC at $300 + $300 for the Micro amp you really might do better with some sort of receiver with a headphone jack (which are far cheaper these days).
 
Jul 19, 2005 at 1:03 AM Post #5 of 33
A receiver would be fine, but they take up a lot of desk space. You could get a ART DI/O and an amp to go with it.
 
Jul 19, 2005 at 1:39 AM Post #6 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by PFRfan
A receiver would be fine, but they take up a lot of desk space. You could get a ART DI/O and an amp to go with it.


Good call. I forgot about that one.
 
Jul 19, 2005 at 1:49 AM Post #7 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by PFRfan
A receiver would be fine, but they take up a lot of desk space. You could get a ART DI/O and an amp to go with it.


Hm...this seems like it could be a good solution. Anyone else have any experience with this?
 
Jul 19, 2005 at 2:14 AM Post #9 of 33
The Audio Technica DHA3000 has only digital inputs - 1 coaxial (RCA) and 2 Toslink style inputs ...it has the same compliment of digital outputs so you can daisy chain to another DAC, etc...it has digital EQ and Bass +/- and treble +/- controls as well. It also has 1/4 and 1/8 inch headphone jacks as well as selectable impedence to High,Low, Medium and Automatic....
 
Jul 19, 2005 at 2:18 AM Post #10 of 33
Benchmark DAC1
eek.gif
 
Jul 19, 2005 at 2:27 AM Post #11 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by mbratrud
The Audio Technica DHA3000 has only digital inputs - 1 coaxial (RCA) and 2 Toslink style inputs ...it has the same compliment of digital outputs so you can daisy chain to another DAC, etc...it has digital EQ and Bass +/- and treble +/- controls as well. It also has 1/4 and 1/8 inch headphone jacks as well as selectable impedence to High,Low, Medium and Automatic....


Sounds like a nice product. Too bad its about $3,000 more than I would like to spend!
eek.gif
 
Jul 19, 2005 at 3:32 AM Post #12 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by skiguy411
Hm...this seems like it could be a good solution. Anyone else have any experience with this?


Ok after reading up on this, I am a bit confused. From what I gather I cant connect my Senn HD595s to this unless I do some type of mod correct? can anyone point me in the right direction to see if I could possibly do this mod myself?
 
Jul 19, 2005 at 4:11 AM Post #13 of 33
Any DAC (the Headroom MicroDAC, the DAC1, the ART DI/O) simply turns a digital signal into an analog one - usually at line level. The DAC1 happens to have a built-in headphone amp which is supposed to be pretty good (maybe along the lines of a $200-$400 amp based on what I recall reading). It's also in the $1000 neighborhood. The Headroom MicroDAC is $300 and gets very high marks, but requires a seperate amp.

The ART DI/O requires a seperate amp - think PocketAmp, AirHead, GoVibe - and an interconnect cable. I kind of like the sound coming out of my Audigy2 digital into my Mackie Spike (it's an audio I/O box), then out the line-outs and into my PocketAmp 2. Now that I think of it, the Edirol UA-25 is probably a better solution, since it's headphone section is supposed to be pretty good, and is a more versatile DAC. If you decide to use a seperate amp later, just connect it to the UA-25's line-outs.
 
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