[dextersventures]

I have grado sr-80s and an asus xonar essence stx. Will be buying the sr-325is in a week as well. The thing is, my headphones sound better coming from my ipod than they do from my asus essence stx soundcard. The ipod sounds much more livelier and forward, like im on the stage with the musician. The ipod gives me tons of energy that I love. The asus stx on the other hand with the JRC2114 (default), sounds like there is a veil in front of the music, perhaps like im sitting 10 rows back. The impedance is matched to the grados, so it cant be that.

Can someone recommend an opamp to fix this for the stx?

My preferences, I love upfront, forward, bright, detailed, fast, hyper articulate sound. Any suggestions?

I looked everywhere in the forums for an answer to this, but nothing was close enough. All help is greatly appreciated.

 

[gurubhai]

I recommend LT1057 for grados.
I have never heard the grados though, my opinion is based on the HD595s whom some call the "grado of the sennheiser house".

 

[eugenius]

Get a Gilmore lite or a chinese dynalo. And then tweak the sound using the amp.