[iswag]

Recently bought a pair of ATH-m50x and considering boosting my desktop's sound quality. Does anyone know of a good and affordable pc sound card? Or should i invest in some other equipment such as a DAC. My friend recently bought a dacmagic xs and hes been going on about how good the sound is, however i read that its made for laptops and people on the go, what would be a more stationary solution? Thanks guys
 
EDIT: Its not only just for music, im using it for everyday use, such as skype, gaming and of course listening to music. It will be plugged in 24/7.

 

[GREQ]

As long as you don't need any 'surround-sound-emulation' nonsense for gaming, just keep it simple and stereo -
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-PCM2704-USB-DAC-USB-to-S-PDIF-Sound-Card-Decoder-Board-with-Aluminum-Housing-/160945210698?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item257915054a
 
A cheap external USB DAC such as this will do the most important job of keeping your signal totally clean at ANY volume.

 

[Mr Rick]

  Recently bought a pair of ATH-m50x and considering boosting my desktop's sound quality. Does anyone know of a good and affordable pc sound card? Or should i invest in some other equipment such as a DAC. My friend recently bought a dacmagic xs and hes been going on about how good the sound is, however i read that its made for laptops and people on the go, what would be a more stationary solution? Thanks guys
 
EDIT: Its not only just for music, im using it for everyday use, such as skype, gaming and of course listening to music. It will be plugged in 24/7.

I'm sure others with more experience will chime in, but I just started using a Schiit Modi 2 DAC.  It's a plug and play solution and works very well. It is designed to be left on 24 / 7.

 

[reddog]

I'm sure others with more experience will chime in, but I just started using a Schiit Modi 2 DAC.  It's a plug and play solution and works very well. It is designed to be left on 24 / 7.

+1 One can not go wrong with using anything from Schiit Audio.

 

[FlatCactus]

I'm going to come in from left field here and recommend the iBasso D7. It's usb powered, but it has a good headphone out with plenty of power for most headphones, both a 3.5mm and stereo RCA line out for speakers or another amp and also a coaxial digital output should you wish to connect it to other components.

It does require a driver for windows but having used it for over 2 years I can say it's very stable and it hasn't blue screened or frozen my computer even once.

Another unit worth considering is the audio gd 15.32. The sound quality and features are great and it has enough power and a low enough noise floor to be used with anything from sensitive iems to power hungry beasts of headphones.
The downside is the less stable usb driver. For this reason I use the D7 with coaxial out to the audio gd for a superbly stable system with great sound quality.

EDIT: The 15.32 is ac powered and the headphone output is completely isolated from PC noise or ground looping, unlike the D7. Just thought I should add that.
Good luck with your choices!

 

[iswag]

AFAIK the m50x is pretty easy to drive, im not 100% sure if a DAC will improve the sound. Im really new when to amps and dacs, so i need quite a bit of help. 

 

[cel4145]

A DAC like the Modi mentioned above it not meant to be used with headphones by itself. You need a DAC with a built in headphone amp or a DAC with a separate headphone amp.

FiiO E10K is a good budget external DAC/amp.

 

[iswag]

I was just reading about the fiio e10k, the price is pretty good in my budget. Question is will it boost the quality significantly? also 24/7 plugged in and use is fine for this tiny dac/amp right?
 
Last question, what use does pc sound cards have? like those ones from asus. 

 

[iswag]

A DAC like the Modi mentioned above it not meant to be used with headphones by itself. You need a DAC with a built in headphone amp or a DAC with a separate headphone amp.

FiiO E10K is a good budget external DAC/amp.

I was just reading about the fiio e10k, the price is pretty good in my budget. Question is will it boost the quality significantly? also 24/7 plugged in and use is fine for this tiny dac/amp right?
 
Last question, what use does pc sound cards have? like those ones from asus. 

 

[cel4145]

I was just reading about the fiio e10k, the price is pretty good in my budget. Question is will it boost the quality significantly? also 24/7 plugged in and use is fine for this tiny dac/amp right?

Hard for anyone to tell you. It depends on (a) the quality of your computer audio output (this varies a good bit between computer models) and (b) your evaluation of what is "significant." In other words, you won't know unless you listen to it and decide for yourself.

Last question, what use does pc sound cards have? like those ones from asus. 

Sound cards are often an improvement in SQ over motherboard audio. They also provide virtual surround for movies and gaming. Sometimes, external DAC/headphone amps work better because they are more isolated from noise interference in the computer (which can affect sound cards).

 

[iswag]

Hard for anyone to tell you. It depends on (a) the quality of your computer audio output (this varies a good bit between computer models) and (b) your evaluation of what is "significant." In other words, you won't know unless you listen to it and decide for yourself.
Sound cards are often an improvement in SQ over motherboard audio. They also provide virtual surround for movies and gaming. Sometimes, external DAC/headphone amps work better because they are more isolated from noise interference in the computer (which can affect sound cards).

thanks for the quick reply. Well from your experience with dac/amps, would you say a pair of m50x with the e10k amp will have at least some sort of improvement in SQ? I just bought these headphones and want to push it to its full potential. Also forget about the pc soundcards since i dislike virtual surround sound.

 

[cel4145]

As I said, depends on the quality of your computer audio output. If you order from Amazon or fulfilled by Amazon (not 3rd party vendors who do their shipping), the RMA process is easy. Best thing to do is try it and find out for yourself.

I would agree. If you are not interested in virtual surround, then external DAC/amps are the way to go

 

[iswag]

Shouldnt it be the same across different computers? I mean it uses micro usb, so i assume it would be similar. Well i have a pretty good gaming rig and the onboard sound is decent. Im planning to buy from a local store since they have a discount on the e10k right now, but they have a mo refund policy

 

[cel4145]

Yes. The FiiO E10K will be the same. But your current computer audio quality--computer vary quite a bit.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Shouldnt it be the same across different computers? I mean it uses micro usb, so i assume it would be similar. Well i have a pretty good gaming rig and the onboard sound is decent. Im planning to buy from a local store since they have a discount on the e10k right now, but they have a mo refund policy

 

The problem with USB DACs is that different motherboards (including laptops) may have different circuti designs. Some have more noise, some can only supply so much current through all the USB ports, etc. That's why red gaming motherboards now have USB ports that are guaranteed to run at full 5V and at full amperage through all simultaneously even if you don't actually use them that way, but lower tier boards without overclocking capabilities don't have the same guarantees (ie marketing fluff; some of them may run the same way but not included in the product page, like the one tier lower Zx7 boards). My MSI H77-G43 runs all ports with no problem for example (ie USB DAC or USB soundcard hooked up along with three peripherals including an XBox 360 controller, an external HDD, plus an iPad syncing at the rear and an SGS3 charging in the front USB3).