[iFi audio]

Thanks, I see my choice would be the Zen DAC v2.

That's a nice choice indeed; fully balanced, with headphone out and powered via 5V from USB or DC charger.

 

[Galeonero]

Are we discussing smart watches or headphones/dacs/amps?

The keyboard was bugged and I sent anything.
I wanted to tell him that I had forgotten to mention that I also wanted it for the PC, the AV Receiver I am not going to move it around.

 

[Steven31]

The keyboard was bugged and I sent anything.
I wanted to tell him that I had forgotten to mention that I also wanted it for the PC, the AV Receiver I am not going to move it around.

Then by all means follow the advice of the very kind and helpful guys at ifi audio.

 

[Tacoboy]

Galeonero, I would say not to get an A/V receiver, unless your going to get speakers to go with it.
Some USB sound cards might give you 5.1 (or 7.1?) headphone surround sound (Creative?).
You need to research on what USB sound cards offer headphone surround sound, with your model of Playstation.

 

[iFi audio]

Some USB sound cards might give you 5.1 (or 7.1?) headphone surround sound (Creative?).

It's also worth mentioning that on PCs software can enable surround for any soundcard/DAC: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-add-virtual-surround-sound-to-any-headphones-for-gaming

 

[Galeonero]

Galeonero, I would say not to get an A/V receiver, unless your going to get speakers to go with it.
Some USB sound cards might give you 5.1 (or 7.1?) headphone surround sound (Creative?).
You need to research on what USB sound cards offer headphone surround sound, with your model of Playstation.

Hi, actually the 5.1 / 7.1 didn't consider it because I don't have much room for speakers.
I do not like Virtual at all because it is not well done, the only thing they all do is reduce the bass, increase the low and mid frequencies ... All the sound detail is lost, I prefer to play with a good stereo that is well done For example The Witcher 3 or The last of us have an incredible stereo sound, it seems Real

 

[whitedragem]

You have this!

What research you have done has whittled down the options quite correctly towards the best feet forward.

Let me deal with the elephant in the room; the ‘A/V receiver’...

You are spot on regarding the crap you can buy for ‘entry level coin’.
Generally only THE VERY BEST surround receivers (yes, ‘flagships’) from the ‘big‘ mainstream brands (ie Sony/Denon/Yamaha etc) (not Anthem and esoteric stuff) give a sound quality that actually renders music ‘musically’.

It is an odd thing to experience- until you do, and then you can never ‘unlearn’ what you have experienced.

I have at least seven (actually probably many more) flagship grade receivers, all at least ‘ten years old’, and the best ones are the ones that are ‘twenty years old’.
The older FLAGSHIPS processing ‘lowly’ Dolby Digital (not Dolby True HD etc), sound WAY better than even a lot of the multithousand dollar ‘mainstream’ surround amps of the modern world (processing True multichannel hi res audio).
To see twenty year old models render dolby digital (only) streams sounding more dynamic and ‘clear’ than anything less than (new) flagship parts seems crazy. (’cause preHDMI surround amps are worth pennies, and sound BETTER)
I keep a handul around to use as power amps in some situations.. (multichannel processors (no amps inbuilt) sounding much better than integrated amps and receivers, which all now have wireless too /wink.gif)

A twenty year old surround receiver, that costs peanuts will;
take up a lot of space
generate a lot of heat
increase running costs ($) in electricity (not such a big negative, depending on perspective)
will be a pain in the butt to connect to a PS5 or slim PS4 (no toslink output)

the biggest benefit will be the ability to be a proper power amp, and some have headphone circuits as good as a ‘few hundred dollar’ headphone amp. (very limited number of models)

It will not move easily between locations in the house (PC/TV etc)
It *may* have dolby headphone built in (and HDCD decoding)

Dolby headphone has consistently proven my favorite encoder for headphone surround that is ‘nearly as good’ as physical speakers in the room.

You would have to break my arm in the socket (twisting) to force me to listen to a modern surround receiver that didn’t cost UBER DOLLARS.
Not everyone ‘hears’ the same, and others may not have listened to the backward slide that has been surround audio pretty much since the Yamaha DSP1000 back in the early 90s. That was my third flagship surround receiver, and completely impractical nowadays, but was at a time when surround had to at least equal stereo sound quality.

So, having ruled out much of the notion of desktop amplifier, and ‘sans going big budget Burson’ with speaker capability output; your price category puts you firmly in headamp territory.
That aforementioned iFi product (and any present line parts it would seem) have the PS4/PS5 firmwares (the consoles can ’see’ them via rear USB port) which allows bypassing other digital out methods (eg HDMI/then toslink from the TV).
This may prove a big advantage with PS5 which will not pass 3D/HRTF encoded 2 channel (for headphones) via the HDMI output. (Sony are likely to rectify this possibly around the time they launch the software to capture our ear geography and build ‘custom’ HRTFs for our INDIVIDUAL physiognomy, but this is ‘in the future’/not guaranteed any time soon)

The nice bonus with the iFi parts is the GTO firmwares
GTO is a digital filter than essentially renders low sample rate sound (eg 44/48khz as found in most games) to have the speed/nuance of ‘hi res’ formats.
And it is very good to have.

I actually had an iFi part whilst waiting for iFi to release a GTO firmware AND a Playstation compatible firmware for ‘my device’.
The fact that the company (iFi) retro support older units (outside of warranty) makes them ‘a cut above’ in my eyes.
If it was Sony you know that the upgraded firmwares (adding features) would turn up on ‘future products only’.

For the lowly asking price for the DAC/amp you are looking at you get tonnes of ‘iFi trickle down tech’ (AMR ‘parent company’ are BIG DOGS who buy incredible circuit licenses and implement technology in ways it was intended to be used (or better) and deliver great bang/buck ratio).

A decent amp opens up the soundfield and will improve stereo imaging and ‘front to back’ depth in ways that the cheap parts just don’t render.
You are probably looking at the best bang/buck part in the entire iFi lineup; I’d say that is a bargain..

Grab an old 70s/80s amplifier from a garage sale for the price of a meal at Maccas, and maybe use that to drive those 6 ohm tower speakers you have.
Waiting for that bargain piece of kit to turn up is the name of the game. No point buying ‘vintage’ if paying a price premium, when you’d only be buying it due to being ‘a bargain’.

In the meantime, that iFi part is available at retail to instantly gratify.
Safe December present to yourself I’d say!

 

[iFi audio]

The nice bonus with the iFi parts is the GTO firmwares
GTO is a digital filter than essentially renders low sample rate sound (eg 44/48khz as found in most games) to have the speed/nuance of ‘hi res’ formats.
And it is very good to have.

Thanks, we're very happy how our GTO filter turned out and your description of it fits perfectly