[SolomonPierce]

Hi all, just looking for some advice and any info you can give me in choosing amps / dacs and overall improving my setup.
 
My main headphones are hd598, k540, sr125, and next to get the dt770 pro 80s.  Trying to feel out different companies before working my way into their higher end lineups.  Anyway, I really like the 598 (and they are the most expensive so I should) but the others are no slouch.  Basically I just have no idea about choosing an amp other than I'd prefer it not to be made in China (like two of my main cans... *sigh*).  I've been looking at the Schiit Valhalla / Lyr as they're US made and around my $300 price range for an amp.
 
I'm not dead set on a tube amp either, especially because I've heard they're not very good for driving high sensitivity cans like the 598s?  I'd like to get an amp I could use on both my 598s, 770s, and possibly my next purchase after that.  Which is why I was thinking of something more powerful like the Lyr, just in case.
 
Also right now I'm ashamed of my setup, I have my 598s hooked up to my pc (some titanium x-fi hd creative sb card forget exact model) and that's it (all cds ripped to flac of course ).  I don't have a way to plug them into the sound card directly as far as I can tell so I just my pc's headphone out on front.  The sound card does have optical jacks which I can (hopefully?) use for my amp?  Basically I just want a more legitimate setup.  I did have the e7/e9 but returned them because the e9 was adding a popping distortion and I couldn't reason any way to fix it.  Only happened with the e9.  Anyway I want to make sure my next amp is better, because other than adding an annoying bit of distortion, there was no difference in sound that I could hear.  Granted the 598s aren't very high impedance but I had heard an amp could open them up even more?  Which leads to my last question:
 
Does an amp truly improve sound quality beyond merely increasing volume?  I've heard people talk as though it does, e.g. to "open up" the 598s to their full potential, but with the e9 I noticed nothing.
 
Sorry to go on for so long, but I'm full of questions, and I do appreciate any you may answer.  Thanks again.
 
tl;dr how to pick the right amp - preferably European / US (for dt770 80 ohm, 598, future cans).  How to make sure I'm making the most of my pc as an audio source.

 

[hodgjy]

Since you have a wide variety of headphones, including low impedance ones, you'll want an amp versatile enough to drive them all.  In that case, you probably don't want an OTL tube amp, which the Valhalla is.  You'll want a solid state, tube amp with an output transformer, or a tube hybrid amp.  But, I don't think many transformer-coupled and hybird amps can be had for $300 that are truly excellent amps, so I think you'll want to focus exclusively on solid state amps.

 

[SolomonPierce]

Ok that's fine, like I said, I'm not dead set on tube, I just was leaning in that direction because I prefer a warmer sound.  Have you had any experience with the Asgard?  I've heard generally good things about their whole line from my brief looking around at topics about Schiit stuff.  Not dead set on Schiit either, I don't give a Schiit, just want to make sure I'm getting something decent.
 
edit: the Cayin ha-1a is a hybrid tube yes?  I had looked at that but kind of put a pin into it due to price.  Might consider it later on though.

 

[hodgjy]

I have the Asgard and I really like it.  It is smooth and leans slightly to the warm side.

 

[SolomonPierce]

That sounds good, I wouldn't have a problem going with that considering it'll save me some cash over the others.  So do amps have that much of an effect on the sound quality / signature?  I know I've heard tube amps do, but how about ss?  I was surprised to hear that people found amps to make such a difference, even if not a substantial one, any difference in the signature was a surprise to me.  Again, I'm pretty new to actually looking into the technical aspects of headphones at all.  In the past I've just purchased what I thought sounded good to me.  I don't know why I didn't get into this earlier, now I feel like I'm late to the party lol.  Anyway thanks for the help.

 

[hodgjy]

Assuming you don't have an equalizer in the chain, this is how I rank the device's influence on the overall sound.  1 = most effect.
 
1) Headphones
2) Amp
3) Source
4) Cables
 
Amps do have a very profound effect on the sound.  They not only control the tones, but influence sound stage, decay, etc.

 

[hodgjy]

P.S.  Also consider the Matrix M-Stage as a potential amp.

 

[SolomonPierce]

Yeah I've heard that before, your order of importance.  btw what would the source be?  the dac you're using?  Because my pc is my source with just my soundcard.  It's pretty decent and I don't think I'd notice a big difference with a dac.  Using 320+ kbps tracks definitely does, thought headphones matter even more... Can't comment on amp yet because like I said e7 was useless.  I'll prob go with the Asgard I think.  So I just would run spdif out from my soundcard to the rca jack on the asgard?  I'll need an adapter right?  Or is there another way to hook it up?  I do have optical toslink in / out on my soundcard but there's no such thing as a optical cable with one end terminating in rca and the other in toslink right? lol
 
Apologies for the dumb questions, just want to make sure I buy the right things.  I've used plenty of optical cables before in my surround sound setup but never had to connect to rca.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Yeah I've heard that before, your order of importance.  btw what would the source be?  the DAC you're using?  Because my PC is my source with just my sound card.  It's pretty decent and I don't think I'd notice a big difference with a DAC.  Using 320+ kbps tracks definitely does, thought headphones matter even more... Can't comment on amp yet because like I said e7 was useless.  I'll prob go with the Asgard I think.  So I just would run s/pdif out from my sound card to the rca jack on the Asgard?  I'll need an adapter right?  Or is there another way to hook it up?  I do have optical toslink in / out on my sound card but there's no such thing as a optical cable with one end terminating in rca and the other in toslink right? lol
Apologies for the dumb questions, just want to make sure I buy the right things.  I've used plenty of optical cables before in my surround sound setup but never had to connect to rca.

I believe the Schiit Asgard is analog RCA (Red/White) input only.
A cable with a mini stereo jack (1/8", 3.5mm) on one end (plug in sound card) and two RCAs (Red/White) on the other will work for connecting you to the Schiit Asgard.
Have you thought of getting the O2 (Objective 2) headphone amplifier, it's around $160 mail order.
A simple mini stereo jack (1/8", 3.5mm) male on both ends would connect the sound card to the O2.
 
 
 

 

[SolomonPierce]

It is rca only but, isn't a 3.5mm jack of lesser quality than an optical cable?  Would it be better to run a converter between or is that just adding an unnecessary component that may effect the sound?  Also I'm not sure I have a spdif 3.5mm out on the soundcard other than for my speakers, I've tried unsuccessfully to run the headphones directly out of the soundcard in the past... I'd hate to use the headphone out on the front of my computer for the amp just in case it's of lesser quality (even though that's what I run my phones out of now).  btw I just ordered the dt770/80s so looking forward to that.  Just going to save some money to blow on the amp next.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

It is rca only but, isn't a 3.5mm jack of lesser quality than an optical cable?  Would it be better to run a converter between or is that just adding an unnecessary component that may effect the sound?  Also I'm not sure I have a spdif 3.5mm out on the soundcard other than for my speakers, I've tried unsuccessfully to run the headphones directly out of the soundcard in the past... I'd hate to use the headphone out on the front of my computer for the amp just in case it's of lesser quality (even though that's what I run my phones out of now).  btw I just ordered the dt770/80s so looking forward to that.  Just going to save some money to blow on the amp next.

It would help if you could find out the exact model number of the Creative sound card.
If the sound card has an optical digital output, you could run an optical digital cable to something like the Fiio D3, which can convert the digital optical signal to analog.
Then just use a short RCA to RCA cable to connect the Fiio D3 to the Schiit Asgard.
 
 
 

 

[SolomonPierce]

Yeah something like that is what I had in mind.  I'll check the actual model of my SC next time I shut my pc off.  I keep meaning to do that lol.
 
Btw I'm looking at the E-mu 0404 usb in the meantime.  I found one on Craigslist that I figure would hold me over until I get something better.  Still have to see about it though.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Hi all, just looking for some advice and any info you can give me in choosing amps / dacs and overall improving my setup.
My main headphones are hd598, k540, sr125, and next to get the dt770 pro 80s.  Trying to feel out different companies before working my way into their higher end lineups.  Anyway, I really like the 598 (and they are the most expensive so I should) but the others are no slouch.  Basically I just have no idea about choosing an amp other than I'd prefer it not to be made in China (like two of my main cans... *sigh*).  I've been looking at the Schiit Valhalla / Lyr as they're US made and around my $300 price range for an amp.
I'm not dead set on a tube amp either, especially because I've heard they're not very good for driving high sensitivity cans like the 598s?  I'd like to get an amp I could use on both my 598s, 770s, and possibly my next purchase after that.  Which is why I was thinking of something more powerful like the Lyr, just in case.
Also right now I'm ashamed of my setup, I have my 598s hooked up to my pc (some titanium x-fi hd creative sb card forget exact model) and that's it (all cds ripped to flac of course ).  I don't have a way to plug them into the sound card directly as far as I can tell so I just my pc's headphone out on front.  The sound card does have optical jacks which I can (hopefully?) use for my amp?  Basically I just want a more legitimate setup.  I did have the e7/e9 but returned them because the e9 was adding a popping distortion and I couldn't reason any way to fix it.  Only happened with the e9.  Anyway I want to make sure my next amp is better, because other than adding an annoying bit of distortion, there was no difference in sound that I could hear.  Granted the 598s aren't very high impedance but I had heard an amp could open them up even more?  Which leads to my last question:
Does an amp truly improve sound quality beyond merely increasing volume?  I've heard people talk as though it does, e.g. to "open up" the 598s to their full potential, but with the e9 I noticed nothing.
Sorry to go on for so long, but I'm full of questions, and I do appreciate any you may answer.  Thanks again.
tl;dr how to pick the right amp - preferably European / US (for dt770 80 ohm, 598, future cans).  How to make sure I'm making the most of my pc as an audio source.

First off, do you use your computer audio for music? movies? gaming?
 
One of the reasons people buy an external add-on headphone amplifiers is because most headphone jacks in the world are cheap and crude.
I'm guessing lots of headphone jacks (like on some sound cards) are just line-out jacks that you can plug headphones into.
Some headphone amplifiers are more geared towards 80-Ohm headphones or higher. something to do with high impedance.
Something like the Fiio E11 headphone amplifier might work better for you.
 
 
 

 

[SolomonPierce]

Music almost exclusively.  I could care less about sound quality for games and I watch movies on my surround sound.  I wasn't a fan of the other Fiio things I purchased, so I'd prefer something else.  Also I am getting 770s 80ohms and plan to get something of a much higher impedance after I've picked out a good amp.  For the time being I guess I'm just going to grab something cheap ~$100.  The emu0404 was sold, I messaged another guy about a obh-11 he's selling, same price point though I've heard mixed reviews.  I just want something to hold me over until I have the money to get a good amp and once I know what my next headphones purchase will be.  I'm pretty sure I've decided on the Asgard for the 770s once I have the spare cash to blow on it.  If my "hold-me-over" amp is better than expected I'll prob skip asgard and get an amp suited to my next cans, whatever they will be.
 
But my only problem now, as far as using my pc as a source for my music, what can I do to get the best results?  I just want to know any tips / tricks I may not already be doing.

 

[SolomonPierce]

So here is my SC connections... It was screwed up to I have a T splitter off camera with the sub and front speaker (I think it was) going into one place.  So since these other 3.5mm slots are all for surround sound, all I have is the optical in / out and my front headphone jack.  Would I have to hook an amp up to from the front headphone jack --> amp via rca (assuming it doesn't have usb)?
 
Thanks for the help.

 
Edit: oops pic's upside down but whatever you get the idea