[Kierk]

Hi guys,
i was just wondering if my X-Fi Xtreme Music souncard will be enough to drive a DT990 Pro, which is rated at 250 ohms.

Any thoughts ?

Thanks !

 

[is daft]

Yes, but not to its full potential. The OPAMP on the xtrememusic is decent, but obviously not decent enough.

Good luck

 

[Kierk]

Thanks is daft !
I also ended finding this : http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/an...t99005-206483/

So that will do the job, but i'll certainly look forward an amp in the future.

 

[leeperry]

this card was lousy with my 32 Ohm MDR-CD1000....using an M-Audio Audiophile USB was a huge improvement, especially bass-wise!

these Creative cards are junk for audio, you need a proper headphones output...

 

[apatN]

An X-FI will power them just fine.

 

[Behemot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry /img/forum/go_quote.gif this card was lousy with my 32 Ohm MDR-CD1000....using an M-Audio Audiophile USB was a huge improvement, especially bass-wise! these Creative cards are junk for audio, you need a proper headphones output...

Dunno about Sony's, maybe there some bad synergy between them and that X-Fi but I doubt it...At 32 Ohm you could easily overdrive them.. Or maybe it was EQ? I used X-Fi Platinum (one with a drivebay) together with DT990 Pro and they were able to drive them. The loudness was OK but I had to crank it up. Nice bass. Tried DT100 (400 Ohm) and that was too much - sound was still there but rather thin, with very poor bass.

I would get a small stand-alone preamp for any 250 Ohm headphones - or simply get DT990 with lower impedence - there is a model with I think 80 Ohm..

Creative cards are defenitely not junk for audio, at least not the X-Fi ones.

 

[milkweg]

I have DT990pro and had to crank volume to pretty much full on my EMU 0404 USB headphone amp with some lower gain mp3s if I wanted loud listening level. EMU 0404 USB headphone amp has more power than X-Fi (I have an X-Fi but never tried DT990pro with it). I now have Lunchbox Pro tube headphone amp and that drives DT990pro easily. Lunchbox Pro has 240mw@300ohm.

 

[leeperry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behemot /img/forum/go_quote.gif Tried DT100 (400 Ohm) and that was too much - sound was still there but rather thin, with very poor bass.

exactly! very thin sound and no bass at all...my cd1k sounded terrible on the lineout output of the Xtreme Music(no rack with headphones output).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behemot /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would get a small stand-alone preamp for any 250 Ohm headphones - or simply get DT990 with lower impedence - there is a model with I think 80 Ohm.

the headphones output of my Audiophile USB is very beefy! it's got 2X NE5532 and in bitperfect on the SONY I'm almost at the minimum....this should qualify to amp a 250 Ohm beyer, don't you think ? I'd rather not go for the 80 Ohm as it seems less balanced.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Behemot /img/forum/go_quote.gif Creative cards are defenitely not junk for audio, at least not the X-Fi ones.

except for the elite model, I'd say that they use very low quality opamps and PCB shielding.

translate these SNR/THD measurements with babelfish, you'll notice how poorly the Creative scored :
DOS/V POWER REPORT | Impress Japan
DOS/V POWER REPORT | Impress Japan
DOS/V POWER REPORT | Impress Japan
DOS/V POWER REPORT | Impress Japan
DOS/V POWER REPORT | Impress Japan
DOS/V POWER REPORT | Impress Japan
DOS/V POWER REPORT | Impress Japan
DOS/V POWER REPORT | Impress Japan

 

[Dominat0r]

i have this sound card in my puter for a the past 2 years almost.

I can say for certain that NO it will not properly push a 250ohm can.

It pushes grado well, however they do sound better with power.

Short answer - NO it will not....just cause it has proper volume, doesnt meant its being powered properly.

 

[FallenAngel]

Uhm... I hope you know that the higher the Ohm rating, the EASIER it is for a device to power it. Most devices have a current bottleneck, not voltage, they like driving high impedance loads (and have to work VERY hard to drive low impedance loads)

 

[Dominat0r]

yes, its the sensitivity i believe..

I cant seem to find any info on the sensitivity of the 990, but im assuming they need more then Xfi can put out to truly drive these cans.

 

[leeperry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HighLife /img/forum/go_quote.gif I cant seem to find any info on the sensitivity of the 990

600 Ohm I think...you might wanna check the PDF on the beyer website.
Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Uhm... I hope you know that the higher the Ohm rating, the EASIER it is for a device to power it. Most devices have a current bottleneck, not voltage, they like driving high impedance loads (and have to work VERY hard to drive low impedance loads)

the lower the impedance, the lower the electrical resistance apparently.....reason why the 32 Ohm SONY's are known to be highly sensitive.
but someone said that he plugged both a 770pro/80 and a 770pro/250 on the same amp, and he had to set the volume knob to the exact same position

 

[FallenAngel]

Yes, sensitivity is the main factor in determining whether something will get loud or not at a certain voltage/current output. Sensitivity is not related to impedance, but together they determine amp requirements.

You're right in the first part - lower impedance (resistance) means that headphones can draw more current through them which makes them a harder load on the output device than a high impedance load.

Having had DT770/80 and DT770/600 at the same time, I would have to disagree, the 600 Ohm version needed considerably more voltage to reach same volume level (farther on volume knob).

 

[Dominat0r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leeperry /img/forum/go_quote.gif 600 Ohm I think...you might wanna check the PDF on the beyer website.

Ya, i checked [showUID]=45&tx_sbproductdatabase_pi1[showUid][backPID]=68&cHash=f8ff1123c1]here. I didnt see the sensitivity...

 

[Kierk]

Well, i received my DT990 Pro some days ago, and i can tell you that the card is enough to drive my headphone.

But, as HighLife said, i'm not sure my x-fi drives the 990 Pro properly, so i ordered a Fiio 3 to make comparison.