[DiParagon]

I am interested in gameing and music primarily but also watch movies on my pc. Presently i have onboard sound via ALC 889 with dolby home theater v4. The software provides good enough possitional audio and i have 0 hissing with amped speakers from the sound card.
 
That said i also own a xonar dx which as you know does not have a headphone amp. Neither does the onbard so you get the drift. What i am looking to achieve is the headphones need an amp, i know the ohm is only 56 but the sensitivity is 96, plus i have hooked them up from the pc onbaord aduio to my pioneer VSX-d514 reciever and know they sound great with power higher than the pc can provide.
 
What i want is to know my best route to support my system. Presently i have the onboard running via optical link to the reciever with bookshelf speakers and a dayton 150w sub, that osunds fine but i want to use headphones more and want them to be poered descent. So do i get a sound card like xonar stx or phoebos or is there  a way to amp the headphones and still use the onboard dolby software?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I am interested in gameing and music primarily but also watch movies on my pc. Presently i have onboard sound via ALC 889 with dolby home theater v4. The software provides good enough possitional audio and i have 0 hissing with amped speakers from the sound card.
 
That said i also own a xonar dx which as you know does not have a headphone amp. Neither does the onbard so you get the drift. What i am looking to achieve is the headphones need an amp, i know the ohm is only 56 but the sensitivity is 96, plus i have hooked them up from the pc onbaord aduio to my pioneer VSX-d514 reciever and know they sound great with power higher than the pc can provide.
 
What i want is to know my best route to support my system. Presently i have the onboard running via optical link to the reciever with bookshelf speakers and a dayton 150w sub, that osunds fine but i want to use headphones more and want them to be poered descent. So do i get a sound card like xonar stx or phoebos or is there  a way to amp the headphones and still use the onboard dolby software?

Fiio E11 portable headphone amplifier, $50, connect to to the line-out/headphone jack (green) on the Xonar DX.
Get the Fiio E11 with the Micca combo (extra battery (BL-6B) and simple AC battery charger)

 

[DiParagon]

Following your suggestion would not be useing the onboard software, home theater v4. Will it however, use teh DX dolby headphone by doing this and if so, would the same amp work useing onboard leaving me able to sell the DX since i am not useing it?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Following your suggestion would not be using the on-board software, home theater v4. Will it however, use the DX's Dolby Headphone by doing this and if so, would the same amp work using on-board leaving me able to sell the DX since I am not using it?

I was going to say to disable built in audio and just use the Xonar DX, as the DAC in the DX should be better then the motherboard's DAC
DAC - Digital to Analog Converter.
So just use the DX's built in Dolby Headphone 7.1 surround sound (and the E11)
 
But if you choose to use the built in audio, you can remove the the DX and just plug the E11 into the motherboard's line-out/headphone jack (green).

 

[DiParagon]

Kinda going back to my point though, since useing the onboard audio, yes it may have an inferior DAC however am i not bypassing that by useinf the optical link and useing the DAC in the reciever? Which brings me back to would it be better suited to get this amp you are talking about, btw i have a Fiio e6 amp, and im not impressed so far. or would i be better served just dumping the 200 for a phoebos or stx soundcard so i get headphone amp with the better DAC as well as home theater functionality, or is my recievers headphone mode the same and possibly best to use it?
 
I understand the DX supposedly has a better DAC and i know what a DAC is, i dont know if im bypassing it with the optical (though i believe im correct here) and wondering what would be best to do from here.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Kinda going back to my point though, since useing the onboard audio, yes it may have an inferior DAC however am i not bypassing that by useinf the optical link and useing the DAC in the reciever? Which brings me back to would it be better suited to get this amp you are talking about, btw i have a Fiio e6 amp, and im not impressed so far. or would i be better served just dumping the 200 for a Phoebos or STX sound card so i get headphone amp with the better DAC as well as home theater functionality, or is my receivers headphone mode the same and possibly best to use it?
 
I understand the DX supposedly has a better DAC and i know what a DAC is, i dont know if im bypassing it with the optical (though i believe I'm correct here) and wondering what would be best to do from here.

optical, coaxial & USB are all digital and pre-DAC.
So you can use the motherboard's optical or the DX's optical, to connect to the receiver.
The STX & DX use the same C-Media CMI8788 audio processor, the Phoebus uses the C-media CMI8888, so it's a slightly modified CMI8788.
 
Maybe upgrade your headphones, sell off the Xonar DX and Superlux headphones and maybe get the Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro 250-Ohm, receiver should easily drive 250-ohm headphones.