[Mad Lust Envy]

That tiny little amp can't possibly do enough for the K702, which has been known for a very long time to scale with full sized desktop amps.

 

[SierraMadre]

I keep seeing "dolby headphone" in here. is there a standalone device that I can buy, or is the author referring to the Dolby Access app for atmos?

Dolby Access will give you Dolby Atmos for headphone which is the successor to their ubiquitous Dolby headphone which was their most common / popular VSS solution that was integrated into various sound cards and gaming dac/amps. Both are post processing algorithms that render VSS.

Atmos for headphone will behave more or less like regular DOlby headphone when it comes to normal 5.1 and 7.1 content but when fed with Atmos source content will render in “3D” (adding height effects). Sound quality was initially relatively poor (in comparison to Dolby headphone) when it first debuted but is much improved since then. Some may disagree but I think it is of comparable quality to Dolby headphone now and with the added bonus of being able to render height effects for Atmos source content, I personally see no reason to seek out Dolby headphone over Atmos for headphone unless of course you want it for a device that can’t take advantage of Atmos for headphone for technical reasons (PlayStation etc.).

If you are just using PC or Xbox then I’d recommend just getting the Dolby Access app (it’s one-off peanuts for a lifetime licence on up to 10 devices), engaging Atmos for headphones and then feeding it out via optical to a nice dac/amp.

If on the other hand, you want something for other devices then there’s plenty of Dolby headphone stuff to choose from, the cheapest being the Turtlebeach Earforce DSS which you could probably pick up for under 20 second hand. It’s not the most powerful device but it’s cheap enough to be worth it just to try and to act as a backup to more expensive equipment or as a travel companion that you don’t mind losing. Alternatively you could just get something more expensive / powerful like the Astro Mixamp from Amazon and just return if you don’t like it

 

[PurpleAngel]

Guys, I'm a owner of a Sennheiser HD 598 headphone and a Creative Sound Blaster Titanium X-FI HD sound card and I'm looking for upgrade both (for gaming).
Which headphone do you suggest to upgrade from a HD 598? And soundcard? A Creative Sound Blaster AE-5 will be a good upgrade or doesn't worth it?
I'm looking for better soundstage to better hear the "footsteps" on FPS, but I don't want a poor sound for other gamings too.
Regards, Ricardo

Have you considered to keep using the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Ti-HD (Titanium-HD) sound card and just add an external headphone amplifier and connect the amp to the Ti-HD's line-output (RCA) jacks?
What is your budget for the audio upgrade?

 

[Snikibiki]

1. If I want to increase volume of footsteps, and decrease volume of explosions, I have to buy dsp? BTW dsp is software or something in soundcard? 2. If I want to buy headphones for gaming and music, like k712 pro, if I decrease (only for gaming time) bass volume it can sound and overall perform almost like k702?

 

[ricardovix]

Have you considered to keep using the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Ti-HD (Titanium-HD) sound card and just add an external headphone amplifier and connect the amp to the Ti-HD's line-output (RCA) jacks?
What is your budget for the audio upgrade?

Actually I didn't thought about add an external headphone amplifier, because I don't know how this can improve my gaming (especially multiplayer FPS).

My budget is more or less US$ 400,00 for a headphone and around US$ 150,00 for a sound card.

The Sound Blaster AE-5 is a considerable upgrade when compared to my Sound Blaster Titanium X-Fi HD or I'll barely notice an improvement?

Thanks!

 

[PurpleAngel]

1. If I want to increase volume of footsteps, and decrease volume of explosions, I have to buy dsp? BTW dsp is software or something in soundcard? 2. If I want to buy headphones for gaming and music, like k712 pro, if I decrease (only for gaming time) bass volume it can sound and overall perform almost like k702?

What exactly are you currently using for audio?

 

[ricardovix]

What exactly are you currently using for audio?

Today I use an Sennheiser HD 598 connected to a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD.

I use the headphones only for gaming (single player and multiplayer). I don't listen to music and movies/tv shows I watch on my Home Theater.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Actually I didn't thought about add an external headphone amplifier, because I don't know how this can improve my gaming (especially multiplayer FPS). My budget is more or less US$ 400,00 for a headphone and around US$ 150,00 for a sound card.
The Sound Blaster AE-5 is a considerable upgrade when compared to my Sound Blaster Titanium X-Fi HD or I'll barely notice an improvement? Thanks!

I'm assuming your looking to improve headphone FPS "surround sound" gaming, "soundstage" has more to do with music.
The Ti-HD with an external headphone amplifier, should easily match the AE-5, for sound quality.
The Ti-HD uses CMSS-3D for headphone surround sound, while the AE-5 uses the newer Soundcore3D audio processor, for SBX headphone surround sound.
I'm not into FPS gaming or Creative sound cards, so can't advice on which card will offer the best headphone surround sound, for whatever FPS you like playing.
Suggesting adding an external headphone amplifier, to the Ti-HD, is just an option I wanted to point out. not trying to talk you out of swapping the Ti-HD, for the AE-5.
Guess you could get the AE-5, see if it improves your gaming, if so, then sell off the Ti-HD.

 

[Snikibiki]

What exactly are you currently using for audio?

Middle class speakers.. But does it matter?

 

[Yethal]

I have DragonFly Black right now, so ill need something different to get full potential from k702 and ad700x?

An amp would be helpful.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Middle class speakers.. But does it matter?

Just trying to get a full understanding of what you currently have
I'm going to guess the K702 and K712 are going to be about equal for headphone surround sound function.
So using different volumes does not really make perform differently (better or worse) for FPS gaming, between the two headphones.
The K712 should offer at least a little more in sound quality. like for music.
Do you have a budget, for your audio upgrade?

 

[Snikibiki]

Just trying to get a full understanding of what you currently have
I'm going to guess the K702 and K712 are going to be about equal for headphone surround sound function.
So using different volumes does not really make perform differently (better or worse) for FPS gaming, between the two headphones.
The K712 should offer at least a little more in sound quality. like for music.
Do you have a budget, for your audio upgrade?

Still same question.. if I want to increase volume of footsteps, and decrease volume of explosions/shots, I have to buy dsp or what? BTW dsp is software or something in soundcard? I have around 500$ for headphones+amp/dac. How much amp/dac will cost for k702 compared to k712 pro?

 

[ZzBOG]

For the K7XX with stock pads (which should be very close to your Q701 plus K712 pads / Dekoni elite velour pads), the K7XX bass experience is perfectly adequate, perhaps decent even, but just shy of truly pleasing for cinematic gaming and movie watching. If I put the Hybrid pads on the K7XX then the bass characteristics feel like an excellent compromise around halfway between the Fidelio X2 and the K7XX w/stock pads.

thanks a lot! Any idea how their perforated sheepskin pads sound like? I am not a fan of velour pads skin-contact-wise

 

[PurpleAngel]

Still same question.. if I want to increase volume of footsteps, and decrease volume of explosions/shots, I have to buy dsp or what? BTW dsp is software or something in soundcard? I have around 500$ for headphones+amp/dac. How much amp/dac will cost for k702 compared to k712 pro?

The more bass a headphone has, the louder the explosions will be.
Headphones like the Audio Technica ATH-AD700X have a very light bass.
I'm going to guess your currently plugging your speakers directly into your motherboard's onboard audio sound card.
I would say to get the Creative Labs AE-5 sound card, best chance of improving you ability of hearing footsteps (my best guess).

 

[Snikibiki]

The more bass a headphone has, the louder the explosions will be.
Headphones like the Audio Technica ATH-AD700X have a very light bass.
I'm going to guess your currently plugging your speakers directly into your motherboard's onboard audio sound card.
I would say to get the Creative Labs AE-5 sound card, best chance of improving you ability of hearing footsteps (my best guess).

I have DragonFly Black rn.. Soundcard software to change volume of different things is much superior to 3rd party software for same thing? Or it works completely different, is there any other way? BTW, if I would want music and gaming headphones decreasing a lot of bass in k712 for gaming time will give me almost same sound like k701/2?