Need Amp & Dac advice for desktop - Headphones + Speakers

[Dibujor]

Hello there,
 
Thanks to the help from /r/headphones I decided on my first "good" set of cans. I needed an all around good pair for everything (gaming, work, music, videos, movies, etc) in the <200 range and I settled on the ATH MSR7. They'll be here soon and they'll be my first pair of good headphones so I guess they'll make a world of difference to me since I haven't heared good headphones before. I needed this pair closed for reasons but my plan is getting an open set in the future, probably the HD650, or maybe a Fidelio X2 as they're cheaper. From what I've read you can't go wrong with those.
 
Now onto my questions on why I need help, for now, and for the future
 
For now:
 
One of the main uses of the MSR7's will be VoiP with my clients, so I'm also getting a V-Moda Boompro (less cables, less hassle. Cheaper than the modmic).
Now, I have a pretty old desktop pc and the sound is garbage (my old X-Fi soundcard died a while ago). So after reading about problems with the mic, ground loops, etc. I decided to get, for immediate use while on this machine, one of this Soundblaster E1  to drive the headphones and mic. Do you think that would be enough?. Maybe something like this Soundblaster Ommni Surround  (I don't care about the surround gimmicks, just the inputs for mic and headphones). This Creative SB1620 is the cheapest but I don't know if it will be enough. I don't know of any other cheap and portable Amp/Dac combo you can plug a mic on.
 
For the future:
 
As my machine is pretty old, I'm getting a new one. Now I am in the budget planning stage and want to somewhat futureproof the sound. So I'm skipping a soundcard entirely.
I do play, but I don't play many FPS' nor am I competitive enough to care about having an edge on positional awareness, etc. And I don't care about those fancy sound processing gimmicks, I always turn them off.
 
So. I want the computer to drive the headphones (Msr7's and future HD650), the mic and a pair of Speakers. I guess the speakers will be passive? I haven't researched into that yet but my office is pretty small. Maybe a subwoofer later down the road.
 
At first I thought of getting something like the Schiit Fulla 2 or the Micca Origen + and call it done, but I think i prefer something more complete and future proof for the desktop. You know how this is, you start looking at the Fiio E10 start to raise the bar and end up buying a jotunheim.
 
So I was thinking on something like the Schiit stack (Modi 2 and Magni 2 - Maybe the Vali 2 instead, though going the tube route seems more tricky for a noob like me). Schiit stack seem like a sure bet, middle of the road but good (I'm not that big of an audiophile...yet) and with a good price.
 
And here's where I need your help. The problem is, to run the speakers at the same time (and with their own volume knob) without unplugging the headphones I'd need to add another amp for them, right?. Which one could that be?
 
For the price, maybe I would be better off going with something like the Teac Ai-101-DA or the Onkyo A-9010, since those are Dac-Amp-Amp, or maybe even the Teac HR-S101 that already includes the speakers?
 
And, if I were to add a desktop mic (usb or xlr) for youtube video creation, would your recommendations change much (apart from adding a sound interface if the mic is xlr)?
 
Thank you very much for your help, as you can see I still don't know much about the whole audio world. Heck, I don't even know if I'm supposed to drive the dac out of the 3.5 jack, optical, usb or what...

 

[Dibujor]

Ups, forgot to confirm my email before posting this.So this thread appeared just now (after 9 hours) at the bottom of the page.... sorry

 

[Dibujor]

Going to bump this once because I messed it up. If that doesn't work I'll let it go

 

[Dibujor]

After a bit more research, I have decided on my first question, adn received a bit more info on the second.
 
Seemslike  for my use case (computer running headphones + speakers) I have two (three) options if I want to keep the total cost at €400 maybe €450 if really good reasons :
 

• Schiit Modi2 + Schiit Magni2 Uber + Active/Powered Speakers
• Schiit Modi2 + Schiite Magni2 + Schiit Sys + Active/Powered Speakers. I guess in this case the difference with the above option is that the sys gives you a volume knob for the speakers?. Idk, the total cost for both options is the same.
• An "all in one" like the Onkyo A9010 or Teac Ai-101-DA + Speakers.( The Teac HR-S101 seemto be the same as the Ai101 but with speakers included)

 
Any opinions? or better options?
 
If I really have to ditch something for quality reasons, I guess I can hold on buying the speakers for the moment.  I think it will be easier to convince my wife to get a pair of speakers than it will be to upgrade or buy either the dac or amp.
 
Thanks in advance

 

[Monsterzero]

The Magni/Modi is hard to go wrong w/ the price/performance ratio,with the only limitation being you will need to get powered speakers.You will not need anything else as once you plug headphones into the Magni Uber the speakers will auto mute.If for whatever reason you want both headphones and speakers to go at the same time,I dont think the Magni Uber will do that.
The other downside to the Magni Uber is youre somewhat limited in future headphone purchases,they simply dont have the juice to drive some headphones,like many planars and some higher end 600ohm headphones.

The receiver option will allow to get passive speakers,but the headphone jack wont sound as nice as the Magni for low ohm/high sensitivity headphones,however for an HD650 they should do okay.You should be able to use both headphones and speakers at the same time,depending on the receiver.

I use a vintage receiver as my "amp" in my computer setup to drive passive desktop speakers and headphones,meanwhile it replaced a Magni Uber 2 as it simply has more power and allows me to use speakers of my choice.There are many pros and cons of using vintage receivers vs. newer ones,which I wont go into unless you want me to.....

The only application my Magni Uber 2 does these days is drive low ohm/high sensitivity headphones. 

 

[Dibujor]

Hey masterzero, thanks for the response
 
I was hoping to be able to get both speakers and headphones running, not because I want to actually use both at the same time, more like not needing to unplug the headphones evertime I want the speakers to sound but it's not critical and I don't really care, just a little quality of life thing that doesn't matter if costs more money or sacrifices sound quality.
 
I see the schiit stack recommended everywhere  as some of the best bang for your buck at low prices and I intended to go with that. Then I wanted to add the speakers and everything got messy in my head . Suddenly I needed another amp if I wanted passive speakers. I was recommended the Emotiva A100, but that's €300 on it's own and I should add the Dac and the speakers. Hence me choosing powered instead of passive. I don't know if active/powered is the right choice for desktop speakers as the only thing I know is that powered come with their own amp whereas passive need an external one.
 
As per limitations in future headphones purchase... I don't think I'll be buying much more than those I mentioned. Money is tight and computer equipment for illustration/design is pretty expensive so I think the HD650 and/or Fiio X2 will be my endgame headphones. I'll be a mid-fi peasant forever XD. I'll maybe, maybe, add a subwoofer in the future.
 
So the Schiit Sys isn't needed then? (I thought it would give more flexibiilty as it had a volume knob but it's a gain knob?. It's totally reasonable that I'm not understanding at all the use cases for the Sys.
 
With receiver you mean one of those Dac+Amp+Amp? Onkyo and Teac? So those are worse than the schiits quality wise (I'll be using the headphones much more than the speakers so headphones sound quality matters)
 
Any recommendation on speakers I should look for?. I've been recommended the Micca MB42X Bookshelf Speakers but those are passives and impossible to get hold of here in Spain

 

[Monsterzero]

  Hey masterzero, thanks for the response
 
I was hoping to be able to get both speakers and headphones running, not because I want to actually use both at the same time, more like not needing to unplug the headphones evertime I want the speakers to sound but it's not critical and I don't really care, just a little quality of life thing that doesn't matter if costs more money or sacrifices sound quality.
 
I see the schiit stack recommended everywhere  as some of the best bang for your buck at low prices and I intended to go with that. Then I wanted to add the speakers and everything got messy in my head . Suddenly I needed another amp if I wanted passive speakers. I was recommended the Emotiva A100, but that's €300 on it's own and I should add the Dac and the speakers. Hence me choosing powered instead of passive. I don't know if active/powered is the right choice for desktop speakers as the only thing I know is that powered come with their own amp whereas passive need an external one.
 
As per limitations in future headphones purchase... I don't think I'll be buying much more than those I mentioned. Money is tight and computer equipment for illustration/design is pretty expensive so I think the HD650 and/or Fiio X2 will be my endgame headphones. I'll be a mid-fi peasant forever XD. I'll maybe, maybe, add a subwoofer in the future.
 
So the Schiit Sys isn't needed then? (I thought it would give more flexibiilty as it had a volume knob but it's a gain knob?. It's totally reasonable that I'm not understanding at all the use cases for the Sys.
 
With receiver you mean one of those Dac+Amp+Amp? Onkyo and Teac? So those are worse than the schiits quality wise (I'll be using the headphones much more than the speakers so headphones sound quality matters)
 
Any recommendation on speakers I should look for?. I've been recommended the Micca MB42X Bookshelf Speakers but those are passives and impossible to get hold of here in Spain

Im not an expert on all things Schiit,but here is what I used to run....

Laptop audio out>Magni Uber 2>Hercules XPS 2.0 60 DJ Set

In this config I could control the volume three ways:

On my laptop music player
On the Magni Uber 2
On the Hercules speakers

Usually I controlled it on the Magni Uber.Once headphones were plugged into the MU2 the speakers would mute.There might be a way to avoid that but I never looked into it.

I moved on from that set-up as the speakers themselves arent very good.

I purchased a pair of https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-BS22-LR-Designed-Bookshelf-Loudspeakers/dp/B008NCD2LG

The sound quality is night and day over the Hercules. I tried to run them out of the MU2(which Schiit says not to do)and while sound did come out it clearly wasnt the intended purpose of the MU2.since I had 2 extra vintage receivers sitting around I put the Sansui 5000a into service to drive my Pioneer speakers and it sounds really nice,even without an outboard DAC,like the Modi Multibit....which I will be getting next,when funds permit.

Most of my listening on my computer is for background while I work and/or video game.I occasionally wear headphones at my computer and my Sansui 5000a has the juice to drive every headphone I own,including my HE-6,which is the hardest headphone on the planet to drive...for those I go out of the speaker taps,for everything else the headphone jack works fine.Most of the headphones I have are too much for MU2,but the HD650 and X2 are pretty simple to drive.

Seeing as how the headphones youre getting arent super hard to drive,and you said that most of your listening will be via headphone,I think MU2+Modi will be the way to go for you.

As far as speaker recommedations go,I used to have a discontinued Harmen Karden 2.1 that i liked,the Hercules was crap IMO,but those are my only two I have owned,so take my opinions with a few pinches of salt.

You can try reading some reviews here:

http://www.head-fi.org/a/head-fi-buying-guide-desktop-portable-speakers

 

[Dibujor]

  Im not an expert on all things Schiit,but here is what I used to run....

Laptop audio out>Magni Uber 2>Hercules XPS 2.0 60 DJ Set

In this config I could control the volume three ways:

On my laptop music player
On the Magni Uber 2
On the Hercules speakers

Usually I controlled it on the Magni Uber.Once headphones were plugged into the MU2 the speakers would mute.There might be a way to avoid that but I never looked into it.

I moved on from that set-up as the speakers themselves arent very good.

I purchased a pair of https://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-SP-BS22-LR-Designed-Bookshelf-Loudspeakers/dp/B008NCD2LG

The sound quality is night and day over the Hercules. I tried to run them out of the MU2(which Schiit says not to do)and while sound did come out it clearly wasnt the intended purpose of the MU2.since I had 2 extra vintage receivers sitting around I put the Sansui 5000a into service to drive my Pioneer speakers and it sounds really nice,even without an outboard DAC,like the Modi Multibit....which I will be getting next,when funds permit.

Most of my listening on my computer is for background while I work and/or video game.I occasionally wear headphones at my computer and my Sansui 5000a has the juice to drive every headphone I own,including my HE-6,which is the hardest headphone on the planet to drive...for those I go out of the speaker taps,for everything else the headphone jack works fine.Most of the headphones I have are too much for MU2,but the HD650 and X2 are pretty simple to drive.

Seeing as how the headphones youre getting arent super hard to drive,and you said that most of your listening will be via headphone,I think MU2+Modi will be the way to go for you.

As far as speaker recommedations go,I used to have a discontinued Harmen Karden 2.1 that i liked,the Hercules was crap IMO,but those are my only two I have owned,so take my opinions with a few pinches of salt.

You can try reading some reviews here:

http://www.head-fi.org/a/head-fi-buying-guide-desktop-portable-speakers

That's what I did until my crappy speakers died. I also had hercules on my desktop and I plugged the headphones there, that muted the speakers. So it's not a big problem, seeing as getting the two volume controls is a hassle for no real benefit.
 
I'll take a look at that guide, thanks
 
That Sansui, man, it reminds me of our old stereo we had at my parent's house. Now that I think of it, my father still has an old Technics "Hi-fi system" at home. Pretty impressive thing when I was a child, that thing is the only hi-fi sound I've heard