[Arin7]

After a month of research I finally purchased Sennheiser HD600, now the problem as you may guess is to choose a good amp/dac for them, I'm going to connect them to PC only, some people said a internal sound card is much better since it is directly in contact with the mother board, others have said external dac/amp is much better for HD600s, so as for the sound cards I found these two models : Asus Essence Xonar STX, Creative Sound Blaster ZX, and for the external I found : Chord Mojo (DAC/AMP), Beyerdynamic (AMP), Schiit Modi 2 + Schiit Magni 2.
Now my questions are:
1. Which one of the sound cards are better? Asus or Creative. (I kind of have this feeling the Asus but still)
2. Does Chord Mojo generates enough power to drive HD600s? (From the reviews it seems like it can but just to be sure) And can I have it plugged to the PC all time since it runs with the battery, I don't want it to leave me high and dry when I need it.
3. Does Beyerdynamic A20 needs a preamp device? (its an awsome amp as far I have read about it) if yes then what do you suggest? (Brand/Model)
4. does Modi 2 + Magni 2, generate good sound quality for HD600?
.

Thank You, Arin.

 

[Dulalala]

1. Can't help you here I know nothing about soundcard. @ProtegeManiac can probably help.
2. Yes it does, in fact the HD600 isn't all that hard to drive to be honest. It is a high impedance headphone but it is relatively sensitive.
3. No, it will need a DAC though.
4. Well that depends on you, if you're asking whether it will run it or not, it sure will but whether you will like it or not is a different story.

 

[Arin7]

1. Can't help you here I know nothing about soundcard. @ProtegeManiac can probably help.
2. Yes it does, in fact the HD600 isn't all that hard to drive to be honest. It is a high impedance headphone but it is relatively sensitive.
3. No, it will need a DAC though.
4. Well that depends on you, if you're asking whether it will run it or not, it sure will but whether you will like it or not is a different story.

Thanks for reply, another question, doesn't my PC's on board soundcard convert digital to analogue? I am asking for Beyerdynamic A20 its a decent amp but too expensive for me to be able too buy a dac for it I can only purchase A20...

 

[Dulalala]

Thanks for reply, another question, doesn't my PC's on board soundcard convert digital to analogue? I am asking for Beyerdynamic A20 its a decent amp but too expensive for me to be able too buy a dac for it I can only purchase A20...

Yes it would, if you prefer to use your soundcard as a DAC then you can. Though in my opinion, if you can't afford to buy a DAC and the A20, maybe it's worth considering buying a different DAC and amp for your headphones.

 

[Arin7]

Yes it would, if you prefer to use your soundcard as a DAC then you can. Though in my opinion, if you can't afford to buy a DAC and the A20, maybe it's worth considering buying a different DAC and amp for your headphones.

Thanks, I guess that's the point where the Chord Mojo and sound cards comes in

 

[serman005]

The sound through the Mojo is likely to be significantly better than the sound through your sound card, IMO. The Mojo is quite good.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

...some people said a internal sound card is much better since it is directly in contact with the mother board, others have said external dac/amp is much better for HD600s

That's not actually the best feature but potentially the source of problems, specifically, electronic noise. Also this isn't like how GPUs and M.2/PCI-Ex lanes where you need to keep them as close as possible to the CPU.

1. Which one of the sound cards are better? Asus or Creative. (I kind of have this feeling the Asus but still)

If you're going for a soundcard, barring the really crappy ones, I'd just make sure it has the DSP features you'd actually use. Like Virtual Surround for games and movies.

2. Does Chord Mojo generates enough power to drive HD600s? (From the reviews it seems like it can but just to be sure) And can I have it plugged to the PC all time since it runs with the battery, I don't want it to leave me high and dry when I need it.

Check if it has a disable charge features. Ibasso DAC-HPamps have that so you cycle through the charge normally rather than perpetually charging it which builds up heat.

3. Does Beyerdynamic A20 needs a preamp device? (its an awsome amp as far I have read about it) if yes then what do you suggest? (Brand/Model)

A preamp is only necessary if the amp you use doesn't have one built in. Headphone amps are a lot more like integrated amps for speakers since they'll have the preamp stage in there to control the output.

4. does Modi 2 + Magni 2, generate good sound quality for HD600?

Magni2 would be a good leap from nothing but getting anything above the Magni2 later on won't have a gap anywhere near as close as that one.

 

[Arin7]

That's not actually the best feature but potentially the source of problems, specifically, electronic noise. Also this isn't like how GPUs and M.2/PCI-Ex lanes where you need to keep them as close as possible to the CPU.



If you're going for a soundcard, barring the really crappy ones, I'd just make sure it has the DSP features you'd actually use. Like Virtual Surround for games and movies.



Check if it has a disable charge features. Ibasso DAC-HPamps have that so you cycle through the charge normally rather than perpetually charging it which builds up heat.




A preamp is only necessary if the amp you use doesn't have one built in. Headphone amps are a lot more like integrated amps for speakers since they'll have the preamp stage in there to control the output.




Magni2 would be a good leap from nothing but getting anything above the Magni2 later on won't have a gap anywhere near as close as that one.

Thank you so much! I read on the Beyerdynamic website that A20 don't have a DAC in itself, so do I need one? or the output from my PC is just fine? one person told me I need a Chord Mojo as a DAC for A20 and they get really expensive together, I really want my HD600s to shine (according to my budget of course) cause I heard lot of things about them that I loved! but on the other hand by budget is limited...Thanks.

 

[PurpleAngel]

After a month of research I finally purchased Sennheiser HD600, now the problem as you may guess is to choose a good amp/dac for them, I'm going to connect them to PC only, some people said a internal sound card is much better since it is directly in contact with the mother board, others have said external dac/amp is much better for HD600s, so as for the sound cards I found these two models : Asus Essence Xonar STX, Creative Sound Blaster ZX, and for the external I found : Chord Mojo (DAC/AMP), Beyerdynamic (AMP), Schiit Modi 2 + Schiit Magni 2.
Now my questions are:
1. Which one of the sound cards are better? Asus or Creative. (I kind of have this feeling the Asus but still)
2. Does Chord Mojo generates enough power to drive HD600s? (From the reviews it seems like it can but just to be sure) And can I have it plugged to the PC all time since it runs with the battery, I don't want it to leave me high and dry when I need it.
3. Does Beyerdynamic A20 needs a preamp device? (its an awsome amp as far I have read about it) if yes then what do you suggest? (Brand/Model)
4. does Modi 2 + Magni 2, generate good sound quality for HD600?

It would be helpful if you listed a budget?
I like Asus cards better, but some prefer Creative, guess it's 50/50 which card you should get.
Check out the Darkvoice 336SE OTL tube headphone amplifier.
https://www.massdrop.com/buy/dark-voice-366se
(also sold thru Amazon and eBay)
An Asus Xonar DX sound card (used $50) makes a decent DAC and can be used with an external headphone amplifier (336SE or other).
.

Thank You, Arin.

 

[buke9]

I didn't hear the 600's from the A20 but was not that impressed with it driving T-1's probably one of the brightest headphone setup I've heard yes I know the 600's are not that bright but dang it was bright. To shine the Bottlehead Crack is my pic for my 6xx's and have heard 600's from one oh so good. Seeing where your located it would probably be fairly costly and need the tools to build it although it is pretty easy. I sent one of my Head-Fi meet friends from Nashville my BC and he just loved it and while on loan he found a crazy cheap price on the DarkVoice 336 from Massdrop that the owner just hated. He said he understood why they called it DarkVoice but being the electrical engineer type of guy he is he looked at the schematics and found a problem with the pre amp out and cut that out (not for sure what he did exactly) and he said it was really close to sounding like the Crack after the mod. The Mojo is about the best Dac for the price not big on the headphone out on it but as a dac very good .

 

[Arin7]

Hi! I have gone through this forum enough to get exited when I see you avatar! I know you give good info, my budget is $250, for now and my current PC because the problem is I want to buy a new PC next year maybe, but I don't want to just keep my HD600's in the box till then...so I think Creative ZX is a good choice for now but I am worried that they wont do the justice to HD600...

 

[ahmadfaizadnan]

Hi! I have gone through this forum enough to get exited when I see you avatar! I know you give good info, my budget is $250, for now and my current PC because the problem is I want to buy a new PC next year maybe, but I don't want to just keep my HD600's in the box till then...so I think Creative ZX is a good choice for now but I am worried that they wont do the justice to HD600...

xduoo xd-05 is a good option for your budget.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Hi! I have gone through this forum enough to get exited when I see you avatar! I know you give good info, my budget is $250, for now and my current PC because the problem is I want to buy a new PC next year maybe, but I don't want to just keep my HD600's in the box till then...so I think Creative ZX is a good choice for now but I am worried that they wont do the justice to HD600...

I would try and talk you into spending a little bit more for an Asus Xonar Essence STX card.
Better DAC chip and headphone amplifier chip.
Maybe something used off eBay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/292129816246?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
http://www.ebay.com/itm/272697471414?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
Maybe even upgrade the STX's op-amps (operational amplifiers).
Later on get the Darkvoice 336SE tube amp and use the STX as the DAC.