[newbie98]

Hi - so I'm pretty new to high end audio - especially for headphones!

I recently brought a pair of AKG K712's as I feel they will (not got them yet) be a good match for my uses.. which is where my dilemma occurs..

I have a relatively good 'setup' as I am - I have a bit of a home studio setup as part of my computer setup, I have a Beringer x1204 USB mixing desk that has a certain amount of amp power built in. This desk acts as a USB DAC for my PC and I also record to the PC via the USB connection. This runs (to the desk) at 48,000Hz - the highest setting it supports - I have a range of instruments and mics connected to the desk for recording but I also go through the desk for general audio and music consumption and gaming with my current headset... Im wondering if the desk DAC and Amp will be powerful and high quality enough to get the best from my new headset?

The headphone out on the desk has a 1/4" connector and as it is - could easily blow the driver on my current headset and any earphones - so I'm pretty confident it will be powerful enough - but will the DAC be good enough? or will I be massively bottle-necking the AKG headphones? - I'm really confused with all the talk on different DAC's and Amps!

Thanks - see below in the links a couple of pictures of the desk and setup for a rough idea of what I'm on about!

https://goo.gl/photos/Gb9fia6uBTdFQy4C9
https://goo.gl/photos/a9B6GPwwEeLfcQ5u9

 

[cossix]

Typically, people want a DAC that can do at least 24 bit, 192khz decoding. But it all comes down to quality. While personally I wouldn't want a DAC that can only put out frequencies up to 24khz (yes I know humans can't hear that high but studies have been done and blind subjects favor music with "inaudible" frequencies), as long as the device is doing it's job, there isn't any drastic reason to upgrade. I can't know what your setup sounds like but Modi 2 is cheap enough to try and return if you can't hear a difference

 

[newbie98]

Typically, people want a DAC that can do at least 24 bit, 192khz decoding. But it all comes down to quality. While personally I wouldn't want a DAC that can only put out frequencies up to 24khz (yes I know humans can't hear that high but studies have been done and blind subjects favor music with "inaudible" frequencies), as long as the device is doing it's job, there isn't any drastic reason to upgrade. I can't know what your setup sounds like but Modi 2 is cheap enough to try and return if you can't hear a difference

Thanks for the reply - helped with get my head around what I'm dealing with! So yes, it seems the DAC on the sound desk won't deliver the best sound for music and gaming.. So as I still need to keep the ability to plug in and record etc with the desk.. Also run a podcast off of there monitoring a few different outputs etc, in thinking a nice solution would be thus:

A solid (nothing silly money) DAC from the PC driving the headset - but also a way that allows me to have a 2nd analogue input into the headphones whilst connected to the DAC with PC audio.. That should be feasible right? Thinking preferably this would be done via an aux channel of the DAC.. Is that a thing? Otherwise I'd have to play with splitters and that.. Is that likely to mess up SQ?

This way, I'd be able to have a full audiophile sound from the PC via the DAC where it matters for game sound / music and I will be able to route chat /teamspeak /desk channel monitor sound through the desk and out of the phones output at the same time.. Best of both worlds right?