(Noob) Do I need a DAC if my PC audio sounds clean?

[brentwhipple]

Recently got some HD6xx's, and was going to add on an entry level AMP or DAC/AMP combo. I've seen a wide range of views on whether a dac is necessary or not. I'm by no means an audiophile, just casual listening and gaming on my PC, which is fairly new w/ a gigabyte MB. Sound quality is pretty good as is, just slightly quiet.

I'm looking to spend ~$100, so I'm looking at the Fulla 2 amp/dac or just the standalone O2 amp (massdrop) or Magni 3

Appreciate any insight!

 

[headpfizer]

I'd recommend the Schitt Magni 3 ($99) over either of your suggestions. Start off with the amp and you can add a DAC later if you feel like it. Yes a DAC will bring improvements but don't worry about it too much. Get the amp and then save for a few month and see about getting a DAC.

 

[brentwhipple]

I'd recommend the Schitt Magni 3 ($99) over either of your suggestions. Start off with the amp and you can add a DAC later if you feel like it. Yes a DAC will bring improvements but don't worry about it too much. Get the amp and then save for a few month and see about getting a DAC.

Thanks! Meant to add the Magni 3 as an option as well. I definitely don't hear any hiss or distortions coming from my PC dac, so perhaps I shouldn't get the fulla 2

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Recently got some HD6xx's, and was going to add on an entry level AMP or DAC/AMP combo. I've seen a wide range of views on whether a dac is necessary or not. I'm by no means an audiophile, just casual listening and gaming on my PC, which is fairly new w/ a gigabyte MB. Sound quality is pretty good as is, just slightly quiet.

If it's just slightly quiet then the sound isn't really clean. A really quiet amp circuit should have no audible noise even when cranked up with no music running, atlhough when computers are the source units sometimes music player apps have to be open for some reason (my smartphones have an audible hiss when no player app is open).

That said, that's the headphone output, so if you hooked up an amp to the FL/FR line output jack, then there's a chance that the sound might be cleaner going to the amp.

Personally if it's otherwise getting loud enough with no audible distortion, and the bass isn't getting totally screwed up by high output impedance (not much of a problem on a high impedance headphone), unless you really want a very clean hi-fi output, you could just stick with the motherboard. If you need or want to try an amp that's when a DAC would be advisable since, ideally at least, you should get one that has a 2v line output to the amp.

Just note that if you use a USB connection to the DAC, you will lose any of the on-board processing that is done on the DSP chip, which is the same chip that handles SPDIF conversion. If you're using virtual surround on the motherboard and not the headphone-specific audio program on individual games, chances are that's on the SPDIF chip, and not something totally done by software. In some cases it might not work via the FL/FR speaker line output either, so you can't just hook up an amp there. If you want to be sure you can still use this, barring accurate answers from the motherboard manufacturer's tech support, either just drive the headphone out of the motherboard's headphone output or use a DAC via SPDIF output that in turn feeds a signal to an amplifier.