[dontdothat21]

I am looking for a non-bottle-necked experience to go along with my new Sennheiser 598s coming in today I am looking at a few options but have no clue what is actually best for me.
 
I have a 2011 ASUS gaming motherboard. It has an onboard audio chipset (Realtek ALC892). I wanted to know if this is an acceptable onboard solution for someone who wants the 598s to feel 'loved' lol. If not, my second option that would cost me nothing, (I like that price.) is to set up my home theater receiver (pretty low end I THINK, linked below) but only if that would potentially deliver better audio. I don't know if optical cables are still a good standard, but my pc mobo supports it. The last, least favored option is to get a dac that would not bottleneck me what-so-ever. As cheap as possible, I have only heard good things about FiiO e11k and e12 but I don't know what is better for my needs. I would like a flat response, unaltered experience.
 
 
In short, what is the best option for price to performance:
 
1. Use your on-board mobo audio, it's great.
2. Set up your receiver with (?) cables. Is optical OK and still a standard?
3. Buy a ...gulp... DAC. (Please recommend one below, no tubes. Preferably a natural unaltered experience if I MUST get a dac... I really don't want to shell out another 100$ or anything just yet.)
 
*(I have no clue if my home theater will even function as an enormous DAC/AMP.)*
 
http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=28&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=284 <- This is my mobo's sound card specs. 

 

[billybob_jcv]

The Fiio E11K & E12 are not DACs, they are purely amps. For a DAC+amp, you would need the E10K, E07K or E17K. For your application, I would recommend the E10K or the Schiit Fulla.

You can certainly use the HD598 directly from your mobo. If you like the sound, then don't worry about it and enjoy them.

 

[dontdothat21]

My bad! If it is purely an amp, doesn't that mean I won't have an altered experience? (No eq or anything?)
 
Thanks for the suggestions, would it be pointless to rig up my receiver and use it as an amp if I don't mind the size? Could the sound quality DEgrade? Would I be missing out at all vs an FiiO amp?
 
If it works as an amp, is it essentially the same thing?
 
To my understanding which is probably wrong, all a DAC is, is a device than converts a digital(01010) signal to analog (humans can hear analog) but usually changes the mids, highs, frequencies. Right? Anything else? The bit-rate doesn't heighten right? Wider freq. range potentially but it doesn't matter since we can't hear that high/low? Is there any specifics I'm missing?
 
Sorry for 900 questions, my head is just spinning right now. Thanks for your time.

 

[cel4145]

Thanks for the suggestions, would it be pointless to rig up my receiver and use it as an amp if I don't mind the size?

You'll just have to try it and see. Receivers sometimes have decent headphone output; sometimes don't. And they generally don't provide any specs that allows people to know which is the case.

To my understanding which is probably wrong, all a DAC is, is a device than converts a digital(01010) signal to analog (humans can hear analog) but usually changes the mids, highs, frequencies. Right?

No. The goal of a DAC is to accurately convert the sound. The better the DAC, the more accurately it does that.

 

[Mr Rick]

As Billybob said above.why not just use them with your mobo for a month or so. Then, if you feel you need to upgrade, come back and ask questions.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I am looking for a non-bottle-necked experience to go along with my new Sennheiser 598s coming in today I am looking at a few options but have no clue what is actually best for me.
 
I have a 2011 ASUS gaming motherboard. It has an on-board audio chip-set (Realtek ALC892). I wanted to know if this is an acceptable on-board solution for someone who wants the 598s to feel 'loved' lol. If not, my second option that would cost me nothing, (I like that price.) is to set up my home theater receiver (pretty low end I THINK, linked below) but only if that would potentially deliver better audio. I don't know if optical cables are still a good standard, but my pc mobo supports it. The last, least favored option is to get a dac that would not bottleneck me what-so-ever. As cheap as possible, I have only heard good things about FiiO e11k and e12 but I don't know what is better for my needs. I would like a flat response, unaltered experience.
 
 
In short, what is the best option for price to performance:
 
1. Use your on-board mobo audio, it's great.
2. Set up your receiver with (?) cables. Is optical OK and still a standard?
3. Buy a ...gulp... DAC. (Please recommend one below, no tubes. Preferably a natural unaltered experience if I MUST get a dac... I really don't want to shell out another 100$ or anything just yet.)
 
*(I have no clue if my home theater will even function as an enormous DAC/AMP.)*

 
You can run optical (digital) and analog cabling, from the computer to the receiver.
So for the HD598, you can try both connections to the receiver and a directly plugging the headphones directly into the motherboard, see which sounds the best with the headphones.
 
For spending under $100 for improving audio quality.
If your into gaming, a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z sound card might be a good choice.
If more into music, then the FiiO E10K or Schiit Fulla (both UDB-DAC-amps)
 
Is the Home theater receiver used with speakers, or were you just going to use it as a headphone amplifier?.

 

[dontdothat21]

   
You can run optical (digital) and analog cabling, from the computer to the receiver.
So for the HD598, you can try both connections to the receiver and a directly plugging the headphones directly into the motherboard, see which sounds the best with the headphones.
 
For spending under $100 for improving audio quality.
If your into gaming, a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z sound card might be a good choice.
If more into music, then the FiiO E10K or Schiit Fulla (both UDB-DAC-amps)
 
Is the Home theater receiver used with speakers, or were you just going to use it as a headphone amplifier?.

Hi, I am using the theater with 5.1 speakers ATM. If needed, I could unplug them since my headphones are priority. I unboxed my 598s today and they are somewhat quiet. I'm going to pick up a optical digital cable tomorrow. As far as the audio quality goes, I suppose it sounds good but I somehow expected more. 'dunno if it's my current setup bottlenecking or not. I linked in OP my Realtek sound card specs.
 
Could I ask you why that sound card is better for gaming than the FiiO? I play games 5-10 hours a day on a normal day. I listen to music 2-3 hours a day. I don't care about (fake) 5.1/7.1 if that is why you recommended the scard. I just want the technical details on why you recommended what you did, if you don't mind Thanks for helping me this far, I've learned a lot.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Hi, I am using the theater with 5.1 speakers ATM. If needed, I could unplug them since my headphones are priority. I unboxed my 598s today and they are somewhat quiet. I'm going to pick up a optical digital cable tomorrow. As far as the audio quality goes, I suppose it sounds good but I somehow expected more. 'dunno if it's my current setup bottlenecking or not. I linked in OP my Realtek sound card specs.
 
Could I ask you why that sound card is better for gaming than the FiiO? I play games 5-10 hours a day on a normal day. I listen to music 2-3 hours a day. I don't care about (fake) 5.1/7.1 if that is why you recommended the card. I just want the technical details on why you recommended what you did, if you don't mind Thanks for helping me this far, I've learned a lot.

 
As the receiver is using a 5.1 speaker setup, the SB-Z card would be able to provide the receiver with a 6-channel (5.1) digital audio signal.
For S/PDIF (optical or coaxial) to carry 6-channel digital audio, DDL (Dolby Digital Live) or DTS-Connect needs to be used to compress the audio signal, so it can pass thru the S/PDIF cable.
The SB-Z card comes with DDL
To the best of my knowledge for on-board audio (like Realtek), any Headphone surround sound feature it comes with is very basic.
Where as the SB-Z comes with SBX headphone surround sound, which I would assume would help for FPS gaming.
 
The FiiO's do not come with any headphone surround sound features, but if your just into basic stereo audio, then the FiiO would start being a good choice.

 

[cel4145]

Could I ask you why that sound card is better for gaming than the FiiO? I play games 5-10 hours a day on a normal day. I listen to music 2-3 hours a day. I don't care about (fake) 5.1/7.1 if that is why you recommended the scard. I just want the technical details on why you recommended what you did, if you don't mind Thanks for helping me this far, I've learned a lot.

A Soundblaster Z has virtual surround for gaming. If you definitely don't care about that, then the E10K would be better.

 

[dontdothat21]

   
As the receiver is using a 5.1 speaker setup, the SB-Z card would be able to provide the receiver with a 6-channel (5.1) digital audio signal.
For S/PDIF (optical or coaxial) to carry 6-channel digital audio, DDL (Dolby Digital Live) or DTS-Connect needs to be used to compress the audio signal, so it can pass thru the S/PDIF cable.
The SB-Z card comes with DDL
To the best of my knowledge for on-board audio (like Realtek), any Headphone surround sound feature it comes with is very basic.
Where as the SB-Z comes with SBX headphone surround sound, which I would assume would help for FPS gaming.
 
The FiiO's do not come with any headphone surround sound features, but if your just into basic stereo audio, then the FiiO would start being a good choice.

Awesome. So if I am happy with the on-board quality of my 5.1 I suppose I could stick with that. Because I totally am. They aren't really for music, just podcast or livestreams. That's assuming I can use two sound cards on a windows 8.1 system? (DAC usb + SCard in mobo?) I hope that's possible
 
Yea, from my personal experience 7.1 does not help, all it does is distance the audio i.e. Counter Strike, actually making it harder to hear where a certain sound is occurring. Maybe it's just me, but I find it kind of a sham.
 
Hopefully one of my last questions, what would be the quality comparison from i.e. a e10k to a 300$+ dac. Would it be like comparing the HD 598s to HD 800s where, while there is improvements, it isn't as worth it as the price may lead you to think? Basically, would I regret my purchase knowing I lost out on quite a bit of sound quality? Or is it just the different sound signatures from each dac that people say it's worth? I'd love a comparison. Thank you!
 
Thank all of you for easing my spinning mind, many things have become clear to me Your all awesome and should be paid for your passion

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Awesome. So if I am happy with the on-board quality of my 5.1 I suppose I could stick with that. Because I totally am. They aren't really for music, just podcast or livestreams. That's assuming I can use two sound cards on a windows 8.1 system? (DAC usb + SCard in mobo?) I hope that's possible
 
Yea, from my personal experience 7.1 does not help, all it does is distance the audio i.e. Counter Strike, actually making it harder to hear where a certain sound is occurring. Maybe it's just me, but I find it kind of a sham.
 
Hopefully one of my last questions, what would be the quality comparison from i.e. a e10k to a 300$+ dac. Would it be like comparing the HD 598s to HD 800s where, while there is improvements, it isn't as worth it as the price may lead you to think? Basically, would I regret my purchase knowing I lost out on quite a bit of sound quality? Or is it just the different sound signatures from each dac that people say it's worth? I'd love a comparison. Thank you!
 
Thank all of you for easing my spinning mind, many things have become clear to me Your all awesome and should be paid for your passion

 
If you were willing to spend another $300 for audio (DAC/amp), then replacing (upgrading?) from the HD598s would be the better choice.
On Head-Fi its usually considered best to spend more for the headphones, then the DAC/amp.

 

[dontdothat21]

   
If you were willing to spend another $300 for audio (DAC/amp), then replacing (upgrading?) from the HD598s would be the better choice.
On Head-Fi its usually considered best to spend more for the headphones, then the DAC/amp.

I didn't actually mean I was going to spend $300 on a dac/amp, because I wont, but I did want to know the technical positives and what I will personally notice from a 300 to 70$ dac/amp.
 
Why, besides volume should I buy a DAC + AMP?
 
Sidenote, I'm keeping these 598s for 2/3 years +. One thing I have noticed with these though, is that some music is 'dull' or sounds like 900 instruments all playing at the same time. They don't sound 'clear' and obvious as to what I'm even listening to. I think the term is 'muddy'. Would a DAC help, an amp, or both for this?

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I didn't actually mean I was going to spend $300 on a dac/amp, because I wont, but I did want to know the technical positives and what I will personally notice from a 300 to 70$ dac/amp.
Why, besides volume should I buy a DAC + AMP?
Sidenote, I'm keeping these 598s for 2/3 years +. One thing I have noticed with these though, is that some music is 'dull' or sounds like 900 instruments all playing at the same time. They don't sound 'clear' and obvious as to what I'm even listening to. I think the term is 'muddy'. Would a DAC help, an amp, or both for this?

 
Usually the DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) chip that comes on a decent sound card or external DAC, will be better then whatever DAC feature is built into a motherboard.
For a lot of motherboards, the headphone jack is a line-output jack that pretends to be a headphone jack.
So there could be impedance issues (high impedance) that keep the headphone from sounding their best, plugged into the motherboard.
Where as a dedicated external headphone amplifier usually does not have impedance issues, headphone amplifier with a low impedance
Also there can be electrical noise generated inside a computer case, which can have a negative effect on audio quality (analog audio signal).
Where as with an external DAC, the audio signal it sent outside the computer case, in a digital form, so as not to be effected by the electrical noise that might be inside the computer case.
 
A $300 (or more) external DAC/amp will usually come with a better DAC chip (or chips), then a $75 DAC.
A $300 DAC/amp will come with a more powerful headphone amplifier, then a $75 DAC/amp.
A $300 DAC/amp can have several digital inputs (USB, optical, coaxial), a $75 DAC only one.

 

[TraverS]

I vote for buying DAC and AMP.
I have a Gigabyte G1.sniper which has Creative Sound Core 3D DSP and DAC chip. Gigabyte say they really focus on sound quality of gaming series mobo.
After using the mobo DAC with my speaker and AMP for a month, I must say I am disappoint. The sound is muddy, Imaging is horible and the high is less extended compared to my $69 HRT dSp which sucks compared to my Dragonfly 1.2.

And that kind of improvement come from a DAC that sound just as good as my smartphone, if not worst. I'm curious how much it can improve If I buy a real desktop DAC like Schiit Modi2.

 

[dontdothat21]

Alright, I think I will probably buy a schiit dac, then once I have $ for a schiit amp I will pick that up to