[Indirect]

Hey
 
Just got my Fidelio X1. The volume not exactly low, but I wish it would go higher. My phone (HTC One M8) lets me play at a higher volume with the headphones.
 
Specs:
Motherboard: MSI Z87 G45
OS : Windows 7 Professional
Cable : Fidelio X1 stock cable
Software: Spotify in particular is low volume. I also use VLC for FLAC etc, and here the volume is better. When watching movies in VLC I have to jack it up to 200%.
 
I have maxed all software playback volume settings I can find. 
 
Do I need amp? sound card? both?
 
Why does my phone play at a higher volume using the headphones?

 

[IronIWolf]

Well pretty easy, you phones seems to have a better internal amp than your PC
 
As for solution, there is the options to buy a dac/amp or just an amp or amp and dac sperate. In my opinion and i do have the X1s and several other headphones, a FiiO E10 or a FiiO E18 is what you are looking for, or a FiiO E12 + FiiO D03K depening on you setup.
 
Its gonna make the X1s able to deafen you and it will give it enough power to bring its full potential, everything is going to sound cleaner, more controlled and stronger. 
 
So If you have :
 
PC + Phone with USB audio output option, then buy the E18 or E10.
 
PC + Phone + TV (BD Player,Console etc) with toslink audio necessary then buy the D03K + Fiio E12.
 
Or if you want a bit more high end, though i higly doubt it will change much, then the Objective 2 Dac/Amp would be a great option, or a Asus Essence STU external Dac/Amp would be interesting options.
 
Hope i could help you out bud  

 

[NinjaQuick]

make sure the sound output settings for your onboard sound is set to headphones.

 

[Indirect]

  Well pretty easy, you phones seems to have a better internal amp than your PC
 
As for solution, there is the options to buy a dac/amp or just an amp or amp and dac sperate. In my opinion and i do have the X1s and several other headphones, a FiiO E10 or a FiiO E18 is what you are looking for, or a FiiO E12 + FiiO D03K depening on you setup.
 
Its gonna make the X1s able to deafen you and it will give it enough power to bring its full potential, everything is going to sound cleaner, more controlled and stronger. 
 
So If you have :
 
PC + Phone with USB audio output option, then buy the E18 or E10.
 
PC + Phone + TV (BD Player,Console etc) with toslink audio necessary then buy the D03K + Fiio E12.
 
Or if you want a bit more high end, though i higly doubt it will change much, then the Objective 2 Dac/Amp would be a great option, or a Asus Essence STU external Dac/Amp would be interesting options.
 
Hope i could help you out bud  

 
Thanks. This helps alot
 
The E18 is twice as much as the E10 here in Norway, so I think I'll go for the cheaper option. The E18 costs as much as the headphones themselves here. 
 
Would a soundcard not do anything for me? or is this only for quality?
 
I will be using the headphones on PC only, 99% of the time. 

 

[NinjaQuick]

You don't need an amp... any cheap USB sound card will do fine.
 
These are low power/high efficiency headphones.

 

[Indirect]

  You don't need an amp... any cheap USB sound card will do fine.
 
These are low power/high efficiency headphones.

 
What about Creative Soundblaster Z? That would give me more volume, right?

 

[NinjaQuick]

So, the X1s are can be driven by practically anything. How loud are you looking to go? USB is driven by 5v, and cheaper USB chipsets simply won't bother with expensive filters and voltage converters, so you're going to have fairly decent power coming out. Not wild, but more than enough to drive the X1s. 
 
Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Syba-SD-CM-UAUD-Adapter-C-Media-Chipset/dp/B001MSS6CS is really all you would probably need.
 
Headphones need very little driving voltage to get sound, far less than the 3.3v that the chipset is capable of.
 
Basically, what you spend more on higher up in price is clarity. For whatever that cheap thing costs, it will (arguably) not sound flawless. It will, however, be more than enough to drive the X1s.
 
If you still *must* have a proper sound card, then something as cheap as the Xonar DGX is all you really need.

 

[IronIWolf]

Well if you use the E10, you wont need a soundcard, because the E10 is basically a external soundcard when you use it with USB Lets just pretend its one of the best USB soundcard

 

[IronIWolf]

Well it depens, with the X1 output impedance needs to be low and they actually do need some amplification, not much i agree, but some    On my PC soundcard and my phones and Ipad ones, it gets to a listenable level for videos and podcasts, but the volume is not loud enough for serious listening and the quality is poor compared to my Dac and Amp, even my built in TV pre amp is making quite the difference. You dont need a Music Hall 15.3 or a Busron, but FiiO is pretty much perfect as output impedance is lower than 1 Ohm and they have enough power to drive even higher ohm headphones, but deliver on good clears audio with a good soundstage, while having a devent price, i mean 60$ is nothing for what you get ^^ And its a good investment as if you were to upgrade to another headphone or just go for some varities, the E10 does them with ease and if you would buy a good amp anyday soon, the E10 coul be used as a stand alone DAC too

 

[vertical]

Regrets if already considered this, but does your HP cable have a mobile phone control built in? If so, try another cable when on PC; if no spare then try reversing it.