[silverensign]

Hi, I am an avid gamer and have finally finished upgrades on the key components to gaming (GPU, CPU, motherboard) and now I am ready to upgrade my audio aspect of my desktop. Basically I have been looking around to make sure I upgrade correctly, and to be honest I am quite overwhelmed by all the information and technical jargon that is being thrown around. I have tried to educate myself and alleviate my ignorance but I have only seemed to have confused myself more. I understand the basics of audio (what digital and analog is and how they relate) but I am totally lost on the hardware aspect and what I should get. My budget on this is anywhere from $200 to $300, and my constraints or guidelines are this: I am upgrading my custom built gaming desktop which I heavily game on and I need a new set of quality headphones; I wish to get the most bang for my buck so I want to increase the audio quality as much as possible so I want a Sound Card. I have also read that it is best if I got a headphone amp to go with it. This is where my confusion arises. What do I need, what is superfluous, and which one(s) should I buy? Please any help will be appreciated.
 
If it helps this is my rig:
 
Windows 7 64 bit
Core i5 3570k
12 GB 1333 DDR3
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard
Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 Ghz unlocked
Acer S200HL led back lit monitor 
AOC L19W961 LCD TV
90 GB Kingston SSD
500 GB Seagate hybrid drive

 

[Sony Slave]

Sound blaster Z, has 5.1 surround sound.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102048
 
Sony headphones, are very accurate, and open cans.
 
http://www.amazon.com/electronics/dp/B007DCCK60
 
Go game!

 

[PurpleAngel]

A Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z ($105) sound card or the Zx model ($132), if you need a mic, should do the job.
You could spend more for a sound card, but that would cuts into your budget for a headphone.

 

[silverensign]

Thank you for your responses, but if I may, I want to know recommendations and then an explanation why. I don't like to buy things I'm completely ignorant of, so some information would be very nice for me to determine my final buy.

 

[PurpleAngel]

The Sound Blaster Z (& Zx) comes with a built in headphone amplifier and the CS4398 DAC chip.
I think it's the best value, for it's price range.
The next better sound card is the Asus Xonar STX, $180, which has a better headphone amplifier and DAC chip, over the Z & Zx.

 

[silverensign]

OK, thankyou. would you suggest any other cards? and what about headphones? And what is the difference between the ASUS essence and the dx or dgx or dsx

 

[cel4145]

OK, thankyou. would you suggest any other cards? and what about headphones? And what is the difference between the ASUS essence and the dx or dgx or dsx

The Xonar DX/D1 has a good DAC, but no built in headphone amp. The DG/DGX is a budget entry level card with headphone amp, but you get better SQ from the electronics in higher end models. Not sure about the DSX.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

OK, thank you. would you suggest any other cards? and what about headphones? And what is the difference between the ASUS Essence and the DX or DGX or DSX.

The Xonar DG (PCI) & PGX (PCI-E) is Asus's budget cards, comes with a very basic headphone amplifier (150-Ohm limit) and half-way decent DAC (CS4245) chip and Dolby 5.1 surround sound
The Xonar DS (PCI) & DSX (PCI-E) only comes with DTS 7.1 surround sound (not Dolby) and a slightly better DAC chip then the DG(X) and no headphone amp.
The Asus Xonar Essence STX & ST are Asus's fully loaded sound cards, 600-Ohm headphone amp and a really good DAC chip, plus you can swap the op-amps on the Essence card.

 

[Cakensaur]

Quote:

. My budget on this is anywhere from $200 to $300, and my constraints or guidelines are this: I am upgrading my custom built gaming desktop which I heavily game on and I need a new set of quality headphones; I wish to get the most bang for my buck so I want to increase the audio quality as much as possible 

have you at all considered going for an amp/dac combo + headphones. i say this because I've never given much love to soundcards i prefer to keep most of my audio gear external.
If you are dead set on a soundcard as thus, i cant really help you. but will still happily help out with everything else
 
In regards to headphones do you mean Sound quality in terms of positioning for gaming, or for general music listening.. because they don't always mean the same thing.
 
Caken

 

[RatPatrol01]

As a PC builder I can back up the suggestion of going external, if you ever decide to add a second GPU to your build you'll suddenly find that expensive sound card you bought doesn't quite fit anymore, if you go external it'll pretty much guaranteed always work with your PC no matter how you upgrade it.

 

[silverensign]

Ok, so there is no point in getting anything less than the Essance because I would just be paying for something incomplete and not as good, i understand that, its the same concept as video cards. And I personally (at this time) will not be trying to Xfire as I did this before and it only helps some games and not others, plus it doubles the heat output. And with regards to the headphones I am looking for a pair that has pristine audio quality and good comfort for extended periods of time; which would also make good use of my DAC/Amp or Soundcard. And talking about staying external, what are the pros and cons to doing this compared to a soundcard. Also, If you have suggestions for a external setup I would be more than willing to listen!! just make sure you explain your choices! Thanks. oh and just to make everything clear, my budget is on American Dollars.

 

[Cakensaur]

Well one main pro of keeping external is upgrading, you in the future decide
"hey, my DAC isn't good enough! you can just swap out and change.
I prefer it for diagnostics, if something buggers itself you can find out what the weak link is faster as its just a few cables, which is the same if you use a soundcard to an extent, but its just much less hassle generally.
 
A minor pedantic pro is that there will still be Hz noise swimming around interfering. I'm not a massive subscriber that it makes too much a difference but hey ho, it's a pro
 
For this budget i would say go with say a Fiio E10 or a E7/E9 combo ( a loved one over here for people who want decent performance per dollar(or pound in my case!))
 
E10- Amp + DAC all in one, you cant use it as a portable amplifier though. ($75 or so i think)
E7/E9 combo - E09k is a small powerful desktop amp and you can use the E7 on the go as a portable Amp, it is an AMP/DAC combo as well, but only acts as a DAC when being used in conjunction with the E09k. and is also imo a fair bit better ($200 for both)
 
However what im about to tell you will conflict with eachother, its up to you which route you decide to take
1) Buy once. a good and decent amp/DAC combo will keep you going for a while and no need to upgrade for a while at all.
2) the less you spend here, the more you have for the part of your chain which matters the most; The headphone, however you may need to upgrade AMP/DAC in the future
 
Hope i have helped,
 
Caken

 

[RatPatrol01]

I'm operating purely on what I have myself been recommended in the past, but the Schiit Magni and Modi are supposed to be pretty good in this price range, of course the two together are $200 and that takes a big chunk out of your headphone budget, and I'd guess better headphones are more important over a better amp and DAC.
 
EDIT: I suppose I should mention I myself have a pair of Audio Technica AD700s which I adore for gaming, but they are considered pretty low on the spectrum of worthwhile headphones(though still at least on the spectrum lol). I also just bought a FiiO e07k to serve as my amp and DAC but I won't have a verdict on that until later this evening when I get to play with it.

 

[Cakensaur]

I have a modi and it recently broke, other than that it is very excellent
 
I am very sure it is EXTREMELY uncommon for them to break though.. i almost forgot about the baby Schiitstack...

 

[silverensign]

hmm. Ok thanks allot guys. so would you say the Fiio E10 is better or worse than the E7/E9 combo? and regarding headphones, yes that is my main concern, all i want the DAC/Amp to do is compliment the headset so i can get the most out of them. I really dont listen to music on my computer (unless you consider the ambient music for Skyrim to be music) but I do heavily game (Skyrim, BF3, Crysis 3, minecraft, Sins of a solar empire, Civ V, and others) So I guess I am mainly looking for a pair of headphones that can give me the best quality of sound for gaming. I would prefer them to be closed (as opposed to open) and totally encompassing my ear. I dont necessarily want a gamer's headset because the audio quality can be overlooked, and the ones that have robust audio quality are quite expensive. So help figuring out what would be suitable would be a big help. Personally I have been looking at the Sennheiser HD-280 Pro Headphones, but i really do not know.
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-280-Pro-Headphones/dp/B000065BPB/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367882990&sr=8-1&keywords=HD+280+Pro+Headphones
 
* btw, i will need a microphone, but I just figured getting a cheap clip on mic b/c I'm just using it for talking while playing, im not recording anything.