[Apoth]

Hey guys,

five years ago i bought a Soundblaster Z. Three years later i upgraded my headphone to the DT 990 Pro 250 Ohm.

I use them mostly to play games and hear music.

Lately i thought i should upgrade my soundcard and started watching some YouTube videos about amps, dacs and so on.

As far as i could research i decided for a schiit amp-dac-combo (modi, magni).
I decided that they would be the right choice because they are relative cheap and as far as i read a really good bang for the buck.

After I got so far i read somewhere that the Soundblaster z is more then enough for the DT 990 pro and i started to doubt my decision to upgrade.

Here my questions for you:
- Is it even worth it to upgrade my Soundblaster or should i stick with it?
- Is the schiit combo really the best decision for my use-case?

I hope you can help me and i appreciate any kind of input.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Me, I would keep the SB-Z sound card and replace the DT990, for better music audio.
Budget?

 

[Apoth]

The budget was one of the strong points of the schiit combo. I wouldn't want to go much higher. For me that would be max 300€.

Edit:
Could you explain your recommendation? I would like to understand your thought process and maby it helps me to make a decision.

 

[PurpleAngel]

The budget was one of the strong points of the schiit combo. I wouldn't want to go much higher. For me that would be max 300€.
Edit:
Could you explain your recommendation? I would like to understand your thought process and maybe it helps me to make a decision.

The SB-Z comes with an older but decent CS4398 DAC chip.
It's built in headphone amplifier can drive 250-Ohm headphones.
I own the DT990 (250-Ohm & 600-Ohm), never use them, find my other headphones sound better to my ears.
But the DT990 seems to be popular with FPS gamers.

 

[Apoth]

The SB-Z comes with an older but decent CS4398 DAC chip.
It's built in headphone amplifier can drive 250-Ohm headphones.
I own the DT990 (250-Ohm & 600-Ohm), never use them, find my other headphones sound better to my ears.
But the DT990 seems to be popular with FPS gamers.

Thank you for the explanation.
If i understand you correctly and please correct me if i am wrong, you say that the used dac-chip of the modi is not much better then the one in the soundblaster and the soundblaster is powerful enough for the 250-Ohm headphones.

What about being future proof? If i would upgrade my headphones, would the soundblaster still be up to the task or would i be safer to upgrade my amp with it? How much of a limiter is the soundblaster?
Where should i look if i want to get some information about possible headphones?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Thank you for the explanation.
If i understand you correctly and please correct me if i am wrong, you say that the used dac-chip of the modi is not much better then the one in the soundblaster and the soundblaster is powerful enough for the 250-Ohm headphones.
What about being future proof? If i would upgrade my headphones, would the soundblaster still be up to the task or would i be safer to upgrade my amp with it? How much of a limiter is the soundblaster?
Where should i look if i want to get some information about possible headphones?

I would much rather use a stack of Schiit (Modi/Magni) to use with any headphone, over the SB-Z (I own the SB-Z).
Even the Schiit Fulla 3 ($100) DAC/amp (which I own), is something I would prefer, for using with headphones, over the SB-Z.
But with a budget of what the Modi/Magni would cost me ($230), I would guess I would rather replace the DT990, for improving audio quality.
But if your future proofing and plan to spend more money, in the future, for headphones, then the Schiit makes more sense.
P.S. I've been to Munich, good beer

 

[Apoth]

I would much rather use a stack of Schiit (Modi/Magni) to use with any headphone, over the SB-Z (I own the SB-Z).
Even the Schiit Fulla 3 ($100) DAC/amp (which I own), is something I would prefer, for using with headphones, over the SB-Z.
But with a budget of what the Modi/Magni would cost me ($230), I would guess I would rather replace the DT990, for improving audio quality.
But if your future proofing and plan to spend more money, in the future, for headphones, then the Schiit makes more sense.
P.S. I've been to Munich, good beer

Just to conclude and make sure the language barriere doesnt mess up the message: You are of the opinion that the upgrade to a schiit combi would be a good idea as long as i also upgrade my headphones somewhere soonish.

If so then: That was the idea. First buy the amp, then the dac and then upgrade the headphones. Its better for my wallet to do it that way. Currently i dont have that much money to spend on good headphones but that should change in around 6 months and then i can spend more on the headphones. I would like to get more into hifi but my wallet says no.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Just to conclude and make sure the language barrier doesn't mess up the message: You are of the opinion that the upgrade to a schiit combo would be a good idea as long as i also upgrade my headphones somewhere soonish.

If so then: That was the idea. First buy the amp, then the dac and then upgrade the headphones. Its better for my wallet to do it that way. Currently I don't have that much money to spend on good headphones but that should change in around 6 months and then i can spend more on the headphones. I would like to get more into hifi but my wallet says no.

Is there a chance the Modi/Magni itself, will make the DT990, sound better, over the SB-Z, yea.
You can connect the SB-Z optically, to the Modi, and the SB-Z can send it's SBX Headphone surround sound, to the Modi.

 

[Apoth]

Is there a chance the Modi/Magni itself, will make the DT990, sound better, over the SB-Z, yea.
You can connect the SB-Z optically, to the Modi, and the SB-Z can send it's SBX Headphone surround sound, to the Modi.

I always deactivate all sbx features because they mess to much with the sound and dont help much in my opinion.

Thank you for your help so far.