Sound Blaster Z with HD650's. To amp or not to amp? Dac is the question.

[fwuffy squirrel]

Hello everyone.  This is my first post here and although I'm not the biggest Hamlet fan, just thought I would kick it off with something fun.
 
So I have a SBZ in my PC with a pair of 598's that I enjoy.  My wife is upgrading me to a pair of either HD600's or HD650's in which I'm leaning toward the 650's a bit, but I was wondering.  Would an external Magni 2 help them?
I have read quite a bit on this site and heard that the 650's responsd very well to better equipment and they they could be power hungry.
And my second question is, should/would it be wise to do the Magni+Modi Uber combo so I could use the optical (in?) on the Uber Modi into the optical (out?)on the SBZ?
If the Magni was recommended here without the Modi, I was planning on just doing an RCA>3.5 from the Magni (in?) into the 3.5 out on the sound card.  Would there be significant benefit in using the higher quality optical port?  I read one person say that they lost SBZ features from using the optical such as surround sound or something along those lines, but it wasn't confirmed.
 
I apologize if message was muddle or unclear at all.  Any help is greatly appreciated!  Thank you

 

[k4rstar]

  Would an external Magni 2 help them?

Yes, very much so. The SBZ is a pretty good sound card with a built in amplifier but the HD600/650 are known for their scaling and even the untrained ear should notice a difference between it and a comparable external solution.
 

 
And my second question is, should/would it be wise to do the Magni+Modi Uber combo so I could use the optical (in?) on the Uber Modi into the optical (out?)on the SBZ?

I don't see any reason to continue to use the SBZ if you get the Modi as well. The Modi should go straight into your computer via USB. Obviously you can keep the sound card for recording devices, etc.
 

 
If the Magni was recommended here without the Modi, I was planning on just doing an RCA>3.5 from the Magni (in?) into the 3.5 out on the sound card.  Would there be significant benefit in using the higher quality optical port?  I read one person say that they lost SBZ features from using the optical such as surround sound or something along those lines, but it wasn't confirmed.

It is totally possible to just use the SBZ as your DAC and not get the Modi. While some people seem to have opinions on sound quality differences between DACs, I honestly think you won't hear a difference. That leaves features, and the Modi is relatively bare feature-wise. There won't be any significant benefit in using the optical port. I can't speak to the loss of SBZ software features when using optical.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Hello everyone.  This is my first post here and although I'm not the biggest Hamlet fan, just thought I would kick it off with something fun.
So I have a SB-Z in my PC with a pair of 598's that I enjoy.  My wife is upgrading me to a pair of either HD600's or HD650's in which I'm leaning toward the 650's a bit, but I was wondering.  Would an external Magni 2 help them?
I have read quite a bit on this site and heard that the 650's responds very well to better equipment and they they could be power hungry.
And my second question is, should/would it be wise to do the Magni+Modi Uber combo so I could use the optical (in?) on the Uber Modi into the optical (out?)on the SB-Z?
If the Magni was recommended here without the Modi, I was planning on just doing an RCA>3.5 from the Magni (in?) into the 3.5 out on the sound card.  Would there be significant benefit in using the higher quality optical port?  I read one person say that they lost SB-Z features from using the optical such as surround sound or something along those lines, but it wasn't confirmed.
I apologize if message was muddle or unclear at all.  Any help is greatly appreciated!  Thank you

 
I believe (assume) most HD600/HD650 owners would agree they improve with a better headphone amplifier (over what the SB-Z has).
 
Assuming your getting the HD600/HD650 for improving music audio quality.
Get an external headphone amplifier and connect it to the SB-Z's Front Speaker jack.
This way your using the SB-Z's CS4398 DAC chip, with the external amp.
The SB-Z's can not send SBX Headphone surround sound thru the Front Speaker jack, which fine as music is usually 2.0 stereo audio anyway
 
You could get an external DAC, like the Modi 2 and connect it to the SB-Z's optical port.
The SB-Z can send SBX Headphone surround sound thru the optical port.
But I would assume the best reason for getting the HD600/HD650 is for music, not FPS gaming, so no need for using surround sound, for the HD600/HD650.
I would think you would just use the HD598 for FPS gaming (connected to the SB-Z's headphone jack).
 
Also for the money you would spend for the Modi, would be better spend for the headphone amplifier, something more powerful then the Magni 2?

 

[SeaWo|f]

Like purple said you can use the audio processing and optical out, but read the manual and take care note of what exactly to option in the driver do because the one that uses the audio processing and down mixes to 2 channel pcm for you dac is very easily mistaken for the one that disables all audio processing and sends that 2 channel pcm via the optical.

Use the first option for movies and gaming and the second for music if you go the dac route.

But for the money knowing how my 650s scaled I would endorse the suggestion of putting the whole budget into the amp as the z is a decent dac its self.

 

[fwuffy squirrel]

Okay awesome, I'll start looking at the Magni2 then.  I will definitely also look into connecting it to the speaker jack as opposed to the rear 3.5 out.  Maybe move it back and forth and see if I could tell a difference.
Also based off what you said k4rstar, I might skip the dac and do what PurpleAngel was talking about and possibly save for a better amp if I think I might need one in the future.
Super fast responses thanks!
I have 1 last question.  Now that I know I am going to need an RCA to 3.5, what cable would you recommend?
I am pretty set on 1 of these 4:
 
MediaBridge: Because made in America
http://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-3-5mm-Male-2-Male-Adapter/dp/B004YDUZ22/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8
or
GhentAudio: Recommended by someone on these forums, but unsure the difference between cables 1, 2 and 3
http://www.ghentaudio.com/part/b01.html
http://www.ghentaudio.com/part/b02.html
http://www.ghentaudio.com/part/b03.html
 
P.S. Thanks SeaWolf.  I'll download the pdf and start looking into that to make sure it doesn't disable audio processing.  I'm sure there is a lot of plugging in and testing I might have to do as well once it all comes in.

 

[Makiah S]

Like purple said you can use the audio processing and optical out, but read the manual and take care note of what exactly to option in the driver do because the one that uses the audio processing and down mixes to 2 channel pcm for you dac is very easily mistaken for the one that disables all audio processing and sends that 2 channel pcm via the optical.

Use the first option for movies and gaming and the second for music if you go the dac route.

But for the money knowing how my 650s scaled I would endorse the suggestion of putting the whole budget into the amp as the z is a decent dac its self.

As others have said, I'd grab a more power dac an simply use the Line out of your SBZ, as for what amp to use, if your looking at spending around $200, give this one a look , it's the Project Polaris for around $249 an tax, the guys at Garage 1217 make some really awesome gear! Their customer support is excellent to 

 

[patton]

What was the outcome fwuffy? Im looking at getting the hd650s with my SBZ and asking myself the same question; if you bought the extra amp was it worth it?
 
Thanks