[torpedoPhil]

I want to connect stereo-headphones (either AD700 or DT770 Pro) to my Laptop. To get decent sound quality I want to get one of the Astro Mixamps (Pro or 5.8) for better stereo sound for music and surround sound for fps gaming. I'm using a Toshiba Satellite L500-164 (specs: http://de.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/jsp/SUPPORTSECTION/discontinuedProductPage.do?service=DE&toshibaShop=false&BV_UseBVCookie=yes&PRODUCT_ID=1072417&BV_Script=/jsp/fixup/productPage ) with a Realtek onboard sound.
 
As i understand to get the best sound quality out of the Astros you need to connect them via Toslink. As I don't have a Toslink jack, can i just plug it in via USB and everythings works well or can I get an adapter and solve the problem that way?
 
Thanks in advance, I'm new to these topics

 

[SniperCzar]

 
Quote:

I want to connect stereo-headphones (either AD700 or DT770 Pro) to my Laptop. To get decent sound quality I want to get one of the Astro Mixamps (Pro or 5.8) for better stereo sound for music and surround sound for fps gaming. I'm using a Toshiba Satellite L500-164 (specs: http://de.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/jsp/SUPPORTSECTION/discontinuedProductPage.do?service=DE&toshibaShop=false&BV_UseBVCookie=yes&PRODUCT_ID=1072417&BV_Script=/jsp/fixup/productPage ) with a Realtek onboard sound.
 
As i understand to get the best sound quality out of the Astros you need to connect them via Toslink. As I don't have a Toslink jack, can i just plug it in via USB and everythings works well or can I get an adapter and solve the problem that way?
 
Thanks in advance, I'm new to these topics

I believe the Mixamp does indeed have USB input.
 
 

 

[Phos]

I don't know if the mixamp does that much over USB, but I know that Creative's external Recon3D can do everything over USB.

 

[Isotriv]

wow, thank you all for the over whelming response guys!

Never before have I posted in a thread and got actual answers with such depth and guidance. I'm gonna have to re-evaluate my future plans for a DAC but I pretty much know what to buy now. Thanks again guys

 

[LilBuck]

Anyone use Dolby Headphone have a modification for making Ventrilo/Skype etc sound more natural (using Asus Xonar Essence ST)? To me that was the one thing that didn't seem to sound right.

 

[torpedoPhil]

Quote:

 
I believe the Mixamp does indeed have USB input.
 
 

I know it does, but I'm not sure if it sounds the same then. Also I think the game/voice sound balance knob doesn't work anymore when using USB alone. I could deal with the Mic thingy, but I want the best sound quality possible from that combination of hardware. Does it sound differently via USB than via Toslink?
 
Also, is there a possibility to take a Toslink converter, maybe to 3,5mm and have the best sound possible?
 
Thanks for your answers

 

[atmospheric]

is there any way i can improve the spacial audio qualities coming from CA DacMagic over USB while gaming?

 

[googleli]

Add a headphone amp.

 

[ROBSCIX]

 
Quote:

is there any way i can improve the spacial audio qualities coming from CA DacMagic over USB while gaming?

Do you mean spacial in terms of gaming sound?
If so then, no.  You would need to use a card to supply the S/Pdif signal to the DAC.

 

[Phos]

Quote:

I know it does, but I'm not sure if it sounds the same then. Also I think the game/voice sound balance knob doesn't work anymore when using USB alone. I could deal with the Mic thingy, but I want the best sound quality possible from that combination of hardware. Does it sound differently via USB than via Toslink?
 
Also, is there a possibility to take a Toslink converter, maybe to 3,5mm and have the best sound possible?
 
Thanks for your answers

If you want everything to work over USB the only solution I know of is the external version of Creative's Recon3D, or if you only need PC capabilities, the X-Fi surround 5.1.

 
Quote:

is there any way i can improve the spacial audio qualities coming from CA DacMagic over USB while gaming?

Are you on a desktop?  If you're on a desktop you can run toslink or coax from your card to the DAC magic.  If you don't have a card with HRTF yet Creative seems like the way to go in that respect, it's mu understanding that their cards do a better job running processed audio out via S/PDIF.  If USB is the only option, I imagine you're on a laptop, and then your options become trickier, probably the surround 5.1 I mentioned?  

 

[SniperCzar]

 
Quote:

is there any way i can improve the spacial audio qualities coming from CA DacMagic over USB while gaming?

Oh hey thar! You know, you could always do what I've been testing in prep for my E17 and turn a cheap Creative card into a soulless DSP machine in the audio chain. Basically trading an expansion slot for DSP surround/EAX effect.

 

[atmospheric]

but is it really worth the effect? and do you think it would make any noticeable degradation in the signal chain? ... actually I might be able to use the soundcard for gaming, and switch inputs to USB on my DAC for music if windows 7 supports multiple digital sound outputs at a single time.  I imagine it does.  which card do you recommend for relatively cheap?
 
Quote:

 

Oh hey thar! You know, you could always do what I've been testing in prep for my E17 and turn a cheap Creative card into a soulless DSP machine in the audio chain. Basically trading an expansion slot for DSP surround/EAX effect.

 
 

 

[Phos]

I connected my DAC to my motherboard's coax port and to my soundcard's toslink port, I made the soundcard the default device and set foobar to output to hd audio device coax. Then I just switch inputs for music listening with a push of a button on my DAC. 
 
That's the easy part. Theannoying part is having to lie to games about my speaker set up because of how all over the place PC game audio has become. On some games the best I can do is have them output 7.1 and then have my card virtualize that, most OpenAL games just look at my sound card configuration (this is hardware acceleration, so the card is making the audio here), BUT a lot of games look at my windows sound configuration, and some games include Rapture 3D which is a software solution but works really good. 

 

[ninjikiran]

Just thought ide tell ya, there is no degradation in the audio chain. WASAPI/ASIO mutes all other sources from effecting the output.
 
In short when using the audigy speaker output I hear the audible different that game mode is on(foobar testing) while outputting wasapi through my juli@ everything is still clean.
 
In short the net change between the before and after is quite simple really.  Same as watching a youtube video while listening to music through WASAPI.

 

[NamelessPFG]

 
Quote:

ASIO mutes all other sources from effecting the output.

That's never happened to me on an X-Fi card (other sounds play just fine), yet I'm still pretty sure it's ASIO because the sampling rate changes in Audio Creation Mode, and ASIO mode doesn't work if the card isn't set to Audio Creation Mode.
 
Owners of other sound cards say it behaves just like WASAPI exclusive mode, though...no other sources get into the output, and there may not even be a software-controlled volume adjustment, having to turn things down on an amp later down the chain.