[Radical_53]

I don't really know the output impedance of either card, just read people's experiences with it and reviews. As the Little Dot showed more or less the same problem, the adapter (which raised the impedance seen by the amp to around 150 ohm) did indeed fix the problem.

 

[reqq]

anyone tried RCA out? It got 124 SNR compared to 117 SNR headphone out. Easy to hear different?

 

[nicholars]

Quote:

anyone tried RCA out? It got 124 SNR compared to 117 SNR headphone out. Easy to hear different?

 
No because that is the equivalent to a jet engine volume with a dead silent background so both are way beyond human hearing limits.

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

I don't really know the output impedance of either card, just read people's experiences with it and reviews. As the Little Dot showed more or less the same problem, the adapter (which raised the impedance seen by the amp to around 150 ohm) did indeed fix the problem.

 
 
Its 10 ohms.

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

anyone tried RCA out? It got 124 SNR compared to 117 SNR headphone out. Easy to hear different?

 
 
Impossible to hear a difference in SNR.  However, RCA out sound a bit better overall if you plug in the headphones, but obviously doesn't have nearly as much power as the headphone out.

 

[stv014]

Quote:

anyone tried RCA out? It got 124 SNR compared to 117 SNR headphone out. Easy to hear different?

 
Neither output has the claimed SNR unless you use maximum volume and gain, and 48 or 96 kHz sample rate instead of 44.1. With sensitive headphones/IEMs at normal listening levels, the real SNR on the headphone out can be as low as 70 dB. However, if you do not actually hear any hiss with your headphones, it is not that much of an issue. Other than having a lower maximum level, an important difference on the line out is that it has much higher output impedance (100 Ω instead of 10). That can have an audible effect on many headphones. It is also AC coupled with 220 uF capacitors, while the headphone jack can output DC.

 

[reqq]

oki thanks for the answers. I was thinking RCA out to a headphone amp for better sound. But maybe thats a waste then?
 

 

[germanium]

Quote:

oki thanks for the answers. I was thinking RCA out to a headphone amp for better sound. But maybe thats a waste then?
 

RCA out to headphone amp is fine. I personally would direct couple the RCA outs though as it sounds better, more open sounding.

 

[Radical_53]

Quote:

 
 
Its 10 ohms.

The STX? If the Titanium HD really has 35 ohms then that fact alone can't explain why one has problems with low impedance headphones while the other hasn't.

 

[dioxholster]

silly question but does ohms only matter for headphones? and is max  master volume recommended?

 

[germanium]

Quote:

silly question but does ohms only matter for headphones? and is max  master volume recommended?

If driving an amp computer sound cards almost always have low enough output impedance to drive any line level load through most any cable extant without any audible loss. The same cannot be said for most comsummer level home audio gear. Of coarse most low to midfi gear have enough losses built in that even the poorest cable will sound no worse than the best. Once you eliminate most of the losses inherent in these devices all the sudden you find that the cable matters, particularly the cable capacitance as it can interact with the high output impedance of said devices to reduce the liveliness of broad spectrum instruments like piano & instruments that should have a piercing quality will sound somewhat muffled such as lead electric guitars playing in the upper registers.
 
With headphones it varies as to what works better but most generally lower output impedance is better. There are exceptions like the ER4p which really like being driven with higher output impedance of about 75ohms.

 

[gr4474]

I just got my WS99 and it works fine, but my xonar stx soundcard will not play using the FP headphone setting.  It will only play using the headphone setting.  I tried using all 3 gain settings and nothing worked.  I have to go to work and am leaving them burning in with this 49 hour track I found on this forum:https://soundcloud.com/recklessserg/sets/dubstep
 
I removed the op amps and put them back, and I don't know if that has anything to do with it.  I flipped them around to see if I had them in wrong but no change.  For some reason the op amps want to seat deeper on one side so I left them like that, but tried it also with them evenly pressed in first.  
 
Is my powered headphone output on my stx bad?

 

[germanium]

Quote:

I just got my WS99 and it works fine, but my xonar stx soundcard will not play using the FP headphone setting.  It will only play using the headphone setting.  I tried using all 3 gain settings and nothing worked.  I have to go to work and am leaving them burning in with this 49 hour track I found on this forum:https://soundcloud.com/recklessserg/sets/dubstep
 
I removed the op amps and put them back, and I don't know if that has anything to do with it.  I flipped them around to see if I had them in wrong but no change.  For some reason the op amps want to seat deeper on one side so I left them like that, but tried it also with them evenly pressed in first.  
 
Is my powered headphone output on my stx bad?

Are you sure you have the front panel connector plugged in to the STX car & that it is plugged in correctly. The headphone amp provides all output functions to the front panel connection. If the headphone out works on the back panel then the front panel connections should work as well unless there problem with the relays or they are not connected.

 

[gr4474]

Quote:

Are you sure you have the front panel connector plugged in to the STX car & that it is plugged in correctly. The headphone amp provides all output functions to the front panel connection. If the headphone out works on the back panel then the front panel connections should work as well unless there problem with the relays or they are not connected.

I don't have the front panel hooked up, but I'm connecting to the back panel.  Since the unpowered headphone setting works...is it routing the RCA output through that op amp and to the headphone jack?

 

[germanium]

Quote:

I don't have the front panel hooked up, but I'm connecting to the back panel.  Since the unpowered headphone setting works...is it routing the RCA output through that op amp and to the headphone jack?

No the headphone amp bypasses the buffer opamp. The headphone amp powers the rear headphone out for all headphone gain settings including the lowest gain which is actually 6db lower than the line out gain & all front panel output functions. The buffer amp only powers the RCA connections, nothing else.