ScarlettD
New Head-Fier
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- Dec 27, 2009
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So it depends on the music genre itself I suppose... hmmm
Originally Posted by tomb /img/forum/go_quote.gif See my later posts. I'm not familiar with every single kind of sound card out there - I'll admit that up front. There are always exceptions to every rule, too, of course! However, 100V seems unbelievable unless you had a separate connector to the AC mains, or some sort of onboard transformer, AC/buck-boost circuit. At the very least, it would seem deficient in current ability in that scenario. Even in the case with +or- 10V rails, there has to be some sort of buck-boost voltage booster in the circuit, IMHO. These are very tough to tame to the standards of linear-regulated power supplies for headphone amps, where the ripple is sometimes down to the single digits in microvolts. I think Dr. Xin was the only one able to do it well on a regular basis with his very tiny portable amps. I don't disagree with this, but likely there will be entire sections of music not even heard. You won't even know what you're missing. Again, that's sort of the point of this whole thread and one my earlier post was trying to support. |
Originally Posted by ScarlettD /img/forum/go_quote.gif So it depends on the music genre itself I suppose... hmmm |
Originally Posted by tomb /img/forum/go_quote.gif Many of us do not believe that the typical soundcard or portable player even has the physical design to provide that kind of leverage... |
Originally Posted by Lavcat /img/forum/go_quote.gif Please note I am not claiming that my modded $250 sound card compares to your typical $2500 amplifier. |
Originally Posted by pippothegreat /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have owned a pair of Grado RS2i's for a couple of weeks now and have just ordered Audio-GD's latest toy, the "Fun" DAC/AMP combo. You think it's safe to say that since my Grado's are 32ohms and the HD650's are 300ohms that maybe the Grado's really don't need an amp at all to [size=small]properly power[/size] them? I got the "fun" because it's a DAC as well as an amp and I believe the DAC section will be more useful to my grado's then the amp will. |
Originally Posted by pippothegreat /img/forum/go_quote.gif P.S. We should really be focusing on what is the most important aspect of this great hobby of ours and that is the beautiful sound of music. DAC's, amps, cables, tubes/solid state, Ohms, charts and numbers is only a bridge to achieve a better sound, but in the end it's music that makes our heads bob up and down and not a 500$ cable! Now if you guys don't mind I'm going to go enjoy the sweet sound of my Grado's and let you guys battle it out with the physics talk |
Originally Posted by tvrboy /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe a sticky thread on which cans NEED amps. |
Originally Posted by adrift /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just out of curiosity, what sound card is this, and how was it modded? I may have missed that somewhere. And if it can't compare to a $2500 amp, what can it easily compare to? I don't doubt you for a second, I'm just surprised I haven't heard more people using soundcards rather than amps... but then, I suppose that may have something to do with some folks apprehension in using a computer as a source...? |
Originally Posted by Lavcat /img/forum/go_quote.gif The sound card I am using is the Auzentech HomeTheater. Our member ROBSCIX has a review of the card on guru3d: Auzentech X-Fi Home Theater HD 7.1 Soundcard review The only modification was to replace the stock LM4562NA opamp with a pair of TI OPA627BP's. I would like to bias the 627's into class A but that has yet to be done. I would expect to compare the $250 sound card to a $250 amp. The amp would need a case, volume control, and additional power supply components, of course, which a sound card being in a computer does not, but on the other hand the sound card has HDMI support circuitry that a headphone amp typically would not. The sound card also has to provide its own DAC. I think an equal cost comparison would be valid. |
Originally Posted by adrift /img/forum/go_quote.gif Awesome. Thank you for the link. I'm gonna check it out now. Do you think that this sound card would be able to power my 650s as well as my Little Dot MKIII which is comparably priced? |