[Audioholic]

Greetings, mighty gods of head-fi forum

!

I'm new to all this audio stuff and I just wanted to clear some things out. I've been reading posts on this forum, and you all got me very interested in sound in general. I wanted to upgrade my computer with some new audio gear so I went and bought myself a X-fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro (I'm a dedicated gamer), Seaber's Cmoy, Sennheiser PC-350 and Sennheiser HD555. There are many new things (to me) now and what i wanted to ask is: I have main volume up and down on my x-fi console, on cmoy amp too, and in control panel. Which one do I turn up and which one turn down to gain the best sound possible? Or does it even matter which one? Second, can my Sennheisers be damaged if I turn up cmoy too much, 'cause I can't see how much it's turned up. And can you all please explain it to me like to a small child, cause when you get all technical, it's sounds like magic to me

 

[Rhinosaur]

Setting the volume at the end (i.e. your CMOY) is generally considered the best way. The volume sliders in the Volume Control (I'm guessing that's what you mean when you say from the Control Panel) should all be maxed.

I'm not sure what the sliders look like in the X-fi menu, but they should probably be maxed as well (my EMU card has the gain set at 0dB which isn't max however, and I'm not sure if the X-fi drivers are similar in this way - a screenshot would help, although someone else will probably help here).

Best bet is to set your CMOY's volume to minimum and then slowly increase it unless you get a comfortable listening volume. And as for damaging your headphones - you'll damage your ears before you damage the headphones.

 

[EnOYiN]

Hey! Welcome to Head-Fi. Sorry 'bout your wallet.

You might find this an interesting read. It is pretty technical already though, but I'm sure you'll be able to figure out what they are saying. If not, don't hesitate to post it here.

Most of the times you'd just want to use the analogue volume control. Aside from the fact that it's more convenient most of the times and you won't lose any bit depth. How much an analogue volume pot will decrease your quality is something I don't know a lot about. I'll leave that to the DIY community on this forum.

 

[Audioholic]

Thanks for the info, but why sorry for my wallet

? What about that wave slider in control panel? Allso maxed?

 

[Ashkii21]

I've been searching this question also. FWIR, you set all the sliders to max (100%) and control the volume from the Cmoy. You do this when your source is from a DAC or portable music player's line-out (not headphone out, the one that hasn't been amped). If the signal has already been amped, like from an MP3 player's or cd player's headphone out jack, you will want to set the volume on the source at 50-75%, then use the attenuator on the Cmoy to control the volume. The reason for this is to minimize the distortion from double amping.
So for the X-fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro, I think it would be set on the computer to around 50-75% then control volume from the Cmoy (Some one correct me if I'm wrong). Are you using the Speaker out jacks or did you connect using the Front Panel Header? Either way, you will want to control the volume at the end, through the Cmoy.

 

[Audioholic]

Thanks Ashkii, that actually makes sense to me

 

[EnOYiN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audioholic /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the info, but why sorry for my wallet ? What about that wave slider in control panel? Allso maxed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by This used to be on wiki [size=x-small] Head-fi slogan [/size][size=x-small]"Welcome to head-fi, sorry about your wallet." The Head-fi slogan originated from the "upgrade bug". It is usually assumed that anyone who joins head-fi will be hit with the "upgrade bug" upon first "eargasm". Once a person becomes addicted to headphones, they tend to own multiple pairs, thus starving his or her poor wallet. This is also diagnosed by Head-fi'ers as 'upgraditis'.[/size]

[size=x-small]

[/size]Ashkii21 answered the other question well enough I think.