[dera993]

I can't post anywhere..I finally could post here..
I have Hyperx Alpha, I will upgrade it soon to DT 990.

My on-board ALC 887 seems unable to make my volume high enough, it is high, it does not annoy me that much, but when I max it, it's not as it should be, (all the drivers are installed and all).

I did much research but I still have some questions that are not clear to me.
My questions:
1- Do amplifiers only make volume higher? (The answer is important, because I care more about the sound's quality now, my volume level is not very low, so, I can sacrifice that for the moment, relatively low volume doesn't annoy me at the moment)

2- I understand that DACS convert Digital signals to Analog. Will it make any difference to the sound quality though?

3- At the moment, at higher bitrates, I do not feel any noise in my headphones, I fear it might only be because my headphones are not even working at their best potential, and once I connect them to good amplifier I would notice the noise. So, do I need DAC too?

4- Please, I need your assistance, if I have to buy amplifier/dac combo, what do you recommend? Is there a better option than Schiit Fulla 3 & under 100$?

5- Again, will I feel any difference in the overall sound quality if I'll buy this amplifier/dac with my Hyperx Alpha and DT 990?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I can't post anywhere..I finally could post here..
I have Hyperx Alpha, I will upgrade it soon to DT 990.

My on-board ALC 887 seems unable to make my volume high enough, it is high, it does not annoy me that much, but when I max it, it's not as it should be, (all the drivers are installed and all).

I did much research but I still have some questions that are not clear to me.
My questions:
1- Do amplifiers only make volume higher? (The answer is important, because I care more about the sound's quality now, my volume level is not very low, so, I can sacrifice that for the moment, relatively low volume doesn't annoy me at the moment)

Amplifiers provide more power so it doesn't clip the signal (dynamic peaks will pull more power, if briefly) and preferably with lower noise and distortion up to a point (some amps can still begin to break up when really cranked up). So no, they don't just make the output louder.

As to whether you can perceive the lower distortion and lower noise is another matter entirely. On one hand human perception is biased towards louder sounds as long as it's not distorted, so two clean signals with one playing louder will have that one sounding better. However not everyone will keep cranking it up, and even then, noticing a cleaner, tighter, deeper-sounding percussion "thump!" instead of "thwwuuummmp" or cymbals that go "zzzzzzzzziiiiingg!!!" instead of "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZSSSHZZZZZZZTMOTHAFA" isn't always easily apparent, much less at lower output levels.

2- I understand that DACS convert Digital signals to Analog. Will it make any difference to the sound quality though?

3- At the moment, at higher bitrates, I do not feel any noise in my headphones, I fear it might only be because my headphones are not even working at their best potential, and once I connect them to good amplifier I would notice the noise. So, do I need DAC too?

4- Please, I need your assistance, if I have to buy amplifier/dac combo, what do you recommend? Is there a better option than Schiit Fulla 3 & under 100$?

5- Again, will I feel any difference in the overall sound quality if I'll buy this amplifier/dac with my Hyperx Alpha and DT 990?

The analogue output stage on the DAC is a bigger determinant of the sound quality than the DAC chip itself barring a really badly designed chip (or chips, in concert with the receiver chip) or circuit.

Most common cause of hearing a difference (not necessarily bad): low output voltage and then the amp overcompensates by getting cranked up to a point where its noise kicks in.

In some other cases the analogue output stage design might actually not be as well thought out as others, or the USB receiver/power stage doesn't have good noise filtering or in the case of upsampling DACs, introduce noise that just doesn't sound like noise.

3- At the moment, at higher bitrates, I do not feel any noise in my headphones, I fear it might only be because my headphones are not even working at their best potential, and once I connect them to good amplifier I would notice the noise. So, do I need DAC too?

To be safe, yes, get a good DAC.

Note that it isn't foolproof since you might pick up the noise from the USB connection, from the DAC's power stage, etc, then the amplifier amplifies that noise along with the rest of the signal.

4- Please, I need your assistance, if I have to buy amplifier/dac combo, what do you recommend? Is there a better option than Schiit Fulla 3 & under 100$?

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Not really but assuming you use it for gaming chances are the Fulla3 will bypass the motherboard's audio chip, including the DSP chip, unless your board completely runs only software DSP off the CPU.

5- Again, will I feel any difference in the overall sound quality if I'll buy this amplifier/dac with my Hyperx Alpha and DT 990?

Unless we're talking about a completely bad idea combination it's hard to tell if you can tell the difference. And even then there are people who come back here railing against how somebody made them buy an expensive, high power, ultra low distortion amp that doesn't sound any different from using just an iPod, even on a lower sensitivity headphone.

 

[dera993]

Unless we're talking about a completely bad idea combination it's hard to tell if you can tell the difference. And even then there are people who come back here railing against how somebody made them buy an expensive, high power, ultra low distortion amp that doesn't sound any different from using just an iPod, even on a lower sensitivity headphone.

Thank you so much for your answers! I really appreciate it! And sorry for being a burden, I'm very new to the whole field
No worries I don't do that railing
I need it for mostly music and maybe some gaming, but mostly music.
Will Fulla sound better than ALC 887? Just by numbers and logic, I mean, yeah I understand that you don't want to give me a direct suggestion, but, if you were in my shoes, what would you do with 150$ maximum to enhance audio quality?

 

[dera993]

And I would appreciate more opinions too
This forum still seems to be sleepy!