[KaptenKanna]

Hello boys and girls, this be my very first post.
I was looking around google for and answer and found this place, and has now spent the last 6 hours reading various threads about all sorts of stuff.
Which is usually a good indication of a worthwhile forum. =D

I've had all sorts of headphones, yadda yadda probably gonno buy BeyerD DT-880 250ohms.
Now, I have the very first series of X-fi fatal1ty, which has a front that lookes like this http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggIma...102-189-04.jpg , which is nothing at all like the newer one http://www.techpowerup.com/img/08-05...tive_FiTFC.jpg
As you can see, there is a 6.3mm jack for headphones, and there's a decent amount of electronics in there, way too much to be just a front plate, and there's a big nasty flatcable leading up to it.
Hence the question in my title, is it a headphone amp? I have no headphones to test with (not as heavy as the DT-880's). Google is reluctant to answer.

 

[jjsoviet]

It's an advanced sound card if I'm right. It would sound incredible in your computer, but of course it's not a standalone headphone amp.

 

[KaptenKanna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjsoviet /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's an advanced sound card if I'm right. It would sound incredible in your computer, but of course it's not a standalone headphone amp.

It IS advanced, and it sounds really good with my Videologic Sirocco Spirit speakers. And yeah, I know that even if it qualifies as a headphone amp, it will probably never be the same as plugging in a standalone amp =P

But still, it has a 6.3mm jack, and I'd like to know if it can actually power big headphones. Someone here has to have one and have tried it =P

 

[darkswordsman17]

I owned one about 4 years ago. No, its not an amp at all, its just a daughter card. The board and cables are necessary for all the inputs/outputs. I can't recall, but I think it might have its own mini-molex (floppy) connector for power. The main reason it was popular is that the pin header for connecting the front panel headphone jack was really screwy on the X-Fi cards. If all you're wanting is the headphone out, an amp would be just as convenient. If I remember correctly I stopped using it as it didn't particularly sound good (even compared to the regular headphone out on the card itself).

 

[KaptenKanna]

Well if you are speaking from experience then it pretty much settles it =P
Now comes the ardous progress of choosing a damn headphone amp. My first decision would probably be if I'm gonno trust the X-fi DAC and go for a wholly analogue amp (which is probably alot cheaper/resultwise), or buy a amp with a DAC in it, and for some reason those seems to be hard to get by (in sweden).

There is a swedish handmade thingy called Harmony Design Ear 90. that one looks promising, but it's bloody expensive, and analog at that.