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Hello,
i'm proud owner of a pair Beyerdynamic dt 770 pro 205 ohm, which is without any doubt a great headphone, but needs to be driven correctly.
Usually i use them to just listen to music on a sound system with amp, but they don't sound as good as they could with my onboard soundcard.
This is the motherboard i am using. (Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P)
As sound system for my pc i am using the Logitech Z4.
So now I am looking for a new soundcard, maybe one with headphone amp.
My two favorites are:
Asus Xonar Essence STX - stereo with amp + Show Spoiler +
Asus Xonar D2X/XDT - 7.1 without amp + Show Spoiler +
Going for the Xonar Essence I could use my headphones and my sound system, but I won't have the option to drive a 7.1 system later on.
Going for the Xonar D2X/XDT I couldn't use my headphones without a dedicated amp, but I would be able to drive a better system later on.
If I would have to decide which one to go I would pick the Xonar Essence, but always when going to spend more then 100 Eur I think 3 times and get indecisive.
I'm not (!) looking for a soundcard for playing games, so going for a creative card, because it has native EAX is no choise.
Please tell me what experience do you have with these two cards.
Which one suits my purpose best?
Is is worth going for possible 7.1 and need to buy an amp or is stereo with amp the right choise?
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I have a Xonar Essence STX, and I'm really happy with it. It's only driving a pair of sennheiser pc350's atm, and they are also the only headphones I've tried with the card, so I can't really compare it to anything else. The plan is to expand my setup with a nice HI-FI setup after some time, so i'm kinda set there too, as far as audio source goes.
I personally have no need for surround, I mostly use my computer for music and games, so stereo was the way to go(there is virtual surround from drivers).
GL finding the card for you!
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It's hard to say because they don't publish all the relevant specs (of course they wouldn't) and any type of review by computer hardware sites lack the means to determine them. i.e. they're clueless and don't really have the equipment to test anyway
There are significantly cheaper 7.1 output sound cards though. e.g. Xonar DS (PCI) is 41,50 Euros:
http://www.alternate.de/html/product/ASUS/Xonar_DS_7.1/133583/?
The Xonar STX / ST uses a TI TPA6120 op amp for the power output to the headphones. I forget what the pre-amp or any kind of buffers or DACs are. Granted, I would think that the performance of the system is probably limited by the details of the implementation in terms of PCB layout, other components, noisy computer power, etc.
An external amplifier also based on the TI TPA6120 is the FiiO E9. It's 120 Euros on amazon.de, but I didn't check elsewhere.
http://www.amazon.de/Fiio-E9-Desktop-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B004M172FY/
Depending on how loud you listen and how the actual performance of the device is, you might find that something as cheap as the Xonar DG (PCI, 5.1 output, 31 Euros, with headphone amp) is enough to power the DT 770 Pro 250 ohms:
http://www.alternate.de/html/product/ASUS/Xonar_DG/574326/
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Myrmidon, thanks for your infos.
I just want to add that i need to go via pcie 1x, because my pci sockets are filled/blocked.
Considering the FiiO, I'd rather get a Nuforce Icon uDac 2 or an Audinst HUD-MX1.
I don't like the fact that the FiiO e9 does not have a DAC and that the interface is kind of a bottleneck when combining with the FiiO e7 as DAC. (e.g. when using the amp with a laptop or mp3 player.)
Edit: I mean using a E9 with a E7 lacks in quality compared to other amp/DAC combinations, because the interface is not as good as it could and should be.
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On July 03 2011 08:19 Enyce wrote:
Myrmidon, thanks for your infos.
I just want to add that i need to go via pcie 1x, because my pci sockets are filled/blocked.
Considering the FiiO, I'd rather get a Nuforce Icon uDac 2 or an Audinst HUD-MX1.
I don't like the fact that the FiiO e9 does not have a DAC and that the interface is kind of a bottleneck when combining with the FiiO e7 as DAC. (e.g. when using the amp with a laptop or mp3 player.)
Xonar DX is similar to the DS I think, and is a PCIe 1x card that has 7.1 output, for 61,90 Euros:
http://www.alternate.de/html/product/ASUS/Xonar_DX-XD/45559/
uDAC 2 still has channel balance problems, particularly at low levels (sample dependent). Also, it clips when reproducing 0 dB (i.e. max volume) digital inputs, no matter what the volume knob is turned to. The max output is a little less than 20 mW into 250 ohms before clipping, which may or may not be loud enough, depending on what you're listening to.
I don't know about the Audinst HUD-MX1.
Anyway, I'm not sure what you mean regarding the FiiO E9. It has a line input to use with any DAC, sound card, laptop, mp3 player, or whatever you want. Why would the interface (which interface?) be a bottleneck if you also use it with the E7? What do you mean by bottleneck?
Some portable amps would be sufficient for the headphones as well, but the cost or price/performance may not be as good. Maybe you can also look at some CMoy variant, though I'm sure that those range a lot in quality and it would be hard to know what you're getting or building.
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Asus Xonar Essence STX. I have this soundcard with a pair of Sennheiser PC 360s. It sounds amazing with the amp (can be configured 3 ways for impedance)
I would get the STX and forget about 7.1 since its kind of a gimmick imo - your ears will thank you later ;D
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EPT
