Top10 soundcards for HEADPHONES

[OldChap]

How about you consider a headphone DAC straight into MB optical

Choices are out there but costs might be an issue

http://www.whathifi.com/reviews/acce...headphone-amps

maybe...

https://www.springwateraudio.com/sto...&products_id=5

[ZenEffect]

im home sick today and listening to some tunes so i thought id chime in...

ive been through just about every sound card on the market and i keep going back to onboard... drivers are such a hassle

all the dsp stuff included with modern sound cards is useless to me... best $40 i ever spent was on a K272A kit that i built (heavily modified) to run my audiotechnica ath-a700's. K272A got a complete re-cap treatment (mixture of nichicon muse, elna silmic II, and mundorf m-caps) and burrbrowns 2107 as well as gold plated socket and matched JAN6418 (same tubes as stock... just matched)

id have to agree that old chap is right and an external dac will give you the best audio when compared to a add in sound card. thats next on my to build list

[zanzabar]

i too have been looking since ive grown tiered of creatives ty support.

im going to be getting an maudio fast track pro, it dose usb or spdif in from the computer and it works without a computer if u want to use it as a pre amp or reviver, and it can power bd 770 pro 250 ohm headphones with a alot of volume knob unused (i think it was at a little less than half)
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-a...41710000000000

the only problem is one spdif since i would not want to use an onboard usb controller for HDDs and audio and i like to have spdif in from my monitor putting the hdmi audio cleanly from my ps3 when im watching a movie.

[zanzabar]

so i got a fast track pro, to make the audio of usable quality u have to disable all inputs and there is a nice high pitched whine in it. so its going back to guitar center. and once again there is no upgrade to the SBA2 plat pro other than the SBA4 and the driver problems are still there.

[M.Beier]

Uhm next question coming up...

Is the Essence STX the top pick as well for me, if I want to watch movies and play music, on my surround receiver? Or is there something else I should look at for the HTPC?
And which connectors should I use? Coxial to receivier so that I can have all channels? or what do you guys suggest.

[zanzabar]

if u are going to a receiver u dont need anything but onboard with an spdif connector that matches your receiver (so hdmi, optical toslink, rca, coax)

[Kingcarcas]

Can't seem to find a good answer so i'm just going to try out different equipment.
Xonar DG with headphone amp for $30 is first. (some reviewers say it comes close to the STX) I was looking at the external Fiio E10 for $80 but then i have to find a place for it and i don't think i get the features for gaming, some say you get about the same price on actual hardware since they have to package those Dac/Amp combos and throw in a power supply.

One of the best values is supposed to be the $180 Audinst MX-1 combo, but in that range i want to try the STX for my gaming rig (no Creative ever again!) Why the hell did they even come out with PCI-E versions if you still have to use a molex connector to power it anyway?

If you want a fun cheap headphone TC try the Panasonic HTF600 for $30, you'll get that bass that the other guy was bragging about with his M50s.

[M.Beier]

if u are going to a receiver u dont need anything but onboard with an spdif connector that matches your receiver (so hdmi, optical toslink, rca, coax)

so, for my HTPC a soundcard is useless?

[Hell Hound]

No,it improves the source audio.
Sound card should use parts just as good or better than what receiver has.
I use gold coax plug for six channel mode which is digital only and 5.1 uses standard plugs.

[M.Beier]

No,it improves the source audio.

And what would be suitable for using then?

[Hell Hound]

And what would be suitable for using then?

Pci would be Claro Halo card and pci-e would be a Auzentech HomeTheater HD

[M.Beier]

Pci would be Claro Halo card and pci-e would be a Auzentech HomeTheater HD

Auch that Auzentech has a vast pricetag... something closer to half the price?

[Hell Hound]

X-FI Titanium HD

[M.Beier]

X-FI Titanium HD

I got a x-fi titanium (none HD), would it make sense to use that for the HTPC... failtality thingie with a metal shield...

Then plug in a xonar essence stx for the daily computer.

[Hell Hound]

If watching movies is important then Stx for HTPC AND Headfi amp for desktop.

[zanzabar]

so, for my HTPC a soundcard is useless?

not always but yes for the most part, the audio quality will not improve.

No,it improves the source audio.
Sound card should use parts just as good or better than what receiver has.
I use gold coax plug for six channel mode which is digital only and 5.1 uses standard plugs.

what will the sound card do when u are using digital out, dose it use magic to make it sound better than the source as the receiver can do all eq or leveling if u want it. windows dose not have HAL anymore so the literal only tank that the sound card dose for audio out is the DAC/amp and since your going digital out the dac is not doing anything.

[Hell Hound]

I'm using both 2.1 stereo for music and 5.1 for movies with analog,6 channel w/digital on some games/movies
I have listened to a couple of diff cards and quality does change when using a receiver also.
I've tried a c-media card a xtreme music and a forte.The c-media has the best low end forte better highs and xfi-music is in between.

[Andrew LB]

its number 1 at head-fi.org http://www.head-fi.org/products/category/sound-cards

While the ASUS Xonar Essence STX is a great card, after owning both it and the Creative X-Fi Titanium HD... my vote goes for the Creative product. I know I'm going to hear a lot of complaints over Creative's drivers, etc... which I agree with on all their products EXCEPT the Titanium HD. This card has been utterly fantastic for me and if you read the reviews around the web, even the most anti-creative reviewers were astonished when they tried this card.
One thing about that poll on Head-Fi.... please remember the Asus Xonar Essence STX was released in January 2009, and the Titanium HD in October 2010, almost 2 years later. That difference of almost 2 years resulted in a ton of votes prior to the Titanium HD's release.

[Rattle]

I was thinking of trying an stx but it's old and my forte is doing the job just fine. I also had the titanium HD and non HD and I liked the forte sound much more although the HD was very close. Not sure what to do I really am dependant on cmss3d for gaming... Was then thinking about an e10 but for gaming.... Not sure if it will cut it.

[Kingcarcas]

Awww crap, so i wasted $40 if my gaming rig is connected to an AVR? I could have sworn i heard a difference in the sound............or was it just placebo? Oh well....

[Donnie27]

Awww crap, so i wasted $40 if my gaming rig is connected to an AVR? I could have sworn i heard a difference in the sound............or was it just placebo? Oh well....

No NO NO! If you're gaming the sounds are converted to digital after real time interaction while Gaming. I think the other guy is talking about Movies and Music that are, and the new term is "Pure Digital Direct". The digital direct signal has no pre-processing like games, only post processing that unaffected by a Card or the Mobo. In fact many times it is treated as a Pass-Through where any card processing is by-passed for movies and music. You even select which processing you want, like DTS or DDL for eample and pick Internal or External processing.

Sorry I didn't hear much of a difference at all between the STX and Creative THD but the crative card is cheaper.

Again Mike, if you like the 280's that's fine. But it says a lot about what you like in sounds since the 280's have trouble with anything lower that 50Hz at volume levels above a whisper. It seems kind of counter productive to amp something that already strains worse than $27 Koss (if you can find any) and $20 JVC Cans at Wal-Mart. Now I don't say that as any kind of slam or put down. Because honestly, those two set of cans will surprise a lot of folks.

[Kingcarcas]

I did try a few things before i popped it in and it did seem to make the sound better, so i want to say it isn't placebo but hey you never know....