Sound card or nah for AD-900x's

[IIILvLZeroIII]

So my mobo I plan on getting is the evga z97 ftw with a sound card of the cb z but I hear such bad things

What sound card should I get or just get a better mobo

[spwath]

So you are saying the onboard sound sounds bad?

How?

[kent1147]

You're hearing a lot of "noise" (static, humming, buzzing, pops, etc) from the electromagnetic interference (EMI) as a result of the audio circuitry being located on the motherboard.  A motherboard has a lot of electrical signals flowing through it, which will create noise interference with onboard audio.  You will only notice this when you're using sensitive high-quality headphones like Audio Technica AD-900x's, because crappier sound hardware doesn't have the sound quality and clarity to reveal this background EMI noise.

 

The solution to this is to get a sound card.   There are many different options out there, such as internal PCIe sound cards, or external USB sound cards.  Personally, I prefer using an audiophile-quality DAC, like the Fiio E10 (link)

 

 

 

Use this as your sound output device, and you'll increase sound quality (and get rid of the EMI noise that bothers you).  

 

If you use your computer for gaming, and want surround sound, get Razer Surround software.  It's a software driver for audio that basically emulates 7.1-channel surround sound in 2.0-channel stereo headphones.

[SSL]

You will only notice this when you're using sensitive high-quality headphones like Audio Technica AD-900x's, because crappier sound hardware doesn't have the sound quality and clarity to reveal this background EMI noise.

 

Pretty sure EMI is detectable with any headphone. I also don't see where the OP was having problems with interference.

[Mistersprinkles]

You're hearing a lot of "noise" (static, humming, buzzing, pops, etc) from the electromagnetic interference (EMI) as a result of the audio circuitry being located on the motherboard.  A motherboard has a lot of electrical signals flowing through it, which will create noise interference with onboard audio.  You will only notice this when you're using sensitive high-quality headphones like Audio Technica AD-900x's, because crappier sound hardware doesn't have the sound quality and clarity to reveal this background EMI noise.

 

The solution to this is to get a sound card.   There are many different options out there, such as internal PCIe sound cards, or external USB sound cards.  Personally, I prefer using an audiophile-quality DAC, like the Fiio E10 (link)

 

 

 

Use this as your sound output device, and you'll increase sound quality (and get rid of the EMI noise that bothers you).  

 

If you use your computer for gaming, and want surround sound, get Razer Surround software.  It's a software driver for audio that basically emulates 7.1-channel surround sound in 2.0-channel stereo headphones.

 

Internal soundcards are subject to the same noise that integrated audio is. I have some pretty decent integrated audio on some of my motherboards and it is a joke compared to my DACs, a $300 ARCAM rPAC, and a much nicer $600 TEAC UD 301. They sound phenomenal. You really owe it to yourself to buy a DAC/AMP for your headphones. It'll make a big difference. The most low-cost solution I would suggest is that you order online from schiit the Magni/Modi combo which is a discrete entry level DAC and a discrete entry level headphone amp. Obviously, higher cost solutions are going to sound better. But you may feel that it's not worth it to go with one of those solutions. 

 

I suggest that you take your headphones to a HIFI shop and ask them to let you hook the headphones up to a proper amplifier (like a HIFI component amplifier) so you can see what you're missing. It's like night and day. $150 headphones with a proper source and amplification sound better than $400 headphones connected to a crap source, like integrated on a motherboard.

[SSL]

$150 headphones with a proper source and amplification sound better than $400 headphones connected to a crap source, like integrated on a motherboard.

 

No, it won't. You're a tiresome clown and should really think about what you're accomplishing with your "helpful" posts.

[Mistersprinkles]

No, it won't. You're a tiresome clown and should really think about what you're accomplishing with your "helpful" posts.

 

No, I'm an audiophile, and you are a fucking idiot. Have you ever hooked headphones up to a $1000+ integrated amplifier being fed by a good DAC or a good CD/SACD player? I don't think you have, or you wouldn't be talking smack. You probably have absolute pleb hardware and have never touched any audio hardware outside of a $120 boombox and you don't know your ass from your elbow in audio.

 

I speak from experience. Something you don't seem to have any of. 

[Fluffinator]

No, I'm an audiophile, and you are a fucking idiot. Have you ever hooked headphones up to a $1000+ integrated amplifier being fed by a good DAC or a good CD/SACD player? I don't think you have, or you wouldn't be talking smack. You probably have absolute pleb hardware and have never touched any audio hardware outside of a $120 boombox and you don't know your ass from your elbow in audio.

 

I speak from experience. Something you don't seem to have any of. 

I don't think your a audiophile if you think that sound magically changes like that.... a $2000 headset plugged into a phone would still sound like a $2000 headset. However according to your argument I can make my $150 headset magically sound better with a dac/amp, what you're saying doesn't make any sense.

[Mistersprinkles]

I don't think your a audiophile if you think that sound magically changes like that.... a $2000 headset plugged into a phone would still sound like a $2000 headset. However according to your argument I can make my $150 headset magically sound better with a dac/amp, what you're saying doesn't make any sense.

 

How stupid are you people? This forum is populated by the most ignorant fucktards on the planet. You don't understand how a CLEANER signal and better amplification can make a speaker (which is what headphones are) sound better? 

You need to go back to pre-school and start over bro. You fail at life. Hard.

 

Also, a $2000 headset would almost certainly not work plugged into a phone as most headsets in that price range are electrostatic and those that are not tend to have an impedance of over 300 Ohms. Your phone can drive about 32 without seriously losing volume.

 

By the way, when the word after "A" starts with a vowel, you say "AN". You should have learned that in first grade. Moron.

 

What do you and this dumb fucker SSL think they make DACs and amps for? Just for show? Do people just buy them for looking at? You really think they don't make a difference? You guys are monumentally and frighteningly ignorant and stupid. And you're both probably moron teenagers who still live with mommy and have NO experience and just talk out their asses.

[SSL]

No, I'm an audiophile, and you are a fucking idiot. Have you ever hooked headphones up to a $1000+ integrated amplifier being fed by a good DAC or a good CD/SACD player? I don't think you have, or you wouldn't be talking smack. You probably have absolute pleb hardware and have never touched any audio hardware outside of a $120 boombox and you don't know your ass from your elbow in audio.

 

I speak from experience. Something you don't seem to have any of. 

 

Also, elitist. I'd love to blow moolah on expensive audio gear, but I have other, legitimate responsibilities.

[Fluffinator]

How stupid are you people? This forum is populated by the most ignorant fucktards on the planet. You don't understand how a CLEANER signal and better amplification can make a speaker (which is what headphones are) sound better? 

You need to go back to pre-school and start over bro. You fail at life. Hard.

Argument is insulting people that's pretty sad.. I'm sorry you don't understand that people don't have to spend tons of money on things they don't have too "magically" enhance their audio quality somehow.

[SSL]

What do you and this dumb fucker SSL think they make DACs and amps for? Just for show? Do people just buy them for looking at?

 

The penny drops.

[Mistersprinkles]

Also, elitist. I'd love to blow moolah on expensive audio gear, but I have other, legitimate responsibilities.

 

That's my point. I'm not an elitist. I'm just somebody who has more money than you. I'm listening to my headphones plugged into a $700 Marantz PM5005 being fed by a $600 TEAC UD 301 right now. I can ASSURE you that If I plug these headphones into my integrated ALC 1150 they sound like garbage by comparison. 

 

You have NO experience. You've probably never even set foot in a HIFI shop. Integrated audio on motherboards is designed for the pleb hardware that plebs have. Garbage gaming headsets with low impedance, garbage audio like Corsair SP2500s, stuff like that. If you want REAL quality sound you need to venture into external DACs and AMPs. Even with $150 headphones, you should do this.

 

As a general rule, you should spend as much on the source feeding your speakers (or headphones) as you did on the speakers themselves.

[Fluffinator]

 

Also, a $2000 headset would almost certainly not work plugged into a phone as most headsets in that price range are electrostatic and those that are not tend to have an impedance of over 300 Ohms. Your phone can drive about 32 without seriously losing volume.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/290749-the-impedance-ballad-image-heavy/

So this must be full of lies. Oh wait they still sound like high end headphones..

[SSL]

I'm not an elitist. I'm just somebody who has more money than you.

 

mfw

[Mistersprinkles]

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/290749-the-impedance-ballad-image-heavy/

So this must be full of lies. Oh wait they still sound like high end headphones..

 

Oh my god... the highest impedance they tested was just over 60 Ohms. Of course it worked. He's testing the SPL. He's not testing the dynamic range, or the bass response, or the transient response, or sound coloration...

 

The higher the impedance of the headphone, and the lower the amplification of the source, the less dynamic and the more crappy the sound will be.

 

Did I say you wouldn't be able to HEAR high impedance headphones on a smart phone? No I said it wouldnt work- ie, it would sound like shit. Don't put words in my mouth pleb. 

 

This is just an idiotic test done by an idiot who doesn't understand the need for amplification or how it works.

 

 

I'd explain the difference proper amplification and D/A conversion can make like better stereo seperation, better dynamic range, warmer sound, faster response, better soundstage-- but wait-- you guys are plebs and you don't know what any of that means! Oh well...

 

I'm done here.  You fucktards enjoy your shitty fucktard audio and keep telling yourselves that it sounds good. Leave the high end stuff to those of us who aren't morons.

[Fluffinator]

 

 

This is just an idiotic test done by an idiot who doesn't understand the need for amplification or how it works.

 

 

I'd explain the difference proper amplification and D/A conversion can make like better stereo seperation, better dynamic range, warmer sound, faster response, better soundstage-- but wait-- you guys are plebs and you don't know what any of that means! Oh well...

 

I would bet @creatip123 knows more than you, you seem like an elitist snob..

[SSL]

I'm done here.

 

I sincerely hope so; that was the goal.

[Mistersprinkles]

I would bet @creatip123 knows more than you, you seem like an elitist snob..

 

I'm an elitist snob because I know what sounds good and I say so?

 

I guess knowledgable people are threatening to plebs... must be it.

[TumbleButt]

Internal soundcards are subject to the same noise that integrated audio is. I have some pretty decent integrated audio on some of my motherboards and it is a joke compared to my DACs, a $300 ARCAM rPAC, and a much nicer $600 TEAC UD 301. They sound phenomenal. You really owe it to yourself to buy a DAC/AMP for your headphones. It'll make a big difference. The most low-cost solution I would suggest is that you order online from schiit the Magni/Modi combo which is a discrete entry level DAC and a discrete entry level headphone amp. Obviously, higher cost solutions are going to sound better. But you may feel that it's not worth it to go with one of those solutions. 

 

I suggest that you take your headphones to a HIFI shop and ask them to let you hook the headphones up to a proper amplifier (like a HIFI component amplifier) so you can see what you're missing. It's like night and day. $150 headphones with a proper source and amplification sound better than $400 headphones connected to a crap source, like integrated on a motherboard.

 

 

No, I'm an audiophile, and you are a fucking idiot. Have you ever hooked headphones up to a $1000+ integrated amplifier being fed by a good DAC or a good CD/SACD player? I don't think you have, or you wouldn't be talking smack. You probably have absolute pleb hardware and have never touched any audio hardware outside of a $120 boombox and you don't know your ass from your elbow in audio.

 

I speak from experience. Something you don't seem to have any of. 

 

 

How stupid are you people? This forum is populated by the most ignorant fucktards on the planet. You don't understand how a CLEANER signal and better amplification can make a speaker (which is what headphones are) sound better? 

You need to go back to pre-school and start over bro. You fail at life. Hard.

 

Also, a $2000 headset would almost certainly not work plugged into a phone as most headsets in that price range are electrostatic and those that are not tend to have an impedance of over 300 Ohms. Your phone can drive about 32 without seriously losing volume.

 

By the way, when the word after "A" starts with a vowel, you say "AN". You should have learned that in first grade. Moron.

 

What do you and this dumb fucker SSL think they make DACs and amps for? Just for show? Do people just buy them for looking at? You really think they don't make a difference? You guys are monumentally and frighteningly ignorant and stupid. And you're both probably moron teenagers who still live with mommy and have NO experience and just talk out their asses.

 

 

Oh my god... the highest impedance they tested was just over 60 Ohms. Of course it worked. He's testing the SPL. He's not testing the dynamic range, or the bass response, or the transient response, or sound coloration...

 

The higher the impedance of the headphone, and the lower the amplification of the source, the less dynamic and the more crappy the sound will be.

 

Did I say you wouldn't be able to HEAR high impedance headphones on a smart phone? No I said it wouldnt work- ie, it would sound like shit. Don't put words in my mouth pleb. 

 

This is just an idiotic test done by an idiot who doesn't understand the need for amplification or how it works.

 

 

I'd explain the difference proper amplification and D/A conversion can make like better stereo seperation, better dynamic range, warmer sound, faster response, better soundstage-- but wait-- you guys are plebs and you don't know what any of that means! Oh well...

 

I'm done here.  You fucktards enjoy your shitty fucktard audio and keep telling yourselves that it sounds good. Leave the high end stuff to those of us who aren't morons.

 

 

I'm an elitist snob because I know what sounds good and I say so?

 

I guess knowledgable people are threatening to plebs... must be it.

Wow... so more money means you know more? Last time I checked, you can pay for the best education possible, but if you can't absorb the knowledge about it without being open about other opinions and facts, then you're as dumb, if not dumber, than the ones you belittle and insult.

[Mistersprinkles]

Wow... so more money means you know more? Last time I checked, you can pay for the best education possible, but if you can't absorb the knowledge about it without being open about other opinions and facts, then you're as dumb, if not dumber, than the ones you belittle and insult.

 

No, pinhead, more money means I can buy better things that sound better. RESEARCH means I know more, which none of you have done properly.

[xtroria]

No, pinhead, more money means I can buy better things that sound better. RESEARCH means I know more, which none of you have done properly.

 

And I dont suppose you graduated HS because you can't even comprehend simple physics of why when a headphone is fed with enough power and low enough distortion, it will not sound any different compared to other amps with more power.

 

If you want to swing your dick because you have money and you're able to buy "expensive" amp, by all means just go to head-fi. There are a lot of people in headfi who can't sleep at night without having a silver cable connected to their penises and a CIEM played from chord hugo connected to their rectums, you should get along very well there.

 

Voodoo magic enhanced with snake oil don't tell you if you're going to get into a car accident tomorrow, science does

[TumbleButt]

No, pinhead, more money means I can buy better things that sound better. RESEARCH means I know more, which none of you have done properly.

I'm sorry, but YOU sound like YOU DON'T do your research.

[creatip123]

No, I'm an audiophile, and you are a fucking idiot. Have you ever hooked headphones up to a $1000+ integrated amplifier being fed by a good DAC or a good CD/SACD player? I don't think you have, or you wouldn't be talking smack. You probably have absolute pleb hardware and have never touched any audio hardware outside of a $120 boombox and you don't know your ass from your elbow in audio.

 

I speak from experience. Something you don't seem to have any of. 

 

Well, 

 

 

This $2000 LCD-3 (well, $1945 actually) plugged to a $30 nokia candybar phone

 

still sounds better than this:

 

 

+

 

 

* The HD700, because the HD800 is about on par with the LCD3, just different taste. Oh and the source feeding the HDV-A was Astell&Kern AK120 II if I remembered correctly.

 

Yeah, different dac and amp yield different resulting sounds, for better or worse. That's logic, because different stuffs use different circuitries, components, and electronic architectures. I've recently reviewed the B1, probably world's first portable class A amp, and it does give better sound compared to many other portables, which are usually class D. The issue is, at what scale? To some people, the differences are negligible. Different dac and amps won't give the same margin of differences as different headphones, and certainly not night and day (well, unless the one compared to is severely lacking in voltage or current, giving crackling sounds and distorting north and south). 

[xtroria]

Well, 

 

 

This $2000 LCD-3 (well, $1945 actually) plugged to a $30 nokia candybar phone

 

still sounds better than this:

 

 

+

 

 

 

* The HD700, because the HD800 is about on par with the LCD3, just different taste.