Will the ALC 1220 handle the beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250Ω ?

[Moon06]

Hello, everyone.

Changed my mind, now I am set to get an real hi-fi headset, and I am eyeing the beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 250Ω.

 

But, will the ALC 1220 handle it? Im planning to get the Gigabyte B450 Aorus Pro. And no, I dont have enough money to buy an AMP. But, the motherboard comes with an AMP feature, adjusting the audio codec to an different impendance or that kind of marketing shite.

Or should I get the 32Ω variant? Why 32Ω? The 80Ω one is not available.

 

I have a friend with the exact same audio codec (albeit on an different motherboard) and he told me that his Sennheiser HD58X Jubilee`s run on the ALC 1220 just fine, but they have 150Ω impendance.

And no, I cant get the HD 58X because Im in Europe, high taxes, and I can get an deal for the DT 770 PROs, 120€.

 

Thank you.

[Darkseth]

Try it out^^

ALC 1220 alone says NOTHING about anything. Not about the Audio quality, not about the output performance.

the Sound solution has more parts than just the processing chip

2 Mainboards with both ALC 1220 chips can sound very different. With different Quality.

 

You DO have enough money to buy an amp (which should be a DAC + AMP Combo..). If you don't, you simply save for it untill you do.

 

You (almost) NEVER buy a 32 Ohm beyerdynamic. Why would you lower your audio quality just to save 60 bucks for a decent Amp, just in case maybe probably? Makes no sense. A beyerdynamic will last decades. No useless compromises here.

 

Sennheiser's 150 Ohm and beyerdynamics 250 Ohm have NOTHING to dow ith each other, because they are 2 different headphones.

AKG K701 has 62 Ohm, but requires alot more Power to be driven than any 250 Ohm beyerdynamic.

Also, 250 Ohm Tesla beyerdynamics run much louder.

 

 

Here's the only correct way to do it:

1. You go into a store, and compare different headphones, untill you found one in your price range, that fits your taste and comfort.

Or you order multiple headphones to try them out. This isn't like buying Ram, where mostly any is fine as long the Mhz and latency are fine.

Maybe you will actually prefer the soundsignature of the 32 Ohm. Maybe not.

Maybe you don't like beyerdynamic's soundsignature at all.

 

You don't order shoes blind, and keep them no matter what, do you? If they don't fit, you send them back. Or you go into a Store, and try them out untill they fit.

Same with headphones.

 

2. You get the headphone that YOU liked the most. You see if your Mainnboard can handle it well enough for you. If it does, be happy. Even if it could sound 2% better with a better amp.

If you think it sounds much worse, save for an amp.

[Moon06]

I tested them at a store, and I love them. (Tried the 250 ohm one.)
But, I dont want to take the risk of buying them right now.

You see, Im rather young and my parents will press me with questions ”DID YOU ARLEADY BREAK IT” or ”WHATS WRONG WITH IT” and stuff like that. Yeah, amazing.

 

Speaking of AMPs, I found the Mackie HM-4 for 20€. Will that be enough for the DT 770 PRO? Hear it has like 47Ω impendance per channel, isnt that a tad too much for the DT 770 PRO?

[Nimrodor]

ALC1220 is usually somewhere between 1.5-2Vrms 15-20mA maximum output, based on what few measurements exist online (there is no datasheet available). Assuming 250Ω 100dB/V for the DT770 Pro, that means you should get up to around 105dB SPL peak (or ~90dB average listening level with high dynamic range music) without clipping – as long as you don't listen to music super loudly (anything above these levels would be borderline harmful to long-term hearing TBH), you should be fine.

 

I'll add that my HD650 (300Ω 103dB/V) gets more than loud enough for normal use with an ALC1150, which doesn't have as much output as the ALC1220.

 

I would not get that amplifier. The schematic says they use 47Ω output resistors, which implies that the op-amps they're using for the headphone outputs aren't ideal for headphone use to begin with.

[Darkseth]

Funny, because the beyerdynamics are kinda built like a Tank.

If you really manage to break them, then NOTHING will be save in your hands.

 

Even if anything breaks, beyerdynamic has the best spare parts availability out there. You can replace literaly everything, or let beyerdynamic repair it.

i've met many people in (audio-)forums, who bought their beyerdynamic back in the 80s. And it's still working perfectly fine.^^

 

Of course, you shouldn't throw them into your drawer from across the Room. Treat them just normal, and you will be very fine.

When i had a DT 880 Edition back then, i always put it back into the Bag, when i stopped listening to them.

 

 

@ Mackie: 

1. No, i don't think this is any good. It's very cheap, and has 4 outputs? How can that be a good choice.

2. Ohm is NOT an output performance, it's a resistance, or more like output impedance here. This information doesn't tell you, if it's enough to drive them ^^

Higher output impedance pretty much can "change" the sound signature, but i doubt you will notice ANYTHING with 47 Ohm vs. 0,1 Ohm. Stil, i don't think this thing will be any better than the Mainboard Audio output, and worth your Money.

When i had a beyerdynamic T90, i had a small DIY adapter, with a changeable resistance between 0 Ohm and 470 Ohm. At 470 Ohm it was simply a bit warmer, but not even close in sounding like a different headphone. Nothing a small EQ setting couldn't do.

 

 

If your Motherboard does not drive them properly, this would be my suggestion: https://www.amazon.com/FX-Audio-Optical-Coaxial-Amplifier/dp/B01HERNVQQ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=X6+dac&qid=1566137205&s=gateway&sr=8-3

 

The X6 dac is a complete replacement of your Audio. It fatures a DAC + Amplifier at the same time, and has an incredible good value, Audio quality and Output performance.

Even when you get older, and maybe upgrade your headphone to a higher Tier model, this will be very decent.

Also, this isn't something that will break after a few years, or be outdated like PCI(e) soundcards. This can last forever, untill USB Type A stops existing. And even then, you could use adapters or optical out. And DACs/AMPs like these do not really tend to fail.

 

 

However, i still think, your Mainboard will drive them very moderately at the very least. MAYBE a good DAC/Amp combo could pull a little bit more out, but that won't be such a huge difference like it was 10-20 years ago, when onboard audio was literal garbage.

 

So just get your DT 770 250 Ohm, and enjoy a great headphone!

Even if you want to consider a dac/amp, it won't run away.

[Moon06]

4 hours ago, Darkseth said:

Funny, because the beyerdynamics are kinda built like a Tank.

If you really manage to break them, then NOTHING will be save in your hands.

 

Even if anything breaks, beyerdynamic has the best spare parts availability out there. You can replace literaly everything, or let beyerdynamic repair it.

i've met many people in (audio-)forums, who bought their beyerdynamic back in the 80s. And it's still working perfectly fine.^^

 

Of course, you shouldn't throw them into your drawer from across the Room. Treat them just normal, and you will be very fine.

When i had a DT 880 Edition back then, i always put it back into the Bag, when i stopped listening to them.

 

 

@ Mackie: 

1. No, i don't think this is any good. It's very cheap, and has 4 outputs? How can that be a good choice.

2. Ohm is NOT an output performance, it's a resistance, or more like output impedance here. This information doesn't tell you, if it's enough to drive them ^^

Higher output impedance pretty much can "change" the sound signature, but i doubt you will notice ANYTHING with 47 Ohm vs. 0,1 Ohm. Stil, i don't think this thing will be any better than the Mainboard Audio output, and worth your Money.

When i had a beyerdynamic T90, i had a small DIY adapter, with a changeable resistance between 0 Ohm and 470 Ohm. At 470 Ohm it was simply a bit warmer, but not even close in sounding like a different headphone. Nothing a small EQ setting couldn't do.

 

 

If your Motherboard does not drive them properly, this would be my suggestion: https://www.amazon.com/FX-Audio-Optical-Coaxial-Amplifier/dp/B01HERNVQQ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=X6+dac&qid=1566137205&s=gateway&sr=8-3

 

The X6 dac is a complete replacement of your Audio. It fatures a DAC + Amplifier at the same time, and has an incredible good value, Audio quality and Output performance.

Even when you get older, and maybe upgrade your headphone to a higher Tier model, this will be very decent.

Also, this isn't something that will break after a few years, or be outdated like PCI(e) soundcards. This can last forever, untill USB Type A stops existing. And even then, you could use adapters or optical out. And DACs/AMPs like these do not really tend to fail.

 

 

However, i still think, your Mainboard will drive them very moderately at the very least. MAYBE a good DAC/Amp combo could pull a little bit more out, but that won't be such a huge difference like it was 10-20 years ago, when onboard audio was literal garbage.

 

So just get your DT 770 250 Ohm, and enjoy a great headphone!

Even if you want to consider a dac/amp, it won't run away.

Forgot to mention that the HM-4 was at a sale, normal price is 40€. But that does that even matter now? Deal is gone into high heaven.

Should I just cash out a bit more on the X6 and keep peace of mind that I bought something more suitable?

 

Also, thank you.

[Nimrodor]

40 minutes ago, MarcoTheNoob said:

Forgot to mention that the HM-4 was at a sale, normal price is 40€. But that does that even matter now? Deal is gone into high heaven.

Should I just cash out a bit more on the X6 and keep peace of mind that I bought something more suitable?

I would get the headphones first then decide. The X6 can supply more power than the ALC1220, but its quality is significantly worse than the motherboard codec.

 

ALC1220 Measurements

DAC-X6 Measurements

 

[Moon06]

4 minutes ago, Nimrodor said:

I would get the headphones first then decide. The X6 can supply more power than the ALC1220, but its quality is significantly worse than the motherboard codec.

 

ALC1220 Measurements

DAC-X6 Measurements

 

Well thats shit.
I want my audio crisp, so I think I might save the money. 

[RejZoR]

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B450-AORUS-PRO-rev-10#kf

 

Based on specs for this motherboard, it has a circuitry that automatically detects impedence of headphones, from low to high end. So you should be fine. Though it's still onboard audio so...

[Mgebaly]

Can you give us update about what did you do 

because I will do the same as I have the B450 pro And wilk buy Dt770 pro 250ohm

[DoctorNick]

Hello, I got a the same headset and have tried this out on my Asus Maximus XI Hero and Crosshair VII hero - same soundcard - And it works! Does it sound better with separate AMP and DAC. Yes. But it works fine!