In need of some headphone help please.

[Onyxius]

Hello Everyone,

  I have the Asus xonar essence stx sound card and sennheiser HD558 headphones.  I primarily watch movies, listen to music and play games on my pc such as battefield 4, Star Citizen, Firefall and a few others.  I have been having an issue for quite some time now where audio in surround mode is primarily in the left ear while the right ear is quieter.  Surround sound has never been the greatest and is very lackluster.  I'm not sure if that’s normal with this type of setup or if I just don't have something setup correctly but I’m pretty disappointed in both of these and could really use some help before I just throw these out and get something else.  I even went to YouTube to find some surround sound videos on setting these 2 up and testing them, but still not much luck.  I really hope it’s just the something with the configuration that you guys can help me with.

 

 

-Thank You

 

[TheKDub]

Whats your budget?

 

Any preferences on color or overall look?

[rmac52]

If your having trouble with the left side being louder than the right side I suggest you try playing with the jack.  The 3.5mm jack on my on board does this.  My sound card is fine though.  

Is it fine if you don't use software surround?  Maybe try using some other software.  Razer has soothing for software surround.

[Lays]

My advice is to turn off virtual surround, and select the "headphone" option in the games you play.  It does the same thing, but through the games engine instead of the sound card.

 

See if this fixes it.

[Onyxius]

Whats your budget?

 

Any preferences on color or overall look?

$250 preferably but may considder $300 and i don't care about color.

[Onyxius]

If your having trouble with the left side being louder than the right side I suggest you try playing with the jack.  The 3.5mm jack on my on board does this.  My sound card is fine though.  

Is it fine if you don't use software surround?  Maybe try using some other software.  Razer has soothing for software surround.

I have tried razer's sound but it gave me problems so I just uninstalled it. 

[TheKDub]

$250 preferably but may considder $300 and i don't care about color.

 

Well if none of the other suggestions help, I have heard the Audio Technica ATH-M50x are pretty good.

[Onyxius]

Well if none of the other suggestions help, I have heard the Audio Technica ATH-M50x are pretty good.

Thank's

 

I was thinking about trying out either the Sennheiser game one or the Atro A40's.  I currently use a mod mic which works really good, but never tried either of those 2 gaming headsets either which are supposed to be really good.

 

 

Astro:

http://www.astrogaming.com/a40-headset/A40-HEADSET-ASTRO-GEN2-PS4.html#

 

Sennheiser:

http://en-us.sennheiser.com/g4me-one

[Lays]

q

 

 

If you already have a modmic, why are you wasting money on a headset...  Headphones in that price range are vastly better -.-.

 

The problem you're experiencing is 99% most likely the soundcard, and not your headphones.  Have you tried using them with onboard sound?  Do you still experience issues with virtual surround turned off?

 

Sennheiser game one's are basically HD558 with a modmic on them, you won't notice a difference, Astro A40 are overpriced and not that great as well, I had some a while back and upgraded to AD900x from Audiotechnica, much better.

[MayflowerElectronics]

Eh, I would probably just not use any software. Most of it is built in the game anyway.

 

As for headphone suggestions I'd grab some DT 990's or AKG K612's.

[Onyxius]

If you already have a modmic, why are you wasting money on a headset...  Headphones in that price range are vastly better -.-.

 

The problem you're experiencing is 99% most likely the soundcard, and not your headphones.  Have you tried using them with onboard sound?  Do you still experience issues with virtual surround turned off?

 

Sennheiser game one's are basically HD558 with a modmic on them, you won't notice a difference, Astro A40 are overpriced and not that great as well, I had some a while back and upgraded to AD900x from Audiotechnica, much better.

See that is what i have been finding out as well.  I havent tried without the sound card, ill give it a try in just a moment.  My setup for the xonar software are below.  I tried the original drives and now i'm using the unified drivers with no change. 

 

[Onyxius]

Ok, so i just unplugged the headphones and put them into the onboard sound output and its a heck of a lot better than in the card.  So now i would love to know why this expensive sound card sounds worse than my onboard from my motherboard. 

 

 

My PC Specs:

EVGA GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card
AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor
RAM (16GB) Patriot Viper Xtreme 16GB 240 Pin ddr3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 ( PC3 15000)
Windows: 8.1 64 bit
Raidmax 850AE 850W ATX 12v (Power supply)
Asus M5A99X EVO AM3+ AMD 990X Sata 6GB (motherboard)

ASUS Xonar Essence STX (Sound Card)
HDD: Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5 sata III

[Lays]

Ok, so i just unplugged the headphones and put them into the onboard sound output and its a heck of a lot better than in the card.  So now i would love to know why this expensive sound card sounds worse than my onboard from my motherboard. 

 

 

My PC Specs:

EVGA GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card

AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor

RAM (16GB) Patriot Viper Xtreme 16GB 240 Pin ddr3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 ( PC3 15000)

Windows: 8.1 64 bit

Raidmax 850AE 850W ATX 12v (Power supply)

Asus M5A99X EVO AM3+ AMD 990X Sata 6GB (motherboard)

ASUS Xonar Essence STX (Sound Card)

HDD: Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5 sata III

 

 

Odds are the output impedance on the soundcard is very high, and messing with the dampening factor of the headphone. (thus making it sound worse) It could also be the soundcard is picking up more interference than the onboard audio.

 

Soundcards tend to be badly engineered and marketed at "gamers" because gamers tend to not know much about audio. (It's mostly just marketing, if a company and a few people believe it's good and continue to market bad products, eventually people think they're good)  Take beats for example.

 

If you can, use onboard instead, and if onboard doesn't get loud enough for you, buy something like the syba dac:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Syba-Stereo-Headphone-Amplifier-SD-DAC63057/dp/B009WN7QT4

[Onyxius]

oh man, i was just looking at something about the ohms, the card is 600 my 558's are only 50 according to the sennheiser website or is that wrong?  So that would leave me to believe the card is "WAY" more powerful than what my headphones can handle.  So could getting 600 ohm headphones like the HD600's or DT900's be worth it?  I would think with that kind of upgrade in ohm's you could really tell the difference no? 

[ShearMe]

oh man, i was just looking at something about the ohms, the card is 600 my 558's are only 50 according to the sennheiser website or is that wrong?  So that would leave me to believe the card is "WAY" more powerful than what my headphones can handle.  So could getting 600 ohm headphones like the HD600's or DT900's be worth it?  I would think with that kind of upgrade in ohm's you could really tell the difference no? 

 

While there is an issue there to discuss, you're looking at the wrong numbers a bit. The card is advertised to be able to drive 600 ohm headphones, but 600 is not the impedance "of the card" as you said. The output impedance of the soundcard is somewhere around 10 ohms, while onboard is typically < 2 ohms. with low impedance headphones like the 558, you want as little output impedance as you can get.

[Onyxius]

While there is an issue there to discuss, you're looking at the wrong numbers a bit. The card is advertised to be able to drive 600 ohm headphones, but 600 is not the impedance "of the card" as you said. The output impedance of the soundcard is somewhere around 10 ohms, while onboard is typically < 2 ohms. with low impedance headphones like the 558, you want as little output impedance as you can get.

Which with my sound card i would want the higher end headphones like the ones listed above?  I would imagine that upgrading from the 558's to one of the ones listed above should have be a big difference no?

[ShearMe]

Which with my sound card i would want the higher end headphones like the ones listed above?  I would imagine that upgrading from the 558's to one of the ones listed above should have be a big difference no?

 

You shouldn't be buying high end headphones to satisfy your source, it should be the other way around. To put it frankly, get rid of the soundcard altogether. If you don't like the 558's you can choose another pair of headphones, sure, but the STX isn't going to make any cans sound better than onboard.

[GamerDude]

I have an Asus Sonar Phoebus Solo, and just for the hell of it, I plugged in my Sennheiser HD800. It powered the HD800 easily enough, heck it was more than loud enough for me w/o having to go nowhere near max volume. With regard to virtual surround setting, I can't say as I don't use it.

[Onyxius]

You shouldn't be buying high end headphones to satisfy your source, it should be the other way around. To put it frankly, get rid of the soundcard altogether. If you don't like the 558's you can choose another pair of headphones, sure, but the STX isn't going to make any cans sound better than onboard.

It's a shame that 160+ dollar sound card is pretty much useless then.

[ShearMe]

It's a shame that 160+ dollar sound card is pretty much useless then.

 

It's a shame a 160+ dollar sound card exists at all.

[Onyxius]

It's a shame a 160+ dollar sound card exists at all.

 

Ok well i'm kind of at a loss on what i should do.  Having my headphones plugged into my onboard sound is ok, i know it can be better.  The sound is flat and sounds like cheap headphones, and when i play say the "DTS 7.1" surround sound audio i can hear the surround audio but its not the greatest either.  So do i just get better headphones and an amp such as the mixamp pro?

 

http://www.astrogaming.com/mixamp%E2%84%A2-pro/3AM99-AGU9X-975.html

 

Anyone use this amp?

http://www.amazon.com/Audiophile-headphone-amplifier-quality-parts-Altoids/dp/B00GPV7AH4

 

Or this?

http://www.amazon.com/E09K-Output-Desktop-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B008J26ZL4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1415160881&sr=1-1&keywords=Fiio+E09K+Headphone+amp

 

This one gets good reputation it seems as well:

http://schiit.com/products/magni

 

 

So confusing  

[ShearMe]

 

Ok well i'm kind of at a loss on what i should do.  Having my headphones plugged into my onboard sound is ok, i know it can be better.  The sound is flat and sounds like cheap headphones, and when i play say the "DTS 7.1" surround sound audio i can hear the surround audio but its not the greatest either.  So do i just get better headphones and an amp such as the mixamp pro?

 

http://www.astrogaming.com/mixamp%E2%84%A2-pro/3AM99-AGU9X-975.html

 

Anyone use this amp?

http://www.amazon.com/Audiophile-headphone-amplifier-quality-parts-Altoids/dp/B00GPV7AH4

 

Or this?

http://www.amazon.com/E09K-Output-Desktop-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B008J26ZL4/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1415160881&sr=1-1&keywords=Fiio+E09K+Headphone+amp

 

This one gets good reputation it seems as well:

http://schiit.com/products/magni

 

 

So confusing

 

What makes you think the sound could be better?

 

Mixamp pro isn't going to be any better than the STX, nor is the FiiO E09K. The Magni is a decent cheap amp, but I really doubt any amp is going to make a huge difference if your onboard sounded better to you than the soundcard.  If you're going for fancy surround sound your only option other than a soundcard is Razer Surround software, which I know you already said you gave up on quite quickly. 

[Onyxius]

What makes you think the sound could be better?

 

Mixamp pro isn't going to be any better than the STX, nor is the FiiO E09K. The Magni is a decent cheap amp, but I really doubt any amp is going to make a huge difference if your onboard sounded better to you than the soundcard.  If you're going for fancy surround sound your only option other than a soundcard is Razer Surround software, which I know you already said you gave up on quite quickly. 

Well i figured without the sound card i can tell the volume is much lower so maybe the magni and modi together could make it sound even better.

[Onyxius]

Thanks for all the info guys