Amp, DAC, Soundcard or Audio Interface for DT 990?

[Mokad]

Amp, DAC, Soundcard or Audio Interface for DT 990?

 

im ordering the DT 990s soon (will use for gaming (CSGO) and slow paced EDM music). what would i need to get to run these optimally?

Just in case your wondering i have the z87 g43 mobo.

 

Thanks for helping 

[Samfisher]

Amp, DAC, Soundcard or Audio Interface for DT 990?

 

im ordering the DT 990s soon (will use for gaming (CSGO) and slow paced EDM music). what would i need to get to run these optimally?

Just in case your wondering i have the z87 g43 mobo.

 

Thanks for helping 

 

Really depends which one you got.  There are 3 on Amazon.  A 32 Ohm one, 250 Ohm and 250 Ohm Pro.  The 250's will need an amp to fully power it, while the 32 Ohm one is regular headset/earphone impedance and anything with an audio jack will power it properly.

[Mokad]

Sorry i forgot to mention, i got the 250ohms, so Amp,Dac, audio interface, or soundcard? or maybe some kind of combo?

[Oktyabr]

All three are fairly easy to drive.  Plug them into your motherboard's headphone out, see if it gets loud enough for your likes, report back.

[Mokad]

All three are fairly easy to drive.  Plug them into your motherboard's headphone out, see if it gets loud enough for your likes, report back.

ok thanks for the info, so what exactly is the difference? i dont know much except that the external dac is use to get the audio out of the pc to decrease white noise, right?

and also i know that an amp would power the headphone, to make the headphones loud enough and some say to get more out of the headphones?

What exactly are the 4 mentions on the thread title? Thanks

[creatip123]

ok thanks for the info, so what exactly is the difference? i dont know much except that the external dac is use to get the audio out of the pc to decrease white noise, right?

and also i know that an amp would power the headphone, to make the headphones loud enough and some say to get more out of the headphones?

What exactly are the 4 mentions on the thread title? Thanks

 

Most of the questions are already answered in the FAQ topic....

[Oktyabr]

Your motherboard already has a soundcard supplied by Creative Labs (Creative Labs 7.1 Cinema) that includes it's own amplifier and DAC (Realtek ALC 892).

[Fluffinator]

@Mokad Whatever you do don't use your on board for those, it would sound so bad.. You should get a mayflower DAC/AMP combo and you'll be set.. If you were to use your on board audio it would sound awful, on that high end headset and would completely neglect the point of buying a high end headset in the first place. A DAC is used to take whitenoise out of the equation by bringing it far away from your computer (outside the case) AMP is to power your headset and is measured in OLMs, some onboard chips say that they can handle up to 250 olms, but they make the sound quality sound awful and it's on board which is ewh.... Anyone who says onboard graphics is good hasn't ever owned a nice pair of headsets, and a soundcard/dac/amp combo and probably just jumped on the bandwagon.

[SSL]

At least try them with onboard. It should sound like 99% of what you'd get if you ran out and bought an amp and DAC.

 

Whatever you do don't use your on board for those, it would sound so bad.. You should get a mayflower DAC/AMP combo and you'll be set.. If you were to use your on board audio it would sound awful, on that high end headset and would completely neglect the point of buying a high end headset in the first place. 

 

If you don't know what you're talking about, best not to contribute, hm?

[Fluffinator]

At least try them with onboard. It should sound like 99% of what you'd get if you ran out and bought an amp and DAC.

 

 

If you don't know what you're talking about, best not to contribute, hm?

Why flame someone on personal opinion? I have tons of audio gear, and can hear a difference.. Your not the supreme expert on this..

[SSL]

Why flame someone on personal opinion? I have tons of audio gear, and can hear a difference.. Your not the supreme expert on this..

 

Because it's not an opinion but fact that integrated audio is usually fine. Telling someone unequivocally to never use onboard is bad advice.

[alexyy]

Why flame someone on personal opinion? I have tons of audio gear, and can hear a difference.. Your not the supreme expert on this..

 

He's correct tho. 

 

My DT990's sound perfectly fine with my onboard audio, heck maybe you just like wasting money for people.

[creatip123]

AMP is to power your headset and is measured in OLMs, some onboard chips say that they can handle up to 250 olms, 

 

This part alone is wrong on so many levels....

 

Ohms = resistance in DC or impedance in AC, not and never used as power value. Georg Simon Ohm, the physicist who found the ohm's law would cry in his grave reading this....

 

Please, do try to explain why a 50 ohms HE-6:

 

 

Needs almost twice the voltage, more than 9x the current, and altogether needs 17.88x more power than a 250 ohms DT990 to get to the same 110dB SPL:

 

[Fluffinator]

He's correct tho. 

 

My DT990's sound perfectly fine with my onboard audio, heck maybe you just like wasting money for people.

Well ming sound awful without, so it's subjective to opinion.

[SSL]

Anyone who says onboard graphics is good hasn't ever owned a nice pair of headsets, and a soundcard/dac/amp combo and probably just jumped on the bandwagon.

 

Sorry, I have a DT 880 and E10. You're getting dangerously close to idiocy territory.

 

Well ming sound awful without, so it's subjective to opinion.

 

No, it isn't. It may well sound bad, but you cannot extrapolate that fact to all situations.

[Oktyabr]

Well ming sound awful without, so it's subjective to opinion.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe something is wrong with *your* onboard?   

[Oktyabr]

Anyone who says onboard graphics is good hasn't ever owned a nice pair of headsets, and a soundcard/dac/amp combo and probably just jumped on the bandwagon.

I just sold a British made amp and a pair of lightly used AKG K712.  I now listen to my AKG K7XX out of an Audio-GD NFB-12, via USB.  I also have a rather good Asus motherboard and a separate Creative Labs Recon3D sound card. 

So why the DAC/AMP?  Because I like having my headphone plug right in front of me, as well as a decent, physical volume knob... and a clicky switch to swap between headphones and speakers...  not because my motherboard and sound card suck.  In fact I can't tell a difference between the three of them unless I push the volume high enough to cause pain (my amp gets to that level quicker than the sound card).

Was it worth it to me spend a bunch of money to have a volume knob, clicky switch, and easy access headphone jack?  Yup.  But that had nothing to do with sound quality.

[Fluffinator]

I just sold a British made amp and a pair of lightly used AKG K712.  I now listen to my AKG K7XX out of an Audio-GD NFB-12, via USB.  I also have a rather good Asus motherboard and a separate Creative Labs Recon3D sound card. 

So why the DAC/AMP?  Because I like having my headphone plug right in front of me, as well as a decent, physical volume knob... and a clicky switch to swap between headphones and speakers...  not because my motherboard and sound card suck.  In fact I can't tell a difference between the three of them unless I push the volume high enough to cause pain (my amp gets to that level quicker than the sound card).

Was it worth it to me spend a bunch of money to have a volume knob, clicky switch, and easy access headphone jack?  Yup.  But that had nothing to do with sound quality.

That's strange, I find that I can't even stand listening to my on board anymore, I have a MSI Z87-G45 motherboard, and I'm not sure what it is about it but it sounds really muddled and distroted where a mayflower DAC/AMP combo or just a soundcard without a DAC sounds 1000 times better to me, of course this is subjective but I can always hear a difference even in a blind test.. Maybe it's my motherboard, but I believe there is a huge difference. 

[Octavialicious]

but I believe there is a huge difference. 

If you truly think that, then something is definitely wrong with your mobo

 

I've tried numerous $500+ cans using onboard audio, and they all sounded as good as my Schiit Stack

[Fluffinator]

If you truly think that, then something is definitely wrong with your mobo

 

I've tried numerous $500+ cans using onboard audio, and they all sounded as good as my Schiit Stack

*cough* why do you have a Schiit Stack if onboard is good Just kidding maybe it is my mobo, but I feel if you spent money on a good headset it would be a shame to not buy a DAC.

[Octavialicious]

*cough* why do you have a Schiit Stack if onboard is good  

They need amplification, they sound fine but just need to be a tad louder

 

I wouldn't have felt the need to buy a Schiit Modni since I only needed amplification like stated, but Amazon sent me one for free so might as well use it

[Oktyabr]

*cough* why do you have a Schiit Stack if onboard is good Just kidding maybe it is my mobo, but I feel if you spent money on a good headset it would be a shame to not buy a DAC.

Blasphemy!    Why buy a dac/amp if you don't need it?  If he (the OP) discovers his motherboard is perfectly adequate then that frees up money for other things... like MOAR HEADPHONES!  

[creatip123]

if you spent money on a good headset it would be a shame to not buy a DAC.

 

That's 'want' not 'need'. There's a big difference.

 

A PC needs a mouse, and any working mouse will do. If someone is to buy a $130 razer ouroboros mouse, that's because he wants to, not because he needs to. 

 

I can go and buy a $1000 amp if I want to, but saying it's needed is just wrong and misleading other people.

[Fluffinator]

Well to prove my point, look at JayZ two scents in this video that's how I feel it pretty much sucks until you get a DAC/AMP, if your headphone is $200+ start at 6:45 and listen to how he says the headphones didn't impress him until he plugged them into his DAC. I've watched hundreads of hours of videos, and I mean I see it in my personal experience, TekSyndicate has a video on this.. Barnacles does as well, just sorta a known thing that if you invest in high end audio headsets it's pretty typical to get a DAC/AMP. It won't sound as good plain and simple, it'll just sound medicore, so why spend all that money on a new high end headset when your not gonna be able to use it to it's full potential. 

[SSL]

I've watched hundreads of hours of videos

 

You're killing me here.

 

I've watched hundreds of hours of internet porno, I guess I'm an expert at sex now.