Keep sound card or get DAC? (FiiO E10K)

[TidalKing]

Yo guys!

 

I'm thinking of getting a DAC together with my new headphones (DT770 80 Ohm). I don't know whether it's an upgrade though.

My current sound card is a Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme PCIe, and i was thinking of replacing it with a FiiO E10K. The thing i like the most about the sound card is the equalizer. I don't know how the bass is, if i couple the DT770's and FiiO E10K, compared to my current setup (HyperX cloud headset + aforementioned sound card). My main focus with this new setup, is to see if the listening experience will improve greatly. I'd really like a quality pair of cans, so i can blast my music without hesitation. 

 

Any help is appreciated!

[Carlos1010]

You should keep it unless you are doing heavily work on bass or studio. Also if you need an extra PCIe slot then you should get the DAC. They both have much in commun. Check out linus' vid. 

 

[Unhelpful]

What mobo do you have?

[Unhelpful]

6 minutes ago, Carlos1010 said:

You should keep it unless you are doing heavily work on bass or studio. Also if you need an extra PCIe slot then you should get the DAC. They both have much in commun. Check out linus' vid. 

Linus isn't exactly an expert on this. He's kinda clueless with most things audio.

[Carlos1010]

1 minute ago, JoeyDM said:

Linus isn't exactly an expert on this. He's kinda clueless with most things audio.

It was not him who wrote the speech, one of the that won't there that is good with audio did it. 

[Unhelpful]

2 minutes ago, Carlos1010 said:

 

And they've proven in audio reviews that few, if any, people there know anything about audio.

 

Hell, I'm clueless and know more than they do about that particular field. 

[TidalKing]

10 minutes ago, JoeyDM said:

What mobo do you have?

An ASRock Z77 Pro4.

[TomislavO]

Which model sound blaster is that? However, u should keep it. Only reason for buying Fiio is if u really need that PCIe slot. Comparing any sound blaster to that fiio, you wouldnt hear difference. U can only hear difference between mbo soundcard and fiio/sound blaster because they have an amp which will boost loudness and peformance in low end

[Unhelpful]

4 minutes ago, TidalKing said:

A ASRock Z77 Pro4.

With DT770's honestly you probably won't see any difference between even the onboard and the sound card, let alone between the sound card and separate DAC. There's a lot of placebo and hard-to-hear/measure shit in audio. 

 

Whether or not you need an AMP, I can't really say.

[TidalKing]

2 minutes ago, TomislavO said:

Which model sound blaster is that? However, u should keep it. Only reason for buying Fiio is if u really need that PCIe slot. Comparing any sound blaster to that fiio, you wouldnt hear difference. U can only hear difference between mbo soundcard and fiio/sound blaster because they have an amp which will boost loudness and peformance in low end

All info that i have on the sound card is it's name. The software on this thing is buggy as hell, and that is probably because of how old it is.

[TomislavO]

Just leave that inside of pc and thats it. No need for fiio dac, i thing it would actually be even a overkill for those headphones

[TidalKing]

The software of my sound card is just hell for me, so if I could justify getting rid of it with a DAC, i'd be happy. As i see it, FiiO E10K would improve my listening experience, but that's just a hopeful thought i guess...