Will the Fiio E10 make a big difference?

[Mr. Brovahkiin]

I have a pair of Sennheiser 280 Pros and I'm  running it off of onboard sound right now. Would buying something like the E10 make a big difference or would it be more subtle?

[megadarkwood]

What motherboard? Most likely yes.

[helping]

Unless it's not loud enough for you (which it should be) no.

If your motherboard isn't <100$ USD or Euro quality price equiv, it would be pretty subtle.

AsRock Extreme4

 

Definitely loud enough. Cranked makes my head ring haha

Unless you get new headphones, you're fine as is.

[Mr. Brovahkiin]

What motherboard? Most likely yes.

AsRock Extreme4

 

Unless it's not loud enough for you (which it should be) no.

Definitely loud enough. Cranked makes my head ring haha

[CwGoh]

YES YES YES

[megadarkwood]

AsRock Extreme4

 

Definitely loud enough. Cranked makes my head ring haha

Nawww you are fine, get a sound card if you really want to

[I'm Batman]

YES.

[MayflowerElectronics]

What motherboard? Most likely yes.

 

 

YES YES YES

 

 

YES.

 

No.

 

Save your money for better headphones first.

[CwGoh]

No.

 

Save your money for better headphones first.

 

Okay then...

[megadarkwood]

No.

 

Save your money for better headphones first.

Hey! I was right!

 

Nawww you are fine, get a sound card if you really want to

[Mr. Brovahkiin]

Nawww you are fine, get a sound card if you really want to

Any one you'd recommend?

[megadarkwood]

Any one you'd recommend?

Anything from ASUS or creative sound really..

[helping]

Any one you'd recommend?

Anything from ASUS or creative sound really..

Why pay for a lateral upgrade or possibly downgrade

[Mr. Brovahkiin]

Why pay for a lateral upgrade or possibly downgrade

Since I've seen you around and you helped me pick out the 280 pros anyway, what would you recommend

[megadarkwood]

Why pay for a lateral upgrade or possibly downgrade

Well if he wants to buy a high end one then it wont be a downgrade...

[MayflowerElectronics]

Well if he wants to buy a high end one then it wont be a downgrade...

 

What makes a sound card "high-end". Because it's expensive?

 

What you're attempting to tell him is to put race tires on a Yaris. Buy better headphones first. His on-board is fine, I used to have that exact same motherboard.

[megadarkwood]

What makes a sound card "high-end". Because it's expensive?

 

What you're attempting to tell him is to put race tires on a Yaris. Buy better headphones first. His on-board is fine, I used to have that exact same motherboard.

By high-end I mean something that is better than his on-board

[Mr. Brovahkiin]

What makes a sound card "high-end". Because it's expensive?

 

What you're attempting to tell him is to put race tires on a Yaris. Buy better headphones first. His on-board is fine, I used to have that exact same motherboard.

Fair enough. I just bought the them so I'll probably wait to upgrade since they seem fine to me. Next upgrade will probably be Senn 558 or something

[TheMail]

Well if he wants to buy a high end one then it wont be a downgrade...

it may not give him better sound quality.

just because it costs more money doesnt mean it'll make everything sound better

 

@OP, just save up for those 558's and then we'll talk

[helping]

Well if he wants to buy a high end one then it wont be a downgrade...

No, it won't be a downgrade, but for the amount of money he'd have to put to make it even noticeable he could have spent his money elsewhere and have gotten much better results. A sound card, especially some of the more expensive Asus ones are a really inefficient use of money. 

 

Since I've seen you around and you helped me pick out the 280 pros anyway, what would you recommend

You don't really need much more than onboard for them, but if you really want something you could use an E10 is low gain mode or an E3 + different amp, but like I said it's really not necessary for those headphones. There are a lot of different things you could do, but the difference in the source and the money spent to upgrade your output wouldn't be that noticeable given your current equipment. Stay with onboard until you get better headphones. The 280 Pros are very good, but still don't really require much external amplification and won't emphasize uncleanliness of the source that much. Once you get headphones with higher potential it's time to look at DAC/amps

[MayflowerElectronics]

By high-end I mean something that is better than his on-board

 

Why would it better then on board? I've noticed in 99.9% of sound cards, they measure worse than on-board chips. IMO there's no such thing as a "high-end" sound card. Sure, it will make the headphones louder, but being louder doesn't mean SQ improved.

 

@h264 has the graph that shows this.

 

I need to start downloading all of his pictures so I can stop bothering him  B) .

[megadarkwood]

Why would it better then on board? I've noticed in 99.9% of sound cards, they measure worse than on-board chips. IMO there's no such thing as a "high-end" sound card. Sure, it will make the headphones louder, but being louder doesn't mean SQ improved.

Well I said that if he REALLY wanted to get something then get a sound card, he asked what ones do I recommend so I said ASUS or creative sound, that's it.

[Mr. Brovahkiin]

No, it won't be a downgrade, but for the amount of money he'd have to put to make it even noticeable he could have spent his money elsewhere and have gotten much better results. A sound card, especially some of the more expensive Asus ones are a really inefficient use of money. 

 

You don't really need much more than onboard for them, but if you really want something you could use an E10 is low gain mode or an E3 + different amp, but like I said it's really not necessary for those headphones. There are a lot of different things you could do, but the difference in the source and the money spent to upgrade your output wouldn't be that noticeable given your current equipment. Stay with onboard until you get better headphones. The 280 Pros are very good, but still don't really require much external amplification and won't emphasize uncleanliness of the source that much. Once you get headphones with higher potential it's time to look at DAC/amps

 

 

Thanks. At least I know that what I have now is probably the best i could get with my current headphones.

[needmorewood]

Nawww you are fine, get a sound card if you really want to

wut?

no this is wrong. fiioe10 is a dac and amp. the DAC is better than alot of soundcards. getting a soundcard would probably be the worst option here

[mr moose]

Well I said that if he REALLY wanted to get something then get a sound card, he asked what ones do I recommend so I said ASUS or creative sound, that's it.

I know what you mean, It confused me at first because it read as though you were saying "any soundcard is better" as opposed to "find a soundcard that is better".

 

 

Thanks. At least I know that what I have now is probably the best i could get with my current headphones.

You have some really good headphones, I suggest take your headphones and try them on other devices like friends computer, home hifi, etc. Even though the DAC on your motherboard is just as good as any other DAC on the market, it is possible that the output device they used is not designed for headphones and thus has a higher impedance than desired.  Because your headphones are 64ohm you will need a sound device that has less than 8 ohms output impedance.  This rules out most Asus soundcards