Audio Noob needs help........

[XDXD_4U3IF1P]

Alright good people, 

 

My only interest is PC competitive FPS gaming re audio, I have recently gone from Sennheisser PC360's fed directly via 3.5mm audio jack on Asus ROG Maximus Hero 9 motherboard to Fostex T50RP Mk3's into O2 Amp fed by 3.5mm jack on same motherboard.

 

My question is how on earth do I 'know' if I need a half decent DAC, and if I do does feeding the DAC (or DAC/AMP unit) via USB change things anyhow? I have never liked Headsets direct from USB - they always seemed sketchy and needed to be reset.

I can't as hard as I try hear any unwanted noise from the digital-analogue processing happening on my motherboard. But then again until I heard my new set up, I loved my old set up!

I don't mind spending the money if my audio will go up another level with a DAC, but really do not know where to start.

 

cheers

[lttUser1234]

USB is the preferred way to hookup a DAC to a computer. I think it has to do with time-bit errors called Jitter that can happen with Coax and Optical. People who do Hi-Fi audio usually use a USB DAC as a pre-amp. Cambridge Audio has some lower cost DACs like the dacmagic 100.

 

I don't know if this will increase your ability to hear footsteps in pubg, but you could always experiment and see.

[cragger89]

Borrow one, try it out, see if you prefer it with it.

In all honesty, I am a big hifi fan, the on board audio solutions in most motherboards (Desktop/laptops alike) are usually perfectly fine.

 

 

[XDXD_4U3IF1P]

Yes I think i'll hold off for now, my application is very different from serious music or related listening and I think what I have is great for the job required.