Which Op-Amps would you definitely recommend for any of the Sound Blaster & XONAR sound cards for accurate warm music playback, if any?
1539732
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/sound_blaster_x_fi_titanium_hd_review,11.htmlTRY THIS
1539733
I am sorry, but I'm not familiar with this issue. I just chose this sound card after many reviews and feedbacks I've read. And from what I heard, the original amps is very quality and no need to change nothing. I personally like this card as is.
264996
V Moda Vamp has considerably improved sound quality on my VModa and Sennheiser Momentum headphones. I haven't tried a lower priced amp so can't offer a comparison.
1603431
Thanks for the replies. Will keep it in mind when I am ready to buy a headphone amp.
1280395
You can use any sound card you'd like. There are a wealth of inputs and some accept more than one type of connector. I think that for optimal sound, you should use a source with balanced output over XLR. This would be ideal, and any professional level SoundCard, or mixer for that matter, should offer a balanced output via 1/4" or XLR cable connection.
1834799
These are both highly rated but I went with the Sound blaster USB 24 bit DAC after having driver issues with the sound blaster internal card. This may have been related to my computer but you can't go wrong with any of the 3. The speakers are awesome in 24 bit.
1138290
Obviously depends on your budget amplifier and taste... Having said that, I prefer the warm tone, my setup is Marantz amplifier with Paradigm monitor 7 floor standing speakers and the setup sounds great. Consider JBL and Infinity on the low end, consider Paradigm, PSB, Wharfedale Diamond or B&W; if you have the budget.
2699
Your board has Soundblaster cinema onboard. If you get the right software for that, it will be fine. It has a very decent onboard amp that is capable of driving headphones, and you won't find a significant difference in quality here. If you are getting any sort of hum, whine, static, or other noise when using the analog outs, you will probably get that with the Asus card also. In that case, you can use the optical digital out and use a decent DAC like the Fiio D3 or E3.
78102
If you like warm sound and don't care of it's flac or mp3 file format, go with this amp. If you value overall naturality of sound more than its color, go with DAC and use loseless file format more if you can.
133370
The manufacturer drivers are indeed bad on basically all of Asus' sound cards as far as I know, but this can be avoided by installing the Uni-Xonar drivers. These have worked great for me on my Xonar STX and they are quite simple to install. Honestly, if it weren't for the Uni-Xonar drivers, I don't know if I would recommend this card, but thankfully this option exists. My recommendation: Get the STX, install the Uni-Xonar drivers, then enjoy some amazing sound!
1416495
I use a Apollo Jammer to run 8 of these. It will sync them with the sound and the intensity of the sound. Best one I've ever found. About $ 100. Nickclarke083@gmail.com
1453097
I have Fosgate's headphone amp, can't recommend it enough. I know Jim, been to his lab when he was developing it--you cannot believe the brain power and time that went into this amp. He used the Sennheisers extensively during the development. It is truly a bargain for what it does. The base enhancement switch is not a common bass boost, far better and more subtle than that. And you will not believe what the surround switch does to enhance the sense of realism. I am a high end fanatic with a system biased towards analog. I prefer to listen to my speakers, but this Sennheiser/Fosgate combo is truly magic. I have Fosgate's headphone amp, can't recommend it enough. I know Jim, been to his lab when he was developing it--you cannot believe the brain power and time that went into this amp. He used the Sennheisers extensively during the development. It is truly a bargain for what it does. The base enhancement switch is not a common bass boost, far better and more subtle than that. And you will not believe what the surround switch does to enhance the sense of realism. I am a high end fanatic with a system biased towards analog. I prefer to listen to my speakers, but this Sennheiser/Fosgate combo is... » Read More I have Fosgate's headphone amp, can't recommend it enough. I know Jim, been to his lab when he was developing it--you cannot believe the brain power and time that went into this amp. He used the Sennheisers extensively during the development. It is truly a bargain for what it does. The base enhancement switch is not a common bass boost, far better and more subtle than that. And you will not believe what the surround switch does to enhance the sense of realism. I am a high end fanatic with a system biased towards analog. I prefer to listen to my speakers, but this Sennheiser/Fosgate combo is truly magic. « Show Less
858207
I've been using one for several months and really like it. I'm using Windows 7 x 64. My onboard audiocard seems a little weak on volume. This seems to improve it quite a bit.
122048
This is not intended to replace a sound card. I have the Creative sound card installed on my Vista desktop which works very well with my Bose sound system. The AXX is pricey, but are not most quality devices costly?
1280393
Any sound card with XLR outputs would work but like myself, I'm going into a mixer from my computer then into these from the main out of the mixer. Hope this helps, enjoy!
1996722
At 600ohm The ZxR has 5.4v (rms) the ZxR line outs have 2V RMS for maximum range. I could get more info if you need. This is some info I've found, might give you an idea. I will be feeding the analog line outs into the Emotiva UPA-700 amplifier. As I understand it, the ZxR line outs have 2V RMS for maximum range. The UPA-700 has 870 mV RMS for maximum volume. I don't want to either overdrive the amplifier or blow my ears out by accidently using maximum volume. Can I use the Speaker Level settings to change the maximum line out voltage? Setting each of the speakers (except the subwoofer which is separate) to -7.3db should do the trick. If that is correct, then 100% volume would match 100% speaker volume. This would be, of course, independent of minor tweaks for room adjustment or of equalization. Am on the right page here or do I need to add a preamp into the picture? -I would imagine that should do the trick, if you wanted you could try putting some resisters in the connections to dampen the output, though I'm not incredibly sure what impedance you would need and what effect it may have on the frequency response, you would want some high quality ones... in my case I just have my computer volume set to 50% and adjust volume via my amp, I know why you need yours the other way round but the concept is pretty much the same, I wouldn't expect you would need the full 0-100% range so I don't think you could ever have it set too high for a long enough amount of time to damage the pre-amps in your UPA-700, just set the amp to a high enough value that you can get a good range in your pc volume while not too high that you pick up interference or loose the ability to go really quiet, and there's usually a point in any sound card that they loose quality after a certain volume (hitting the DAC's clip if you will).
761786
ASUS XONAR DG Headphone Amp & PCI 5.1 Audio CardIt installed easily and works beautifully. I had tried a similarly priced one from Creative Labs prior to this one--couldn't get it to install, and Creative Labs (Soundblaster)'s customer service was non-existent. I returned it Audigy card as unusable.
560443
Hi - I have owned both. I am a bedroom player but experienced. I would say the two units are almost identical in terms of user interface. In term of sound, the POD gets a slight nod because the it is slightly more "warm". However, the high gain settings are pretty equal. I was happy with both. I am using the V Amp 3 now. Both are excellent units.