[titan85]

Hi, my actual setup is:

5.1 Indiana Line (Passive)
Onkyo 605
Sennheiser HD595

33%Film - 33%Music - 33%Gaming - 1%Porn

Now i use only hdmi from pc to onkyo.

I have the opportunity to bring onkyo near the pc, so i think "why not plug all in analogic ?" I need also headphone amp so with one component i solved two things.

I see the sound blaster zxr, this soundboard can be good for my use ?
The ZXR dac is better than onkyo dac ?


Thanks you very much, and sorry for my english

 

[brucethemoose]

Receiver DACs are almost always better than soundcard DACs, even the ZXR's. Not only are they "higher end" DAC models, but there's much less interference inside the receiver. So you should stay with HDMI.

Doesn't the Onyko 605 have a headphone output jack on the front? Most recievers have pretty good headphone amps as well, more than enough to drive an HD 595.

 

[mistersprinkles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by titan85

Hi, my actual setup is:

5.1 Indiana Line (Passive)
Onkyo 605
Sennheiser HD595

33%Film - 33%Music - 33%Gaming - 1%Porn

Now i use only hdmi from pc to onkyo.

I have the opportunity to bring onkyo near the pc, so i think "why not plug all in analogic ?" I need also headphone amp so with one component i solved two things.

I see the sound blaster zxr, this soundboard can be good for my use ?
The ZXR dac is better than onkyo dac ?


Thanks you very much, and sorry for my english

Your receiver will give you higher sound quality than your soundcard will.

I'm curious- do you really need a "hi-fi" sound experience for pornography? I never found it necessary to compliment the pornographic experience. I find that usually with porn you want the sound DOWN so your neighbors don't know you're watching porn. Although I guess if you ***ped with headphones on that would solve the problem...

 

[DzillaXx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by titan85

Hi, my actual setup is:

5.1 Indiana Line (Passive)
Onkyo 605
Sennheiser HD595

33%Film - 33%Music - 33%Gaming - 1%Porn

Now i use only hdmi from pc to onkyo.

I have the opportunity to bring onkyo near the pc, so i think "why not plug all in analogic ?" I need also headphone amp so with one component i solved two things.

I see the sound blaster zxr, this soundboard can be good for my use ?
The ZXR dac is better than onkyo dac ?


Thanks you very much, and sorry for my english

The ZXR has a better DAC than the Onkyo unit you have, but not by much.

A high end Receiver will have equal or better DACs.

The ZXR is no push over, it packs a pretty decent DAC.

Would still rather use HDMI, for full 5.1 PCM.

 

[nugget toes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

I'm curious- do you really need a "hi-fi" sound experience for pornography?

Immersion

 

[titan85]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brucethemoose

Receiver DACs are almost always better than soundcard DACs, even the ZXR's. Not only are they "higher end" DAC models, but there's much less interference inside the receiver. So you should stay with HDMI.

Doesn't the Onyko 605 have a headphone output jack on the front? Most recievers have pretty good headphone amps as well, more than enough to drive an HD 595.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

Your receiver will give you higher sound quality than your soundcard will.

Thanks for answers.

Onkyo DAC 5.1 is not bad (I intend to listen, because i don't find spec) but i thought that analogic with a 124dB soundcard was better.

Yes, the Onkyo 605 have a headphone output, but i can't find very difference with the pc onboard card (realtek 892.....) so maybe the headphone part is not that good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

I'm curious- do you really need a "hi-fi" sound experience for pornography? I never found it necessary to compliment the pornographic experience. I find that usually with porn you want the sound DOWN so your neighbors don't know you're watching porn. Although I guess if you ***ped with headphones on that would solve the problem...

1% Porn is a joke lol, for that things in-ear win (and oculus rift in 2016

)
Quote:

Originally Posted by DzillaXx

The ZXR has a better DAC than the Onkyo unit you have, but not by much.

A high end Receiver will have equal or better DACs.

The ZXR is no push over, it packs a pretty decent DAC.

Would still rather use HDMI, for full 5.1 PCM.

Umh.. so for you must i buy only one headphone amp (like fiio E10k) ?

 

[mistersprinkles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by titan85

Thanks for answers.

Onkyo DAC 5.1 is not bad (I intend to listen, because i don't find spec) but i thought that analogic with a 124dB soundcard was better.

Yes, the Onkyo 605 have a headphone output, but i can't find very difference with the pc onboard card (realtek 892.....) so maybe the headphone part is not that good.
1% Porn is a joke lol, for that things in-ear win (and oculus rift in 2016

)
Umh.. so for you must i buy only one headphone amp (like fiio E10k) ?

The "in style" thing since about 2006/2007 has been to advertise the SNR on your soundcard in the hopes of duping less-knowledgeable people into buying it. SNR that high would only really be noticeable with EXTREMELY expensive output devices which nobody is going to use with a $200 soundcard. Also, SNR is not the be all end all of sound quality. It is merely one component. Quite honestly, 98ish db SNR and up is good enough on average people's average quality sound equipment.

Odds are, despite what was said earlier, that your Onkyo receiver only has a very mediocre op-amp powered headphone output. Most speaker amps do not include high quality headphone amplifiers. There are exceptions, like Schiit's top end amp or the PS audio sprout, but neither of those are receivers.

If you have high quality headphones and you really want to add some kick, you can look at something like a Schiit Magni or Asgard. You would just run RCA to it from one of the outs (ie, recorder out) on the back of your Onkyo.

When buying a headphone amp, find out what the sound character of that amp is and make sure it matches with your headphones. I would not want to put AKG's, which are a touch bright, with a Schiit Asgard, which is quite bright. The result would be unpleasant.

Do not waste your money on an amp/dac combo. You already have a DAC in your receiver. Buy a straight amp.

 

[brucethemoose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

Quote:

Originally Posted by titan85

Thanks for answers.

Onkyo DAC 5.1 is not bad (I intend to listen, because i don't find spec) but i thought that analogic with a 124dB soundcard was better.

Yes, the Onkyo 605 have a headphone output, but i can't find very difference with the pc onboard card (realtek 892.....) so maybe the headphone part is not that good.
1% Porn is a joke lol, for that things in-ear win (and oculus rift in 2016

)
Umh.. so for you must i buy only one headphone amp (like fiio E10k) ?

The "in style" thing since about 2006/2007 has been to advertise the SNR on your soundcard in the hopes of duping less-knowledgeable people into buying it. SNR that high would only really be noticeable with EXTREMELY expensive output devices which nobody is going to use with a $200 soundcard. Also, SNR is not the be all end all of sound quality. It is merely one component. Quite honestly, 98ish db SNR and up is good enough on average people's average quality sound equipment.

Odds are, despite what was said earlier, that your Onkyo receiver only has a very mediocre op-amp powered headphone output. Most speaker amps do not include high quality headphone amplifiers. There are exceptions, like Schiit's top end amp or the PS audio sprout, but neither of those are receivers.

If you have high quality headphones and you really want to add some kick, you can look at something like a Schiit Magni or Asgard. You would just run RCA to it from one of the outs (ie, recorder out) on the back of your Onkyo.

When buying a headphone amp, find out what the sound character of that amp is and make sure it matches with your headphones. I would not want to put AKG's, which are a touch bright, with a Schiit Asgard, which is quite bright. The result would be unpleasant.

Do not waste your money on an amp/dac combo. You already have a DAC in your receiver. Buy a straight amp.

^ SNR is BS, the actual noise you get on the output varies wildly. Soundcards, in particular, are notorious for being very noisy b/c of all the noise from the rest of your system.

A headphone amp is the way to go, if anything, but don't go crazy either. IMHO it doesn't make sense to dump $200 in an amp when you can invest that same money in better cans.

 

[titan85]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

The "in style" thing since about 2006/2007 has been to advertise the SNR on your soundcard in the hopes of duping less-knowledgeable people into buying it. SNR that high would only really be noticeable with EXTREMELY expensive output devices which nobody is going to use with a $200 soundcard. Also, SNR is not the be all end all of sound quality. It is merely one component. Quite honestly, 98ish db SNR and up is good enough on average people's average quality sound equipment.

Odds are, despite what was said earlier, that your Onkyo receiver only has a very mediocre op-amp powered headphone output. Most speaker amps do not include high quality headphone amplifiers. There are exceptions, like Schiit's top end amp or the PS audio sprout, but neither of those are receivers.

If you have high quality headphones and you really want to add some kick, you can look at something like a Schiit Magni or Asgard. You would just run RCA to it from one of the outs (ie, recorder out) on the back of your Onkyo.

When buying a headphone amp, find out what the sound character of that amp is and make sure it matches with your headphones. I would not want to put AKG's, which are a touch bright, with a Schiit Asgard, which is quite bright. The result would be unpleasant.

Do not waste your money on an amp/dac combo. You already have a DAC in your receiver. Buy a straight amp.

Thanks for the detailed answer

I understand the speech sull'snr but in my case I always thought that the onkyo dac was a bit weak , not in terms of quality but just in terms of dB , so much so that they are almost always forced to keep it on 60% for a decent volume ( and it's not a problem of speaker or impedance) . The choice of sound card by the way was also designed for gaming , I felt that the creative SBX is spectacular .

So if you tell me that the dac dell'onkyo is good , I would continue to use hdmi on onkyo for movies , but for headphones with games I should take at least one Z or ZX to take advantage of those algorithms , or fiio ( asgard too expensive for me ) without algorithms.

 

[brucethemoose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by titan85

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

The "in style" thing since about 2006/2007 has been to advertise the SNR on your soundcard in the hopes of duping less-knowledgeable people into buying it. SNR that high would only really be noticeable with EXTREMELY expensive output devices which nobody is going to use with a $200 soundcard. Also, SNR is not the be all end all of sound quality. It is merely one component. Quite honestly, 98ish db SNR and up is good enough on average people's average quality sound equipment.

Odds are, despite what was said earlier, that your Onkyo receiver only has a very mediocre op-amp powered headphone output. Most speaker amps do not include high quality headphone amplifiers. There are exceptions, like Schiit's top end amp or the PS audio sprout, but neither of those are receivers.

If you have high quality headphones and you really want to add some kick, you can look at something like a Schiit Magni or Asgard. You would just run RCA to it from one of the outs (ie, recorder out) on the back of your Onkyo.

When buying a headphone amp, find out what the sound character of that amp is and make sure it matches with your headphones. I would not want to put AKG's, which are a touch bright, with a Schiit Asgard, which is quite bright. The result would be unpleasant.

Do not waste your money on an amp/dac combo. You already have a DAC in your receiver. Buy a straight amp.

Thanks for the detailed answer

I understand the speech sull'snr but in my case I always thought that the onkyo dac was a bit weak , not in terms of quality but just in terms of dB , so much so that they are almost always forced to keep it on 60% for a decent volume ( and it's not a problem of speaker or impedance) . The choice of sound card by the way was also designed for gaming , I felt that the creative SBX is spectacular .

So if you tell me that the dac dell'onkyo is good , I would continue to use hdmi on onkyo for movies , but for headphones with games I should take at least one Z or ZX to take advantage of those algorithms , or fiio ( asgard too expensive for me ) without algorithms.

Soundcards don't do any game "processing" anymore. The only useful feature they add is surround virtualization, and you can get that for free with programs like Razer Surround these days.

Give Razer Surround a shot. I don't know about SBX, but it's way better than Dolby Headphone on my Xonar ST.

A headphone amp would take care of the volume problem for less money than a soundcard.

 

[Tacoboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by titan85

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

The "in style" thing since about 2006/2007 has been to advertise the SNR on your soundcard in the hopes of duping less-knowledgeable people into buying it. SNR that high would only really be noticeable with EXTREMELY expensive output devices which nobody is going to use with a $200 soundcard. Also, SNR is not the be all end all of sound quality. It is merely one component. Quite honestly, 98ish db SNR and up is good enough on average people's average quality sound equipment.

Odds are, despite what was said earlier, that your Onkyo receiver only has a very mediocre op-amp powered headphone output. Most speaker amps do not include high quality headphone amplifiers. There are exceptions, like Schiit's top end amp or the PS audio sprout, but neither of those are receivers.

If you have high quality headphones and you really want to add some kick, you can look at something like a Schiit Magni or Asgard. You would just run RCA to it from one of the outs (ie, recorder out) on the back of your Onkyo.

When buying a headphone amp, find out what the sound character of that amp is and make sure it matches with your headphones. I would not want to put AKG's, which are a touch bright, with a Schiit Asgard, which is quite bright. The result would be unpleasant.

Do not waste your money on an amp/dac combo. You already have a DAC in your receiver. Buy a straight amp.

Thanks for the detailed answer

I understand the speech sull'snr but in my case I always thought that the onkyo dac was a bit weak , not in terms of quality but just in terms of dB , so much so that they are almost always forced to keep it on 60% for a decent volume ( and it's not a problem of speaker or impedance) . The choice of sound card by the way was also designed for gaming , I felt that the creative SBX is spectacular .

So if you tell me that the dac dell'onkyo is good , I would continue to use hdmi on onkyo for movies , but for headphones with games I should take at least one Z or ZX to take advantage of those algorithms , or fiio ( asgard too expensive for me ) without algorithms.

Sell off the Onkyo and upgrade to a better A/V receiver, $280 to $330 will get you something at least a fair bit better.
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/avreceiver/home-audio/receivers-amps/home-theater-receivers/1.html?&r=566d731d
Keep using the HDMI connection.

Get a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z sound card (not Zx or ZxR).
Plug the HD595 into the sound card

 

[mistersprinkles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacoboy

Sell off the Onkyo and upgrade to a better A/V receiver, $280 to $330 will get you something at least a fair bit better.
http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/category/avreceiver/home-audio/receivers-amps/home-theater-receivers/1.html?&r=566d731d
Keep using the HDMI connection.

Get a Creative Labs Sound Blaster Z sound card (not Zx or ZxR).
Plug the HD595 into the sound card

(mind explosion)

...

So, instead of buying a receiver with a decent DAC, then taking a mere $99 and buying a Schiit Magni 2, which is unequaled for the price, let's sell the guy ANOTHER dac that has a crappy digital headphone amp and gets to operate in the noisy environment of his computer case??

That's ridiculously ridiculous man.

I realize some people are looking for "pseudo surround" headphone effects but do these people REALLY understand the kind of fidelity they're missing out on? I don't know if they do...

 

[titan85]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

(mind explosion)

...

So, instead of buying a receiver with a decent DAC, then taking a mere $99 and buying a Schiit Magni 2, which is unequaled for the price, let's sell the guy ANOTHER dac that has a crappy digital headphone amp and gets to operate in the noisy environment of his computer case??

That's ridiculously ridiculous man.

I realize some people are looking for "pseudo surround" headphone effects but do these people REALLY understand the kind of fidelity they're missing out on? I don't know if they do...

I agree that the sound quality comes first and I came to a conclusion.

I will not buy an internal sound card , but a headphone amplifier and for the multichannel perhaps in the future i will change the onkyo as suggested Tacoboy.
For the virtual surround in games I will try razer software as suggested by brucethemoose .

Now I only have one question : Fiio E10K vs Magni 2 vs Bravo 2.

With magni and bravo I would use the onkyo dac ( but as I said I am not convinced , however, with an external amp maybe is different .. ) with the Fiio obviously would go into digital using his dac .All this without considering the parts of amplification , on this I need your advice

 

[Tacoboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by titan85

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

(mind explosion)

...

So, instead of buying a receiver with a decent DAC, then taking a mere $99 and buying a Schiit Magni 2, which is unequaled for the price, let's sell the guy ANOTHER dac that has a crappy digital headphone amp and gets to operate in the noisy environment of his computer case??

That's ridiculously ridiculous man.

I realize some people are looking for "pseudo surround" headphone effects but do these people REALLY understand the kind of fidelity they're missing out on? I don't know if they do...

I agree that the sound quality comes first and I came to a conclusion.

I will not buy an internal sound card , but a headphone amplifier and for the multichannel perhaps in the future i will change the onkyo as suggested Tacoboy.
For the virtual surround in games I will try razer software as suggested by brucethemoose .

Now I only have one question : Fiio E10K vs Magni 2 vs Bravo 2.

With magni and bravo I would use the onkyo dac ( but as I said I am not convinced , however, with an external amp maybe is different .. ) with the Fiio obviously would go into digital using his dac .All this without considering the parts of amplification , on this I need your advice

Instead of buying an amplifier, why not just buy better headphones.
Like some Beyerdynamic T70, used off Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B005EEOTFY/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1450143872&sr=8-1&keywords=beyerdynamic+t70&condition=used
Plug them into the Onkyo or any future receiver.

 

[mistersprinkles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacoboy

Instead of buying an amplifier, why not just buy better headphones.
Like some Beyerdynamic T70, used off Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B005EEOTFY/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1450143872&sr=8-1&keywords=beyerdynamic+t70&condition=used
Plug them into the Onkyo or any future receiver.

$200 headphone + $100 amp >> $300 headphone with $2 amp.

The HP amp (if any) in that Onkyo will be a 100mW>>32Ohm digital junker (IF the OP is lucky)

 

[Tacoboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacoboy

Instead of buying an amplifier, why not just buy better headphones.
Like some Beyerdynamic T70, used off Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B005EEOTFY/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1450143872&sr=8-1&keywords=beyerdynamic+t70&condition=used
Plug them into the Onkyo or any future receiver.

$200 headphone + $100 amp >> $300 headphone with $2 amp.

The HP amp (if any) in that Onkyo will be a 100mW>>32Ohm digital junker (IF the OP is lucky)

The TX-SR605 should be able to drive the 250-Ohm headphone decently.
And it will sound better then the HD595, no matter what headphone amplifier he gets for driving the HD595.
The Onkyo uses the same amplifier to drive both speakers and headphones.
and the diaphragms in the speakers are way bigger then then whatever diaphram comes in any headphone.

My Onkyo SR606 has the same amp specs as the SR605 and my Onkyo had no problems driving my 250-Ohm Beyers

 

[mistersprinkles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacoboy

The TX-SR605 should be able to drive the 250-Ohm headphone decently.
And it will sound better then the HD595, no matter what headphone amplifier he gets for driving the HD595.
The Onkyo uses the same amplifier to drive both speakers and headphones.
and the diaphragms in the speakers are way bigger then then whatever diaphram comes in any headphone.

My Onkyo SR606 has the same amp specs as the SR605 and my Onkyo had no problems driving my 250-Ohm Beyers

No man. You can't say "This sounds better than that". You can only say it sounds better TO YOU. I like HD 598's just as much as HE400i's at 3X the price. It's all personal preference dude.

 

[Tacoboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacoboy

The TX-SR605 should be able to drive the 250-Ohm headphone decently.
And it will sound better then the HD595, no matter what headphone amplifier he gets for driving the HD595.
The Onkyo uses the same amplifier to drive both speakers and headphones.
and the diaphragms in the speakers are way bigger then then whatever diaphram comes in any headphone.

My Onkyo SR606 has the same amp specs as the SR605 and my Onkyo had no problems driving my 250-Ohm Beyers

No man. You can't say "This sounds better than that". You can only say it sounds better TO YOU. I like HD 598's just as much as HE400i's at 3X the price. It's all personal preference dude.

Ya man, a $500 T70 headphone (used $275) will sound better then $100 HD595 headphone.

 

[mistersprinkles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacoboy

Ya man, a $500 T70 headphone (used $275) will sound better then $100 HD595 headphone.

To whom? To you? How do you know it will sound better to others? That's ignorant. It's not a TV it's a headphone.

 

[Tacoboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacoboy

Ya man, a $500 T70 headphone (used $275) will sound better then $100 HD595 headphone.

To whom? To you? How do you know it will sound better to others? That's ignorant. It's not a TV it's a headphone.

Lets see, I've bought at least 10 DACs and around 8 headphone amplifiers and 5 A/V receivers
and bought about over 25 headphones in the past 5 years.
I think I have a decent idea on what will sound better then others

And as I own the HD558, which is considered slightly better then the HD595
and also own the T70.
I think I know how the two would compare.