(Planning for future purchase) Looking for a gaming dac for competitive use only (not casual, so SQ can suffer a bit) that is worthy of use with such magnificent headphones such as the ones in the title. Something that would absolutely blow the GSX 1000 out of the known universal structure of reality. What I specifically am after is a way to EQ them for competitive gaming via a dac itself, I will run a 2 dac setup; Trusted hella good dac for standard EQ casual gaming, and murder people competitive dac for winning matches. Cannot be EQ software for windows, as I am using USB dacs with my computer for this setup (right?).
I’m rather confused by this post I’ll break it down a bit…
Why specifically a gaming dac?
This particular unit is pretty awful so beating it isn’t remotely difficult… regular $100 dedicated units are better… it’s an over priced 7.1 unit
Why does the unit need eq? You can use peace apo downloaded to any dac setup and eq to your hearts content
This is rather confusing… so a dac cleans up the sound and while yes it can alter the signature it’s nothing so crazy drastic to help you win your games… spatial recreation and levels of clarity are potentially the largest changes… I would recommend rethinking this as you only need one setup… 2 dacs is definitely not needed and there are many cases where people can either not hear differences or barely hear a difference between many units.
USB dac doesnt matter… if it plugs into the pc and registers itself for use through downloading its firmware peace can be used on it… example… soundblaster g6 which is one I’ll recommend at this point has alot of options and built in eq… however I can still implement peace onto it.
Iirc gl1200 is a ribbon headphone meaning it needs a special amp… cant use just anything to my knowledge. @M0N would probably know alot more about setting up a ribbon headphone as I have no experience with them… though not sure why one would choose this for explicitly gaming… definitely not needed
Okay, what I see from your reply is that if the dac is recognized by windows, then “Peace APO” can be used to equalize it?
I want to be able to eq these headphones for purposes of decreasing bass and increasing treble for competitive gaming (hearing footsteps etc). These headphones were described by people in the official thread and zeos as exceptional for gaming, which is why I plan to use them for that purpose.
If I can EQ with the planned-to-be-used dac then really most of what is in the original post is nullified. I only wanted a “gaming dac” for included possible well-tested EQ settings, but I can probably just look up different ones online and set them up with my own eq software and dac if possible.
Hope this clears up confusion!
Here is a link to the full setup I plan on having: [NEW] Ultimate Sound Setup - Gaming - PCPartPicker
short answer? yes.
long answer? as long as it downloads a firmware and you can actively choose to switch over to it as a default sound device then yes… I have yet to run into any issue with peace apo being unable to be implemented onto a dac unit.
So, this is going to sound rather blunt but I get these all the time and I really have to express extreme amounts of caution about this. Do not by any means follow this trend with the reviewers and the like… it can get you burned so fast your head will spin when it comes to your wallet. Example, Gl2000 not that great… zeos raved like crazy about it. Other example pc38x multiple reviewers rave about this one… its honestly worse than a lot of $100 headphones its explicitly only good for gaming as all actual sound quality is trash its just the best of the headsets.
If you need extensive levels of eq for a headphone… its probably not a good fit. Keep in mind eq can distort a headphone and cause other issues as well… its not a solve all solution by any means whatsoever and eq requires preamplification to keep things sounding in line with one another. GL1200 is a ribbon headphone… iirc it uses amplifiers like the jotunheim R meaning it needs a special connection… i dont believe the headphone is compatible with most setups but I would advise speaking with the others on the respective thread on that…
however, for gaming explicitly I must advise caution on this as well. Unless you are playing escape from tarkov there is NO reason to go above $1k+ for headphones whatsoever and even then this is complete and total overkill. Gains from shooter titles is marginal past the $500-$600 margin. The only special exception that comes to mind is the HD800S which is only fully usable in tarkov… though others claim suchs great results when in truth its mainly the airier presentation of the hd800s that gives them that result which can be also achieved by something such as the hifiman sundara, GL2k, or harmonicdyne zeus all of which have imaging that works just fine. Arya and HD800S are the top dogs of the market with the Focal Clear MG being the top of the narrow market though I have not sat with GL1200. cost does not = better in this hobby theres many headphones that out perform much more expensive and vice versa. In most cases? Simply using a dt 880 600 ohm, tygr 300r, or hd 660s will top out most of the capabilities of an fps sound engine… as the sound engines also have their limitations
they arent really well tested to be honest… I have sat with all of the so called “gaming” dacs and I have to be quite honest… comparing that to a true eq board is a joke… while no eq isnt going to solve everything alot of times the eq settings werent enough or done very poorly and destroyed the headphones sound. Its about as niche as using 7.1. On pc though peace apo exists as well as others for eq and hesuvi and dolby atmos exist for those who want 7.1 without costing all this extra money and headache
looks fine, but I would encourage speaking with those of the gl1200 but mentioning gaming explicitly I will guess you will get told the same as I am saying that its highly not recommended to go to such a high cost bracket for gaming. I think the biggest issue here is the connection of the ribbon headphone since it needs a certain setup to work properly… Honestly, I would highly encourage just getting a different cheaper headphone so you dont torch your wallet but if your in it to just try the headphone go for it.
as far as amps go? I like the jot just haven’t tried the R so I think it would be fine at that point… youd just need a good dac to go with it which it works fine with the modius or bifrost 2
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This will by no means be my first venture into sound equipment, this is the first intended plan:
this is it’s upgrade path:
Gaming Audio Upgrade - PCPartPicker
I will probably remove the “gaming dac” and include something else to use instead as a dac while using the EQ software.
The only reason I ever thought of going so extreme is that I’d like the best experience possible without ruining said experience via getting to the point of throwing away everything I actually LIKE in pursuit of something technically “better” (ex: tossing aside my music library for something recorded better that I don’t really even want to listen to). The GL1200s will probably be the tipping point, and just reveal everything that sucks. You bringing up fps sound engine limitations made me remember this part.
Why eq’ing makes sense in COMPETITIVE gaming is that things don’t need to really sound better, just be heard at all better. More is better when it comes to hearing what is going on in comp gaming. When using headphones for casual gaming there will be 0 equalizing, SQ matters the most there.
When it comes to the GL2000s, it seems that zeos was screwed over due to gold planar changing things after release and there being build quality issues (check the thread, he mentioned these issues and the thread in the review of the GL1200’s). I will always observe the experiences of others before making my own decision, zeos is just a baseline for me to go off of as he thinks of most things the way I do. zoes does not equal law, I just trust most of his philosophy.
game devs aren’t exactly world class audio engineers/audiophiles so 660s’s or equivalent kin/soundalikes will most likely be headroom maxing for a long time.