So I just bought the 135 euro fidelio x2hr’s and I was ready to enjoy using. I had absolutely no concern that they would need anything else more than a mic.
Well I’m bloody wrong, aren’t I?
The audio on my pc is complete horsecrap and they are quieter than a f*cking Tesla. I’ve seen in some places that these headphones actually require an amp, and I am just losing it. I spend almost all my goddamn money on these headphones and now I need an amp. Just, unbelievable.
No, I’m not judging anyone for misinforming me, I know it’s not your fault, so just, please, tell me what kind of amp/dac , or whatever it’s called, I need to make these headphones actually worth the money. I bought them second-hand and there’s no returning them or getting my money back. If I went this audiophile route, I’m going in with the little money I have left.
Again, I do think that’s the problem, it might be something else and I could’ve been misinformed, although I highly doubt it.
And, yes, they are 10x better sounding on my phone (note 9).
Just tell me what amp I should get for under 100 bucks.
P.S.
I heard something good about the Fiio E10k and the dragonfly black. Should I get any of those ?
What exactly did you try to use the X2HRs with? They don’t need an amplifier at all (unless your equipment is extremely underpowered), but they do sound cleaner with an amp.
I personally went with a Liquid Spark, they cost 100 bucks
I plugged them into my motherboard. It is an ASRock B365 PRO4.
I’ve seen that other people have had this exact issue with other motherboards .
Must it be your dac that’s the issue? Altho if they sound quieter guess that it’s the amp too
Liquid spark is good, hmmm if they don’t usually require an amp. And on board sound is probably crap. I think a fiio btr3 could be good too since it’s way cheaper. Should theoretically sound better than you phone too and output similar volume
If you want to go the very cheap route look for Syba Sonic on Amazon. The DAC/amp they have is decent enough and can deliver more than enough power to the X2HRs.
As for your on-board audio, try installing the Realtek drivers and software (https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B365%20Pro4/index.asp#Download)
Sometimes you need to manually tweak the power output for your motherboard’s headphone jacks (like in the case of my motherboard) and the Realtek utility let’s you handle that
And how do I tweak the power output?
Weird. My listening level straight out of my HP Omen.
Curious. Have you tried them with anything else? Your phone perhaps?
Yes, I did
And, yes, it is louder
Install it, see if it allows you to change it
Actually, it might not be.
After I installed that audio driver, it kind if feels like it’s louder, but it could be just me getting used to them.
I don’t know at this point
I did
Where do I see that?
Look for a program called “Realtek Audio Manager”, it should’ve installed alongside the drivers. If you can’t find it, try this: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/realtek-audio-control/9p2b8mcsvpln?activetab=pivot:overviewtab#
I have installed it
I have found the Audioengine D3 for the same price as the Fiio E10k. Is it better?
Or is that even what I need?
I really don’t know.
I’d first try everything to fix in without an amp, because to me it sounds kinda weird that you’d need an AMP with those headphones, especially if your phone manages to output enough power easily.
Also, do you have speakers hooked up to your PC? My speakers have a 3.5mm audio jack on the side where I can hook up headphones to, if you have speakers and they have a port you could try hooking it up through there. Do you have another headphone jack that you could try (e.g. front of your case)?
I get what position you are in but try not to spend money too quickly on a fix, every time I bought something to solve a problem too quickly I ended up regretting it so far. I can tell you at least three products that I thought I needed but didn’t in the end that I bought the last couple of months 
The e10k would solve the problem BTW, but AFAIK most people here advice against it, though I quite like mine.
I agree, I think you should try to fix your current problem on your PC as I do think that can be fixed.
First of all, what did you have before? Does that work normally?
Then, what motherboard or manufacturer do you have? I’m assuming your are using Windows.