Hey there, like title said I am searching around for a potential all rounder item that can provide to speakers, amp headphones, provide the quality of a dac, and potentially have a mic input all for a seperate battle station. If this is not feasible than a recommendation of multiple units is acceptable as long as the budget doesn’t exceed $400 margin. It’s strictly for a gaming battlestation setup(not for me I am having to build the setup for someone so my amps are not included here) which is why the speaker amp is needed in particularly alongside a demanding headphone amp capable of driving 600 ohms(T1.2). recommendations accepted. I was already looking at the soundblaster X7 but wasn’t honestly sure on how good this was as it’s rather pricey though appears to literally have like… everything lol.
I’m not aware of anything that can do all of that in one box for that price…or any price, really. Best bet for 4 bills is probably one of the Focusrite Scarlet interfaces, Magni 3+, and Topping PA3 for speaker amp. If the budget is flexible then an upgrade from Magni to Asgard will improve the spatial reproduction as well. What speakers are being used? The Topping has the power for most, but not all.
Well, thats why I brought up the x7 it has a 100 watt version thats in white and can drive all that at like $380 which is absurd when I think about it. I just wasn’t sure on its quality or spacial recreation or anything. I have heard nothing on this model
Should’ve elaborated on that to being a 3.5mm mic input not an xlr. Though I should probably talk with him about that potential setup as well come to think of it.
I showed him the speakers I was considering for myself Klipsch pro media 2.1’s and he decided he wants to roll with that for now to save on some money then upgrade to a higher grade setup potentially later. Nothing extremely hi end for speakers but in the generaly… I want to say $300 range for computer speaker system. Nothing like crazy demanding or thousands on the budget
Going to the asgard I think will unfortunately push things over budget despite how much I like the amp personally.
I forgot about that Creative box. IIRC it’s buggy. The Focusrite Scarlet Solo has 2 inputs, 1 XLR and 1 1/4". The 1/4 would just need an adapter to accommodate a 3.5mm input. The Scarlet 2i2 has those weird looking inputs that can be either XLR or 1/4".
That’s unfortunate if accurate and truly buggy.
Duly noted. I did consider just finding several $100 units. Issue is that amp dac audio interface and speaker amp would have to all measure up to $400 it’s a lot of units lol. So like Magni 3+ - Topping D10(maybe? dunno here) - Focusrite Scarlet solo gen 3 - Topping PA3.
Pretty sure though we should be able to chop some corners here and there price wise. It doesn’t have to be this amazing quality amp and dac but enough to drive the headphone properly as well as the speaker system and the microphone. It’s a gaming battlestation. I should note hes definitely not some audiophile. The dude bought the T1 because I damn sure wasn’t going to let him have mine after he tried it lmao
I don’t think combo units would particularly be an issue here which should allow some corners to be cut on the budget. I am also sure that the focusrite scarlett can be used as a dac however, that dac is rather piss poor honestly if you ask me though its good for mics. As for speaker amps… yeah no you got me on that one I have no friggin clue whats good and bad there
I’m a bit unclear, if he’s using a ProMedia 2.1 he doesn’t need a speaker amp. If he has the PorMedias for now I’d tell him to put money into the headphone rig first. Then down the road he has more money, potentially, to put into his speaker setup.
Getting a Topping D10 and and a Focusrite together doesn’t make sense. Getting a DAC + an interface just makes the interface a stupid expensive microphone input, IMO. If the Scarlet’s DAC isn’t good enough, what’s the interface Z reviewed lately? That one might be better. The Schiit Fulla 3 would be another option. It’s headphone amp isn’t the most powerful but it would be an audio interface. It has a veriable pre-out on the back that can be split between a beefier head amp and speakers down the line.
Good to know on that one. I mean, if he doesn’t need the amp I guess researching into what speakers are acceptable without that amp being required would be good.
I mean, thats why I brought it up lol. Would be kind of pointless to buy both. hmm perhaps I need to go dig out my scarlett and see what he thinks first that may help a bit. I own the gen 3 solo already but I like never use it anymore
You mean the motu m2? Worth consideration.
Using the fulla as an interface? strange idea but interesting.
Yamaha AG03 does all, except the speaker amp. Not sure about 600 Ohm capability, handles 250 fine though.
AG03 and BasX A-100 together are under budget and the A-100 can definetly drive 600 Ohm 
Looks like that comes out to $450 which is over budget.
Damn nuclear power plant. I would expect it to run 600 ohm and then some
Damn. Is it? Must have misremembered the prices then.
I mainly suggested the black brick because it is a speaker amp for a low price that happens to drive headphones.
The problem is the jack-of-all-trades devices are $300 as is, and a speaker amp for 100 is not going to blow anything out the water.
You think taking the gamble on that X7 in white would be worth it then? Claims 100 mhw of power and easily able to drive 600 ohms. Only downside is no XLR input cause its not an interface. He has mentioned switching his T1 over to the 1990(its still in warranty) so that would switch it over to 250 ohms. You mentioned the yamaha can drive that though that still leaves the speaker amp as an issue. It goes without question he wants to run a much more expensive speaker setup later. He mentioned just moving the speakers when he upgrades to the living room or giving them to his son for the kids room.
lol unfortunately. Otherwise that would be a hell of a good setup in my opinion. Literally throw anything at it and be fine.
Going to depend on what price you can get the A-100 for. It lists for $230, but is out of stock.
If it was complete garbage, I am sure we would know about it.
There are “stick adapters” like this one ← no idea if that is any good, or the MXL MicMate that do a good enough job.
For the price of the MicMate, there is also the ART DualPre which IMO outperforms the MicMate.
That’s interesting. I didn’t know these were a working thing for a conversion tool on the xlr mics. I mean I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but does that really work out and allow you to skip the xlr interface is my question. looks like the adapter itself is the interface
Suppose I can bring it up to him. Wouldn’t hurt… I will write down the yamaha and rest of the suggestions here just in case. It’s his build after all I am just helping him out. Got asked to help with building his pc when he dropped the whole speaker setup rig on me lol
schiit hel + topping pa3 300$ish
fosi audio t20(or any chifi counterpart on amazon) + focusrite solo 200$ish. going with behringer will save you about 50$ for less mic quality.
edit: if you use the behringer + a solid state chifi amp with a headphone jack off of amazon, you could get the setup for around 120-130$
Not a bad idea but I don’t just wanna have him grab what can be considered junk lol. By Behringer I assume you are speaking of the UM2?
yeah the um2, couldnt remember model name.
i love my fosi t20. it sounds good and drives my hd600’s. has bass and treble control as well. drives my 4ohm martin logans just fine as well. headphone amp doesnt distort before it becomes to loud. the amp end will distort around 80-85%. but that is also hella loud with said martin logans. most of the time i wouldnt go past noon tops. the same amp is now driving my elac dbr 62’s. they sound good with it. they are solid amps. not the greatest, but money well spent on a budget. and honestly the t20 does not sound that much worse then my sprout100 if at all, at the volumes i listen at.
For budget speaker amp that will drive anything would be a crown XLS, after that a shit hel as a dac/amp would put you in the ballpark of 400 bucks.