I’m rather new to good audio. (thanks to a friend) I have been running the SHP9500 with a Vmoda BoomPro mic for the past year or so and I have the X2HR’s arriving today. My question is would getting a DAC or an AMP or a combo be worth while over on motherboard? I mostly use my headphones for gaming, right now I’m mostly playing COD:MW not warzone. I do listen to music sometimes but not often. I also watch TV shows and movies. In terms of sound tone I prefer bass heavy and light highs which is the opposite of what I would need to be competitive. So I figure the best for me would a V shape type sound and if the highs are too much when I am not gaming I could also EQ them a little. Currently I feel like the quality of my audio is being impacted by my motherboard however my friend thinks getting an AMP/DAC wouldn’t help much. I am also running Equalizer APO and HeSuVi with an custom balance EQ set to Flatten out the SHP9500. However I did notice that it makes music more muddy sounding. I’m not sure I am going to continue to use the EQ part of it. If I do get a AMP/DAC I’m thinking about getting the Schiit Hel since it will allow me to upgrade to better headphones in the future and will still let me use the BoomPro. Although at some point I’ll have to decide weather I’m going to go Modmic or a desk mic and I’m leaning desk but that is a discussion for a different time.
System Specs (in case they help)
Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE WIFI
Ryzen 7 3700X
EVGA RTX 3080 XC3
Logitech Z323 with sub
I’d go for the IFI zen DAC, mainly for the buttons. the Xbass button gives a little boost to the bass that make stuff a lot more fun.
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modern motherboards are usually pretty good for easy to drive headphones. but for $200 instead of a hell I would instead get a magni modi stack or a liquid spark stack as thhat will be better value from a future proofing perspective especiallyu if you are not gonna use a vmoda boom pro
Ok got the X2’s and the bass is nice but the highs are a bit much. But they don’t have the improved clarity I was hoping for and I think that is due to my lack of a separate DAC. my main issue with getting any of the recommendations is the lack of a mic in. The real question is would a DAC be worth it over the motherboard audio for my current setup?
I made a post regarding onboard audio in gaming mobos here: Demystifying onboard audio
The bottom line is that your mobo is capable of driving those two headphones with ease, but there are some caveats.
The DAC in your mobo is pretty decent as long as it is properly shielded, which normally they are in modern mobos.
The problem with onboard audio is the output impedance of the AMP is too high, funny enough this changes the tonality of low impedance headphones the most. There is a video explaining that in the post.
I also have the SHP9500 along with a DT880 Edition 250 ohm. There is an audible and measurable difference in my SHPs when I connect them to an external DAC/AMP with a low output impedance. That means the output impedance changes the tonality of your cans, so most likely you are EQing something that has already been “EQed” by the output impedance of your integrated AMP in the mobo.
Does it matter for gaming? I don’t think so. Does it matter for music and critical listening? yes.
I think the Zen DAC or Hip DAC are good options, because they are all in one, fairly inexpensive, and have what most consider to be the best bass boost in their price range. You can boost bass for music / movies, and turn it off for gaming. Both of those devices can be had for $100 if you buy used. Also, a Schiit Fulla would be a good option–you gain a mic input, but you lose the bass boost. I use a Fulla 2 at work with SHP9600 and think it sounds pretty good.
I read that post and it was very informative and funnily enough both mine and my friends motherboards where tested in the igor’s lab article.
My friend that got me started down this path is going to bring over his DAC/AMP later this week so I can test if it makes a difference. Also I have done some imagining testing and have found at best I have a strict 8 positions of imagining with the X2’s which isn’t as granular as I would like. I have done additional research and have found that a better DAC can bring with it better imagining.
Right now if I see any improvements with my friends DAC/AMP I’m probably going to get a Schiit modi 3+ and magni heresy. pairing that with a mod mic wireless so if/when I want to get even better headphones I can without concern.
Possibly unrelated but since posting my computer has been turning off while playing games and running stress tests so I believe the issue there is my power supply is being asked to give more power than it can. I have a new higher rated power supply coming in to fix that.