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Audio HeadPhone AMP?

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Honestly, if youre looking to "better the sound" I wouldn't skimp on a DAC.

Budget is a HUGE requirement for this. These go from 20$ to 10,000$ lol.
 
bob4933 said:
Honestly, if youre looking to "better the sound" I wouldn't skimp on a DAC.

Budget is a HUGE requirement for this. These go from 20$ to 10,000$ lol.
Click to expand...

Well I'm not looking for concert quality here but something better than my Logitech head set so I would say my budget is under $100.
 
Well, the G330s are only 32 Ohm, so you really shouldn't need a full on headphone amp. Most devices shouldn't have a problem driving them directly. Like bob said, in this case, you'd probably want some sort of external DAC. If you want something <$100, I actually like my Fiio E07K, USB DAC plus portable amp if you get something with a higher impedance down the line. There might be better DACs in that range though. Just don't know of any off hand.

Just a side note, some DACs (like the e07k) are output only, so if you want the mic, you're still going to have to run that through the onboard soundcard. Another option is to just get a PCIe/PCI soundcard or something if you don't need portability.
 
I think you'd be better off getting a better headset over a DAC honestly. Those were built for comfort and gaming, not really for great sound reproduction. A good over ear headset will probably do more for your sound than an amp.

I've tried a lot of headphones on, never had a "gaming headset" impress me beyond a set of 500$ game commanders lol. Its all subjective though I suppose.
 
freakdiablo said:
Well, the G330s are only 32 Ohm, so you really shouldn't need a full on headphone amp. Most devices shouldn't have a problem driving them directly.
Click to expand...
Lower impedances actually cause a problem with capacitively coupled outputs (most desktop onboard audio and some lower end sound cards) in that the capacitor forms a high pass filter so the bass gets attenuated and it ends up sounding "weak". The 32 ohm and below headsets are intended for portable devices with direct coupled outputs. The 16 ohm headsets are also compatible with very low voltage (less than 1.8V, compared to 3.3V for a desktop chipset) chipsets.

An easy fix is to put 100 ohm resistors in series with each side, most likely by means of a simple adapter. It will have the effect of smoothing out the frequency response as well as boosting SNR.
 
NiHaoMike said:
Lower impedances actually cause a problem with capacitively coupled outputs (most desktop onboard audio and some lower end sound cards) in that the capacitor forms a high pass filter so the bass gets attenuated and it ends up sounding "weak". The 32 ohm and below headsets are intended for portable devices with direct coupled outputs. The 16 ohm headsets are also compatible with very low voltage (less than 1.8V, compared to 3.3V for a desktop chipset) chipsets.

An easy fix is to put 100 ohm resistors in series with each side, most likely by means of a simple adapter. It will have the effect of smoothing out the frequency response as well as boosting SNR.
Click to expand...

Eh ok. I think headphones that are a higher impedance straight off a desktops integrated soundcard sound worse than those of a lower impedance, but that's just me :shrug:
 
If the chipset couldn't supply enough voltage to drive it, it just won't go loud enough. Also possible is that good headphones make the flaws stand out.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, I appreciate that. I think I'll try a new and better headset first like bob recommended, if that doesn't do it I'll start looking for a better solution.
 
If you want a cheap solution that would be good check out the Skullcandy SLYR as far as a headset, but you won't need an amp for that.

If you want something on the lower end that responds well enough to amping you can check out the DT990 Pro, Q701, or if you want some good headphones on the cheap side that won't require you to pay money for an amp would be the Creative Aurvana Live.

I would never want to waste money on an amp for Logitech, Skullcandy, Plantronics, Turtle Beach, Razer, or any of these "gaming" brands. Focus on some higher end headphones if you want more, buying an amp, even a portable one from Fiio, regardless how cheap, is a waste of money.

Also the mention of Schiit, if you do get some good headphones, a quality cheap alternative would be the Schiit Modi/Magni stack, would only cost $200 and still be pretty damn good.
 
You must not be familiar with the Skullcandy/Astro lovechild that is the SLYR which is the only headset under $100 worth much. Check it out on Mad Lust Envy's guide over at OCN.

The M50's are good as well, sound-wise though I still think the CAL would be a better choice with far better sound stage.
 
You're better off getting a sound card with a headphone amp built in. The portable ones have a lot of noise at high volumes unless you get a studio DAC.
 
The SMSL SD-793II is pretty decent as far a cheap figbre optical headphone DAC with amplification goes, even nicer if your prepared to spend some $ is the Yaqin PH-5L Vaccuum tube headphone amp, although it uses RCA inputs only. It's fully analogue so a quality sound card is important when using it. Tubes do tend to put things in a completely different league to solid state sound though.

Agree with the other though too, without a decent set of headphones none of this matters. I lean towards in ear headphones these days as there are any number that ofer amazing sound quality at a reasonable price ;)
 
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