Great soundcards for 250ohm headphones (don't give a single crap about EAX/Dolby/THX)

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colinstu

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Like the title suggests... I'm looking for an audio card (can be either PCI or PCIe) that is good at sending out a clean signal and enough power to properly (or almost properly) drive my 250ohm DT 770 Pros. I've asked about headphone amps before but usually quake at the knees because the prices (and difficulty at choosing from people's suggestions) and put it on my wishlist (and promptly has never been bought).

Also like the title says... I don't care about all that gobbledygook GAMERZ/HTPC nerd stuff. Audio signal is audio signal, and I'm not gonna pay extra money for licensing fees if I don't need to.

Browsing around newegg, I notice that HT | Omega and Asus has some cards that come with a supposed headphone amp. Anyone know how good it is? Would it be a decent match for 250ohm?

Thanks for any help. (and sorry for offending anyone who loves dolby/dts/eax/thx/etc etc).

I'd rather pay $200 for a decent audio card that also has an amp rather than a $100 card and a $100 amp (unless this would be a superior setup. Or I could skirt by with a $35 card and pricier amp or something).
 
You might be better off with an external DAC/amp versus a sound card if you aren't interested in gaming. The Essence STX is the go-to card, but it isn't any cheaper than a DAC/amp would be.
 
If you're set on a card, a Xonar STX should work nicely.

It's a very good DAC with an adequate amp. While I wasn't happy with the amp performance into ~50ohm Sennheiser HD598 (flabby bass, probably at least partially due to the ~10ohm output impedance), but that particular problem shouldn't be apparent at 250ohm. I am perfectly happy with the STX line out to an O2 amp.

If you really want no nonsense and high quality, check out NwAvGuy's ODAC. The assembled DAC with no case is $99 at JDS Labs, if you're the DIY type. $150 for the cased variant is a bit steep if you ask me, but they (reportedly) aren't making much money on the assembled boards and the quality is good. Native USB audio drivers for Windows/OSX/linux means it's just plug and play (in Windows you do need to change the bit rate to 24-bit). I use it with my own X220. If I didn't need other features like microphone in and digital out, I'd probably dump the Xonar and keep the ODAC for desktop use. Combine that with a good amp and you'll be set.

I recommend the (NwAvGuy-designed) O2 amp JDS also sells for $285 w/ the DAC board built in or you can go the DIY route and build both together for ~$200-230 shipped (on the cheaper side if you don't want it portable with batteries). I did recall hearing there was some kind of part supply issue on an O2 component or two, so be sure to check that out first. The O2 should power any headphone around (save for a few exotic cans out there and [obviously] electrostatics) easily and cleanly.

When the desktop version of the O2 is ready around the end of summer/early fall, I'll probably build one of those so I don't have to keep swapping the transportable version between computers.
 
If you're not interested in Dolby or CMSS, then you should get a DAC/amp; you're not interested in the very features that make a soundcard compelling over an external solution.
 
belmicah said:
Xonar Essence STX.
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Forceman said:
The Essence STX is the go-to card.
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havermeyer said:
If you're set on a card, a Xonar STX should work nicely.
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Sounds like the Essence STX will be my choice! Thanks so much.

But.

havermeyer said:
I recommend the (NwAvGuy-designed) O2 amp JDS also sells for $285 w/ the DAC board built in
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I'll definitely keep this option saved too. Under $100 more (or even cheaper if I did it myself) for something better is tempting.
 
I have the exact same headphones and i only use an FiiOe 9 Amp,wich is great.I dont't even get to half on the volume with this thing. There is also FiiO e 7 dac that u can put on top of the amp,and they work together,but donno how good of a dac that is. The amp is great,it drives these headphones to their absolute max. The amp+dac combo i think comes to around 200$ or less.
 
Even if you go DIY the ODAC+O2 is still over $200 whereas you can often find the Xonar Essence STX on sale for $150-160... I'm not saying the ODAC+O2 isn't worth it tho, because it's clearly a more flexible option (better amp at least) and you evidently won't be taking advantage of the only upside to the STX (surround emulation or pass thru for games or movies).

If you can't find the STX on sale or can't wait for it to go on sale again I'd probably weigh your options strongly... I have an STX because I wanted DH for gaming, got it for like $155 at Newegg about a month ago.
 
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Impulse said:
Even if you go DIY the ODAC+O2 is still over $200 whereas you can often find the Xonar Essence STX on sale for $150-160... I'm not saying the ODAC+O2 isn't worth it tho, because it's clearly a more flexible option (better amp at least) and you evidently won't be taking advantage of the only upside to the STX (surround emulation or pass thru for games or movies).

If you can't find the STX on sale or can't wait for it to go on sale again I'd probably weigh your options strongly... I have an STX because I wanted DH for gaming, got it for like $155 at Newegg about a month ago.
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Ah so that can go on sale some times? I'll keep an eye out for that then. Thanks :)
 
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