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Headphone Amplifier Advice

C

chronox12

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
127
I have a Creative X-Fi Music soundcard and the only way to connect headphones or a headset is directly into the soundcard itself. Unfortunately I have to remove my speakers to do this because there are no dedicated ports. I'm considering buying a Beyerdynamic DT 990 Premium 250 ohm (The choice is still a work in progress for music and movies) with a separate mic for online gaming. I'm buying a Logitech G510 soon which has dedicated headset/headphones port and it's own built in soundcard but I'm doubtful it'll sound as good as my Creative. I really prefer an amp that will utilize my soundcard.

I need recommendations on a headphone amplifier and also, what exactly do I need to look for when researching this so I could do some searching on my own? Also if there is one that supports both speaker and headphone input simultaneously, please feel free to recommend those as well because I'm looking for anything that can improve my sound in general.
Thanks in advance for the feedback.
 
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There are so many options... Do you have a budget in mind? The Astro Mixamp is a great little amp that can certainly power the DT 990's. I used one for awhile with my old X-Fi Platinum and DT 880's and was very pleased with it. I have since moved onto a more dedictated solution, but I did really like it.
 
Its all about what you want to use it for, and how much your willing to shell out.

If just casual gaming / listening to mp3's with a low - midrange set of cans, there is phenomenal list for those.

I do a lot of gaming / flac listening... so after buying a set of Denon D7000's (I got them on sale thank god), I went over to Head-Fi.org and spent a week or so researching / reading.

At that time, I made a choice to go with the Audio-gd Compass, and couldn't be happier, but thats more on the lines of dedicated amp / headset. Total spent, about $1300 (wife not happy, but alas, the joys of marriage. Told her it could be worse, could have spent them on strippers, coke, and a donkey, but I regress).

Start off with answering the amount wanted to spend. With regards to an amp for your mic, don't bother. Unless you want to spend $$$$ for a recording studio quality mic (and sound card), its not worth it. Just enable the +20 option in your sound / recording / microphone settings in your OS (assuming Vista or W7)
 
Just to answer the questions.

1) I'm a heavy gamer. It's the only thing I do besides eating, sleeping and going to work really @_@
2) I listen to a lot of music. MP3s lossless and otherwise. Almost all genres but the main set are psytrance, loud metal, and lounge.
3) The budget is $150.

I just wanna get an amp good enough to power those headphones with the option of adding a mic to it for gaming. I was thinking of maybe buying one of those portable USB X-fi soundcards so I could use the headphones and amp on my laptop. Input?
 
I would get the Astro Mixamp over the x-fi. You'll be able to use that with your laptop as well. Plus, the mixamp is going to be much more powerfull, allowing you to purchase headphones like the 990.
 
wadec22 said:
I would get the Astro Mixamp over the x-fi. You'll be able to use that with your laptop as well.
Click to expand...

I just finished reading the review here for the Astro A40 headset combo and the MixAmp sounds like a good all in one investment. I'm looking into this now for my gaming desktop. Thanks a lot. Oh, would I be able to connect my desktop speakers AND the headset to the MixAmp? I noticed that there's a coax, left and right ports at the back of the amp. Sorry for the noob question.

I have another question though. Are there any USB soundcards that are good enough to power the 250ohm Beyer-dynamics DT 990 Pro I mentioned? I may just need to get a USB soundcard for my laptop and I was wondering if the Creative X-fi Surround 5.1 (or any other) has a built in amp strong enough to power those headphones. Thanks again for the advice.
 
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If you want a real nice external audiophile amp check out the dayton class-t dta-100a at partsexpress.com it would work well with headphones or monitors hell it could even power a small woofer :)
 
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