New Sound Card Advice

[amythompson172]

Recently purchased AKG Q701 headphones and although they feel a little flimsy for their price tag they do sound great. I'm still debating what to power them with as my Xonar DG is rather noisy and weak. I've been looking at various dac & amp combos but for 200$, a solid soundcard like this doesn't seem like a bad idea. What do you guys think?

HT | OMEGA Claro Halo 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card w/ a built-in HI-FI Headphone Amplifier

ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express x1 Interface 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card

Budget is ~ 200$

 

[Mchart]

While the Halo is a good card; when it comes to quality the STX can't be beat.

 

[Forceman]

If you plan on doing any gaming, I'd get the STX. Actually, I'd get it anyway - It is pretty much the go-to soundcard for higher-end headphones.

 

[nakedhand]

STX no doubt.

I would recommend two things.

A serious dedicated amp at some point is a must. Those headphones have so much more to offer than what you will be able to extract using the STX alone.

Begin burn in immediately. They need hundreds of hours to relax. Id run pink noise off the PC on them when you are out.



I would agree that they are somewhat flimsy build wise. But the sound and the soundstage...

 

[TroyX]

AKG701's awesome soundstage brings gaming and music to life, the only downside i can think of is that it doesnt have enough bass for certain music.

and i dont think he's going to need a dedicated amp, STX has plenty of muscle to drive them.

 

[spaceman]

STX will do fine. The akgs are tough to drive but yeah. Good enough for sure. I would go with something else personally. Like an external dac/amp. It gets rid of the noise although the stx should be pretty quiet.