Soundcard or external USB

reaper7534!

Limp Gawd
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Feb 13, 2016
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Currently have a pair of Sennheiser 598SE that I use with a Fiio DAC. and my Samson MIC, sound level are very good with either of these. If I plug my cans into the motherboard directly ( Aorus X570 Elite ) I probably get about half the volume of the DAC or by using the Samson mic headphone output. That was just for background.

I picked up a pair of Fnatic React headphones/ mic for gaming FPS ( it doesn't have a lot of bass so I can pinpoint footsteps better ). They are just straight analog cans and plug into the 3.5mm jacks on the motherboard / front panel. Used this way, they are QUIET. If I plug it into the Fiio, they get insanely loud. The moment I plug the mic connection into my motherboard, get a obscene amount of interference. I don't know if this is coming from their included Y cable ( seems very thin and cheaply made )

Question is, would I be better served getting a cheap soundcard or USB card ( recommendations under 100.00 ) I'm looking for power, not fidelity. My old ass ears can't tell the difference anyway. I'd rather use the headset mic vs the Samson.\

Edit .... needs to have mic input.
 
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Currently have a pair of Sennheiser 598SE that I use with a Fiio DAC. and my Samson MIC, sound level are very good with either of these. If I plug my cans into the motherboard directly ( Aorus X570 Elite ) I probably get about half the volume of the DAC or by using the Samson mic headphone output. That was just for background.

I picked up a pair of Fnatic React headphones/ mic for gaming FPS ( it doesn't have a lot of bass so I can pinpoint footsteps better ). They are just straight analog cans and plug into the 3.5mm jacks on the motherboard / front panel. Used this way, they are QUIET. If I plug it into the Fiio, they get insanely loud. The moment I plug the mic connection into my motherboard, get a obscene amount of interference. I don't know if this is coming from their included Y cable ( seems very thin and cheaply made )

Question is, would I be better served getting a cheap soundcard or USB card ( recommendations under 100.00 ) I'm looking for power, not fidelity. My old ass ears can't tell the difference anyway. I'd rather use the headset mic vs the Samson.\

Edit .... needs to have mic input.

Is this mainly about getting more power for the Fnatic React headphones? I'm confused why you bought those when you already had the Sennheisers and an external amp/DAC.
 
Is this mainly about getting more power for the Fnatic React headphones? I'm confused why you bought those when you already had the Sennheisers and an external amp/DAC.

I understand the confusion, lol. I mainly bought them for FPS since they really don't have low end and they have a higher high I need for footsteps and such. I'm still using my HD's for music and general listening. I did use them with my DAC and they got very loud, but unfortunately, as soon as I plugged in the mic it created all sorts of interference.
 
When I used headphones for gaming and a seperate mic, I had to use cheap USB "soundcard" for the microphone in. Solved any interference issues I had and my mic ended up sounding better. There are quite a few on amazon in the $7 to $12 range.
 
When I used headphones for gaming and a seperate mic, I had to use cheap USB "soundcard" for the microphone in. Solved any interference issues I had and my mic ended up sounding better. There are quite a few on amazon in the $7 to $12 range.

I have one of those cheap Syba USB sound cards , problem I have is headset splits to a Y cable which can't reach from my DAC and back to the Syba, if that would even solve the interfence issue
 
I'm between Creative Sound Blaster Z and Schiit Fulla 3. The Creative scares me because of the driver/ software issues.
 
Ive had a Sound Blaster Zx since it released, and I have had zero driver issues with it. Used both speakers and headphones without any issues.
 
You can go optical out to a dac then to an amp.

If you are lacking power to run the headphones check out the emotiva basx a-100. It's a hell of alot of amp especially when you do the mod which puts out 50 W to the headphone jack.
 
I'm between Creative Sound Blaster Z and Schiit Fulla 3. The Creative scares me because of the driver/ software issues.
I have a Sound Blaster Z and have zero issues with it or the software/drivers on Windows 10, just make sure to download the newest set from Creatives site.
 
I'm between Creative Sound Blaster Z and Schiit Fulla 3. The Creative scares me because of the driver/ software issues.
ZERO driver issues with creative z card in truth EVER with (Win 10)...Ive had this thing since it came out and paid like 60 bucks for it. Currently using the optical direct to my speakers. I cant speak for the more expensive high end versions, but the normal base model is problem free. It also has amplified head set jack which works pretty well and all the other input and outputs are problem free including the mic.
 
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I had hell with the base Z when I tried it alongside my Sennheiser HD600 headphones. Channels would get all out of whack.

I'd only consider them again if I could get all of their software stuff working out of the optical output to my DX7s, and then on to the rest of the audio stack.
 
I had hell with the base Z when I tried it alongside my Sennheiser HD600 headphones. Channels would get all out of whack.

I'd only consider them again if I could get all of their software stuff working out of the optical output to my DX7s, and then on to the rest of the audio stack.
like i said...optical is fine and what i currently use anyway. Both ways sounded fine to me but optical is supposed to sound better in theory. There is a button play stereo mix to digital output that lets optical work with all the control panel settings. If you dont know to check that option it bypass all the settings ;)
 
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