Titanium HD v. Sound Blaster Z v. Schiit Stack

[kschaffner]

Good morning everyone, I'm wondering which would be the best option for audio for me. I have the following equipment already and have been thinking of getting a Schiit stack to use instead or maybe a mix of several things. Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated. I spend half my listening time split between gaming and twitch/movies/tv shows with very light music thrown in the mix.

Current audio sources:
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD
Creative Sound Blaster Z
Monoprice Headphone Amplifier

Thinking about getting:
Magni + Modi

Current headphones:
AKG K7XX massdrop red ediiton
Sennheiser HD558
Sennheiser HD598
Sennheiser HD650
Audio Technica ATH-AD700

Possibly looking to get some Beyerdynamics in the future to play around with not sure of which exact model.

 

[GotNoRice]

The Titanium HD is much better than the Sound Blaster Z. The Titanium HD is on the same level as the ZxR.

 

[delita]

I would use the Titanium HD with the Schiit Magni amp, definitely.

Have had this setup for a while now and it's perfect. If you use powered speakers like I do (studio monitors) the Magni 2 Uber has passive speaker connects, so you can connect 2 speakers to the amp, then connect the amp to the sound card, and toggle between headphones and speakers using the desktop amp. Beats the hell out of reaching down to unplug the headphones from the Titanium HD on the back of your PC case.

 

[rezerekted]

I've bought quite a few mid level headphones and in hindsight I should have just paid more and gone straight to HD650. I also have beyerdynamic DT990pro but many people prefer DT880. For gaming I prefer my HD558 over DT990pro.

 

[kschaffner]

Do you do any gaming on this setup? or mainly consume content? I also wonder if I could use my monoprice headphone amp to do this, I think it has similar outputs available since I do use my powered bookshelves from time to time. Looking it up on their site it does have aux in via rca and pre-amp outs via rca to definitely doable, I'm curious how well that would stand up against the magni.

I would use the Titanium HD with the Schiit Magni amp, definitely.

Have had this setup for a while now and it's perfect. If you use powered speakers like I do (studio monitors) the Magni 2 Uber has passive speaker connects, so you can connect 2 speakers to the amp, then connect the amp to the sound card, and toggle between headphones and speakers using the desktop amp. Beats the hell out of reaching down to unplug the headphones from the Titanium HD on the back of your PC case.

I enjoy my HD650's for movies and tv shows a lot, some cinematic games are also fantastic on them, my 558's are what I choose to soundwhore in games with haha

I've bought quite a few mid level headphones and in hindsight I should have just paid more and gone straight to HD650. I also have beyerdynamic DT990pro but many people prefer DT880. For gaming I prefer my HD558 over DT990pro.

Do you do any competitive type games on it? Like CS:GO or BF?

The Titanium HD is much better than the Sound Blaster Z. The Titanium HD is on the same level as the ZxR.

 

[rezerekted]

Yea, I play BF4 every day. I have CS:Source but haven't played it for a long time.

 

[delita]

Do you do any gaming on this setup? or mainly consume content? I also wonder if I could use my monoprice headphone amp to do this, I think it has similar outputs available since I do use my powered bookshelves from time to time. Looking it up on their site it does have aux in via rca and pre-amp outs via rca to definitely doable, I'm curious how well that would stand up against the magni.



I enjoy my HD650's for movies and tv shows a lot, some cinematic games are also fantastic on them, my 558's are what I choose to soundwhore in games with haha



Do you do any competitive type games on it? Like CS:GO or BF?

I've never heard the monoprice, can't compare. I game more than I listen to music, but I use Fidelify (Spotify 3rd party client) with ASIO turned on via the Titanium-HD and it sounds worlds better than just plain ole Spotify for music. The Magni will bring out pretty much any headphone to a fuller potential, it has low and high gain options now so you can use it for headphones with low or high impedence. It definitely helps for adding a bit of additional clarity and volume depending on the cans. I'm currently using Denon AH-D600's with the set up, and I have M-Audio BX5 studio monitors for speakers.