Advice for audio noob

[Blouge]

Hi,

I'm an audio noob. Should I just live with sound from my motherboard audio (MSI MAG X570S Tomahawk MAX WIFI)? I listen through earbuds connected to the front panel. I hear almost no white noise / atomic noise, but rarely - if the PC is busy - I hear very high pitched muffled whirrs.

I am throwing my Audigy 2 ZS in the garbage since I've moved past PCI on to PCI-E.
I heard SoundBlaster X-Fis have support for EAX 5.0 games. Should I get one of those? Audigy RX seems appealing, but doesn't support EAX 5.0.

Or should I buy a DAC like this for my headphones? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JC3TCJ...&colid=MJS7P7WPM77&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it
It has very good reviews here. Should I connect it to my PC with a USB cable?

Do speakers connect to the DAC or do I need speakers that connect directly to my PC?

I love these ridiculously cheap earbuds and bought well over five of them, maybe close to ten of them: https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Headphones-RP-HJE120-Ergonomic-Comfort-Fit/dp/B003EM6AOG
I find that big headphones are hot and irritate my skin. Also, noise cancelling seems like a gimmick (they just emit white noise).
Please advise me on what headphones are best.

 

[charleski]

You need to be clear about what you’re actually looking for.
You say you listen using earbuds but then mention speakers. Do you want desktop speakers, headphones, or both? How much do you want to spend?
Do you want a sound card that’ll provide pseudo-spatial effects?

The interference you’re hearing on the front-panel out may be caused by unshielded wiring between the motherboard and front panel running right over noisy components. But the easiest way to fix this is to get a usb dongle. Take a look at ones like the Moondrop Dawn or Hidzis S9.

The earbuds you’re using thicken up the lower mids, but it’s possible you may prefer that to the leaner Harman curve. Still you owe it to yourself to install Peace/EqualizerAPO and see what it sounds like if you correct this.

 

[Dunring]

Your hearing coil whine from your video card, one thing to try is using the front panel connector or plugging into the back sound connectors and test it to see if the other location helps. Ideally for ear buds a Sound blaster X1 does a great job for my Venture electronics VE Monk and is USB and works on the phone as well.
EAX 5.0 isn't in common use, so I'd check your game specs to see if it's worth using an older sound card just to get it.

Sound engines for games have gotten so good that if you have accurate and detailed stereo, your getting just as much information as simulated surround.

If it's in the budget I'd really recommend the JDS Atom+ amp DAC stack. I just got one and it competes with anything out there for a little over 200 beans. It just sold tonight and if a family member wanted to buy a stack I'd recommend it to them too.

 

[Killingbeans]

I hear almost no white noise / atomic noise, but rarely - if the PC is busy - I hear very high pitched muffled whirrs.

Should I connect it to my PC with a USB cable?

That's coil whine from either the GPU or CPU voltage regulation. Your motherboard has an optical s/pdif output (toslink). If you want to be 100% sure to get rid of the sound of coil whine, using the optical in/outputs will do the trick. It will break any ground loop that can let the noise seep through.

But try USB first. If the whine disappears, then there's no ground loop to worry about.

One thing you could try before investing in an external DAC/headphone amp:

Reroute the cable going from the front panel to the motherboard. If your PC enclosure has separate space for cable management behind the motherboard, route it through there to use the steel panels as shielding, and keep it as far away from both the internal components and other cables as you can. I did that to my girlfriends gaming rig. She had serious coil whine coming throught the front panel connectors, and this approach made it go away.

Do speakers connect to the DAC or do I need speakers that connect directly to my PC?

The DX3 pro+ has line level outputs that can be connected to active speakers (assuming they have line level inputs).

If you want to use passive speakers, you'll also need a power amplifier.

I find that big headphones are hot and irritate my skin.

You can usually get replacement earpads in different materials and constructions. It depends from person to person what feels best. You can even get pads with cooling gel.

I'm using pads with micro suede and memory foam from Brainwavz, and that combo gives me close to zero irritation.

Brainwavz Earpad Guide

www.brainwavzaudio.com

Also, noise cancelling seems like a gimmick (they just emit white noise).

Not white noise.

Noise cancelling headphones have a built in microphone that picks up the surrounding sounds and plays them back 180 degrees out of phase, effectively silencing them.

When done right, it does exactly what it says on the tin

Please advise me on what headphones are best.

There's almost as many opinions on that as there are headphones