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Audiophile headphones for games + dac/amp suggestion

sanjuro

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Hi,
currently i own Toppping Dx3 pro v2 + Akg k712 pro. But i have feeling there is room for improvment.

I am looking into Topping L30 II amp. It is priced fairly in europe and looks very good.
The question is, should i keep dx3 pro v2 as dac or switch it for something like E30II or invest more in DAC?

I would like headphones for singleplayer games. No competitive. So probably soundstage and also some bass, if something explodes i want to hear it as explosion. So far it looks like Hifiman edition XS would be good choice. Am i wrong or there are other headphones more suitable for singleplayer games that does not cost fortune like hd800s?
Just to note i want to use Dolby atmos in supported games and Redscape audio surround in the rest.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 

Dunring

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I would keep what you have and get a used Hifiman Ananda and sell the K712 when you hear how much better it is. The Dx3 Pro is more than enough, put it into headphones and you'll get so much more improvement. Only bail on the Dx30Pro if you run out of volume while equalizing. For gaming the Ananda is amazing, I have one coming in Thursday to upgrade the HE5xx which are an excellent value for the money too.
 

Aerith Gainsborough

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Have you tried EQing the K712Pro?
This.
Before spending cash, I'd explore the realm of digital EQ, if your hardware isn't capable of that, you can explore EqualizerAPO.
 
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sanjuro

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Only bail on the Dx30Pro if you run out of volume while equalizing.
This.
Before spending cash, I'd explore the realm of digital EQ, if your hardware isn't capable of that, you can explore EqualizerAPO.

Yes, in redscape when i turned on surround and equalized according to oratory, i figured out that amp on pro v2 is just not enough.
I dont need to buy everything at once. Maybe i should buy amp first and then i will decide if the rest is worth upgrading?
 

Aerith Gainsborough

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Yes, in redscape when i turned on surround and equalized according to oratory, i figured out that amp on pro v2 is just not enough.
Specifications of your AKG headphone:
Sensitivity (dB SPL/V @ 1 kHz)105
Impedance (Ω)62

Difficult to imagine the amp being insufficient.
Be weary of the volume you subject your ears to, you can very easily underestimate it and damage your hearing permanently.

Of course you can buy components separately. No problem in that.
 

Robbo99999

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Hi,
currently i own Toppping Dx3 pro v2 + Akg k712 pro. But i have feeling there is room for improvment.

I am looking into Topping L30 II amp. It is priced fairly in europe and looks very good.
The question is, should i keep dx3 pro v2 as dac or switch it for something like E30II or invest more in DAC?

I would like headphones for singleplayer games. No competitive. So probably soundstage and also some bass, if something explodes i want to hear it as explosion. So far it looks like Hifiman edition XS would be good choice. Am i wrong or there are other headphones more suitable for singleplayer games that does not cost fortune like hd800s?
Just to note i want to use Dolby atmos in supported games and Redscape audio surround in the rest.

Thanks for any suggestions.
SoundblasterX G6 DAC/Amp + Sennheiser HD560s is my best combination for gaming. The Soundblaster DAC/amp doesn't require an extra external amp (although that's how I use it), so you can connect the HD560s directly to the SoundblasterX G6 DAC/Amp. To me the Soundblaster Virtual 7.1 Surround Sound is the only surround sound that works for me, and I've tried a few including Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos for Headphones (available in Windows 10). There's a thread I created for Virtual Surround Sound here, you might find it quite useful:
 
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sanjuro

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SoundblasterX G6 DAC/Amp + Sennheiser HD560s is my best combination for gaming.
G6 has some line out in form of jack, claims to be optical as well. I guess it would be possible to connect to some other external headphone amp. Out of curiosity is it possible to connect g6 with optical cable to DAC so g6 would work just for virtualizing sound?
 

Robbo99999

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G6 has some line out in form of jack, claims to be optical as well. I guess it would be possible to connect to some other external headphone amp. Out of curiosity is it possible to connect g6 with optical cable to DAC so g6 would work just for virtualizing sound?
Definitely you can connect an external headphone amp, which is what I've done. I've connected the JDS Labs Atom Amp to the Line Out via analog 3.5mm jack cable.

Yes, I think you can connect to G6 via optical and still use the SBX functions (which is the Virtual Surround), as outlined in this table from their website:
G6 connection variations.jpg

I'm not sure how you go about setting up all the control variables for the surround, etc if you're not connecting via USB, because I guess if you're connecting only to the G6 via optical then it's acting as a standalone item. The above table shows though that for PlayStation 5 you can connect via optical and still have SBX (Virtual Surround). Why do you want to connect via Optical from another DAC anyway - the DAC portion of the SoundblasterX G6 is very high performing as proven by Amir here on ASR:
So I'd recommend you just hook up the SoundblasterX G6 to your PC via USB to ensure you have maximum control of the various settings (including Virtual Surround) through the software that is bundled with the product. You can also get away with using the amp section of the G6 too, so you don't really need to buy an external amp for it. The G6 has a pretty good headphone amp already included within itself.
 
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sanjuro

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I'm not sure how you go about setting up all the control variables for the surround, etc if you're not connecting via USB, because I guess if you're connecting only to the G6 via optical then it's acting as a standalone item. The above table shows though that for PlayStation 5 you can connect via optical and still have SBX (Virtual Surround). Why do you want to connect via Optical from another DAC anyway - the DAC portion of the SoundblasterX G6 is very high performing as proven by Amir here on ASR
I actually meant it the other way, that i would connect g6 to pc with usb and then connect g6 through line out to external dac(if the line out is digital we should be bypassing g6 dac chip) and then external dac to headphone amp normally with rca. Curious if this would be possible?
 

Robbo99999

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I actually meant it the other way, that i would connect g6 to pc with usb and then connect g6 through line out to external dac(if the line out is digital we should be bypassing g6 dac chip) and then external dac to headphone amp normally with rca. Curious if this would be possible?
The Line Out on the G6 is somekind of a "combo port", it can output digital or analog. The digital output seems mainly for use with Playstation, but it does say that SBX can be applied to that stream when connected to a Playstation......I suppose/maybe it's possible to connect that to an external DAC to do the processing to turn it into analog. But, what's the point in doing that, I don't know why you're overthinking it. If you buy a G6 forget about connecting it to other DACS, it's got a very good DAC already included within the package, and the headphone amp is not too shabby either. If anything, just consider using a higher performing external headphone amp connected to the G6 like the JDS Labs Atom Amp that I have connected to it - but really you'd be best off trying out the headphone amp in the G6 first. I've done some very loose non-level matched listening between G6 headphone amp & my JDS Labs Atom amp, and I felt the external headhone amp gave a cleaner sound, but it wasn't a rigorous test. Why do you want to connect your G6 to a DAC?!

EDIT: ok, your DX3 Pro V2 DAC has a headphone amp built into it already, you might be thinking that the headphone amp in that is better than the G6, and instead you're thinking you might want to use that, but have the G6 do the virtual surround processing. Hmm, I don't know, it's probably not necessary though. Look into it if you like by contacting Creative Support, but you're probably making the setup unnecessarily complicated.
 
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