Need more volume on my PC using Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X

[Allsop]

Hi All

I am considering buying a FiiO KA11 USB Dongle to give me more volume on my DT 900 Pro X headphones. I find the PC at the moment even at max volume I struggle to really heard details when mixing subtle sounds so I want to make them louder of course. Would this unit do it?

Thanks

 

[staticV3]

Would this unit do it?

That depends entirely on how loud your PC is at the moment.

You can use a basic multimeter to assess this:

Plug the headphone cable out of the DT900, but keep the cable plugged into your PC.

Download the 60Hz sine tone attached below, drag it into your DAW, set the playback volume in your DAW, in your OS, and elsewhere to 100%, and play the tone on repeat.

Take out your multimeter, set it to V AC (V~), then stick the probes into two of the three pins at the other end of the headphone cable, the one that plugs into the DT900 ear cup.

If the multimeter doesn't show anything, stick one of the probes out and into the other remaining pin.

Between any two of the three pins, your multimeter should read the maximum output voltage of your PC.

This value you can now compare to the KA11, which has a maximum output voltage of 2.6V

To figure out how much perceived loudness you would gain by switching to the KA11, you can use this formula:

2^((20*log10(2.6/[measured voltage]))/10)=

The result is the ratio of max perceived loudness with KA11 vs max perceived loudness with PC.

As an example, say you measure 1.6V with your meter, then you get 2^((20*log10(2.6/1.6))/10)=1.34 ->The KA11 would play 34% louder.

 

[Allsop]

Thank you

I should be more clear. When I have the hedphones plugged in and my windows volume is at 100% some sounds are still not loud enough, so I want to make the volume louder I was wondering if that unit would do that

 

[staticV3]

I should be more clear. When I have the hedphones plugged in and my windows volume is at 100% some sounds are still not loud enough, so I want to make the volume louder I was wondering if that unit would do that

I've fully understood this.

To know whether the KA11 would play the quiet sounds louder than your PC, we first need to know how loud your PC plays.

What I wrote above is exactly how one can figure that out.

The volume gain you get with sounds at 100% volume, is the same that you will get when playing quiet sounds.

We just measure at 100% for consistency and reliability.

So if your multimeter shows 2.6V out of your PC, then there would be zero change in volume when switching to the KA11, no matter if you're playing loud or quiet sounds.

Only if your PC output reads less than 2.6V, would upgrading to the KA11 have any merit. The lower your PC reads, the more merit.