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sennheiser HD560s with Topping MX3 and Asus on board Audio

Modey2222

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Hi Everyone,
i want your advice with something
i'm considering sennheiser HD560s but i don't know if my on board Audio will be enough though to make the sound clean through the headphones

Asus ROG crosshair VIII with their SupremeFX S1220 CODEC
https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-crosshair/rog-crosshair-viii-hero-wi-fi-model/spec

so i'm considering Topping MX3 becuase its in my price range and has good reviews for a headphone amp

Topping MX3:
https://www.amazon.com/Multifunctio...pping+DX3&qid=1621711996&s=electronics&sr=1-4

what is better and cleaner to listen to
and what if i connected the ToppingMX3 through an optical digital audio cable from my motherboard to the topping to power the HD560s
feel free to say your opinions please
thanks in advance
 

Kachda

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Wrong forum, try the headphones forum
 
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Modey2222

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can the thread be moved or must i open another thread in the headphone forum
 

AdamG

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solderdude

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About 70mW is sufficient for normal to loud listening levels.
 

Tks

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Just use the motherboard (and if you can, the front panel I/O to avoid as much of the noise in a PC case). Any modern motherboard can power those headphones without a problem.
 

solderdude

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looking for an answer from your personal experience i don't know what difference will it make if i use my on board sound or a DAC/AMP
that is why i opened this thread

I have no personal experience with the MoBo nor MX3 but plenty with HD560S

There are no specs of the mobo that tell us the max output voltage of it so one would have to guess.
If it can reach 3.5V it can go louder than MX3. Nobody knows... but as Tks already mentioned it will probably be at least as loud as a phone so even the mobo can makes it as loud as you need.

I assume you already have connected it to the mobo and if it sounds fine even at higher SPL it is fine. An amp won't bring 'better quality' to the table.

MX3 can reach 118dB peak so impressively loud.
 
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Modey2222

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I have no personal experience with the MoBo nor MX3 but plenty with HD560S

There are no specs of the mobo that tell us the max output voltage of it so one would have to guess.
If it can reach 3.5V it can go louder than MX3. Nobody knows... but as Tks already mentioned it will probably be at least as loud as a phone so even the mobo can makes it as loud as you need.

I assume you already have connected it to the mobo and if it sounds fine even at higher SPL it is fine. An amp won't bring 'better quality' to the table.

MX3 can reach 118dB peak so impressively loud.

my mother board can handle to 120dB but with my HD558 i hear some distortion on the left ear cup for some reason
thats why i wanted to upgrade my headphones
but considering that it is not available in my country HD560s and the Topping MX3 must be bought from outside i have to make the choice of buying both or the headphones only
 
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Modey2222

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Just use the motherboard (and if you can, the front panel I/O to avoid as much of the noise in a PC case). Any modern motherboard can power those headphones without a problem.

i don't know about that the old mother board had Creative audio amp and it was definitely better and louder
but the new mother board with S1220 Codec from ASUS is not loud but more clearer and has a little distortion from the left ear probably noise from the motherboard

what do you think?
 

solderdude

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my mother board can handle to 120dB

We are not talking about the same dB's here. There is no relevant technical info in the mobo's data sheet such as output voltage under various loads, output resistance etc.

When the HD558 doesn't sound good it will be even worse with the HD560S.
 
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Modey2222

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We are not talking about the same dB's here. There is no relevant technical info in the mobo's data sheet such as output voltage under various loads, output resistance etc.

When the HD558 doesn't sound good it will be even worse with the HD560S.
ok thanks for that
 

solderdude

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Limopard

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Got it here, it's quite decent for the price if used by USB. Didn't try SPDIF yet. BT sounds rather dull.

Power is more than sufficient (it uses a TPA 6120). Since this chip often uses a 10 Ohm resistor at the output it is less ideal for cans with low and especially wildly fluctuating impedance (multi-driver BA). This is no problem for the HD560s

Volume steps are quite small. It allows a fine adjustment but sometimes requires quite a few knob turnings.

Edit: Opened the device. There were some flux leftovers on the pcb. The OPA 2134 looked somehow suspicious to me, the notch on the left side and the Pin-1 marking were missing. Maybe it's a fake. I fortunately had a genuine one here and swapped it. Sound was a bit grating before and quite neutral after the swap. Of course this is no valid A/B comparision, so I may have been fooled by the placebo effect as well.
 
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