[steelrat664]

Hi there folks,
 
I recently had to change my audio card from an ASUS Phoebus (2nd defective card within a year, so i changed the product/brand) and now i am quite happy with my ZxR. 
 
But i was not happy with the overall sound, as for me, gaming on the PC is only part of the things i use my PC for. Sometimes i really like to listen to my CD collection. And therefore until a few days ago, i used the Sennheiser PC360 (yeah, i know, its a cheap piece of "gaming" hardware).
 
As i got to borrow a AKG K242DF, i really was stunned what difference there was between the 360 and the AKG.
 
So i went out to get me  a decent headphones too. I decided to buy the AKG Q701, as they were only as expensive as the Sennheiser HD598, and for me they sounded better in every way. 
 
 
At home again i tested it with the ZXR, and the lack of volume and pressure behind Queen´s "We will rock you" was quite disappointing. Not sounding bad, and still far better then the PC360, but lacking the special something..
 
The AMP of the ZXR was set to 300/32 Ohms... After setting the Amp to 600Ohms the result was really stunning
 
but my main question is:
 
is there any way to damage the headphones, when driving the ZXR-AMP with 600 Ohm Setting. According to the specs, the ZXR has an output of 80mW @ 600 Ohm Settings. 
 
AKG claims the maximum Input of the Q701 to be 200mW.
 
so with 80mW i should be way below. At least the math says so. But i am quite a noob with all this stuff, and just want to enjoy true vivid sound and music...
 
So if this question is stupid, i am sorry ... 
 
And sorry for my English too. I´m no native speaker.. (as my AKG, i was "Made in Austria")
 
so long and thanks

 

[stv014]

The 80 mW maximum power only applies to a 600 Ω load (and it might not even be true according to these measurements, it might have been just copied and pasted from the specifications of the amplifier chip). With a different load impedance, the maximum power changes as well. If we trust the Russian measurements over the specs, then the card will output almost exactly 200 mW maximum power into the ~60 Ω Q701. With a typical TPA6120 implementation (like the FiiO E9 or the Xonar Essence STX), it would be about 600 mW, maybe slightly less.
 
But regardless of how much power the amplifier is capable of, it will only output as much as you request it with the volume control.

Generally, you would need to be worried about your own hearing first before damaging the headphone drivers (that is, unless you accidentally play something very loud at maximum volume while not wearing the headphones).

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I recently had to change my audio card from an ASUS Phoebus (2nd defective card within a year, so i changed the product/brand) and now i am quite happy with my ZxR. 

Is the motherboard's on-board audio disabled in the BIOS?
 
There is Creative Labs own Sound Blaster forum/thread, should be a good place to post questions about the ZxR.
http://forums.creative.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6

 

[steelrat664]

@stv014 -> thank you for your answer; if i understand this correctly, it means, that the 32Ohm Setting of the Soundcard has already enough punch to power my Q/K701...
 
 
@PurpleAngel -> thank you too. deactivating all my unused onboard devices is one of my first things to do, when i change the mainboard.
 
So, yes it is deactivated
 
The fault of the Phoebus was more subtle... somtimes, the card was not available in the device manager, sometimes it was, but just didn´t make a beep ;(
 
After this was the second Card with exactly the same symptoms in the second overall system setup (mainboard/CPU and OS were changed) i am very certain, the fault lies within the Phoebus series

 

[stv014]

  @stv014 -> thank you for your answer; if i understand this correctly, it means, that the 32Ohm Setting of the Soundcard has already enough punch to power my Q/K701...

 
I did not write anything about the 32 Ω mode, only that switching to 600 Ω and listening at sane loudness should not damage the headphones. If you find that the 32 Ω setting does sound fine and loud enough (you will obviously need to increase the volume to compensate), then of course the higher gain is not needed.