[Cerebrum2045]

Hey all,

I currently own a Asus Xonar Essence STX I soundcard and was thinking of upgrading to an external dac/amp. The one I have in mind is the Schiit Jotunheim w/ Multibit DAC. My current headphones are the AKG K702 for competitive FPS gaming and the Beyerdyanamic DT770 Pro 250 ohms for music/movies (fun). I will be upgrading to even better headphones later for fun when my budget allows it.

Do you guys have any better recommendations

 

[Stillhart]

The MMB DAC is pretty solid and should be a step up from the one in the Xonar. But I'm biased in that I very much prefer multibit DAC's. If you don't have a strong preference one way or the other, the DAC upgrade might not be too noticeable. The amp should be a step up, and allow you to scale up your headphones later. Both of the headphone you have now are known to scale well with better amping, but I can't recall how good (or bad) the STX is off the top of my head.

Something to consider is that you won't get virtual surround anymore when gaming. Does the STX have an optical output? If so, you might consider getting the separate Modi Multibit Uber and going optical from the Xonar so you can use it for virtual surround processing when gaming and bypass the processing when listening to music. This is similar to my setup but I use a Creative Omni for the virtual surround processing.

 

[Cerebrum2045]

The MMB DAC is pretty solid and should be a step up from the one in the Xonar. But I'm biased in that I very much prefer multibit DAC's. If you don't have a strong preference one way or the other, the DAC upgrade might not be too noticeable. The amp should be a step up, and allow you to scale up your headphones later. Both of the headphone you have now are known to scale well with better amping, but I can't recall how good (or bad) the STX is off the top of my head.

Something to consider is that you won't get virtual surround anymore when gaming. Does the STX have an optical output? If so, you might consider getting the separate Modi Multibit Uber and going optical from the Xonar so you can use it for virtual surround processing when gaming and bypass the processing when listening to music. This is similar to my setup but I use a Creative Omni for the virtual surround processing.

concerning dacs, im not sure if i currently have any preference since this will be my first dac aside from the built in dac from my stx that i will own/listen through

i checked and i do not think the xonar stx essence 1 has a optical out
for my competitive fps games i usually use the dolby headphone feature on the xonar to create virtual surround.

thank you for your advice

 

[Stillhart]

concerning dacs, im not sure if i currently have any preference since this will be my first dac aside from the built in dac from my stx that i will own/listen through

i checked and i do not think the xonar stx essence 1 has a optical out
for my competitive fps games i usually use the dolby headphone feature on the xonar to create virtual surround, i see that there is a dolby atmos app on the sound settings which i see can be applied to any sound device for windows, i was wondering if i could combo this with the jutonhiem to create my virtual surround needs?
(if not i do not mind switching between my soundcard when I game and using the jotunheim for other entertainment/fun)

thank you for your advice

I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're playing Overwatch. The virtual surround built in to Overwatch is much better than the one on your Xonar and you should be using that already anyhow. :-D That only works in OW though. If you want it in any other games and they don't provide the option, you'll be SOL without the sound card.

If you're fine keeping both and swapping your outputs depending on the app (most music apps let you select the device easily enough), the MMB/Jot should be a very nice step up for music.

That said, I hesitate to recommend a $700ish DAC/Amp upgrade with $200 headphones. You're much better off getting a $700 headphone with a $200 DAC/Amp upgrade.

 

[Cerebrum2045]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're playing Overwatch. The virtual surround built in to Overwatch is much better than the one on your Xonar and you should be using that already anyhow. :-D That only works in OW though. If you want it in any other games and they don't provide the option, you'll be SOL without the sound card.

If you're fine keeping both and swapping your outputs depending on the app (most music apps let you select the device easily enough), the MMB/Jot should be a very nice step up for music.

That said, I hesitate to recommend a $700ish DAC/Amp upgrade with $200 headphones. You're much better off getting a $700 headphone with a $200 DAC/Amp upgrade.

My current game right now is rainbow six: siege and I have played competitive overwatch in the past.

And for buying new higher grade headphones before getting a higher grade dac/amp i can totally understand.
My reasoning is to go decently into a dac/amp combo and to buy a decent headphone (in the near future).
That being said, I will start another post on headphone suggestions along with my sound preferences, maybe you can help me chose a pair?

many thanks!

 

[PurpleAngel]

Hey all,

I currently own a Asus Xonar Essence STX I soundcard and was thinking of upgrading to an external dac/amp. The one I have in mind is the Schiit Jotunheim w/ Multibit DAC. My current headphones are the AKG K702 for competitive FPS gaming and the Beyerdyanamic DT770 Pro 250 ohms for music/movies (fun). I will be upgrading to even better headphones later for fun when my budget allows it.
My question is if my upgrade would be "worth" the value since its around a 680 dollar investment counting shipping/taxes when I buy it?
Do you guys have any better recommendations?
How much of a noticeable audio quality upgrade would I expect to gain?

For improving audio quality, you might consider replacing the DT770 first (Beyerdynamic T90?)
Maybe spending $60 for upgrading the op-amps on the STX.

You might get a Darkvoice 336SE OTL tube headphone amplifier ($214-$250).
Plug it into the STX's line-output port, for listening to music and movie.
And for FPS gaming, just plug the headphones into the STX's headphone jack.