[ear8dmg]

I'm currently using my Xonar D2 with Goldring DR100 or NS1000 headphones. With the noise cancelling active the NS1000s are 300 ohm. The card drives the NS1000s to higher than comfortable listening volume so would I see any benefit from an external amp?

The only other hard to drive headphones I've tried were a friend's set of HD600s. I found them to be very detailed but a little light on bass and put this down to the lack of amping. (I've heard HD600s demoed elsewhere and they certainly didn't lack bass). The NS1000s sound quite well balanced to me with the Xonar by comparison. They don't have much of a soundstage but Dolby Headphone more than makes up for this.

A quick word on Dolby Headphone - it sounded very artificial to me with lower end headphones but with the NS1000s or HD600s it's very natural. With either of them I could easily be using speakers rather than headphones.

 

[paaj]

From my experience things will improve. Volume does not tell the whole story, it's more about bass control and cleanness of the sound. If at all possible try it out of another amp (stereo amp/receiver, at a friends place, in a hifi store etc) and see if that gets better.

No experience with the headphone or soundcard so don't know how hard they are to drive or how good the soundcard is.

 

[DW87]

Hi

I have no experience with those headphones, but I have a Xonar D2X and I recently got a Darkvoice 332 and it made a large difference. Warmed up the sound somewhat ( I use Beyer DT990 pro's at 250ohm, which sounded colder before the amp) and the bass is punchier etc. They dance on my ears now

All the Dolby options I have turned off on my Xonar, I found the sound much clearer without, all those options just seemed to muddy up the sound with music, I thought.

 

[ear8dmg]

The Dolby Headphone option certaily colours the sound, but I love the impression of space and direction it gives. It's like sitting in front of a pair of perfectly placed stereo speakers with the soundcard in two channel mode. I usually listen with it both on and off to see which I like better, as it certainly doesn't work well for everything.

In other news, I saw a Prelude going for a reasonable price on ebay and had a slip of the wallet. I'd been getting annoyed with sound in a couple of games not working properly with the Xonar, that had been fine with my old XtremeMusic.

Will try CMSS headphone out again but it didn't really do it for me when I had an XtremeMusic. Having said that I only had pretty poor headphones (Speedlink Medusas and a £6 set of Philips earbuds) when I was using it. Chances are I may end up keeping the Xonar, if (as the reputation suggests) CMSS headphone isn't up to music reproduction.

Also have some Creative Aurvana Live headphones on the way (which I believe are essentially the same as Denon AH-D1001s).

I may just get a CMOY and experiment with how it affects the sound from both soundcards. I must admit I'm a little skeptical such a cheap addition would do much, as the Opamps are likely to be of a similar standard to the soundcards I'll be using. Anyone have any experience with either of these cards with a CMOY? Looks like I'll have a few things to play with soon.

 

[DW87]

Yeah I ran into a couple of problems with my Xonar and games, hopefully they will fix these issues with future updates. Would be interested to hear what you think of the prelude when it arrives, I've heard its also a very good card.

 

[ear8dmg]

Oh well - looks like the experiment is going ahead. I've just ordered a juice2214 CMOY, just to see if it makes a difference.

Will be testing with NS1000 and CALs. Maybe some of the lower end Goldrings too but I'm looking to get rid of them.

 

[ear8dmg]

Short early impression: if it weren't for the Xonar D2 and dolby headphone, I would have never started gaming on headphones in preference to speakers.

With CMSS-3D headphone the directional aspect is there but it sounds all too much in my head.

Have also tried Dolby Headphone with Prelude in foobar2000, using appropriate software plugins. The effect is close but you definitely get a loss of fidelity with the software approach, as opposed to having it native on your soundcard.

Xonar seems better at driving headphones unamped too. I think we're going to have a winner but will still give it a bit more time.

 

[wahchile]

Ear8, when does your CMOY come? I have a prelude and was thinking about building one if there's any difference. Please update when you can!

 

[ear8dmg]

Ordered it on ebay last week but it has a wee trip over the Atlantic to do. Definitely won't get rid of the Prelude without trying it with the CMOY though.

 

[ear8dmg]

Still no CMOY. I guess it must be caught in the customs' web.

I ordered a Fiio E5 to keep me going and it's made a big difference with the Xonar and my NS1000s though. In passive mode the headphones suffer from a severe case of closed-headphone-itis with bloated, muddy bass and severely recessed mids and treble. The E5 has tidied it up completely and suddenly these headphones in passive mode are outperforming the CALs and sound pretty close to the active mode.

The sound isn't quite as crisp and detailed as through my Sony receiver headphone out in Active mode. It's clear though that the e5 is supplying much-needed current (the passive mode runs at 100 ohm, rather than 300 for active) and it's turned these NS1000s into a very respectable standard closed set of headphones. With the Prelude, Xonar or my receiver the current just wasn't there to drive them.

Trouble is, now I know how amp-sensitive these cans are I can tell this is not going to be healthy for my wallet.