Hello tpu'ers, i've been doing a bit of research into budget or entry enthusiast audio. Need some advice on what hardware to buy.
Currently i own;
Headphones, Superlux 668Bs and Beyerdynamic DT 880 Premiums purchased and on the way.
Onboard sound, Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec.
Microphone, Antlions new ModMic 4.0
Fiio E11 portable headphone amp; which cant run and charge from USB at the same time(increases battery life and makes charging faster but less functionality, no idea why they don't have an option to turn off the battery while using USB to power).
My A/V receiver is a passable Pioneer VSX-527 which has an absolute garbage headphone out.
Also own a pair of Tannoy V1 stereo fronts and matching VC center, hooked up to the pc via HDMI to my AMD 6850 not that its really relevant.
As i have new cans on the way i'll probably use them with the onboard and the portable amp. Problem with not being able to use direct power source is annoying for long time use.
The ModMic 4.0 sounds really nice but the quality of the onboard mic port is noisy, although volume is good without adding boost.
Buying a DAC/AMP like a Aune T1 or something solid state at that price, won't give me the mic input i would like so i'd probably have to stick with the onboard for mic (with noise) or buy a cheap card just for mic/DAC. Budget probably tops at around £100 ish, Aune T1 and a sound card would push it up a bit but don't really mind using a non tube/hybrid amp/dac just anything passable really. I don't even know where to begin with second hand stuff. I was thinking of getting a second hand Asus Essence STX as its an okay all in one solution and i probably would not have to spend as much money. Internal adds to the noise but im probably already doing that more so using the Realtek onboard as a DAC for my Fiio E11.
The Fiio E11 was mainly for my phone ect but i also use it with my pc as its there so why not.
Currently i own;
Headphones, Superlux 668Bs and Beyerdynamic DT 880 Premiums purchased and on the way.
Onboard sound, Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec.
Microphone, Antlions new ModMic 4.0
Fiio E11 portable headphone amp; which cant run and charge from USB at the same time(increases battery life and makes charging faster but less functionality, no idea why they don't have an option to turn off the battery while using USB to power).
My A/V receiver is a passable Pioneer VSX-527 which has an absolute garbage headphone out.
Also own a pair of Tannoy V1 stereo fronts and matching VC center, hooked up to the pc via HDMI to my AMD 6850 not that its really relevant.
As i have new cans on the way i'll probably use them with the onboard and the portable amp. Problem with not being able to use direct power source is annoying for long time use.
The ModMic 4.0 sounds really nice but the quality of the onboard mic port is noisy, although volume is good without adding boost.
Buying a DAC/AMP like a Aune T1 or something solid state at that price, won't give me the mic input i would like so i'd probably have to stick with the onboard for mic (with noise) or buy a cheap card just for mic/DAC. Budget probably tops at around £100 ish, Aune T1 and a sound card would push it up a bit but don't really mind using a non tube/hybrid amp/dac just anything passable really. I don't even know where to begin with second hand stuff. I was thinking of getting a second hand Asus Essence STX as its an okay all in one solution and i probably would not have to spend as much money. Internal adds to the noise but im probably already doing that more so using the Realtek onboard as a DAC for my Fiio E11.
The Fiio E11 was mainly for my phone ect but i also use it with my pc as its there so why not.