Which DAC/AMP/External Sound Card should i buy for DT990 Premium Edition?

[TheKronalt]

I bought recently the DT990 Premium from amazon.de, i bought G5 with it. But i resend it because in reddit someone said to me its worse than AMP/DAC combo. So what should i buy? I have 150$ limit and im living in Turkey. So some product sellers don't send the cargo to here. So what do you recommend. I will use it for gaming and i was looking Creative Sound Blaster X G6, but i don't know.

[Kaihekoa]

How many ohms impedance is your 990? I have the 600 ohm version and found the usual recommended DAC/Amp combos around the $100 USD budget point to provide insufficient volume. The Fiio E10k and Schiit Fulla 2 are usually recommended for entry level audio enthusiasts. If yours is the 250 ohm version, either of those products should suit you. I ended up trying out the EVGA Nu Audio Card and am very happy with the quality. I only paid $150 but its normally $250.

[TheKronalt]

Messaggio originale di Kaihekoa:

How many ohms impedance is your 990? I have the 600 ohm version and found the usual recommended DAC/Amp combos around the $100 USD budget point to provide insufficient volume. The Fiio E10k and Schiit Fulla 2 are usually recommended for entry level audio enthusiasts. If yours is the 250 ohm version, either of those products should suit you. I ended up trying out the EVGA Nu Audio Card and am very happy with the quality. I only paid $150 but its normally $250.

I checked Fiio e10k and k3 but they don't fit with 250 ohm, yeah i bought 250 ohm version. Also checked Schiit Fulla 2 but for reddit users, it is not good product. What about BlasterX G6?

[SeriousCCIE]

I have a schitt vahalla2 that is fantastic. I purchased their tubes and also shopped on some russian NOS tube supply stores as well as some tube only shops in the USA. I haven't gone through the full effort of testing out all my tubes for different types of music, but hey. The schitt is good. No doubts about it.

I also have the Fiio e17 and the dock for it, the qogir. I use these when 250F degree glassware on my desk is too much to deal with in the summer; I put the schitt away and use the Fiio. I just have to unplug the cables to swap between them; no real effort involved. I built an enclosure just recently to blow air over and through the Vahalla 2, but its still hot in here. The trick for that was ensuring I didn't introduce vibrational microphonics that was picked up; I have the gain enabled so there is some tendancy for it to transmit external background noise sometimes.

I have a fiio alpen2 in a box and was not as pleased with it for a desktop dac, but I use that as a portable DAC for my mp3 and other players should the need arise.

whatever you do make sure you have headphones or speakers that can bring out the illustrious differences compared to whatever the internal DAC you had before was doing.

Doh I just saw Kaihekoa's comment about the EVGA Nu Audio Card . I was considering that as well and switching out the solid state parts that were upgradable (sort of their version of tubes I guess) but I've only got so much discretionable income to spend on trying that stuff out. I am glad to read that someone liked it; I think the inference is that its not worth $250 but is worth $150. It's a bit steep of a price to pay for something that requires a computer. the schitt and fiio stuff can work with anything, computer or not.

[Kaihekoa]

Messaggio originale di Pronalt:

Messaggio originale di Kaihekoa:

How many ohms impedance is your 990? I have the 600 ohm version and found the usual recommended DAC/Amp combos around the $100 USD budget point to provide insufficient volume. The Fiio E10k and Schiit Fulla 2 are usually recommended for entry level audio enthusiasts. If yours is the 250 ohm version, either of those products should suit you. I ended up trying out the EVGA Nu Audio Card and am very happy with the quality. I only paid $150 but its normally $250.

I checked Fiio e10k and k3 but they don't fit with 250 ohm, yeah i bought 250 ohm version. Also checked Schiit Fulla 2 but for reddit users, it is not good product. What about BlasterX G6?

I dont have any knowledge about that product. If I was you, I would buy from somewhere that will let you return for free so you can try it out yourself.

[EliteGamer]

I have the G5 and G6 and the G6 sounds way better than the G5. The G6 sounds great and it’s certainly worth the money. I also have the AE-5 and I also recommend that.
The AE-5 and G6 sound quality, it’s hard to separate them. I prefer the sound of the AE-5 when it comes to speakers, but the G6 definitely powers all my headphones better than the AE-5. The G6 at volume say 20 on headphones, I would have to have the AE-5 at volume 45 or more to match the G6 loudness at volume 20, so the G6 is way louder when using headphones.
The AE-7 and AE-9 just got released, 2 new PCIe sound cards that have improved on the AE-5, so will most definitely sound awesome too.

[TheKronalt]

Messaggio originale di EliteGamer:

I have the G5 and G6 and the G6 sounds way better than the G5. The G6 sounds great and it’s certainly worth the money. I also have the AE-5 and I also recommend that.
The AE-5 and G6 sound quality, it’s hard to separate them. I prefer the sound of the AE-5 when it comes to speakers, but the G6 definitely powers all my headphones better than the AE-5. The G6 at volume say 20 on headphones, I would have to have the AE-5 at volume 45 or more to match the G6 loudness at volume 20, so the G6 is way louder when using headphones.
The AE-7 and AE-9 just got released, 2 new PCIe sound cards that have improved on the AE-5, so will most definitely sound awesome too.

What i am looking for. Thanks!

[TheKronalt]

Messaggio originale di SeriousCCIE:

I have a schitt vahalla2 that is fantastic. I purchased their tubes and also shopped on some russian NOS tube supply stores as well as some tube only shops in the USA. I haven't gone through the full effort of testing out all my tubes for different types of music, but hey. The schitt is good. No doubts about it.

I also have the Fiio e17 and the dock for it, the qogir. I use these when 250F degree glassware on my desk is too much to deal with in the summer; I put the schitt away and use the Fiio. I just have to unplug the cables to swap between them; no real effort involved. I built an enclosure just recently to blow air over and through the Vahalla 2, but its still hot in here. The trick for that was ensuring I didn't introduce vibrational microphonics that was picked up; I have the gain enabled so there is some tendancy for it to transmit external background noise sometimes.

I have a fiio alpen2 in a box and was not as pleased with it for a desktop dac, but I use that as a portable DAC for my mp3 and other players should the need arise.

whatever you do make sure you have headphones or speakers that can bring out the illustrious differences compared to whatever the internal DAC you had before was doing.

Doh I just saw Kaihekoa's comment about the EVGA Nu Audio Card . I was considering that as well and switching out the solid state parts that were upgradable (sort of their version of tubes I guess) but I've only got so much discretionable income to spend on trying that stuff out. I am glad to read that someone liked it; I think the inference is that its not worth $250 but is worth $150. It's a bit steep of a price to pay for something that requires a computer. the schitt and fiio stuff can work with anything, computer or not.

Should i buy G6?

[tacoshy]

The Fiio E10K does fine with Beyerdynamics 770/880/990 250Ohm. You only hear the difference with the 600Ogm version slightly. The difference to the Soundvlaster ZxR was non existing for Mr and I tested all 770/880/900 in 250Ohm and 600Ohm.

[TheKronalt]

Messaggio originale di tacoshy:

The Fiio E10K does fine with Beyerdynamics 770/880/990 250Ohm. You only hear the difference with the 600Ogm version slightly. The difference to the Soundvlaster ZxR was non existing for Mr and I tested all 770/880/900 in 250Ohm and 600Ohm.

What about G6? Also i don't know about Fiio E10k because it doesn't fit with 250 ohm. So it won't be louder.

[tacoshy]

Of course it fits, if you buy online you have a certain time where you can return the product for free.

Any good audio store dies that for at least 30 days so you can test the product and hear it for yourself. Any real audiophile will advice to test stuff on your own as preferences are different for everybody. I would not go according data sheets.

[TheKronalt]

Messaggio originale di tacoshy:

Of course it fits, if you buy online you have a certain time where you can return the product for free.

Any good audio store dies that for at least 30 days so you can test the product and hear it for yourself. Any real audiophile will advice to test stuff on your own as preferences are different for everybody. I would not go according data sheets.

It comes to my country at least 30 days later. So i don't think so. Also how does it fit? Because in Fiio's site, it says 16-150 ohm.

[TheKronalt]

Messaggio originale di tacoshy:

Of course it fits, if you buy online you have a certain time where you can return the product for free.

Any good audio store dies that for at least 30 days so you can test the product and hear it for yourself. Any real audiophile will advice to test stuff on your own as preferences are different for everybody. I would not go according data sheets.

Also what about G6?

[EliteGamer]

I returned the Fiio E10K because the sound quality wasn't very good. The G6 sounds a lot better than the Fiio E10K.

For the price, the G6 can't be beat. It sounds a lot better than DAC's that costs much more. If you want better audio quality than G6, you would be looking at something like a Chord Mojo which costs around £400-£500, but I don't know for sure if even that's better because I've never tested one yet. The Chord seems to win every shootout it's in, so it must be really good. I don't know if it's worth the extra money over the G6 though...

Also I wouldn't rule out PCIe sound cards. The AE-5 sounds fantastic and is cheaper than the G6 and the AE-9 just got released, so that is atm the best PCIe sound card you can buy right now and it comes with a control module breakout box for ease of use.

[Revelene]

It really just depends on your use case. There are so many options out there and they all serve a different purpose. You'll find some that work better for games and positional audio, some that work better for movie and theatrical audio, some that work better for music and musical production, etc, etc.

And then remember this one key factor... your own ears. Test it out and find what you like. Audio is highly subjective.

For example, IMO, I find products like the G6 or AE-5 are great for games and positional audio, but I don't like how artificial they sound with music. For music, I much prefer something with tubes, for that nice warm tone. Or maybe a DAC that has been artfully tuned for music, paired with a separate amp designed to push the envelope... But then again, I'm not always home when I listen to music, so I have a DAP that has a dual ESS sabre chipset and dual amps with a 2.5mm balanced output.

Seriously, don't just take someone else's word on audio. Test it out for yourself!

[Kaihekoa]

Generally speaking, return periods for online purchases start the day the product was delivered, not when you receive it, so you should be fine to return anything you don't like. You seem determined to get the G6, so just try it out yourself. It has good reviews; I'm sure it will be fine.