Headphone amp recommendations.

[kol12]

I'm looking for a headphone amp for my computer. I'm unsure of what specs to look for, something with good output power. I will also get a new set headphones at some stage and am thinking the Sennheiser HD 280 PRO.

I have a Asus Z97-A Motherboard and I'm unsure of what the on board sound specs are on this.
I have a pair Sennheiser HD 212 Pro at the moment and reviews suggest they're not the best headphones around. Will I notice a better audio quality going with a amp and my 212's for the moment or get the 280 PRO's first and then the amp?

 

[RazerZ]

I disagree, i have a pair of $50 soundblaster fatal1ty headphones, with onboard sound they sounded ok, but could not be pushed to very high volume levels at all. With the headphone amp on the SBZ they can now make my ears bleed with no distortion.

Perhaps you prefer your audio louder than most? That headset has a low impedance (32ohms) and high sensitivity (110db/mW), by definition they are easy to drive.

 

[kol12]

I meant that it has enough power to drive the trakstar above safe listening volumes. Here's the amp/dac performance from the ALC892 data sheets.

Note that this may or may not be accurate depending on how asus implemented the audio chip

http/i.imgur.com/ghpiRzh.jpg

It can output ~44 mW into 32ohms, while rather low compared to an actual sound card or amp, it's enough for the trakstars.

This is the chip on my Asus Z97-A board but Asus claims there is also an amplifier https/www.asus.com/nz/Motherboards/Z97A/specifications/ but gives no specs..

I ordered the Trakstar's today and they are on there way. I read last night that they have a sound quality about the same as the Audio Technica ath-m50x if not better. Seems's promising considering the m50x is a $250 headphone and is ranked #1 on a electronics pricespy website in New Zealand http/pricespy.co.nz/category.php?m=s238493072#rparams=m=s238501125
The Kingston HyperX Cloud II is ranked #3 which is basically the Trakstar Pro 80 I believe.. (Amazing!)

Having no specs of the amplifier on my motherboard is pain. Depending on how they sound I'll be looking into a external amp. Do amps generally have better sound characteristics than onboard? A more amped sound perhaps?

 

[shotgunz]

The M50x is generally over hyped and has three main issues. Comfort can be pretty bad since the pads are really shallow, making your ears squeeze against the plastic ear cup sides, the soundstage is very small, in your head feeling and is somewhat muddy sounding. And yes, I've heard them before. They have gotten a large following after their M50 have been here for over 20 years but there are better headphones for the price now

Asus specifies having OP amps so they probably routed the DAC out to some OP amps. If so, you probably will have about 200mW into 32ohms or so which is very decent.

About the "amped sound". I personally cannot tell a difference if my 300ohm Sennheiser HD800's are plugged into my phone or my amp/dac but i know some people who can tell the difference. Your mileage may vary. A better amp and dac will technically be delivering a cleaner and more powerful signal with better electrical damping properties to your headphones though.

 

[kol12]

If the op amp on my board is around 200mW into 32ohms does that mean the Takstar Pro 80 60ohm won't be driven to there full potential?

" I personally cannot tell a difference if my 300ohm Sennheiser HD800's are plugged into my phone or my amp/dac"

Do you mean cell phone?

 

[shotgunz]

Only one way to find out. Plug in your new headphones when they arrive and tell us what volume you use.