a) Sennheiser is not a "computer sound card company", they're first and foremost a professional audio (studio, broadcast, airline, that kind of thing) company with a very serious side business in mid-to-high-end headphones (including what's widely regarded as the best headphones ever made, the HD800/800s (besides, they're known for providing excellent audio in the $50 range too)).
Umm lol? Did you bother to read my sig to see what headphones I have? I've been using Sennheiser since my dad put his pair on my head. I'm well aware of their history and product lines. Their gaming line would fall under the "anything with gaming in the name" part of my post not the "computer sound card company". I guess your reading comprehension failed. I've actually demo'd both the 800 and 800s. Have you? They aren't regarded as the best headphones ever made. That title has always belonged to the Orpheus line. Shows how much you know.
b) Sennheiser have been "branching out" into gaming for a few years, bringing their microphone and headphone expertise into high-end gaming territory - and have been met with universal praise. Their G4ME One/Zero (open-back gaming headphones? What?) line have some of the best audio and mic quality you can get. Although tuned differently than their hi-fi headphones (duh, if they didn't they wouldn't be a serious audio company ...), they sound amazing.
Again, well aware of their gaming line of headsets. In comparison to other gaming headsets they are better, but they still pale in comparison to audiophile gear. Even their own headphone line. Have you ever noticed that professional streamers generally use separate broadcast mics and headphones? Components that are purpose built for a task are better than the combo gamer marketed headsets.
c) They would be utterly crazy to repackage some whitebox sh*t and put their brand on it. The Sennheiser brand stands for high quality audio. Their fans would run away screaming if they didn't deliver. Also, whitebox sh*t generally doesn't have 0-48KHz frequency response with .005% THD and support for 150 Ohm headphones, nor does it decode 96KHz, 24-bit audio. Just saying.
Really dude? $5 DAC with a $5 OP amp can give you those stats. The fact that you are quoting stats really says you have very limited knowledge about what actually makes good gear good.
Also, I did bring up getting a more serious dac/amp without all the gaming clutter too (if you bothered reading two posts past the one you quoted me on ...).
Oh, and Buying a separate DAC and AMP (like the Magni 2+Modi 2 combo) is definitely not something for a small desk. The Fulla would probably be okay, but the NuForce uDac3 I have is a lot smaller still - and can be tucked away nicely thanks to not having that huge top-mounted volume knob.
Other than that, I generally agree with your point. Most "gaming" audio products are sh*t. Razer might be the most horrible offender here (their Kraken headphones are some of the worst garbage I've ever listened to), but generally it's bad. Just don't dismiss "gaming" products from extremely serious audio companies. You might be surprised.
I read your post. I rolled my eyes all the way through it.
A small desk? What you do use a child's desk? I've never seen a desk that you couldn't fit one on. I mean they are after all desktop DAC/amps. It's a specific form factor.
NuForce really? Optoma is their parent brand who's parent brand is Coretronic. Optoma is known for making projectors not audio gear. It's Chinese. If there is ANY company that will repackage white label stuff it's Chinese companies. Not only that, it's a known fact that Schiit designs all of their own boards/implementations. It's also an American company. Why in all things holy would you recommend what you did? Are you reinforcing your own purchase decisions, is it the only thing you've ever heard off, or the first thing that came up when you Googled for something to respond with?
Another thing. The dimensions between the two are more or less identical. They are small footprint, portable DAC/amps. Again, class defined by form factor. It's funny you chose to focus on the Fulla 2 volume knob though. You didn't bother to do your homework because the Fulla 2's height is LESS than the NuForce. Nuforce 2.6 x .82 x 1.49" vs Fulla 2 3.5 x 2.5 x 1.375” So based on that you should start arbitrarily recommending the Fulla 2 right? LOL. Not only that, do you notice how NuForce doesn't list their component selection? While components by themselves are not the determinate of quality, it is hard to have even the most basic consideration for a company that doesn't list them. Even so their other stuff is confirmed to use ESS DACs. They are all probably using the 9023 on all of it given the specs they do list. I'd rather have the AKM 4490 in the Schiit. ESS DACs implemented on cheap gear frankly suck. You are very likely to run into the dreaded ESS glare problem. I simply refuse to buy anything with ESS in it regardless of price.
) then I'll likely be sending everything back to Newegg and wait a couple months for all this nonsense to be sorted out. AMD made a great chip but they are getting screwed over for being the little guy.
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