Soundblaster Z + Schiit Magni - Proper Setup?

[cfennerr]

Hello,

I just got my Hifiman HE-400's and after lots of research I went from a Soundblaster Z to a ZxR for the better built-in amp. My soundcard came awhile before my headphones did and I was using a pair of audio technica ath-700's and man what a difference from the Z to the ZxR's amp. However, after plugging in my hifiman he-400's they sound like they arent getting enough juice to go to their full potential. The bass sounds very tinny. The ath-700's pack a much bigger in your face punch.

Now I've switched between 32-600 ohms and it still sounds flat. While the ath-700's pack a bigger bass punch the he-400's sound much more real across the whole spectrum, the only thing is it lacks bass and feels lifeless.

So I've started to think I made a poor choice going with a ZxR instead of sticking with my Z and buying something like a Schiit Magni.

Now my dilemma is this; I am very game oriented with my headphones. I plan on using them for 90-95% gaming and 5% music/movies. So I want to make sure I keep all the great sound processing for gaming that the Z has, if that is possible... How would I go about hooking up an amp and bypassing the Z's amp while preserving the sound quality and effects for gaming?

If I am unable to do that but can with the ZxR I would consider keeping it, but as of now without the headphone amp I have almost no use for the ZxR's extra features.

Another question is if i go the Z + amp route is a magni enough to power it or should I go for something more? I'd like to keep it at a reasonable price and am looking for the sweet spot for price/quality.

 

[Whirlwind]

You could use the dac of your soundcard and the magni amp for your music.

You will have to switch to speakers for your headphones to work thru the magni....at least this is how it works with my STX.....and it works great.

 

[BrightCandle]

A magni is just an analogue amp. So all you need to do is plug it in between the sound card and the headphones in the headphone port and it will work as it should. There isn't much else to it. Unless you want to also externalise your DAC (unnecessary in my opinion) then this way you get all the surround sound effects of SBX pro and anything else you are using and all you are doing is putting a power amp in front of the headphones to drive them.

Don't worry about the double amping, that happens anyway with any sound output (they are all amped to an extent as the digital signal strength is minuscule before its amped for output in analogue).