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Simthaniel
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merrick97
Should I exchange the PC38X for better headphones?
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LostnAmerica
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Fabulous
Looking for a gaming/content audio setup
Hello! I'm looking for recommendations on audio setups. I'd be planning on using it mostly for gaming. Preferably I'd like a pair of large closed back headphones since I have a big head and jaw. I'd also like to hear myself through my mic with mic monitoring. As far as budget goes, I don't really have one. But under 600$ would be nice. I can go higher if needed. The audio setup would be connected to a high performance PC. Thank you in advance for any recommendations!
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1plsd
$10 Drop Coupon Email not sent?
Trying to buy some gear off Drop for the first time. I was told I would receive an email with a welcome to drop $10 off promo. I never received that email. Drop was able to send me emails for my login token and email for Password update. But for some reason the $10 off coupon was never sent to me.
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NMPacella
New here
Hello, I just joined, primarily for the audiophile products. Looking at purchasing the NHT C3 speakers for our new living room. Space is about 15 feet wide by 33 long and they will fire long ways. Space is just for general listening, music room with all equipment is downstairs, so hoping they will fill it with sound nicely. Cheers.
Mar 18, 2024
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Motherboard audio (except laptops) and flagship smartphones admittedly sound pretty good these days and the only reason I see for getting something like this is if you have have difficult-to-drive phones that need amping, and/or you want to fix problems like inadequate damping factor (which isn't that common because many modern sources are low output impedance). Or unless your source is VERY poor.
I can appreciate measurable differences but I think to say it's a "huge" difference is misleading. Yes, they can sound different but it might not be "better". I've heard more expensive setups that sound more bassy and less neutral than my Galaxy S6 for example, and are worse sounding in my opinion. Plus, you loose out on features with these DAC/Amps like the software Equalizer and surround sound which I know many people like to use.
Not trying to be harsh or anything, I think the DACport Slim is a great compact all-in-one solution for purists who prefer a slightly more bassy sound and own some 150-600 ohm phones. I just can't agree with people being mis-representative about certain things, spending tons of money on some DACs they *think* sounds godly better when in fact it's more of a goldsink than anything. Sorry for the rant.
The noise with sensitive IEMs are an issue, but alas you cannot have the power to drive power hungry phones without being overkill for lower sensitivities unless you design another switch setting for "ultra low gain".
But as with many things, there's room for improvement and the Windows 10 crashing ordeal and not-so-good noise levels with many sensitive IEMs are the main issues from what I've seen. I think people who experience this should not be treated as exaggerating because in my opinion, when more than a few people bring it up, there's some truth there. Otherwise, I am quite happy to pick this up.
Not to take the conversation off track, but just to assure you that all this feedback is taken to heart in DACportable, which is obviously not in the same price range. http://igg.me/at/dacportable
All those $100 DAC/AMP combo all do seem to improve bass response to make it punchier, but at the same time I also do notice it seems to blur some details in the mid/high. In that regard I actually prefer the sound straight from my Nexus 5, bass is not as good, but the mid/high details are better.
I'm in agreement with KMpr here. For easy to drive headphones they'll just sound "different" as oppose to overall better. Only when you use hard to drive headphone with high impedance then these DAC/AMP might star to shine. I think the mentality is that since we're spending $100 so we want to hear big improvements.
Again to clarify things, not really bashing CEntrance here, I'm pretty sure this is a wonderful product. But I can already tell people are expecting O2/ODAC kind of performance but realistically at $100 there's limitations.
Since I learned this the trial and error way I'll just list my observations, for easy to drive headphones, you'll heard "different" sound as oppose to on board sound card. So for people who headphones less than 80 Ohm, I'd probably suggest forgo the DAC/AMP and use the money to upgrade headphone instead. For hard to drive headphones, these might be worth the investment.
Hope this helps.