I got a question for the guys who tried it all.
If I want a dac/amp set (idrc if It is a combo or separate units) for both listening to the music yet being able to have surround sound in games.
I must note, I listen to my Sennheiser hd8-djs, and I love their bassey note. Till now I used Asus' Xonar, but it stopped working.
megical_bananaWhile I'm not into gaming I find the Creative E5 ($140 new) is exceptionally nice for the price.
I own the E5 and other DAC/Amps including the Mojo and Hugo 2. The higher end DACs are 2-channel focused devices and make little to no claims of decoding stereo surround, Dolby, et. al.
I've listened to music on my E5 that was recorded in 5 channel and it has a bit of a gimmicky feel to it. However, the game demos that I've listened to sounded superb and really showed off features of the E5. Creative does manufacture higher-end DAC/Amps than the E5 but they are not as portable.
If I were a gamer I would stick with a DAC manufacturer that focuses on gaming features.
Binaural recordings do provide a more interesting audio image and can be played through 2-channel devices but I'm not aware of any games that use binaural recordings.
KC-130Thanks a lot, could you also say what could be used best from what Massdrop has? Consider I listen to music too, and planning to buy the hd6xx or something similar.
megical_bananaThe xDuoo XD-05, currently available as a drop, is one that I enjoy using for Movie watching and also Music from time to time.
The softer dialog often present in movies is delivered better through the XD-05 than it is through my pricier DAC/Amps and the movie soundtracks are given premium treatment. The AK-4490 chip isn't as strong of a selling point as the complete silence the amp produces when it's expected. For $159 you're not putting much at risk to try it. If you don't like it just sell it online for a minimal loss.
I don't play computer games but if I did I would look more to something dedicated to gaming because of the multi-channel audio effects.