Hi! Just bought the philips fidelio x2. Now I want the proper equipment to fully utilize the capacities of these headphones. As of now, I'm only using the onboard soundcard. Bear in mind, I'm totally new to the whole hifi-area! The main usage will be gaming and music (listening). In gaming, I appreciate good positional audio, playing alot of competive online games. In another forum I was recommended to get a asus xonar dx, to get the dolby headphone. But because of the high output impedance of this soundcard, I should also get an AMP, I was recommended the fiio e11k. Is this the best way to go? Some other guys recommended me to buy an external dac and amp, like the schiit modi+magni. But this will we considerably more expensive, and I was told the dac-chip in the xonar dx is pretty decent. And with the modi/magni-setup, I won't get any dolby headphone, I'll just be using the sound features I already have, and that is quite limited. How is the positional audio using just the magni+modi, is it any good? I'm guessing the dolby headphone will be better? What are you guys recommending? I don't want to spend a lot of money, and for me the magni/modi will be somewhere around twice as expensive as the dx + e11k.
If all you want is something that will work very good for the price then the Sound blaster Z or sound blaster omni will be a good choice. Both should work very well with your headphones. I don't know what the prices are in norway but you might be able to find either one cheap. But with the magni+Modi route you can just use Razer surround software which is free, which will give you emulated surround headphone function for use with games and the software does work very well. The aune T1 can be found used which usually be cheaper if you trust ebay.
If I'm right the soundblaster uses sex pro studio, which is better than dolby headphone? And How is the output on these, will they make my Philips sound bloated? I was told that could be a problem with the Asus, since the Philips is just 30ohm. The soundblaster I can get for 90usd (brand new), which makes then a lot cheaper than the Magni modi. What will be better with the Magni modi - setup? Will the free razer software be as good as the sbx in the soundblaster? Positional sound is my first priority
Magni + Modi will simply sound better. It's a very good setup from what I'm reading. Many seem to prefer the Aune T1, which is also cheaper. I went from SB Z to Aune T1 to run with my DT 880 Pro and AD700. I can tell you from personal experience that it sounds better than SB Z. It also drives high impedance headphones better, which you might not need with the X2, but you might end up buying high impedance headphones later on. The T1 also has the option of rolling tubes, which is nice. If Magni + Modi is out of your budget, look into the T1. It's a great piece of kit and there's quite a few gurus using it and they all love it. Oh, and Razer surround is no worse than SB Z surround. Hope this helped. Edit: here's some reviews of the T1 http://www.head-fi.org/products/aune-t1#
Thanks, that was hugely helpful! The aune looks very cool as well, would love to have that tube glowing on my computer desk! I can get the aune x1 from a retailer here in Norway, is the t1 considered more "high-end"?
That's what I've heard, primarily from Tyll of InnerFidelity: The Philips Fidelio X2 is going to hit the Wall of Fame like a boss. The only thing keeping it from knocking the HD 600 off the wall is its low 35 Ohm impedance that makes it a poor match for high output impedance tube amplifiers Link to review: http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/boss-philips-fidelio-x2-page-2
That's true, the tubes seems really nice. But it's a shame that the x2 won't be too happy with them. Will the aune x1 be a better choice then? I can get a fairly good price on the Hegel Super at a local retailer (140usd). Any experience with them? I wasn't allowed to post a link, but enjoy the music.com and head-fi.org has a review. Or are units like this mostly meant for portable use? I only need one for my desktop computer. But if the sound quality of the Hegel may be comperable to that of the Aune or the magni/modi, it's a tempting offer! Bear in mind that I'm most interrested in soundstage/positional audio
I'm now considering two options. A shame I can't try them both before choosing. Either go for the xonar dx and the fiio e11k, or the Aune X1 MKII. What do you think is the better choice?
I'm no expert here, but I will give my 2 cents... I have a thread about all this exact same thing when I purchased my Fidelio X1s. I have a high quality USB soundcard and was going to change it because it only does stereo, and I wanted surround sound. I looked into the SBZ, the Aune T1, pretty much everything that's been mentioned in this thread. I ended up sticking with my USB soundcard because it doesn't take much of anything to power the X1s, considering they are low-impedance, and the headphone output on my external soundcard seemed to be a little higher quality than a typical headphone jack. I will mention I also plug them into my receiver sometimes, which has a high impedance headphone jack, and does not sound as good. Most games sound great without any virtual surround. You will lose some quality with any type of virtual surround you're using, so I'm glad I didn't end up going that route. The X1s have such great positional audio, that virtual surround doesn't seem needed for me. However, I don't play too many games anymore and never really competitively, so your needs may differ. Considering the nature of the Fidelio X1 / X2, I don't think you can go wrong with anything; it's just hard to know you're making the right decision without testing "synergy". I'd just test them in as many different headphone jacks you can, look up the impedance of the jacks, and get a matching impedance for whatever main rig you want to set up.
