Should I get an better audio interface / DAC? Headphone Impedance?

bussy233

Member
My ~$60 sennheisers broke. I went looking for a new pair and it has been many many hours and days still haven't decided, and now I'm asking here if I should get an audio interface or DAC and/or go for a high impedance headphones.

I want clear, neutral, flat headphones. I narrowed it down to Shure SRH440 or KRK KNS-8400 (~$110) but then I learned they only have 44 and 36 ohm impedance respectively.

From what I gathered on impedance so far, it's more of like a protection from blow out damage to have high impedance (100-600ohm) phones and that to even get sound out of them, you need a headphone amp (or USB audio interface?). To get them loud, you need a high-impedance output, but I don't like loud, I don't want to damage my hearing. However, some say that high impedance phones will give clearer, better sound (if not blasting volume).
You can't just use high impedance phones (100ohm+?) with a cellphone because you will get little or no sound. I rarely use my phones with cellphone and if I do, I'm okay with just getting a ~$30 low impedance pair just for that if I decide to go with high impedance for PC.

I want really clear good audio quality for general music listening and for my DAW (basically just Fruity Loops with mid-grade VST synths, and I have some hardware virtual analog synths, electric guitar, electric drum set, and might be getting an electric bass).


Based on the above what I learned about impedance, I was going to just get the 36 or 44 ohm Shure or KRK phones anyway because I didn't feel the need to hassle with getting a dedicated headphone amp to possibly get a clearer sound, and as mentioned, I don't blast the volume anyway which could blow low ohm phones. and it took me forever to get to those two choices.

But then I read If you are listening to your music on a computer a headphone amp with an internal digital to analog converters (DAC) will dramatically improve your listening.

Do my Headphones Need a Headphone Amp? - headphone.com

I just use my ~$125 GA-Z97-HD3 motherboard audio which is:
Audio
1.Realtek® ALC887 codec
2.High Definition Audio
3.2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
4.Support for S/PDIF Out

As far as DAC, if it matters, I don't have any true analog synthesizers but I probably will eventually. I don't know if making the signal digital via the computer will void it being analog in the first place though, and that I would have can only listen straight from the synth's output to get true analog audio from them.


I have this Roland duo Capture USB audio interface.
Roland - DUO-CAPTURE | USB Audio Interface
I can't find what impedance it outputs, if it even acts as a headphone amp also? Or possibly also acts like a DAC? I only bought it to connect un-amped electric guitar to PC and possibly needed it for synths. I don't know because I haven't used it in a while.


I'm willing to upgrade from that if there's good reason. I don't want to spend more than like $175 total for DAC and audio interface. Maybe I can just get a DAC and keep the Roland Duo Capture? I don't want to get rid of it for %25 more quality. Also if the DAC and/or amp need a bunch of complicated setting configuration etc, I don't think I want to even deal with it. I want basically just plug and play.

I will do some more research in the meantime but figured I'd ask yous in the meantime. thanks

and apparently my user name means butt + pssy according to urban dictionary, lol I didn't realize that when I made it, it was because with one less s was already taken. Anyway.
 
The ADC/DACs in your Duo Capture are perfectly fine. I see the whole DAC discussion (especially in the "listening to music from computer" world) largely as snake oil - yes, an external DAC is likely to be slightly better than those Realtek chips that are found everywhere. Night and day better? Probably not. Noticeably better than those found in a dedicated audio interface? I doubt it. Look up any reliable and well set-up DAC blind test and you'll probably find out that even experienced listeners can't reliably distinguish between $5 and $500 (no kidding) converters. A good headphone amp paired with a great set of headphones will probably be a pretty good investment though - but again, even though differences between high-end headphones and lower-end ones are easier to tell (than differences between DACs, which can be almost impossible), even those $100–$200 'phones should be decent enough, be they low or high impedance.
 
all right, case closed finally. Thanks for the input.
I'm going to get KRK KNS-8400 headphones (which were confirmed vegan with email in case anyone ever googles to find vegan headphones. There are some others that have "protein leather" which is fake leather but treated with some sort of animal protein such as eggs. I haven't heard back about the Shure SRH440 / SRH840 if vegan but I leaned towards the KRKs anyway between these two brands for Neutral / Flat / precise monitoring sound). Reasons for getting the KRK and not the Shures are in the headfi link below which is basically me cross linking all my posts to hopefully make this easier for someone looking for the same thing, even if not particularly vegan. One extra point goes towards the KRKs though in the comparison because I originally pointed out that the Shures have ~$4 shipped aftermarket replacement pads on ebay (which are probably garbage but just saying) but the KRKs are ~$35 but I'm sure someone has figured out a good enough match to not have to spend 1/3 the cost of the phones for replacement pads if ever needed.
And I'll stick with my Roland duo capture USB audio interface which I am told does have a DAC, and will give better audio with it than my onboard realtek HD. Basically as told in replies in the links, I am told that high impedance will be very hard to tell the difference between the same model with low impedance. Kind of like blind testing an analog synth to a digital one. It is however a good safety measure to not blow the speaker if using a high impedance output source but I could be wrong about that but I'm not going to even look into it more. Take care.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/low...-audio-interface-dac-headphone-impedance.html


$200 or $100 closed NEUTRAL MONITORING CANS? PLEASE HELP ME

Neutral for gaming footsteps and synthesizers/production SRH440 SRH840 KNS-8400 KNS-6400
 
Yep, you'll be good :)

Just a small clarification on the DAC thing though - even that Realtek chip has a DAC - you can't hear anything from a computer without one! But I understand that the discussions online can make it seem as it's some magical sound-enhancing luxury device.
 
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