Sound card and Headphones for movies and music

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3.14or22by7

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Purpose:

Watching movies - regular DVD rips and Blu-rays.

Listening to music - mostly progressive rock, jazz and Indian film music.

I need suggestions for a good sound card and headphones for this setup.

The card should have headphone amplifier. External card would be preferable.

Headphones should have good 3D surround soundstage.

Budget - 10k
 
Card : ASUS Xonar DX. There is a person here on TE selling off his old one, or you can contact PristineNote, our inhouse TE dealer on sound stuff and purchase a new one. If its external card, then you will need a creative one.

Headphones : No idea, mate.
 
If your main need is music or if you don't mind stereo sound in movies with a 3D soundstage then I suggest you skip the Xonar Dx. 10k is a good budget.
I suggest you go for the Xonar ST/STX soundcard or add a little more and get the Audinst MX1 as it is external and be rest assured that you would not need a headphone dac or an amp for a really really long time.

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Forgot to mention that both are available with Pristinenote with warranty if you decide to get them.
 
A decent entry level Soundcard like used DX / used uDAC (external) / new Xonar DG and great headphones like Audio Technica ATH-M50 or AD700 depending on sound signature preference . Killer combo ,IMO :D You might end up upgrading your sound card in future in this case.

or else a good external sound card like Fiio E7 and headphones like ATH-M35 , JVC RX-700 , Philips / Sennhesier models etc. You might end up upgrading your headphones in future in this case :P .

I believe the first option would provide a better overall experience .
 
@FaH33m Your suggestions are much appreciated. Thank you.

Right now, I use the inbuilt sound card in my PC (Asus M4A88T/USB-3) along with my AKG K414 and Sony MDR-ZX300 headphones. Along with this I use an Edifier 2.0 speakers which are good as well. The AKG are not so comfortable for long periods.

I am looking for a considerable improvement to this setup. It would be very useful if I could use an external DAC which I can also carry around with my Sansa Fuze, etc.

The most important thing that I am looking for in this setup is the 3D sound staging while watching movies :)
 
The Xonar St/STX offers impressive specs for its price. I've been using it for a long time now and it can even drive the 600ohm HD600 well. I don't need to say anything more since it one of the harder to drive headphones :)

What I'm trying to say is you won't need to worry about it and you can throw any headphone at it since these are really neutral. Whats your budget for headphones. I'll try suggesting some within your budget.
 
@bennysachdev I was actually hoping for a combined budget of 10k :P However I can push that combined limit to 15k. So open to your suggestions.
 
You dont really need to push the budget to 15k . M50 & AD700 , neither of them benefit a lot with use of better source .

You might be able to fit in a Beyer DT-770 maybe with that budget .

Or else invest long term with a quality source like HRT Music Streamer / Asus Essence STX / Audinst HUD-MX1 etc .

The possibilities & combinations are endless . You need to decide what exactly are you looking for and plan your roadmap for the audio journey :D

Sent from my iPhone4 using Tapatalk
 
@Faheem:- The AD700 did open up pretty much with the Xonar Dx compared to my onboard sound card so they do show improvements with better souce over a onboard one i guess.
 
Read my replies once again , I just said it wont show huge improvements comparing Xonar DX to STX or better source . :)

Compared to onboard , almost any decent soudcard will be better .
 
Okay guys, gonna get myself a ATH M50 and good portable DAC for now.

Should I go with a FiiO DAC? I have a Sansa clip+ and a Sony mp3 (NWZ-E344).

Can I use the DAC with these portables?
 
Fiio E7 would be good for you, since its portable and you can use it with your mp3 players. And believe me, you will hear a huge difference from onboard. You will think "what crap was I listening to all this time?" :p
 
@kris_one Now that's what I'm talking about :)

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Should I order the FiiO E7 from mp4nation and ship it to Bangalore? Or I have a friend coming from US next month, I can have him bring.

Last time I ordered a couple of Brainwavz alpha from mp4nation, I was charged some 20% by Bangalore customs. Whereas my friend in Chennai received without customs.

So if it would help me avoid customs, I can ask my friend to bring it from US.
 
You won't be able to use a dac with ur clip+ or ur Sony player unless they have a digital out.

You see a dac(digital to analog converter) requires a digital signal(0's and 1's) as input and converts it to an analog signal(signal waves).

Generally one uses a dac with a computer thru a USB port or anything which feeds it a digital signal whether it's an onboard sound card or an AVR.
 
3.14or22by7 said:
@Nalin Can you explain what kind of issues E7 has?
Click to expand...

Quality control issues . Almost every E7 Ive seen my friends/ TE guys who have purchased it , have experienced it going kaput within 1 year of purchase and again after the warranty is over .Once warranty is over , there is nothing you can do .
 
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