Xonar STX and Headphones

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skinnyrabbit

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Sep 26, 2013
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I'm looking at buying the Xonar Essence STX.
The current headset I am using is the Astro a40 headset. I bought this because I use it on both my Xbox and PC.
Now before all you audiophiles get on my back about gaming headsets and blah blah blah. Keep in mind that I PLAN on BUYING an audiophile grade set of headphones.
The problem is that I don't know which. I listen to electronic, House and Metal music such as Metallica and Iron Maiden.

For the time being, once I buy the card, I will use the a40s with the Headphone/Mic splitter with the 6.3->3.5mm adapter in both the ports on the card. This will work won't it?

So to sum up.
What would be a great set of headphones to buy for the Xonar Essence STX? Audiophile grade would be nice. Also if the headphones have a mic that would be preferred.

Will it work if I use my a40's and the Headphone/Mic splitter with the adapters in the Headphone Out and Line In ports on the STX?

Thanks guys :)
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Audiophile and headphones with mics tend to be mutually exclusive.

The PRICE of headphones varies so much that we'd need a rough budget.

WARNING:
When you buy "audiophile" headphones be sure the impedance (OHM) is correct for PC. I love my Sony MDR-700 headphones but they are slightly too loud at the lowest level my sound card outputs. It's fine for movies as I can adjust the volume in the media player as well.

I ended up hooking my headphones up to the headphone jack on my speakers rather than the sound card because I could control the sound level easy that way but I would have preferred to turn them off.

I can't comment about the adapter thing as I don't know what you mean. If the same wires are being connected I don't know why it wouldn't work.
 
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skinnyrabbit

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Sep 26, 2013
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Apologies. Thought I posted that.
My budget would be around $350 max.

The adapter is just a 6.5mm to 3.5mm jack
f986279270306ecffaf16e07a37db88d.jpg

so I could plug my headset in with the y splitter that came with it
cat_splitter_1.jpg

Into the headphone out and Line in (for mic) ports on the STX card

Keep in mind this is until I buy a real set of headphones.
 
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PyjamasCat

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Mar 20, 2013
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^Good info. The Xonar STX supports multiple impedance options. From memory (I have one of these cards) there is 50ohms, 300ohms and 600ohms, but I can check later at home. It's a great card, and is fantastic with audiophile level headphones. I don't have an extreme pair, but I do have Sennhieser HD518's and HD 201's. The quality difference is amazing.

About the adapter/mic splitter thing, are you saying you want to effectively combine the two cables with the adapter? Can you post a link to the adapter?

Headphones to look at: http://www.headphone.com/selection-guide/10-best-headphones.php

This site is all about audio equipment. Have a search there and see what you find. (Link is to top 10 products)
 
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PyjamasCat

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Oh I see. Yeah, that should work.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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The splitter absolutely works:
http://www.astrogaming.com/pc-headset-y-adapter-556

Also,
Do you have a PRICE RANGE for the headphones?

I got my Sony's on sale for $150. I would consider $100 the bare minimum for Audiophile. You can easily spend $500 on "audiophile" headphones.

We also need to know if you'd connect your headphones to your speakers so you can control the output. Because if you want to use just the sound card output many Audiophile headphones will be too loud even on the lowest volume (impedance OHM).
 
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skinnyrabbit

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Sep 26, 2013
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My price range is about 350 max.
And I plan on using my speakers to plug them in.
 
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PyjamasCat

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You can have both plugged into the card directly. Another option is to use the front panel audio. The card has a port on the inside for this and an auxiliary too. The only way to get proper 7.1 Surround is to use the toslink (I think it is called that), if you use 7.1 speakers.
url]

See the pins beside the power? That is where the front panel cable goes. (not previous post)
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Hey,
I would suggest you start Googling for reviews of audiophile headphones. There's lots of info out there. I spent a really long time to narrow it down to my Sony MDR-V700's at a sub $200 price range. I think beyond $200 gets into the area of "I can't tell the difference" for me.

Sennheiser also makes some really good headphones.

I listen to MUSIC, movies and play game. In particular, I noticed a huge improvement listening to MUSIC with my Sony's versus other headphones that were supposed to be pretty good (and I'd rather shoot myself than listen to bargain headphones). The quality was also top notch. They look, feel, and perform two years later identical to when I bought them.

My Sony's aren't for sale but it wouldn't hurt to see what they offer that's similar as a starting point.
 
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