I'm reaching out to the community here to see what people have to say about using In Ear Monitors, a DAC (mayflower?), and gaming with these.
I have a lot of headphones, but I rotate between two. I use my Westone 3's (30ohm and 107dB sensitivity) and my Audio Technica ATH-M50's (38ohms and 99dB sensitivity). What, if any, are your findings with either one of these as gaming headsets assuming the game has a good headphone track? Should I just ditch both those pairs of headphones and save up some scratch for a pair of d770 or d990 pros (32,80, or 250ohm?)?
Thank you in advance for all your help out there, people. Trying to make rhyme to reason for the video's I've seen from the folks here at Tek, MKBHD, and a couple other outlets.
edit: in case anyone asks why I want a DAC over my onboard audio. I have an Asus p8z77-v LK with the Realtek ALC892 chipset.
-in5ilico
So, in case someone stumbles across this thread in the series of tubes, I'll update this with what I've found.
It's almost not worth getting a DAC or AMP if your headphones are only around the 30-34 ohm impedance. You're best suited for a DAC or AMP (DAC preferably for PC/Gaming) if you're running a heavy ohm impedance set. Somewhere from 80ohm to 600ohm. 600ohm being for those folks that are audio engineers and need to hear EVERY INTRICATE DETAIL. 250ohm, I've found through my searches, is about the sweet spot for the folks that want to play games or the like (relying heavily on a good headphone setting in game) for the best sound. Something like the Beyerdynamic DT880 Premiums + Mayflower DAC (or any DAC that can push at least 250ohm) is a winning combo.
If anyone has anything to add, please feel free to do so. These are just my findings and are in no way to be treated as gospel.
Thanks!
in5ilico
Also....try to find a DAC that doesn't require you to install software to use.