Xonar D2X and astro mixamp doing the same job twice?

[SkinToxicated]

got a xonar d2x for Xmas which i am well chuffed with (along with my corsair sp2500s). prior to this i was just using the onboard sounds optical output going to Astro Mixamp and then to A40 headset, so the mixamp was doing all the leg work boosting/sorting the sound.

i have the same setup now but now using the output on the D2X souncard not the onboard sound. Am i right i thinking that having the mixamp in there is kinda pointless as the D2X doing the sound processing leg work now?

if that is the case, would i bet better off getting rid of the mixamp as im gonna get a just as good (if not better) sound quality running the A40 headset straight off the D2X card? Or maybe going further still selling the mixamp and the A40s and getting a different gaming headset (the Sennheiser PC 360 seem to be the weapon of choice)?

Thanx in advance

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

The only reason for the A40 mixamp would be for easy volume control. Because you D2x is now processing more than the mixamp is capable of either 2 things could happen. One the mixamp may degrade the sound quality or two the sound will bypass the mixamp. It all depends on how they are made. I would go from the A40s to the D2x directly just because the more items between the headphones and the source, more sound degrading is possible.

 

[SkinToxicated]

thanx Sand, i have got home and had a listen to some music on the A40s thru the mixamp (using the SpDif optical output on the D2x) and again to the A40s straight from the D2X (using the line out as they dont seem to work running of the optical output)) and it gotta be said is does sound better running straight off the card without the mixamp. Also when i using the mixamp, the xonar sound centre is bypassed so im just listen to it "flat"

so as you said its better to run just off the D2X to the headset. the only prob i have there is if i want to swap between my sp2500 speakers and the Headset i have gotta to swap the cables on the output as the D2X only has the one front out

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

thanx Sand, i have got home and had a listen to some music on the A40s thru the mixamp (using the SpDif optical output on the D2x) and again to the A40s straight from the D2X (using the line out as they dont seem to work running of the optical output)) and it gotta be said is does sound better running straight off the card without the mixamp. Also when i using the mixamp, the xonar sound centre is bypassed so im just listen to it "flat"

so as you said its better to run just off the D2X to the headset. the only prob i have there is if i want to swap between my sp2500 speakers and the Headset i have gotta to swap the cables on the output as the D2X only has the one front out

Split it. Splitting once is not going to degrade quality

 

[SkinToxicated]

Thanx again Sand, is that what pretty much everyone else does when running speakers and headset?

off to ebay with my mixmap i think

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

Thanx again Sand, is that what pretty much everyone else does when running speakers and headset?

off to ebay with my mixmap i think

A mixamp would be your best bet.