WIll a decent amp make DT990 250 sound better?

dota2er

Honorable
Nov 15, 2013
9
0
10,510
Before I buy I heard dt990 are hard to drive. But it is pretty loud when the volume is at 40% on my pc. So do I need a amp? If so for gaming, will gaming sound card like sound blaster give some extra advantage or go straight to dac/amp combo? Thanks
 
There are multiple versions. You mention the 250ohm version (just clarifying so you don't get the wrong item).
32ohm
250ohm
600ohm

You need to check the specs of your SOUND solution to see what OHM range is supported. Most do not support 600ohm but some do.

I don't know if there's a particular "loudness" rating. I think if the OHM is supported it's likely fine.

I don't know how good your MOTHERBOARD audio is but there's no point getting expensive headphones without a good sound solution.

I personally prefer an external DAC. Something like THIS:
https://audioengineusa.com/shop/components/d1-24-bit-dacheadphone-amp/

I'm not saying that's the best value, just an example.

I would probably use the TOSLINK connection (so the digital output is the onboard solution which is probably REALTEK chip of some sort), so the audio is completely isolated electrically from the PC. It's then converted from Digital to Analog for either stereo headphones, stereo speakers, or 2.1 speakers (stereo with a subwoofer if setup correctly).

The 3.5mm headphones would prevent the stereo speaker output from working.

There are also some SPEAKERS for PC that have a headphone jack that just uses the speaker amplifier and work quite well, but in general a TOSLINK-to-DAC solution is probably ideal.

 

dota2er

Honorable
Nov 15, 2013
9
0
10,510


Thanks a lot. I owned the DT990 250ohm version. My motherboard is asus rog maximus x hero. It is hard to describe how loud it is, when I turned the volume at 80% on pc, I felt it ganna break my ear drum soon. I do have some sound solution in mind like o2 odac(over 250$, not preferred) and schiit stack and gaming sound card like sound blaster series and sennheiser gsx(Not sure it it worth the price for gaming). Never before using any sound card and amp/dac, I am not sure which one fit me.