2014-08-21, 04:26
I've found myself using headphones probably 90% of the time now for XBMC and PS4. I currently achieve this using an astro mixamp 5.8 which sucks combined with a headphone amp which is ok and buttkicker. It looks like this:
XBMC HDMI -> AVR -> TV HDMI IN -> TV TOS OUT -> MixAmp -> Headphone Amp -> Headphones (MixAmp toslink passthrough -> D/A converter -> 50hz LPF -> buttkicker)
I run it this way because cbf changing XBMC sound device back and forth to run toslink directly into the mixamp, since it's terrible anyway I've noticed no difference in quality. I do the same with the PS4. My AVR does HDMI passthrough in standby, so when AVR is on sound goes to speakers, when in standby to headphones, operation is kept simple.
Since I'm using headphones so often I want to upgrade with a mid - high end amp and DAC. What I can't figure out is the best way to do this and specifically where the surround decoding is best done. I know I can set XBMC to output stereo, but I don't want to fork out for new equipment only to find out doing it this way doesn't sound very good. I looked for standalone processors and only really found one, and it costs $3000, I'd rather not add this to the bill.
Is anyone running a decent headphone setup with any success? Will outputting stereo from the source still yield good results? What are my options here?
XBMC HDMI -> AVR -> TV HDMI IN -> TV TOS OUT -> MixAmp -> Headphone Amp -> Headphones (MixAmp toslink passthrough -> D/A converter -> 50hz LPF -> buttkicker)
I run it this way because cbf changing XBMC sound device back and forth to run toslink directly into the mixamp, since it's terrible anyway I've noticed no difference in quality. I do the same with the PS4. My AVR does HDMI passthrough in standby, so when AVR is on sound goes to speakers, when in standby to headphones, operation is kept simple.
Since I'm using headphones so often I want to upgrade with a mid - high end amp and DAC. What I can't figure out is the best way to do this and specifically where the surround decoding is best done. I know I can set XBMC to output stereo, but I don't want to fork out for new equipment only to find out doing it this way doesn't sound very good. I looked for standalone processors and only really found one, and it costs $3000, I'd rather not add this to the bill.
Is anyone running a decent headphone setup with any success? Will outputting stereo from the source still yield good results? What are my options here?
