[SOLVED] EPOS GSX 300 + Drop PC38x no audible difference in volume

[kinggaming60]

So I recently got the PC38x as a Christmas gift, I love them, they're really really good, and compared to the HyperX Cloud II they just blow them out of the park with the sound quality comparison. But I noticed that I needed to use Voicemeeter Banana to put a little gain on the volume, as even 100% was comparable to about, 45% on the HyperX. So I decided to bite the bullet and buy myself the EPOS GSX 300 DAC amp. And I'm really disappointed. To me, there is no audible difference in volume compared to having a little gain on voicemeeter, but then I read an article where some guy stated that 15% on the GSX 300 was 80% on his headset without it, so what am I doing wrong? Any help would be really appreciated. Even using another headset, I hear 0 volume difference when on 100% for both. My motherboard is an ASUS PRIME Z370-P, it was extremely cheap so It doesn't have the best onboard sound card ever and that was evident, but from a €77 external USB soundcard, basically 80% of the cost of the motherboard just devoted to sound, I expected a little more.

 

[hang-the-9]

Check for a combination of volume between Windows and the DAC/AMP, if Windows volume is too low that also passes on the volume level to the DAC/AMP. Past that there is no trick to getting volume out of it, plug it in, use the volume knob, no secret settings. Try contacting their support to see if maybe you have a bad unit with a bad amp.

 

[kinggaming60]

Check for a combination of volume between Windows and the DAC/AMP, if Windows volume is too low that also passes on the volume level to the DAC/AMP. Past that there is no trick to getting volume out of it, plug it in, use the volume knob, no secret settings. Try contacting their support to see if maybe you have a bad unit with a bad amp.

Hey and thanks for the reply. So Amazon's listing is actually incredibly misleading. EPOS never claimed the GSX 300 to be an AMP, yet Amazon for whatever reason decided to advertise it like so, so all I did essentially was just increase the decibel count for each signal frequency and that did give me the volume I needed that I felt it lacked. Thanks for the help though!

 

[hang-the-9]

It may not be a headphone amp/DAC with higher power rating, but the PC38x is an easy to drive unit, even onboard soundcard off the motherboard should be able to handle it, never mind an external card. If the setup works with your onboard audio I would return the EPOS thing, you probably won't be able to tell any difference in quality.

 

[delaro]

When I tried a GSX 300 I found I was using 60% volume all the time and max with anything over 60 Ω. This was the opposite with the G6 where I had to use low gain and around 18% with the PC37x. The loudness feature on the GSX helps you gain about 10% of that back, but nothing can help you if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones that run into software conflicts which is fairly common.