[SOLVED] Motherboard DAC/AMP Loudness

[TM1172]

I am using an Asus ROG Crosshair VIII x570 Dark Hero motherboard in my gaming PC. On the Asus website, it states that this motherboard includes an ESS ES9023P DAC with the S1220 Codec, and a Texas Instruments RC4580 OP Amp. Are these components any good? Motherboard audio is something I know almost nothing at all about.

I'm trying to power a set of Razer Blackshark V2's - the wired variety - which have impedance of 32 ohms, per Razer's tech sheets. I've found them to be decent in terms of sound quality, but I can't get them anywhere near as loud as the Corsair Void RGB's I was using prior to this. I've tried them in both the front and back 3.5mm ports as well as connected to the included Razer USB audio card, and the volume just isn't there. This seems odd to me, but again, I'm a beginner in this world - maybe something about the Blacksharks is just built differently from the Voids? I've got the Realtek Audio drivers and controls installed, but it hasn't improved the volume.

I just ordered a set of DT990's, the 250-ohm variant. I got them because I want excellent sound quality both when I play games and when I listen to music, and don't really care about not having a microphone. Will my motherboard be able to power these headphones using the onboard DAC and Amp? Should I purchase a separate DAC/Amp for them?

 

[Lutfij]

You're comparing a wired USB driven headset with one that's wireless. In fact the wireless headset doesn't rely upon your onboard audio chip/amp, instead relying on the wireless docking statin/base. In your current situation, I'd ask you to see what BIOS version you're on for your motherboard. the jack on the Razer headset isn't even 3 pole, it's a 4 pole since it has stereo audio output and a mic. You might want to use an audio splitter when using the front or rear panel audio jacks if you're not using the bundled USB driven sound card.

FYI, when you use the USB driven sound card or the wireless sound card, you're not using the S1220 codec/chip or the onboard DAC. This thread is a good read, mind you.

 

[TM1172]

You're comparing a wired USB driven headset with one that's wireless. In fact the wireless headset doesn't rely upon your onboard audio chip/amp, instead relying on the wireless docking statin/base. In your current situation, I'd ask you to see what BIOS version you're on for your motherboard. the jack on the Razer headset isn't even 3 pole, it's a 4 pole since it has stereo audio output and a mic. You might want to use an audio splitter when using the front or rear panel audio jacks if you're not using the bundled USB driven sound card.

FYI, when you use the USB driven sound card or the wireless sound card, you're not using the S1220 codec/chip or the onboard DAC.

Thanks for the response. I’m actually using the Blackshark V2, not the V2 Pro - the V2’s are still wired. I just updated the bios to version 4004 a few days back.