whats your minimum spec for usb interface?
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:51 pm
I was mixing stuff at work, nothing too serious, just short background music for internet games. So I finish it up on my new win 7 notebook on trusted akg240, and go home to find out the mix sounds like a pile of dung. Basically, I suspect the headphone outs on the notebook is severely underpowered. That's not the case with my Toshiba at home, which can drive the 240s just like any mixer / audio interface can. (I used k240 both for mixing at work and listening at home)
Problem is that because the underpowered outs cut out most of the mid bass and low end in general, I over compensated and created a muddy, booming, "how did I manage to fit that much bass and muck in there?" kind of a mix.
Short solution is to just use a proper audio interface... but using a full box just to get enough power to my headphones seems very inefficient. I don't need ins, I just need a darn headphone jack out.
I did find cheap units that just do that, listed as headphone amps..
http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps ... ithead.php
At $150, they're not exactly cheap. A prosonus audio interface costs about the same, and I know the prosonus can drive my cans no problem. (friend has one and I tried it)
On a side note, my focusrite saffire 6 doesn't have enough juice for the k240s. It's okay, but definitely on the weaker side. My cheap behringer XENYX 1002FX (which got fried in Jordan) did a much better job. So it seems like a great headphone out isn't necessarily a standard for cheap audio interfaces.
Anyway, given that a nice headphone out could be a hit or miss, would a dedicated headphone amp be a safer bet? Thoughts?
Problem is that because the underpowered outs cut out most of the mid bass and low end in general, I over compensated and created a muddy, booming, "how did I manage to fit that much bass and muck in there?" kind of a mix.
Short solution is to just use a proper audio interface... but using a full box just to get enough power to my headphones seems very inefficient. I don't need ins, I just need a darn headphone jack out.
I did find cheap units that just do that, listed as headphone amps..
http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps ... ithead.php
At $150, they're not exactly cheap. A prosonus audio interface costs about the same, and I know the prosonus can drive my cans no problem. (friend has one and I tried it)
On a side note, my focusrite saffire 6 doesn't have enough juice for the k240s. It's okay, but definitely on the weaker side. My cheap behringer XENYX 1002FX (which got fried in Jordan) did a much better job. So it seems like a great headphone out isn't necessarily a standard for cheap audio interfaces.
Anyway, given that a nice headphone out could be a hit or miss, would a dedicated headphone amp be a safer bet? Thoughts?