Last weekend was a standard, busy affair at Audio Sanctuary with several people in the store all listening to a wide range of different headphones simultaneously. When I asked one of the clients what he was going to be using to power the £400 headphones he was listening to, he announced “my pc”. I followed up with this and established that he would be using the headphone output on his internal soundcard to power his new purchase. I very quickly entered into a long chapter and verse on all the different solutions that would perform better for him and the headphones.
It got me thinking that maybe there are more people out there using good quality headphones on their PCs/MACs with the 3.5mm socket and not getting the best from them. Soundcards are good but there are limitations. Certainly the first thing to do to improve the quality of audio from your computers is to grab yourself some “good” quality headphones. I mention good in inverted comma’s as it is very much a one man’s meat kind of statement.
The audio output from the 3.5mm jack socket is not overly powerful, and if you are not keen on spending a whacking great sum of money then simply purchasing some tuneable earphones will get your computer audio sounding better straight off the bat. My personal suggestion would be something like the Trinity Audio Vyrus (Yes i sing its praises ALOT but they are incredible value for money in my book). Other than a decent set of earphones, you really are limited to how far you can push the internal audio board and DAC (the bit that converts 0’s and 1’s to audible sound – more on this in a minute).
By just using the built in 3.5mm socket you really are limited to how far you can go without the audio sounding desperately boring and lifeless. The next step would be to take the audio conversion and power to a dedicated piece of technology specifically designed to get the best out of your music. Some external units can cost the absolute earth but you can start with a relatively low priced option and still make significant gains. This outboard unit is the bit that converts your digital music or 0’s and 1’s to audible sound that you can enjoy. This is called the DAC or Digital / Analogue Converter. The better the job this does at conversion, the better the sound will be (theoretically). You will also benefit from gaining more power from the headphone socket that is built in. At the moment the best value in my opinion is the AudioQuest Dragonfly Red at £169. They do a DragonFly Black, however for the extra pounds spent you get a whole lot more in sonic precision and musicality with the Red which is why it would be my suggestion.
The USB stick style of the Dragonfly Series makes it the perfect addition to your workplace inventory. It inconspicuously plugs into a USB socket of choice on your computer and enables you to hear your favourite tracks a lot clearer and with more detail. The beauty of the Dragonfly is that it can also supply that detail to a much larger range of earphones and headphones that the measly 3.5mm socket attached directly to your computer. Pair a Dragonfly with the Vyrus or with the gorgeous Noble Trident at £349 and you have an incredible audio solution at just over £500.
There are plenty of USB DACs on the market now that will give you the benefit of doing the digital conversion away from the computer whilst boosting the power available from the headphone socket. The likes of Meridian’s Explorer2 DAC has seen a significant rise in popularity recently due to it’s ability to stream and decode MQA encoded material through TIDAL.
If perhaps you feel the need to spend a wod of cash on a PC based solution then of course there are also plenty of options available to you. These are based around the same principle of taking the digital music conversion and power away from the computer. As you start spending more and more, the quality can increase and so too can the power that is supplied to your earphones/headphones. I say the “quality can increase” because there are products that I have listened to that I personally feel are not worth the money. I am in a very fortunate position to be able to listen to a lot of hardware, if you would like advice on what’s a good solution then feel free to contact me directly.
As a really top quality setup i’m not sure I can recommend the Chord Hugo or Hugo2 highly enough. This battery powered and USB chargeable (Hugo2 only) combined DAC and headphone amplifier takes computer audio to a whole new level. At this price it might make for a significant investment, however the Hugo series is perfectly suited either in the office or at home connected to a larger HiFi system. There is plenty of power from this little unit to drive some of the most demanding headphones and many clients opt for this product as it can be taken from place to place and offer exceptional musical reproduction wherever you are. When at this level the world is pretty much your oyster in terms of headphone selection, the Hugo is more than capable of delivering the very best from them.
So it is possible for a mere £99 to start really enjoying the audio much more from your computer. If you have always listened to music streaming services or watch video’s on your computer with earphones/headphones then look into getting more from it. The end game really isn’t just using the built in headphone jack on your PC.
