# Sennheiser HD650 + Essence STX II 7.1 + LittleDot MkII



## Sluppermand (Mar 10, 2021)

Hello guys,

I've been looking for a headphone tube amp for a while, since I think it would fit my desktop quite well.
Sadly, the Woo Audio I fell in love with, will become very expensive, if I wanna have them send to Denmark (Awesome company, they only sell directly to costumers, but that obviously means they have no resellers in Europe). But instead I've found another good looking component, the LittleDot Mk II.
I wanna pair it with a set of Sennheiser HD650.
However, I still need to get the sound from the computer to the amp, and I've found 2 choices of quality sound cards, the Asus Essence STX II and EVGA Nu Audio. However, if I buy any of those, I have kinda come to the conclusion, that the headphone amp, is excess, since I will be able to run my headphones just from the sound card.
So how can I possibly get high quality sound from my computer to LittleDot Mk II, without using a huge amount of money for a sound card that makes the LittleDot obsolete?

I really like the idea of the Essence card, since it's 2 cards, so I can use one card to setup my home theater and the other card for my headphones. But I'm a little scared, that I might need to use the line out from "card 1" to send signals for front speakers to the stereo - And then I'm missing line out for the tube amp.


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## Deleted member 202104 (Mar 10, 2021)

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						Schiit Valhalla 2
					

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Pairs really nicely with the HD650's.  It has line out so you could use this to loop back to your home theater system if needed.  You could also just use a USB DAC for two-channel use to the headphone amp, and use the sound card for 7.1.


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## Sluppermand (Mar 10, 2021)

Awesome, I didn't think about that! LittleDot Mk II do have line out aswell, so at least, that's not a problem.
Then I just need to realise, wether I have to invest in both LittleDot and Asus Essence, or I should skip the tube amp.


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## Deleted member 202104 (Mar 10, 2021)

Actually, after thinking about it for a bit, using the line out from the headphone amp probably isn't the best way to accomplish what you're looking to do.

The line out level would be controlled by the volume control of headphone amp - not a good idea.

If you choose to still go that way, a better method would be to use a switch to choose to send your L/R front channels to either the AV receiver or your headphone amp.


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## Sluppermand (Mar 10, 2021)

weekendgeek said:


> Actually, after thinking about it for a bit, using the line out from the headphone amp probably isn't the best way to accomplish what you're looking to do.
> 
> The line out level would be controlled by the volume control of headphone amp - not a good idea.
> 
> If you choose to still go that way, a better method would be to use a switch to choose to send your L/R front channels to either the AV receiver or your headphone amp.


I'm quite sure, the volume on the tube amp, only applies to the jackstick in front. The line out, is most likely so you can use it as a preamp - Which is perfect. Right now I got a NAD surround receiver, but I'm concidering skipping that, and exchanging it for a 7.1 channel poweramp, and then use the computer as the only source.

But I'm afraid using the tube amps line out, would add a tiny bit of delay, which would be devastating.


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## Deleted member 202104 (Mar 10, 2021)

Sluppermand said:


> I'm quite sure, the volume on the tube amp, only applies to the jackstick in front. The line out, is most likely so you can use it as a preamp - Which is perfect. Right now I got a NAD surround receiver, but I'm concidering skipping that, and exchanging it for a 7.1 channel poweramp, and then use the computer as the only source.
> 
> But I'm afraid using the tube amps line out, would add a tiny bit of delay, which would be devastating.



Not sure about the littledot, but the Valhalla's back jacks are variable to be used as a preamp or directly to powered speakers.

Considering 7.1 is your primary goal, if you choose to add a headphone amp, using a separate DAC would provide the versatility to keep Surround and 2 Channel separate.


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## Metroid (Mar 10, 2021)

I use the essence with the 6xx and is pretty incredible, actually any headphones being put in the essence ie. denon top ends and seinheiser ones have been pretty good so far


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## Sluppermand (Mar 11, 2021)

Metroid said:


> I use the essence with the 6xx and is pretty incredible, actually any headphones being put in the essence ie. denon top ends and seinheiser ones have been pretty good so far


Hello there,

Maybe you can answer one question for me then:
I expect, to make a 7.1 surround setup with Essence STX II would be like this:
Card1 - The one with headphone outputs on it.
Card2 - The one with 6 rca connectors.
Card1 - Output for the 2 front speakers.
Card2 - 5 surround speakers + 1 sub.
However, for now my hometheater consists of only 5.1.
Can I modify the channels, and use Card2 for 1 sub, 1 center, 2 fronts and 2 backspeakers - To free the lineout on Card1 up to do something else?


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## Metroid (Mar 11, 2021)

Sluppermand said:


> Hello there,
> 
> Maybe you can answer one question for me then:
> I expect, to make a 7.1 surround setup with Essence STX II would be like this:
> ...


no idea if you can use multiple outputs for the same sound, on windows 10 I have to select the sound card output on sound settings for it to work and is only one output, not multiple. I think one sound card will be enough for your needs above, just need to set it up correctly, might need some adapters.


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## Sluppermand (Mar 11, 2021)

Metroid said:


> no idea if you can use multiple outputs for the same sound, on windows 10 I have to select the sound card output on sound settings for it to work and is only one output, not multiple. I think one sound card will be enough for your needs above, just need to set it up correctly, might need some adapters.


Ah, you got the old version, not the STX II, which consists of 2 cards.


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## Metroid (Mar 11, 2021)

Sluppermand said:


> Ah, you got the old version, not the STX II, which consists of 2 cards.


yes.


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