Gadgetory

oh yes so hot cool so sup guys I'm Dimitri with our Canucks and I used to be very particular about my audio setup in terms of what headphones i pair with what particular amplifier and for the longest time I used the o2 + au DAC from JD's labs as my main audio source and because I thought that that would be the best thing to drive my HD 800 but at some point I was like Yolo and routed all my audio through the motherboard because I was tired of being obsessed with what is the best solution for my headphones and for my speakers and stuff and just was really enjoying the convenience of it is what it is until JVs Labs came out with the element at $350 diag slash had some amplifier and yeah I was intrigued but how does it compare to the onboard audio of my $250 motherboard let's find out right this explore your future with the cosmos - case and celebrate 25 years of ambition the drives Coolermaster forward enjoy the familiar yet still forward-looking character of the frame with solid aluminum handles it may be the most physical you'll ever get with the computer case but it's all worth while or get creative with any of the 13 storage options that encourage outside the box thinking meanwhile the curve temple glass panels on both sides ensures a lasting impression classically trained but still ready for anything the coolermaster cosmos - lets celebrate the past by building for the future so a quick refresher attack is a digital to analog converter it converts the zeros and ones from your audio source to an actual waveforms through your headphones can read it this is just an external deck it handles all the processing in here and not on your motherboard or your smartphone or any other source this is where the processing happens so I had one amplifier boost the signal for your headphones so each headphone have electrical resistance on the current which is impedance measured in ohms so the higher the number the more difficult it is to drive them at proper volume so this is 50 ohms impedance which is kind of easy to drive in your smartphone and through the motherboard but this is 300 foams so it's more difficult to drive you properly at good volume with good resolution and detail through your smart phone so this is exactly where the amplifier comes into play so the element is both exact and the headphone amplifier but they can be purchased separately which is why the element is the most expensive one here it connects your computer via USB cable and compatible with both PC and Mac I wish they included cable was a bit longer so I can place it further away from my system and I also wish that the power brick was somehow smaller it just adds so much bulk to routing the element but it's not meant to be tucked away anywhere it's meant to be sitting on your table and it's your show-off piece it's very beautiful with this flat and white body it's a little bit too large for my taste but definitely looks better than the old deck that has that more rugged appearance overall I like the smoothness of the metal shell and while it looks good that slight depression around the volume wheel collect dust and particles that are not as easily wiped as on the rest of the flat surface aside from the logo the front the top is very minimal with the color accent around the volume wheel I have the copper version to match my macbook pro but the red and black are also available and when using the headphone amplifier we get an LED illumination around the wheel the wheel itself is very smooth with minimal resistance and quite a lot of travel distance for really fine adjustments in the volume with hard stops on each end the wheel of my unit wobbles just a little bit it doesn't impact volume adjustments in any way but because of this motion I thought it was a press down button but it is not at the front there is the quarter of an inch headphone output and the Resta connections are at the rear so you can route a set of speakers through the DAC out or connect another amp through the line in the power button turns on the headphone amplifier and decide it is a low or high gain to boost the signal and my only complaint here is the lack of source switching for analog in or out as will have to manually disconnect one set of cables for the other source to take over plus the volume wheel is for the headphone amplifier only and here are some fancy specifications that I don't understand and it was time to get into the music element and hear what this thing is capable of and wow I it really led to instinctive mind of wanting to go back and revisit some of your favorite songs and hear how they're different and they also did that with my videos and realize that I did not do a good job with audio and mastering things with the in terms of the music in the background and the voice so that will change now with the element the DAC on the element is excellent it's super clean but it has a bit of wireless interference so with my phone right next to it I could hear the wireless interference in the headphones before receiving the notification on the phone so make sure to keep the distance between the element and your wireless devices as far as the amplifier goes it is incredibly powerful it drives my HD hundreds perfectly well without introducing the harshness that I normally here at loud volumes through the motherboards the output is just natural I'm happy that it's not overly bright and it's not warm either keeping the bass controlled combined with a very open and the detailed signature of the HD 800 I'm going to keep this on the desk for future reference sounds but I'm very interested to hear how the onboard audio handles HD 800 and this a 2's motherboard comes with you know pretty good audio in it I don't care about all the gaming sonic studio stuff and everything was disabled and I was surprised that the motherboard drove the HD 800 very well in terms of power and I left about 60% volume to be comfortable however switching between the motherboard and the element I could notice the difference so let's say the lower end reproduction is just not as full on the motherboards in terms of the sound stage separation on the motherboard again everything felt a little bit closed off while on the element I could hear things being sort of in the distance while on the motherboard things are just not as separated and in terms of the the treble on the motherboard it was harsher and dryer versus very well controlled and smooth on the element I also have this dock the d3 from audio engine and in terms of sound stages produced very similar environment as the motherboard sort of closed off so I can really appreciate the amplification on the element that really opens up the environment and you can hear that separation and distant audio elements in whatever you're listening to and so the element is superior compared to my other amplifiers and acts with a fantastic neutral amplifier a lot of power and it's also standalone so you can move it around your PC's and then giving it the hierarchy next damn good award but I'm honestly impressed with the onboard audio and if I'm not critically listening for the differences between the elements and the onboard audio I would enjoy both sources just fine the courser glaive game mouse has it all with the comfortable shape and interchangeable some grips on run switches a fantastic optical sensor with one dpi adjustment steps and of course my friends RGB lighting experience performance in the palm of your hand with the link in the description below and so for concluding thoughts you really got to ask yourself if you need a DAC and a headphone amplifier because you're not happy with your current audio sources or you simply want to pair the best quality headphone with the best quality interface I'm perfectly fine carrying the HD 650 s and the HD 800 s with my motherboard but it does take a certain level of commitment to branch out into this really high-end audio stuff with amplifiers and acts just be warned that it's an expensive path so guys thank you so much for watching make sure to check out these relevant pieces here subscribe if you like what you see and you'll hear from me in the next video