kommando kodiak
Is the impedence automatically detected and set or is there a menu option im not seeing to set the rating i need for my headphones?

Unlike some audio cards, the NU Audio doesn't use impedance detection or a gain selection.  The analog headphone amp will be able to drive most headphones satisfactorily (no need to pretend that it's going to drive something like the Susvara well, lol). 

kommando kodiak
well its funny you mention that because Im trying to run the HE1000v2s off it and i found the equivalent of the impedence which is the smaller headphone % slider. Mine are rated for 32ohm but the 5% on the slider that corresponds to is very low isnt even loud enough to hear ANYTHING at all in CSGO(its basically on mute) <== this did happen but was a game glitch because i just played it again and audio worked.

So Should i not be using this card with my headphones then because to get adequate sound i must exceed my phones rated ohms?
I never had the issue with the onboard audio or my ZxR.

I wouldn't use the volume options the way you're doing it.  I think the manual suggests to do it that way (setting the analog headphone volume as ohms), but it's not correct in that regard.  Almost forgot about that, but if you are the type of person who actually reads the manual/quick guide, I'm sorry for the inaccurate information.  Instead, I recommend to set the system volume to 100% and then use the headphone volume slider as your main method to control it.  Both the volume and power to the headphones will increase as it goes up. 
 
There are two different things you're listening for with higher end headphones: 1) volume, and 2) power.  On most sources, you can get the volume high enough for comfortable listening, but you can tell that the headphone is missing something in its dynamics.  Similarly, you can fully power the headphones to get everything out of them, but possibly not at the volume level you want, especially if you're using volume control or giving headroom for signal conversions (or both!).
 
Ohms is really just a rating for resistance; with planars you also have to take into account sensitivity.  Planar headphones, regardless of their resistance, are typically really hard to drive (especially of that class).  My Arya's are listed between 35 and 50 ohm, depending on where you see them listed, and I can guarantee you that you're going to need to push the analog volume control close to 85% at times for proper volume - sometimes more.  Because I've never heard the HE1000v2's (though I've heard they're awfully good), I can only suggest to start at around 30% on the headphone slider and move upwards.  30% will be low, maybe too low, but that's better than blowing out your eardrums first.
 
At this level of power, you can't damage your headphones.  Excessive volume can over time, and too high of an amped signal can hurt them also, but an audio card doesn't possess nearly the kind of power to hit those levels.  Much as I like these audio cards, there's only so much you can fit onto a PCB of its size, and you'd need a lot larger room to work with to turn it into a Class A or A/B device that can approach the levels you'd need to cause damage. 
 
I have a couple of headphone amps that I use separately - a far more expensive tube headphone amp, and moderate-sized solid state headphone amp.  The tube amp beautifully powers the Arya, but it doesn't always hit the volume I need; the solid state amp can provide more than enough volume on the higher gain setting, but you can tell that a little bit is missing from the headphone's capabilities.  So if you can't get everything out of the NU Audio card when you have it configured directly, that's fine too.
 
Similarly, I would expect that you'll be able to get the volume you need from your HE1000v2's just fine when you use the analog volume control as I noted above.  I'm sure you'll also notice that the headphones could be powered better by a more complete headphone amp, as well.  However, this is the trade-off with the audio quality of the NU Audio cards.  These cards are quite powerful, and can certainly power most headphones very well.  To get the absolute most out of those headphones, you'll need a dedicated headphone amp, no question.  On the other hand, you'll be looking for something that's several times the price of the NU Audio card, as well.

kommando kodiak
Yeah i went by the directions indicating 5% on the headphones and 100% on the Master volume. I'm cautious.
50% on headphone is around where i had estimated id need to be to get the power to the headphones but I was scared to. I want to be clear here, though,  are you saying i can set the headphone volume to 100%(600ohm from the manual) and it still be safe for my phones?  I will not set my windows/master volume to 100 itd probably be somewhere around 15-20 or even less. 

Yes.  Ignore the ohm reference from the manual.  That was due to some miscommunication with the engineers prior to launch.  The headphone volume control is simply a digitally-controlled potentiometer.
 
It doesn't make sense to leave the Windows/master volume so low.  That will force you to run the headphone volume control higher than you probably need to.  It's essentially the same thing as intentionally lowering the line-level into the card (or pre-amp), requiring the amp to make up ground.  My suggestion here is also Audio Note's recommendation.  For what it's worth, this is the way I've been running the NU Audio cards for over a couple years.
 
Now, for ease of use, I can completely understand leaving some room to manipulate the volume in Windows (e.g. setting the volume to 80% or so) so that you can raise/lower it a little as needed via another volume toggle. But lowering it more than necessary will potentially degrade the audio quality.

kommando kodiak
 Set windows to 90 and raise the headphone volume slider to desired comfort. Got it. Thanks LeeM

That would be my recommendation.
 
Now, there's also nothing wrong with experimenting to find the levels that sound best to you.  Some members say they prefer the opposite - i.e. set a lower master volume and use a higher headphone amp % - so you're free to give that a try as well.  At the end of the day, it's about knowing how to find the best balance for what you're listening to, even if it defies all logic, reason, and engineering, lol.

kommando kodiak

EVGATech_LeeM
 

At the end of the day, it's about knowing how to find the best balance for what you're listening to, even if it defies all logic, reason, and engineering, lol.

Wait so youre saying those cables that sat in the bin with all the different gem quality crystal stones for  6 months will sound better than my stock cable!?  



/f

Ah, so somebody else knows the secret to making cables produce audio nirvana; a secret passed down only to those trained by the secret order of monks who spend all but 30 seconds of their lives in complete auditory silence.  Good to know there are others.
 
But seriously, I'd like to hear your impressions of the headphones after you dial in your volume settings.

kommando kodiak
Ok remember how i said csgo was like muted? As it turns out my card randomly wont play any sounds, is this a known issue? Its the surround sound setting that triggers it and launching CSGO, as i wanted to test out in that game. Ill check the nahimic app in windows store to see if that fixes it

What bit-depth/sample rate are you trying to play the game with?  For games, I usually wouldn't recommend anything over 24-bit / 48,000MHz.

kommando kodiak
Ok remember how i said csgo was like muted? As it turns out my card randomly wont play any sounds, is this a known issue? Its the surround sound setting that triggers it and launching CSGO, as i wanted to test out in that game. Ill check the nahimic app in windows store to see if that fixes it

Only other thing I can think of, if it's not a bit-depth/sample rate issue is that anti-cheat software might be blocking it.  If that's the case, I'll have our team check with Nahimic.