avoiding the quality audio cascade, possible?

[tybert7]

It is not enough to have a set of good headphones, you have to worry about the sound card used as well, and what about mic input quality? and mic quality itself?


I am in the market for some audio upgrades. I had a set of Altec Lansing MX5021 speakers once, best speakers I have ever had, but they died on me, and now I am in audio darkness.

http://www.alteclansing.com/index.php?file=north_product_detail&iproduct_id=MX5021

Incidentally Altec Lansing seems to be going backwards in terms of computer speaker offerings.


Using integrated audio after an older sound card did not work on a newer vista system I had built. But due to roommate considerations, I prefer headphones anyway, and that is where I am now.


Reportedly the best sounding card for headphones is one of those Asus cards that costs two HUNDRED DOLLARS !!!!!!!!!!!!!

... a bit steep for my budget, 100 would be ok, but how much of a quality sacrifice would that be? Need the room so that some cash can be spend on a new set of headphones as well, using a standard plantronics headset now, and it gets the job done, but it's not great.


So here is a question, assuming decent headphones, would it be THAT terrible to use something like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001

instead of cards like this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271004

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132010

192kh sample rate that important?

headphone amp only really useful for high impedance headphones?


Basically can I get near top quality headphone listening for around the 100 dollar mark sound cards instead of the 200 dollar beasts.

 

[ashmedai]

Mic quality - what, are you an amateur singer? For voice chat, the $10 Zalman is more than adequate. If you need stuff for pro/semi-pro recording, then you need to just get used to these issues (or rather become very knowledgeable about them).

For sources / DACs, are you only going stereo? There are nicer things at $200-300, especially if we can divert some of that to amplification, but you can still do nice things with $100 if you research your purchases well.

 

[seemlessthunder]

Asus Xonar DX. 192khz sample rate and great sound at a much lower cost.