How much am I missing?

[Kenai]

Well ..... let me first put forth the disclaimer that I am an audio noob....

That out of the way, I am currently using the built in sound on my Asus A8N32-SLI deluxe mobo:

Realtek® ALC850 8-channel CODEC
Universal Audio Jack
Audio Sensing and Enumeration Technology
Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports on back I/O

with Sennheiser PC150 headphones (about 1 year old) I personally do not like the sound quality coming from this setup, near as much as my old Abit NF2 board. I was wondering if you guys know of any way to tweak the inboard sound (besides d/ling the latest nVidia drivers)? Or should I put my money where my ears are and buck up for a new soundcard and set of headphones? I could probably squeeze about $200 (± as couple of honey-do's) from the wife on this.

I primarily utilize my headphones for gaming, secondly for music. I rarely use my Logitech surround sound speakers, which really produce poor sound quality with this inbuilt sound. I do not like the Senn PC 150's as they tend to pinch my head over time and a night of gaming leaves me with sore ears and a headache plus the sound quality sounds flat, which just might be my Asus mobo? I have looked at the supposed 5.1 headphones but they seem kinda gimmicky. The BluAnt X5 bluetooth headset looks extremely interesting, as wireless would be a plus, but I would rather have sound quality to get me immersed into a game rather than wireless. So I put forth my request:
Should I purchase a good gaming soundcard? (suggestions?) a new set of headphones? (suggestions?) All of the above? or just tweak my mobo sound? (how?)

Any help will be appreciated. and merry XmasHannukaQuansa.....

 

[BBA]

I don't know what to say...the ALC850 does not normally have a poor sound quality.

Maybe you should just go get a set of Koss KSC75 headphones, which sound pretty good (not the best but way better than the senn 150) but the price is very good. (don't buy the ones radio shack sells that with a built in volume control, the volume and wiring kill the sound, get the plain ones at best buy or so)

 

[Mister X]

Garbage in = Garbage out.
Replace the source of the Garbage.

 

[Bleedblue12345]

x-fi and hd 485/dt770/at/or better cans, with a zalman clip mich, trust me ull thank me later

 

[skeeder]

save some money. the AV710 is all you really need. It has two high quality DAC's (black plug) they put out at 96/24
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=292003
Its not the greatest gaming card...but its probably the best bang for the buck card with 5.1 I've ever seen. Its next to the M-Audio Revolutions.

great card for the price.
From there almost any cans will be awesome. I'd recommend the HD280's or HD5xx series.

 

[Kenai]

Thanks everyone for the help.

Just to let you know after further research I decided to go with the Senn HD555's
I will see how they sound with my onboard sound, I am sure it will be an improvement.
Now I need some sort of mic .... I like the modified Beyer 770's post, I might do that
or buy a clip-on?