Need advice to improve sound quality

[TheCommander]

I have a set of KRK KNS-8400 headphones and am currently using onboard sound with them. What would be the best way to use these to their fullest potential? I use them for music and gaming.

 

[Nenu]

A good external DAC with headphone amp or separate DAC and headphone amp for best sound quality.

For good sound quality with gaming features, the Creative ZXR soundcard.
You can improve on this by attaching a good headphone amp.
Or use the soundcard for gaming and an external DAC for music.

I gave up using soundcards entirely but I'm on speakers not headphones.
I use a high class DAC for stereo and an almost as high class DAC for 5.1.
I havent missed the gaming features of soundcards at all (previously used an Auzentech Prelude).
Although, if you want features that mix surround into stereo for headphones, you will need a good soundcard.

 

[TheCommander]

Excellent. What type of DAC would you recommend for headphones?

 

[brncao]

What drove you to wanting better sound? The headphones in question might already be at their fullest potential, and your headphones could be the weakest link no matter what upgrade you add on, just saying. They might sound the same to you if you add in a dac and amp. Can you game on speakers? Speakers (not the cheap kind) can produce sub-bass better than headphones.

You get a headphone amp if you need the extra juice to play at louder levels without distortion and hiss, and better transient response. This is especially true for harder to drive headphones.

You get the DAC if you want better conversion from digital to analog, but bear in mind the improvement might be negligible with today's technology, and you might not notice much of an improvement compared to an amp. I have an external DAC for music production purposes and to keep latency very low. I use it to convert multiple digital inputs to analog besides the computer. By keeping it outside the box (PC), I ensure no electrical noise is injected into the signal. Although, what I'm describing is actually called an audio interface, not so much the DAC itself.

 

[ExplodingTaco]

I use it to convert multiple digital inputs to analog besides the computer. By keeping it outside the box (PC), I ensure no electrical noise is injected into the signal. Although, what I'm describing is actually called an audio interface, not so much the DAC itself.

With today's technology DACs are pretty useless for better sound unless you are using some $10k+ speakers. A decent sound card will sound indistinguishable. However if you use it like brncao does, as a multi input device or on a PC that does not have room for an internal sound card they can still serve a practical purpose. Just don't spend $500 on one and expect better sound until you upgrade EVERYTHING you have.