Plugging Headphones into F_Audio

[HardCaution]

Hello guys I recently started playing around with my onboard sound (965p-S3) and my F_Audio plugs on my case (Thermaltake Armor Jr) and noticed that my headphones sound horrible if i plug them into either the F_audio or directly into my mobo (yes I know... I know... Onboard sucks) and boy was the sound quality crap compared to when I plugged my headphones into my x-530's which I plan to get rid of soon to buy me a pair of MS-1's.

Now the question is, is it normal for audio quality to degrade when connected to F_Audio as opposed to plugging directly into a sound card? It seems strange to me that the sound i'm getting out of my speakers when connected to my x-530s sound better than being directly plugged into my mobo. Am I doing something wrong?

Oh yea and I Notice that there is no Headphone plug on the back of my mobo and other sound cards I'm looking at online... So where am I suppose to plug my headphones in?

 

[Audioguy]

Your mobo probably doesn't a good enough signal to driver the headphones on it;s won so you get stuck with bad quaity sound. This is the only thing I can think of if you notice amarked improvment when connecting speakers and then headphones...

 

[HardCaution]

Ok thanks for that, I think I'll be replacing my onboard with a soundblaster Live! I found in my closer which I hope will be better :O
does F_Audio usually degrade sound quality?

 

[Audioguy]

Depends on what your connecting the Header to. If you connect it to a good card then it;s great if you connect it to a onboard then well, it will be bad...

 

[HardCaution]

riteo thanks for that :] I installed a soundblaster Live! Card which is far better than onboard but im still not very impressed... Looks like I gotta shell out some cash on a oxygen chip card :]

Just wondering with the Oxygen 8788 how do they compared to some of the portable mp3 players such as an ipod or a zen etc... Are they superior in sound quality or inferior?