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Quick question about headphone setup

L

leonemesis

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Messages
198
Well, I currently have a Auzentech Forte sound card which has a built-in headphone amp.

For now I´m using a Sony MDR-XD200 and it´s okay.

Should I buy some mid or high-end headphones, I suppose I should also buy a good headphone amp. Is this correct?
Or perhaps the difference in sound quality would not justify the extra expense?

One more thing, in case I need to buy the headphone amp, do I plug it in the headphone jack of the card (that uses the built-in amp) or do I plug it in the standard line out jack (so it´s just the external amp working)?

Thanks in advance for your time.
 
The necessity of a headphone amp will be defendant on the exact model you purchase and the source you intend to use in the future. Since you're upgrading from $30 cans I would concentrate on new phones first and consider amp/source upgrades later.

To start, you might better detail your discontentment with your current setup. That might help us find the best improvement for your dollar.
 
To be honest, it´s not that I am discontent with the current setup, I just think I can do a lot better, hehe.

I had that in mind, I´ll get a neat headphone first, I´m just wondering about using both amps (sound card´s and a dedicated one) or if I even should bother buying one.

I believe I won´t be upgrading anytime soon, but I´m still curious as to which is the best choice.

Thanks for your input by the way.
 
After you set a budget for the headphones you can start planning your budget for the amp.....
 
you'll connect the headphone amp to a line output, from whatever its going to be driven from, think of it just like a receiver or integrated amplifier, you connect a source component to it, not an amplfiier

as far as headphones, I would suggest going and trying out whatever is available near you, see if you even want to spend hundreds of dollars on something new, after testing them out

as far as an amp being required or not, the Forte should have no problems with 99% of headphones that are able to be plugged directly into it (I don't really spend time getting into the "this amplifier sounds better paired with these headphones/speakers/whatever" arena, you'd have to ask someone else), so I wouldn't be overly worried there

honestly I wouldn't suggest going out and spending $500 though, as I said above, go try something out in stores, most musician/pro audio stores have some headphones available as demonstration models, some home theater shops do as well, and theres also the Bose store, if you find something you like, go for it, but don't feel that more money neccisarily means more quality, or that its a linear function (in other words, a $500 headphone is not twice as good as a $250 headphone)
 
leonemesis said:
To be honest, it´s not that I am discontent with the current setup, I just think I can do a lot better, hehe.
Click to expand...
Unless you just have to blow $500 on this upgrade, I would start with something a good deal more incremental like the Sennheiser HD-555 (about $100 if you shop around) which have a good sound and do not require an amp to function properly. Should you "outgrow" them you might then consider something more elaborate.
 
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