Sound-card for headphone audio only

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WalkedAirplane

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 19, 2005
Messages
378
And primarily music. Minimal gaming / videos - I have a home theater for that.

I just need a 2.0 channel audio card for my PC, music is the primary need.
A breakout box is nice, but not required.

What's my best bet? Any suggestions? The nicer M-audios only have RCA outs, and I am not setting up a receiver here.

Will be plugged into Sennheiser HD 555s.
 
I use an older Audigy 2 ZS, works fine, outputting to my primary speakers (Klipsch Promedia 2.1), can handle DVD Audio as well (24 bit 96 kHz), and the output has a far superior quality compared to any regular onboard audio (which isn't too bad these days, actually). I use either a pair of Koss PortaPros for casual listening (also have some KSC-75 earclips) or if I'm doing some audio production work (I edit a lot of podcasts) I put on my Sony V6 set.

I'd guess most any soundcard that's not bottom of the barrel stuff these days should output a fairly good quality signal - after that you'd need to decide how you want it amplified. I don't have a surround setup so again, that Audigy is my primary casual audio listening/DVD watching audio device.

I've heard some good things (no pun intended) about the X-Fi cards, but I'll never buy another Creative product as long as I live. The Audigy 2 ZS is acceptable to me considering the work I do, but if and when I do a total upgrade on my audio product box, I'll move to either a USB breakout box solution from M-Audio or some other manufacturer. Creative has just ruined things for themselves three ways from Sunday and back, and I for one won't spend another dime on any products they sell.
 
despite all the creative-hating forum trolls here and everywhere i like my x-fi. one good thing about it and what concerns you is that is has a powerful output. it will drive headphones up to 150 ohms or so. it is comparable to a portable headphone amp in this regard (and i've had many)

i'm not saying its the most aureally pleasing as it uses cheaper op-amps but its better than most. if you are ok with a breakout box then you can get a usb dac/amp like an ibasso d1. very sweet sound for music-costs about 220.00. i had one for a while but it was actually a detriment to my x-fi for games(which is 99% of my pc usage)
 
CrEativE sUcks!!!!

Yeah. The best thing for music only is to get an external dac/amp. Much better sound. There are tons online. Look around head-fi.

How much $$ btw?
 
WalkedAirplane said:
Trying to stay under $100, but willing to go up to ~$300.
Click to expand...

Hmm. You should really upgrade the headphones too. For $300, plus say $60 or so that you could get for the 555s would = a pretty damn good headphone rig.

Go to head-fi, read, ask, and sorry about your wallet.

It is worth it.
 
For under $100, I think your best bet is to buy a used Chaintech AV710 (discontinued... look at ebay I guess) and a portable amp.
 
WalkedAirplane said:
Trying to stay under $100, but willing to go up to ~$300.
Click to expand...

As others have suggested, a soundcard and an amp will probably be the best if you are willing to spend up to $300. If you decide to go for the soundcard + amp combo, I suggest getting a soundcard with RCA outs as most of the home headphone amps use RCA ins.
 
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