Sound Cards for Headphones?

[Canadian in Berlin]

Hi

I'm currently using the onboard sound on my Abit IP-35 pro. I'm wondering if upgrading to a real soundcard will actually make a difference too me with my Sennheiser headphones (not top of the line, but pretty damn good.)

Does the sound quality improve or just the features (that I never use) and volume output (that I don't really need).

Can you recommend any specific sound cards, preferably under $100?

 

[spaceman]

um, what model senns?

the x-fi fatality probably unless you want music only.

 

[Canadian in Berlin]

HD 485: http://www.sennheiser.com/sennheiser/icm.nsf/root/500266

I play a wide variety of games and almost constantly listen to music.



So to my question, it makes a difference? and how?

 

[SBSuperfly]

I use some sennheiser PC150's and I upgraded from onboard to an Audigy 2zs and it made a huge difference in sound quality. Headphones combined with a good sound card are much better at detecting directionality in FPS than speakers.

 

[spaceman]

ok then the fatality is a good bet for you. The 485s will do fine out of it. You will get improvements in every respect sonically. It does a better job listening to music + gaming at the same time too.

 

[Canadian in Berlin]

cool. thanks man.