Do I need a soundcard for an AD700X

[FoxyGrandpa]

I am looking to get this Headphone but I don't currently have a soundcard, my motherboard is the Gigabyte 990 FXA UD3 and I will primarily use it for gaming. Would a souncard benefit me enough to justify buying one.

 

[ssddx]

they are 38ohm headphones so should be powered fine by onboard sound and do not require a powerful soundcard to drive them.

generally my suggestion is to use onboard sound unless you note audio issues (distorted sound, crackling, etc) or unless you need/want higher end sound.

would you benefit from either an external dac+amp or an internal soundcard over your onboard? very likely however i'm not sure if the gain would be worthwhile to you. something in the range of the asus xonar dx would be my recommendation if you did.

will they sound twice as good? no. you may notice some small differences here and there such as a little more bass but generally the ad700 doesnt respond much to amping http://www.head-fi.org/t/497823/ad700-to-amp-or-not-to-amp-that-is-the-question and if your dac isnt terrible in your onboard sound then that wouldnt be the issue and might not improve quality by a huge margin either.

an even better option (a step above that) would be to use an external dacamp such as the audioengine d1. sound quality would be better but its also much more expensive and doesnt give you virtual surround as an option (unlike the dx which does). also the dacamp costs about as much as the headphones! which doesnt make it very justifiable in my opinion for the ad700x as it might be for other headphones.

some headsets respond better to amping than others and some definitely sound much better on better dac's than others.

something like the sennheiser hd598 responds very well to such things despite its semi-low price (normally about $180) and a $140 amp would definitely be very worthwhile for that set. most audiotechnica headphones do not need amps or dacs (unless your onboard is terrible) and generally do not improve by a large enough margin to be worthwhile spending additional cash on such things unless of course you have an assue.