Soundcard/Amp for Sennheiser HD558's?

chrisafp07

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Nov 27, 2012
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Hi guys, I just recently decided to take the step into real audio and away from all the pc headsets I've owned that cost as much as the Sennheiser's I recently purchased with an attachable mic that devastates my other headsets in performance. I really couldn't believe it and I'm sure these HD558's aren't even close to the other higher end headphones.

Basically now I want to know what my next step should be. I have an Asus 990FX Sabertooth motherboard with onboard Realtek audio and I want to upgrade from there. Some people have told me to buy and amp, some a soundcard with amp. I'm VERY new to this and may sound completely off track, please forgive me. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated, my budget is between $50 and $150. Thanks guys and gals!
 

iam2thecrowe

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buy a sound card with a headphone amp. I have the sound blaster z, and the amp drives headphones much louder and clearer than onboard audio. the equalizer also works insanely well with no real distortion like some software eq's give. the simulated surround also works surprisingly well. Asus xonar range also has some cards with headphone amps, but from what i have read when i was doing a lot of research about it, was the SB z is better for gaming audio, and there were some driver issues with some games and certain xonar cards. Also, the xonar cards do all sound effect processing in software, most models actually use the same DSP chip, just have different bits enabled and different software. The SB Z has a full hardware processor consisting of a quad core processor, along with the DSP and amp components. Some reviews have said certain xonar cards sounded more neutral with a flatter response, more for audiophile listeners. I havnt personally tried a xonar card to compare it, but my experience with the SB Z is nothing but positive and it fits your budget.
 

chrisafp07

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Nov 27, 2012
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I also want to have my 5.1 surround system plugged in and be able to switch between them and my HD558's. Using the headphones when my girlfriend is studying or sleeping and I'm playing Battlefield. Will the Creative SB Z have enough inputs? Would adapters help? I've heard the SB Z with the audio control module actually lowers audio quality from the ACM, but it is fine directly from the card. Thoughts?

 

iam2thecrowe

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well you dont need to use the audio control module (its a volume control), that is the Zx model i think that has it, although i think impact on sound quality would be minimal. You can use a coax or optical digital cable for your 5.1 rig. thats another thing the Z is good at that many other cards cant do, it reprocesses 5.1 analog outputs back into the digital output for gaming etc. so you only have to run one cable instead of 6. everything is switchable. Basically if your primary concern is gaming, the soundblaster cards are recommended highly by most users and have great reviews, where audiophile types tend to go for the higher end xonar models.
 

iam2thecrowe

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i will check when i get home, but you should be able to get the specs from the creative web site. in the creative control panel you can switch from headphones to speakers quite easily with a toggle switch. there was one issue i had with the control panel not responding recently, and i found its an issue when you have the AMD gpu's audio enabled. disabled it in device manager and now i have it working properly.