Soundcard or Amp?

[Holy Wars]

Hello again,
I'm about to get a pair of Sennheiser HD 518's. I honestly do not know too much about headphones, But from what i gathered, It's the Impedence that makes it a better quality? (the higher the better?). The specs for the headphones are here:
Transducer type: Dynamic, open
Headphone type: Circumaural
Frequency response: 14 - 26,000 Hz
Total harmonic distortion: < 0.2% (1 kHz/100 dB SPL)
Sound pressure level (SPL): 108 dB
Impedance: 50 Ohms
So...Right now i'm just using the integrated sound chip on my motherboard, which i assume means my headphones will not be at a full potential. So, Do i need to get a new Soundcard for my computer? or an Amplifier?
I cannot go too crazy with the prices of these, Which everyone will make my heaphones sound good for a low price would be great.
Thank you.

 

[zink1701]

Impedance does not affect sound quality just how loud the speaker can go without blowing. Basically the less impedance the less power you need to get good audio quality, low impedance headphones (25ohms) are used for MP3 players ect as they dont output all that much power to the head phones. The higher the impedance the louder you can have the volume. At 50 ohms your PC sound card should have enough output to give you high sound levels. Try the headset and if you are not happy with the volume level (sound quality will not be affected, that is determined by the speaker frequency range) then buy an in line amp for your headset.

 

[manofchalk]

Impedance doesnt mean better quality, its just the headphones electrical resistance. The higher it is, the more power needed from the audio source to properly drive them.
Most soundcards have some sort of headphone amplifier built in, my low end ASUS DGX has an amp in it.

Basically decide how much your going to spend, and get whichever ASUS Xonar card fits your budget.

 

[Holy Wars]

Impedance does not affect sound quality just how loud the speaker can go without blowing. Basically the less impedance the less power you need to get good audio quality, low impedance headphones (25ohms) are used for MP3 players ect as they dont output all that much power to the head phones. The higher the impedance the louder you can have the volume. At 50 ohms your PC sound card should have enough output to give you high sound levels. Try the headset and if you are not happy with the volume level (sound quality will not be affected, that is determined by the speaker frequency range) then buy an in line amp for your headset.

Oh lol. Thank you, I can easily say i know nothing about Headphones and the specs.