Headphone jack directly to SoundCard or the Z-5500 Control Unit

Pribnik · 6 Mar 2011 at 00:10

Hi.

I was wondering if it makes much of a difference to the sound quality whether I connect the headphones jack directly to the sound card or to the Logitech Z-5500 Control Unit

In case you don't know what Logitech Z-5500 is here's a little time saving link

http://www.logitech.com/en-gb/speakers-audio/home-pc-speakers/devices/224

It might just be me but it seems to me that there is a slight difference in quality between those two.

At the moment the sound is transferred to the control unit via a optical cable.

Marsman · 6 Mar 2011 at 00:16

Yes, there will be a difference. All PC speakers I have used, connecting the headphones to them results in lower sound quality.

Pribnik · 6 Mar 2011 at 00:26

Marsman said:
Yes, there will be a difference. All PC speakers I have used, connecting the headphones to them results in lower sound quality.

I was sorta hoping you wouldn't say that tbh. Cause it's a pain having to reconnect the headphones at the back of the case every time, plus the cable is hardly long enough. Thanks for the reply tho

Klo · 6 Mar 2011 at 03:00

Pribnik said:
I was sorta hoping you wouldn't say that tbh. Cause it's a pain having to reconnect the headphones at the back of the case every time, plus the cable is hardly long enough. Thanks for the reply tho

Test it out and see. If you don't notice the difference, surely it doesn't matter if there is a theoretical change in audio quality.

Boozebeard · 6 Mar 2011 at 14:08

There's an annoying background hiss if connect my headphones to my z-5500 control panel.

Pribnik · 6 Mar 2011 at 20:15

Boozebeard said:
There's an annoying background hiss if connect my headphones to my z-5500 control panel.

When you actually listen to something? I get a high pitched, loud hiss when headphones are connected to the control unit and I switch the unit off. But oddly enough it doesn't happen every time.

joeyjojo · 6 Mar 2011 at 20:27

Klo said:
Test it out and see. If you don't notice the difference, surely it doesn't matter if there is a theoretical change in audio quality.

This is correct - if you can't tell, there's no problem

You also won't know what you're missing with a proper headphone amp