Want a new sound card and headphones, need advice please

Space Monkey

Space Monkey

Space Monkey

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Hey guys,

At the moment I'm just using the onboard sound but was thinking I'd love a decent sound card as I've not had one in donkeys yonks!

I have the Creative T40s 2.0 speakers and I'm looking at getting these cans: Panasonic RP-HTF600E-S based on others recs on here, so would I notice a difference with a decent card, if so what would you suggest, I've got about £80-100 to play with if needed.

Is a headphone amp (built into sound card?) worth looking at, does it make much difference?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer :)
 
I think a Xonar D1/X would be a great choice. At £60 it's well within budget. Doesn't have a headphone amp, but you are only going to get one if spend £20 on a Xonar DG, or £140 on an Essence.

A DG is another good choice. Quite a few people use one with those Panasonic headphones. It's a good combination. Some people don't rate the DG though, and the D1/X is certainly the better card.

Those headphones don't really need a headphone amp though, so the DG's amp will only increase the volume.

The DG is a good budget card for those who don't want to spend too much on a sound card, but with £100 to play with, if it was my choice, I'd go for a D1/X.
 
Do you think I'll notice the better card over the onboard?
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You should do. I have always found onboard audio sounds worst when using headphones. Some onboard audio is better than others, but it sounds dull and flat compared to a sound card.

And at the expense of sounding stupid, where would an amp be useful, I'm guessing with small in ear headphones?
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The idea of a headphone amp, is to bring out more detail with headphones that require a bit more juice. It really depends the headphones though, as some really need an amp to get the best from them, to bring out more detail and better sound quality. Others may see only a marginal benefit, and with some there may only be a volume increase, with no real increase in sound quality.

As for the D2/X. It's not really any better than the D1/X, when it comes to sound quality. It has more features, but none you will use with headphones or stereo speakers. It doesn't have a front audio header either, so if you use the front case audio to connect headphones, you wouldn't be able to. The D1/X does, however.

Having said that, front case audio can suffer from interference issues, so anyone who has that problem, wouldn't want to use it anyway.
 
If you are looking to save money and primarily want it for speakers, then I'd say get a second hand x-fi xtreme music, and spend as much as you can on monitor speakers (bookshelf type) (Look at the M-Audio stuff :) )
 
Scougar said:
If you are looking to save money and primarily want it for speakers, then I'd say get a second hand x-fi xtreme music, and spend as much as you can on monitor speakers (bookshelf type) (Look at the M-Audio stuff :) )
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I agree with the used X-Fi Xtreme Music recommendation. It's still a great card, I have one myself. However, you mention speakers. OP has some Creative T40's already, and wants some headphones.
 
Marsman said:
I agree with the used X-Fi Xtreme Music recommendation. It's still a great card, I have one myself. However, you mention speakers. OP has some Creative T40's already, and wants some headphones.
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opps. EPIC reading failure :o :D

I have a D1 and an xtreme music. I wasn't aware the D1 had an amp though? (The DG does though).

Another possibility is to get a seperate headphone amp. (Although I'm not sure that will help with the quality of the audio).
 
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