New Headphones - Now need good sound card and speakers

[monkey_boy]

Hi all,

Sorry if something similar has come up recently, but I can't use the search function for some reason

Anyway, I've just bought a pair of Sennheiser HD600 headphones, and as well as using them on a hifi, I'd like to use them with my computer. I only have a laptop, but portability for using the 'phones isn't an issue. What I'd like to get set up is to have a good external sound card that will drive the 'phones nicely, and a *good* set of speakers. My idea of good in this case would be comparible to the Denon/Mission speakers that come with the M35DAB system.

Can anyone point me in the right direction please?

My Laptop is a Fujitsu Amilo Pi1505, with 1Gb RAM, 40gb HDD, Realtek HD Audio on-board sound running Windows Vista Ultimate, using Windows XP Sound Drivers. Not sure if that information would be relevant but I thought I'd include it just in case.

Regards,

Monkey_Boy

 

[monkey_boy]

Thanks for that. What will the Audiophile offer me that the Creative options on OcUK won't? Is a headphone amp essential for these headphones? As you can probably tell i'm very new to all of this- I have been looking around for some semi-decent headphones and stumbled upon the HD600s and remembered that I'd read good things about them, and got them for £60 so I thought I'd snap them up. I'm no audiophile by any means, but I do recognise that on-board sound cards are rough, because I can hear buzzing in the background when I use headphones, which drives me crazy.

Speaker-wise, I'm looking to spend about £80 and I really don't want a seperate sub.

If it makes any difference to your reccomendations, I will mainly be listening to 128kbps mp3 files or Napster streaming. I don't really have any other option than this, as my whole music library is digital now and re-ripping the stuff I still have isn't something I want to do (around 200gb of MP3s).

 

[monkey_boy]

Thanks very much. Logical advice and all so quick too! I'll post when I've got something set up, and will no doubt be asking how else my hard-earnt is best spent.