[dosquito]

I currently, on my fairly new desktop, have the Creative X-fi Elite Pro, but NOT the station that comes with it.

I have noticed that the sound quality on my Elite Pro is WORSE than that of my 4 year old integrated sound (95% sure it's integrated) laptop. I mean, noticeably worse.

To me, that is totally unacceptable.

I am going to get the HD595 soon, and want to have it on a system that it deserves (currently I use the HD485).

preferably I want something that will give it a decent amount of power, as it is only 50 ohms, and I probably won't get a headphone amp.

Now, I have seen these "external" dacs, but then I have also read that my sound card has four dacs, so why would I get one of those?

Sorry for my noobness...I really don't understand this stuff even though I have done a decent amount of research.

I have all my "extra" settings for the Creative sound card turned off - so that is not an issue. However, it seems pretty appalling to me that this sound card is a downgrade from my laptop, AND it sounds worse than my headphones directly plugged into my HD485.

Is there something that I can plug into the digital I/O of the Elite Pro that will bypass the crappiness of the card and perhaps have a better amp for my new headphones? What do you guys recommend?

Any other solutions are welcome. I have noticed that many suggest the 0404 USB dac...does this mean that it functions without a sound card? preferably i want something that will go into the sound card and let me keep the usefulness of the card while bypassing the poor music quality