i apologize in advance for the noob post, i'm new to Head-Fi, and i know nothing about sound cards.

my desktop is soon to go under some upgrading..

currently, i have an NVIDIA nForce APU. i'm always listening to music, and i watch a lot of movies as well. i'm not a gamer.

my speakers are Bose Companion 3. i know i know, a lot of headfi-ers dislike Bose, but to me these speakers are quite decent, and since i live in an apartment, i can only listen to music at a reasonable volume anyway.

on a budget, so $100 is the max. i also plan on getting an ATH-A900 this summer, so i would like a card that can drive those without the need for an amp.

are there any cards that fit my criteria that are worth upgrading to? do i even need to upgrade my card?

anyone?

At900 wont really need an amp for any sound card. Depending on how old your soundcard is look around. I know creative has a bad name here I don't find there products to bad for what you need to do.

As for the sound card read the specs.. how much millwatts are come out of your current card. Compare that to the ones at creative or some of there other brands. What is the sign to noise ration for your card. Honestly I figure the sound card you have now is good.

I'd say go with a Chaintech AV710. It's got a Wolfson DAC(supposed to be really good) and it's only $25. It also has an optical output if you have the ability to use it. The only downside I find with it are the lack of documentation on setting up the card itself, and getting the most out of it can be a pain on Win98SE systems, due again to lack of documentation on the matter. Also, the card acts ONLY as a preamp, meaning you have to have powered speakers, or an amp if you intend to run with headphones. But the good thing about it is the sound quality more than makes up for it. I run the optical out to my reciever, and the sound is pure and crystal clear. I got mine at newegg.com, you might take a look over there for your other upgrades as well.
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Abe

you can look up the chaintech av710, maudio 2496 or emu0404.

the emu0404 need extra cable to be able to connect to an amp or headphone, but its an excelent soundcard that rival others cdplayers twice the cost or more. it isnt as neutral as my philips sacd player, but had bigger sound stage and punch. this one is a fav for people who like agressive sound with bass punch. i prefer something more laid back.

the chaintech av710 is cheap and you can connect the a900 directly to it. but i stil dont recommend connecting a headphone directly to a sound card. low power and inconvenience. a cmoy for $35 would do fine as an amp though. and a mini-mini interconnect with that too. easily fit under $100. trebles can be splashy or undefined when there are too much information and doesnt have a great resposne in the lows comparing to the more expensive ones. still the best value due to its price imo.

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I was always under the impression one had to use an amp with the AV710. Does this mean I can use my SA1000's on it straight for the time being?(I'll be getting a Z-Audio Epsilon when I get paid- then my amp will take over drive duties)
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Abe

no idea, i dont have that headphone. its because the sound card has a line out. and you get distortion and crap when you try to play the music loud. its not an actual headphone out.

but i mean sure if a headphone has low impedance like 16ohms and 32ohms it can be driven loud. if you want quality and control amp is good.

Weird... I tested my SR60's on each plug of the AV710 last night, and each port had no signal except for one, which spit out loud static. I have no idea why.
Help? (Is it the jumper settings on my soundcard? I never touched them!)
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Abe