How do i know if a soundcard is powerfull enough to drive common headphones (like the hd555?) when i read the detailed specs of a soundcard i dont understand a thing!! why isn't life that simple !!

btw will the m-audio transit be a good choice ?? baffled !! headphones are proving to be stressful

I dont know a whole lot myself, but I learn from reading here and doing research. My answer and the way I judge it is that if your not using an amp (not to be confused with your source) then you need low impedence headphones like the HD555's you mentioned are 50ohms I believe. Thats considered low. HD600's are 300ohm and thus much harder to drive from a weak source like a sound card. So thats the short answer.

i see 50 ohms is pretty low i think the ipod can power up to 32 right ? wrong ?

anway ive been reading around that hd555's amped will sound pretty nice compared to unamped 555's so i was wondering since im going to replace my source (sound card most of the time) why not do it in one big step ? a soundcard with a adequate amp maybe ? or something like that doesn't exist ???

that is why i was wondering on how i could tell if a soundcard im researching on has a "amp" built in ?

just ask
a card like the av-710 won't have one (but at $25, what do you want?) but something like a Revolution 5.1 has something ~ cmoy power on it. Ask about the cards you're thinking about buying, someone will have used them.

I see thanks ! i was thinking of getting an external card first... with a little amplification onyl then around next year get a separate amp... i guess the m-audio transit will do the job then ? hehehehehehehe

i see you have a hd555 coming soon !