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SoundCard Necessary?

post #1 of 4
8/3/11 at 7:27pm
Thread Starter 

Currently i have a pair of HD650's which are being sourced by a standard computer / laptop audio jack.

Should i get a sound card such as the Xonar Essence ST and connect that to an amp?

Or would i be better suited just buying an amplifier and going directly from my audio jack to the amp. 

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post #2 of 4
8/4/11 at 12:51am

From what i understand you dont need the sound card. Get a DAC and a headphone amp and run USB to the dac. My lap top has optical out so id be using that. My question then is what software handles the audio from the pc. Eg do i just use the realteck digital out put system pre installed?

 

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post #3 of 4
8/4/11 at 10:25am

If you have digital audio out (and your integrated does not resample sound signals), you get best results from getting a DAC and connect that to your amplifier.

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post #4 of 4
8/5/11 at 12:14am
Thread Starter 

Quote:
Originally Posted by MaZa View Post

If you have digital audio out (and your integrated does not resample sound signals), you get best results from getting a DAC and connect that to your amplifier.

Will there be any additional performance from having both a high end sound card and dac + amp vs integrated that does not resample with dac + amp?

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