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Where to plug in my headphones – PC case audio jack or soundcard jack?

post #1 of 8
8/12/11 at 6:53am
Thread Starter 

 

 

 

According to my Xonar DX manual:

 

“The Front Out jack has a built-in high-quality amplifier to drive headphones.  Connect your stereo headphones directly to this jack.”

 

So my question….. I have the front audio jack on my PC case connected to my sound card via an HD audio cable – if I plug my headphones (JVC HA-RX700) into this rather than directly into the soundcard, am I bypassing the “high-quality amplifier”, and losing something in my listening experience?

 

My preference is certainly to plug my headphones in to the PC case audio jack, because then I can have my 2.1 speakers permanently plugged into the soundcard.  Alternatively, could I plug/unplug my headphones from my right speaker which also has a headphone jack, again, without losing anything?


Thanks
 

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post #2 of 8
8/12/11 at 8:39am

Is the front out jack that the manual refers to the front audio jack on your PC case? I would connect it directly to the sound card because the other audio jacks have a cable running from the sound card to the jacks. The reason I say that is because you always want to plug directly into your source/amp or whatever instead of a secondary audio jack. Also, your computer cases audio jacks may not be as high quality as the soundcard's audio jack.

 

As for your speakers, you'll just have to play around and see how it sounds or if it even works. Often times when you plug your headphones into the right speaker or whatever your speakers don't put out sound, but again you'll probably lose a bit of signal/quality because your not plugging it directly in. Also, I don't know if your soundcard could handle two outputs, one to the speakers and one to the headphones.

 

I don't know what other people use, but it sounds like you may need something like an audio interface that has speaker outputs and a headphone output. The audio interface would also allow you to control the volume of each output separately and even switch between. The audio interface would essentially replace your sound card, but there may be an easier way. I have a USB Audio interface/Amp because I use a laptop so maybe someone more experienced w/ desktop soundcards can chime in.


Edited by faroqui - 8/12/11 at 8:43am
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post #3 of 8
8/12/11 at 9:34am
Thread Starter 

No, the manual is referring to the jack on the sound card.  The "front" part is referring to where you'd plug the front speakers on a 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 setup etc, which is also where you'd plug in headphones.

 

I guess I understand that you're always going to lose some quality when you introduce additional cables/jacks etc, but I don't think my ears are that fine tuned.  I am mostly concerned with whether the power sent to the Xonar DX is carried through to the front jack on the PC case (and whether my headphones need that extra power anyway), and whether Dolby Headphone etc is carried through to the front jack on the PC case as well.


Soundcard just has the one output as far as I can tell, and I would have to physically switch between speakers and headphones on the soundcard (which is a major pain) if I couldn't just plug my headphones in elsewhere.  With the speakers plugged into the soundcard, and the headphones plugged into the PC case audio jack, I control the output via the Xonar DX software.

 

I don't want to replace my card with something else - I just got it yesterday!  Can you give me an example of a product that falls under "audio interface"?

 

The other thought I just had, which is probably quite obvious, is that I'm more concerned with the quality and ability of the sound going to the headphones than to the speakers, so I should maybe just plug my headphones into the soundcard, and plug the speakers into the PC case?

 

Or a final thought - could I have both the soundcard and onboard sound enabled?  Speakers connected to onboard sound and headphones connected to soundcard?

 

 


Edited by moogleslam - 8/12/11 at 9:39am
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post #4 of 8
8/12/11 at 10:16am

I don't think its possible to run both the on-board sound and your sound card together. I guess you could plug your headphones into the speakers and use the software. As far as the HD audio cable, if its connected to the sound card I imagine it will carry the signal. But, you have 5 audio jacks on that Xonar right? If you plugged in your speakers in one and headphones in another would the software/sound card recognize that and let you choose between the two? (Assuming you have this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006 )

 

There's always multiple ways to run your setup, just play around with it and see what sounds best to you. Heres an example of a audio interface:

 

http://www.zzounds.com/item--PRSAUDIOBOX

http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?product=15185

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOMOBILEPREV2

http://www.zzounds.com/item--TASUS122MKII

http://www.zzounds.com/item--LEXALPHA

 

Those are just some examples, you'd have to look through some others to see which would work best if any. 

 

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post #5 of 8
8/12/11 at 10:31am

Quote:

Originally Posted by moogleslam View Post

Or a final thought - could I have both the soundcard and onboard sound enabled?  Speakers connected to onboard sound and headphones connected to soundcard?



Save for some freak incompatibilities, it's doable. That and the apps you want to route the sound from must have the option to choose the output.

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post #6 of 8
8/12/11 at 1:36pm

ur wondering if u should use the sound card output or the compcase output?  and asking if ull be missing anything by using the front?
why would ask this question if all u have to do is listen to it both ways and make ur own decision. sounds like u cant hear the difference.
 

 

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post #7 of 8
8/12/11 at 1:55pm

Generally a sound card will have a better analog output stage than a motherboard, because that's one of its main purposes. But there's no way to tell for sure, unless we know the details of the opamps and other elements used in their respective output stages, and/or have FR, THD, and other specs for each one. Without that kind of information, you can only go by what you can A/B listen to. And if you can't tell a difference then it probably doesn't matter.

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post #8 of 8
8/17/11 at 7:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by faroqui View Post

I don't think its possible to run both the on-board sound and your sound card together. I guess you could plug your headphones into the speakers and use the software. As far as the HD audio cable, if its connected to the sound card I imagine it will carry the signal. But, you have 5 audio jacks on that Xonar right? If you plugged in your speakers in one and headphones in another would the software/sound card recognize that and let you choose between the two? (Assuming you have this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006 )

 

There's always multiple ways to run your setup, just play around with it and see what sounds best to you. Heres an example of a audio interface:

 

http://www.zzounds.com/item--PRSAUDIOBOX

http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?product=15185

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOMOBILEPREV2

http://www.zzounds.com/item--TASUS122MKII

http://www.zzounds.com/item--LEXALPHA

 

Those are just some examples, you'd have to look through some others to see which would work best if any. 

 

 

Yeah, that's the soundcard I have.

 

Not sure if I could set it up so both the speakers and headphones use jacks on the soundcard, but I now have plugged the headphones into the sound card, and the speakers onto the case audio jack.  I'm satisfied with it like that.  I do think the headphones sound a little better plugged directly into the soundcard, but that could be my imagination.  I'm using the headphones a lot more, so it make sense.

 

Those audio interfaces are definitely more than i'm interested in spending right now.
 

 



Quote:
Originally Posted by Blinkdogo2 View Post

ur wondering if u should use the sound card output or the compcase output?  and asking if ull be missing anything by using the front?
why would ask this question if all u have to do is listen to it both ways and make ur own decision. sounds like u cant hear the difference.
 

 


I was asking these questions before I had a chance to really test it.  I only just got the soundcard and headphones.

 



 

 

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