what do I need for my first audiophile headphone?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7Karma 
hey experts! I am a total beginner who got his first audiophile headphone; which is Senn HD 595 + Asus Xonar Essence soundcard for my PC

I have been listening to it but I'm still not satisfied with the sound that I"m getting and one of my co-worker who is supposedly also pretty knowledgeable at these things told me that just good headphone isn't good enough. for what I have told him(I'm only using it in my room, I don't like playing music loud, it's basically for very personal use.) he told me that what I would need is an good receiver!(he also told me that in his opinion getting a soundcard was a waste because unless you're an mad sound mania having good speaker/headphone with good receiver is enough for great sound) he said since I'm not going to play sounds loud, I don't really need amplifer to make the quality of sound.

I got Xonar soundcard because I thought these were suppose to bring out the potential of the audiophile headphones but I guess I was wrong...

is what he saying true? is it the receiver that makes big difference and do I really not need an amplifer since I'm not going to play loud or anything?(I ask that because when I check some threads here amplifer sounded like an must to increase the quality of the sound because I thought the Xonar soundcard is supposed to do the amplifying which is the reason I bought it in first place)

can someone tell me what is true and what is not? and if possible can someone tell me all the equipment I need to get to improve the sound quality? I only have Senn HD 595 plus Xonar soundcard. My friend said once he gets his harman kardon speaker + klipsch subwoofer he'll give me his old Sony 5.1 speaker system so it would be nice if it's like future proof.(more like setup that can do both headphone and speaker)

Sennheiser HD-595 are 50-Ohm headphones, easy to drive, very easy for the Essence ST or a $60-$80 headphone amplifier.

So this friend said a receiver is better then the Asus Xonar Essence ST, and guess what, he just happens to have a receiver to give (or sell?) to you.

Stereo receivers can do a fairly good job of powering headphones.

My Yamaha RX-V671 $500 receiver does a good job of powering my DT770 Pro 250-Ohm headphones, but not better then my $175 Asus Xonar Essence sound card.

Sell off your HD-595s and get the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 250-Ohm, V shaped sound, the mids are not strong, but a clear sound.

Upgrading the three op-amps (operational amplifier) on the Xonar Essence might change the sound more to your liking.

you can get three LME49860NAs op-amps for under $20.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7Karma 

wait so my Xonar soundcard IS an amplifer? so what I'm hearing through my HD 595 is the quality of music with amplifer working? in that case wow I'm very disappointed with my current setup...

thank you for your advice! I will try the latter solution first before I empty my wallet

The Asus Xonar Essence ST (& STX) come with a T.I. 6120A2 headphone amplifier rated up to 600-Ohms.
 

Before you spend any more money on your system, check the settings on your sound card and verify that they are configured properly.

1. Make sure your computer's on board sound is disabled in the system bios.

2. Click the "MAIN" button at the bottom of the Xonar interface and set the audio channel settings to "2 channel".

3. If you listen mostly to ripped CDs or downloaded MP3s, then set the "sample rate" to PCM 44.1KHZ.   If you listen to mostly hi-rez flac or wav files then set the sample rate to PCM 192KHZ.

4. Set the "analog out" setting to headphone.

Now click the "EFFECT" button at the bottom of the interface.  At the far right you will see a series of round buttons entitled "DSP MODE".  Make sure the one that says "HF" is engaged (you can change this setting later if you want). 

5.  Above these round buttons is the volume control.  Adjust as needed.

Another thing to consider is the quality of the music files you are playing.  If the files are low resolution MP3s, no equipment upgrade in the world is going to make them sound good.  In fact, the better your gear, the worse they will sound. 

Try playing a CD on your computer with the settings I mentioned above, and see if that helps.

One other thing I failed to mention.  Since your headphones are low impedance (50 ohm) phones, set your gain control to normal.