[BarbecueGamer]

I'm about to buy my first pair of high grade headphones. Luckily their very easily driven, so I can just pop them into my iPod. Which is great because it saves me money on not having to buy an amp. Been then I realized to myself, I don't just want to use these headphones on my iPod, I want to use them on my computer for gaming and content creating as well. And I've been told that on-board audio with PC's will make the headphones sound like crap. So I thought all I needed to do was buy a desktop amp, and it would plug right into my PC, and then I just plug in my headphones into the amp and boom! Done & done. Is it really that simple? I'm asking because I honestly do not know. And then I'm hearing all this stuff about DAC's, I thought a DAC was just something that would make a device like the iPod work with the amp. But now I'm hearing stuff like a DAC will greatly improve the quality of the sound. I don't get it, I thought that was something an amp did. This is all really confusing to me. I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could explain all this to me. 

 

[Rhamnetin]

DAC stands for digital to analog converter.  It will improve sound greatly if you get a good set of headphones and listen to decent recordings.  If you get a DAC and amp, it would still be rather easy to connect.  You'd connect your computer to the DAC, probably through USB, and then connect the DAC to the amp (usually through dual RCA connectors), and then plug your headphones into the amp.  

 

[adisib]

Your on-board audio is probably pretty much on-par with your iPod. Might be better.
 
Your iPod, the motherboard on your PC, and anything else that plays audio already has a DAC and an AMP built in.
 
The AMP just amplifies the analog signal sent to your headphones, so they can be driven at adequate levels without being distorted. The AMP is sometimes not strong enough to drive some headphones, though since you said yours are easily driven you don't need one. Some headphones (like ATH M50s) don't really improve by using an AMP. Some headphones (like planar magnetics) can be easily driven but need an AMP to properly distribute their power and give a good sound. Depending on your headphone, you might not get an improvement in sound, and headphones will always give you the most sound improvement for the price by far.
 
DACs simply take the digital file and turn it into an analog signal to be sent to your headphones (which will then be amplified). Unfortunately, since on-board audio isn't separated from your other PC components, noise from the electrical signals moving around in your computer can enter the analog signal, and give you audible static. An external DAC can help eliminate the noise from your computer, and help prevent errors in conversion. If you have a good external DAC, there is little if any improvement in getting a really expensive one (though people will probably yell at me for this because they want to justify their purchases). Getting one will bypass your internal AMP, so you will have to get an AMP to go with it.
 
Getting an AMP and DAC probably wont take your headphones to an entirely different level or make it sound like you really heard them for the first time. It might give you a little bit of improvement though. If your headphones don't need an AMP you are probably good. But when you get to real high-end headphones such as planar magnetics you have to also consider getting an AMP, a DAC, lossless files or else you will realize how bad quality it is, etc, and the price gets at least twice as much as the headphone price. But if you don't need one now, it probably wont make a huge difference.

 

[BarbecueGamer]

The headphones I'll be getting is the NAD Viso HP50. I've been told by everyone who owns them that their easily driven and don't need an amp. But one person told me that if I listen to them on my computer with on-board audio it'll make the headphones sound like "crap". Is that not true? If my on-board audio is as good or better than my iPod than I probably won't even get an DAC/AMP. For reference, here is my motherboard I have- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128651 
 
 
I hope you're right when you say it'll be as good or better than listing to them on my iPod. If not, I was however thinking about getting this- http://www.amazon.com/AUDIOQUEST-DRAGONFLY-V1-2-USB-DAC/dp/B00H00VLZQ/ref=pd_sim_e_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=07Y04YS87B4RPBBQ31A3 
 
 
It's highly rated, all the reviews say good things about it and that it even improves the sound quality quite a bit. The only negative people had to say about it was that it has to downsample 24bit/192kHz files. Whatever that means, I have no idea. 

 

[Hifisnubben]

Dont worry. The headphones wont sound "crap" just because you drive them from your computer. HP 50 is indeed a eady to drive phones so almost any source will do. A seperate dac/amp might improve the sound and it might not ( or atleast not enough to justify the added cost ) Get the phones and give them a good listen first and when you feel ready, borrow or buy a amp/ dac ( that you can return ) to test if you really feel like you must try.