Can I use an amp with a soundcard?

[Sound N00b]

I use my akg k712 pros 50% for gaming and 50% for music. I currently have a sound blaster z powering my headphones. I am thinking of getting a schiit magni 3 because it would be superior for music. Is it possible I could use my sound card with the amp to use the dac and software of the soundcard without bottlenecking the sound quality with the sound cards crappier amp?

 

[Dulalala]

You can use the line out to wire it to your amp but that technically isn't bypassing the amp section of the soundcard as it's still working as a pre-amp. That scenario is better suited if you need need more power that the soundcard can't provide. If you want to bypass the amp, you'd have to bypass the DAC too. You can use the optical out on your soundcard to bypass the DAC without losing the soundcard's DSP.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I use my akg k712 pros 50% for gaming and 50% for music. I currently have a sound blaster z powering my headphones. I am thinking of getting a schiit magni 3 because it would be superior for music. Is it possible I could use my sound card with the amp to use the dac and software of the soundcard without bottlenecking the sound quality with the sound cards crappier amp?

Use the optical output from your SBZ to feed a Modi2 Uber, then have that feed the Magni3.

 

[cossix]

You can add a Magni 3 but the sound quality probably won't improve much because the sound card preamp is still being used. I'd second the suggestion of Modi 2 + Magni 3. It'll be a better setup than simply adding an amp

 

[PurpleAngel]

I use my akg k712 pros 50% for gaming and 50% for music. I currently have a sound blaster z powering my headphones. I am thinking of getting a Schiit Magni 3 because it would be superior for music. Is it possible I could use my sound card with the amp to use the dac and software of the soundcard without bottlenecking the sound quality with the sound cards crappier amp?

For the SB-Z card to feed the best analog audio signal, to an external headphone amplifier, you would connect the SB-Z's Front Speaker jack, to the external head amp's input jack.
The SB-Z can not send it's SBX Headphone surround sound thru the Front speaker jack, just stereo audio, which is fine for music audio and and source with stereo (2.0) audio.
The SB-Z can send it's SBX Headphone surround sound thru the S/PDIF optical port, so later on you can add an external DAC (with optical input), between the SB-Z and external head amp.