[Critical50]

I bought a Soundcard by Creative. Its the Soundblaster Z 5.1. The specs say 600 ohm amp.

Before I was looking at external DACs, and then saw dedicated Amps. Then saw the DACs have amps in them. Yet I still saw people saying they have a DAC + dedicated Amp.

So Im wondering, is the 600 ohm amp in my Soundblaster capable? I just bought the AKG 7XX off Massdrop, and Im not entirely sure if it just automatically gets the power it needs, or if I have to turn something on..?

 

[PurpleAngel]

When you installed the SB-Z card, disable the motherboard's on-board audio, in the BIOS, before installing the sound card.
(but may not be a big deal if you do not)
 
The SB-Z card listed as a "600-Ohm" headphone amplifier really does not mean a lot, but guess it's good for marketing, looks good on the retail packaging
Some 600-Ohm headphones are easier to drive then others, the sensitivity of the headphone is another factor for power requirement.
 
There is no real setting to change on the SB-Z card, for driving headphones.
Basically the SB-Z's volume setting controls how much power is sent to the headphones.
The SB-Z headphone jack has enough power to decently drive the 62-Ohm AKG (Massdrop) K7XX headphones.
 
Higher priced sound cards can come with a gain setting, which would be changed depending on the power demands of the headphone, but the SB-Z does not have that feature
 
If your really big on music, you might consider getting a quality external headphone amplifier.
You would plug it into the SB-Z's Front Speaker jack (line-output), as the line output jack is better at feeding an analog audio signal, to an amp.
You would not be able to use the SB-Z's SBX Headphone surround sound, but you would not need that feature for music.
But when you need headphone surround sound (for like FPS gaming), then plug the K7XX into the SB-Z's headphone jack.