[absolutofft]

I have HD580s and a SB live 5.1 soundcard, and before you mention it, yes I have tried the audigy soundcards and I found the soundquality improvement to be very minimal.

I find the soundquality listening through my computer to be very good even though I am just listening to mp3s. I upgraded from Sony MDR v600s so I am already impressed with the sound quality of these sennheisers.

 

[vrao81]

An amp isn't absolutely needed with the hd580's. Concerning your mp3's, do you download them or rip them yourself? Properly ripped mp3's are indistinguishable from the original CD, even with expensive high end gear. You might want to consider getting an amp if you do rip. If you're happy with the volume you're getting, an amp is not neccessary, especially with downloaded mp3's, as the difference with an amp would probably not be noticeable.

 

[sliberman]

Quote:

Originally posted by absolutofft I have HD580s and a SB live 5.1 soundcard, and before you mention it, yes I have tried the audigy soundcards and I found the soundquality improvement to be very minimal. I find the soundquality listening through my computer to be very good even though I am just listening to mp3s. I upgraded from Sony MDR v600s so I am already impressed with the sound quality of these sennheisers.

I thought that the SB Live card has only line level outputs.
Where are you plugging the headphone?

 

[Mystic]

I have the SB Live and although efficient cans will sound decent out of it, I definitely use an amp to get the best sound I can out of it particularly with my Beyers.

 

[Nick Dangerous]

I found that adding an amp added enormously to the sound quality when listening to computer audio/mp3's. X-Cans were great, MG Head OTL was much better still with the HD-580's.

I disagree that mp3's sound as good as an uncompressed CD. Encoding to high bitrates like 320k narrows the gap, but the difference is still detectable in my rig.

With fast hard drive storage hovering around $1/Gig, I keep 'em uncompressed.

 

[JaZZ]

Yes, I'd also like to know how you use your headphones without a headphone jack on your SB Live. I guess you plug your HD 580 into the line out jacks, don't you? I've made a very good experience doing so with my HD 600 – instead of using the headphone jack of my SB Platinum. The volume level is definitely sufficient, and the sound is quite good and in fact can't be topped using and amp which in turn uses the same signal and just amplifies it unnecessarily, at the same time adding its own sonic signature. But maybe the added coloration is of an euphonic kind. In view of the mediocre overall sound quality of sound cards generally this can be perceived as «better» anyway. I for one use an external DAC (Bel Canto DAC2) and hook my HD 600 directly up to its line out – the sound is nice that way, although it doesn't reach the quality of my main setup.

As to MP3s: With 320 kbps I can't distinguish between MP3 and Wave/CD anymore – related to my computer. Even with lower bitrates down to 192 (using LAME) it can be tough, depending a lot on the recording. Maybe others can, even at 320 kbps, but hey: the sound of your soundcard won't let you notice the difference anyway without comparing!

JaZZ

 

[sliberman]

Maybe plugging the Senn. HD600 or HD580 to the line out
of the soundcard is enough because of the relatively high
impedance and efficiency of such headphones.

I find that the headphone output of the Audigy2 Platinum
is not enough to drive my AKG K501 because of its low
efficiency. For now, I am using the headphone output of
the Yamaha YST-M40 PC loudspeakers. Not the best fidelity...

 

[elrod-tom]

If he has a Live Drive along with his SB Live, then he has a headphone line out with volume control.

In so far as the need for an amp, if you're going off of the line out it would do nothing but help. I used to unplug my speakers and put in the headphones occasionally, and it was OK (but not great).

 

[absolutofft]

hey I always thought it was a headphone jack but I looked up the pdf and it said it is a line out. :|