[Peppermint Duck]

So, like Reck I'm interested in buying either the HD555s or the HD595s for listening to music through my PC. At the moment I have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz soundcard, but I plan on getting a Emu 1212m (or so I've been advised) later on. First quetion is, will I need to get a headphone amp with this card or is there a powerful enough amp behind the jack to power the 555s/595s. Secondly, if I were to buy an amp, would this do (I found this today and it seemed somewhat appropriate, even tohugh I'd need to import it to the U.K.), or could I instead keep my current soundcard and just apply a headphone amp?

Oh and, on a side note if anyone knows of a PC manufacturer that installs EMU cards as standard instead of creative in the U.K. I'd appreciate it.

 

[Jasper994]

Well the card has 1/4" balanced outputs so I suppose if you could find an adapter you could drive cans directly (though I've never seen an adapter for this). If you look below you'll see I use the HD555's with a PreSonus HP4, Mogami balanced interconnects and the 1212m. I'm very happy with my setup.

 

[reeseboisse]

A Bithead or Total Bithead technically eliminates the need for a soundcard, since it recieves a digital signal from the USB port, has a DAC onboard, and simply amplifies that. You'd want a traditional amp if you plan on amplifying the analog signal from the E-MU. Although, as Jasper mentioned, the E-MU has balanced outputs, and that could complicate things.