[nStyle]

I have a couple of cans already in mind, I am curious what I will need to drive the regular cans should I decide to go that route.
 
Basically, I'm going to be playing a lot of Battlefield 3, so Dolby Headphone / multi-channel emulation is necessary to me. Bass is also a plus.
 
I am considering either something like the Corsair Vengeance 1500 (USB) or the AT A700's.
 
I understand that the 1500 will not carry very much bass when compared to the 700's but then again the 700 doesn't have any emulation built in.
 
My question is, if i went the A700 route, how would I retain multi-channel emulation and get the best sound? I currently have onboard sound which I understand will need to go. I just need to know whether a good soundcard (Xonar DX, or Essence if necessary) will be better than an external DAC + amp such as the uDAC2 or FiiO E9. My next question is: does a sound card double as a headphone amp and how inferior or superior is it to an external one (in general?)
 
I have done a bit of reading and read that if using an external DAC + amp that I will only receive a straight stereo sound (no emulation) with this setup. I assume that with this setup music would sound nice (as good as or better than soundcard) but gaming would suffer.
 
Open to advice / suggestions - thanks for reading!

 

[PurpleAngel]

You can get the Asus Xonar DG for $35, comes with a half-way decent headphone amplifier.
Also comes with Dolby Digital (Dolby headphone surround sound), which you can use for movies and gaming.
So you have lots of options for headphone and mics.
 
An external DAC/Headphone amplifier does not have to deal with any electrical noise that is generated inside the computer case which can effect analog audio signals.
But very few external headphone devices offer Dolby.
 
 

 

[nStyle]

Thanks for the input.
 
Any other thoughts?

 

[ShooTa]

For Gaming in general always go with a soundcard that is not onboard - which really leaves you with two contenders for gaming
the xonar dx series and the creative series
 
those will give you the competitve edge - and xonar has dolby headphone whereas creative has its own type
more and more games are veering towards dolby as their sound mixer of choice.
 
as for headphones - the AD-700 is a good bet but really as its much more related to footstep heavy games - counterstrike 1.6 and css  and it looses out on the richer sounds that more modern games have
 there are better options imho
the sen- 558's and 598s - both very very good both for soundstage and also for pinpoint accuracy
the beyer-dynamic 770s 880s 990's all really champ at the bit with battlefield - they just tear it apart letting you bask in the games reality.
 
i mix it up between my 558s (foam modded to 598) and my bd 880s - both have given me so much joy to play with but the beyers just end up being picked a bit more for bf3 and the 558s for cs.
 
hope that helps a bit
 
however for pure music - i would go with an external dac+amp and stick two channel - combining the xonar dx with say a fiio e7+e9 is a nice combo tho.