[OSV]

I bought a pair of Senn HD25s about 2 months ago and im very pleased with them. The one thing that i do not like is the sources i use to drive them. All i have for my PC is a Sound Blaster sound card.. and i hear all sorts of annoying noises and static from my computer.

I went to Best buy and asked the tech guys what would be a good sound card for a high end pair of headphones that are a bit hard to drive and he said that the amps in soundcards are pretty much all the same and dont really matter with sound quality, And suggested to get the sound blaster live.. and i read that card sucks.. So i left and wanted to review some cards and try to figure out what would be good to buy. But im not sure..

What would be a good sound card for my Computer if all ill be using is my Headphones-HD 25s. I will probally be buying a pair of Beyer dt 770 which ive read are pretty hard to drive and would be interested in a Card that will be able to drive headphones well. (That also have good quality)

So what cards out there if there are any are good for this.
sorry if this was sopposed to be in another thread, but i thought it would be fine here since im relating to my headphones mostly.

 

[OSV]

any suggestions?

 

[Takashi]

You will find a lot of useful info in Sources forum.

 

[Daroid]

If this is any help... well atleast a bump, then.
I am using HD25s with a RME Digi 96/8 (PAD), currently with no headphone amplifier. Before that I had a SBLive Value, which I am now going to mod with new caps and another opamp and other components too, probably. I'm very sattisfied with the RME, but need an amp, since I don't particularly enjoy the sound as much with the jack output at 75 Ohm, when Sennheisers were designed to be used with 120 Ohms or 0 Ohms outputs. Not sure what the HD25s was designed for. That is where an amp also helps.

From reviews I have read there are many good sounding cards that beats "the crap" out of the SBLive, one good one being the M-Audio Revolution. The SBLive was hissy, boomy and plainly sucked in dynamic range, compared to the RME. Also the Terratec EWX 24/96, M-Audio Audiophile USB & PCI and Sonica, are some of the most highly regarded cards around here.

You won't find a soundcard that can power the DT770 properly too it's full potential without an amp. Even a simple CMOY won't max it out either. Since the DT770-250s are high impedance phones, you will need a lot of voltage swing rather than much current.

Opamps in soundcards are not the same, only in the cheapest soundcards, where it matters where to find the cheapest ompamp, but with the high distortion and clipping at nominal volume as a result. Opamps is not everything - a quality DAC is also a must, and is crappy in most cheaper soundcards too.

 

[OSV]

thanks alot, thats what i was looking for. Sorry if it was in wrong thread