[demo]

this is my first post here, so go easy on me

after i get my headphones (dt250-80), i will most likely be upgrading my soundcard. currently I have a SB Live! ... which already outputs massive amounts of hiss on my speakers

I am not going to be buying an Amp yet

I've searched all over here and finally decided on either the m-audio ap 2496, or the terratec EWX 2496. (probably the latter)

both of these have RCA input/output for left and right channels.

my question is: Can i connect these phones (using adapters) directly to the soundcard? (no amp.)

If i can, will it change anything? (like degrade quality

) And which adapters do you guys recommend/where can I buy them?

 

[acs236]

I believe those are just line-outs, meaning that you can't connect them directly to headphones. If you don't want to get an amp, you can hook them to your receiver; or some computer speakers have built in headphone outputs.

 

[demo]

Quote:

Originally posted by acs236 I believe those are just line-outs, meaning that you can't connect them directly to headphones. If you don't want to get an amp, you can hook them to your receiver; or some computer speakers have built in headphone outputs.

I don't have a receiver either, and my speakers don't have a headphone jack.

with that being said, there's no way I can directly connect headphones to a soundcard with RCA jacks (2 for analog input, and 2 for output)?

If that's the case, is there any high quality audio card with a dedicated headphone output? (cards better than the santa cruz and GTXP)

the terratec 6fire is too expensive for me, would the 6fire LT work with headphones?

 

[markjia]

Driving the headphones with an expensive sound card but without an amp doesn't make much sense to me... Why not get an amp first? You can get someone here to build you a DIY amp for the same price as those sound cards. The source upgrade can always be made at some later date. You would get much better sound with this methord.

 

[chych]

I agree with markija...

You can get DIY amps for way less than the price of an AP2496 and should be considered first. I don't think you need a 96khz card anyway, the AP2448 should be fine (cheaper)...