[Gnomish]

I. HEADPHONES
 
Hello, head-fi.  I'm looking to spend $150 or less on some really great headphones for gaming and music (rock, classical, bluegrass, folk, pop).
 
I'm very new at this and had no idea that headphones were so different from one another until finding this website yesterday.  However, I've read up quite a bit in the past few hours and have found that perhaps the KNS-8400 from KRK or the AD-700 from Audio Technica would suit my needs.
 
Obviously, I'm not big on bass so I'm not terribly concerned that those models are a bit light there.  My only concern with the two models I've found is that they may be slightly too "studio monitor" oriented and I wouldn't mind headphones that "make the music sound better than it was recorded" as long as I can still pick up every tiny detail.
 
Does anyone have any suggestions for other models to look at?  Or any additional comments on the KNS-8400 and AD-700 for these uses?
 
 
II. SOUND CARD AND/OR DAC?
 
I'm planning on getting an ASUS Xonar DGX 5.1 PCIe sound card for a new Ivy Bridge system.  Would it sound good if I used the Dolby Headphone sound card to listen to music as well?  Or should I buy an external DAC/amplifier for music?  I'd like to avoid switching back and forth if possible, so even if an external DAC would be better, could someone quantify how much better it really is?  If a sound card (not situated close to other components in my configuration) is in the same ballpark, I'd like to just stick with that.
 
Also, if I don't care about 5.1 vs. 7.1, what do I miss with the DGX instead of the DX version.  The only thing I can find at first blush is a signal-to-noise ration of 105 dB instead of 116dB.  Would this make a significant difference to my ears or is it mostly just marketing gimmick like megapixels in cameras?  Also, assuming a finite amount of cash to spend, is it better to get $150 headphones with Xonar DGX, or $110 headphones with Xonar DX?
 
 
Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I. HEADPHONES
Hello, head-fi.  I'm looking to spend $150 or less on some really great headphones for gaming and music (rock, classical, bluegrass, folk, pop).
I'm very new at this and had no idea that headphones were so different from one another until finding this website yesterday.  However, I've read up quite a bit in the past few hours and have found that perhaps the KNS-8400 from KRK or the AD-700 from Audio Technica would suit my needs.
Obviously, I'm not big on bass so I'm not terribly concerned that those models are a bit light there.  My only concern with the two models I've found is that they may be slightly too "studio monitor" oriented and I wouldn't mind headphones that "make the music sound better than it was recorded" as long as I can still pick up every tiny detail.
Does anyone have any suggestions for other models to look at?  Or any additional comments on the KNS-8400 and AD-700 for these uses?
II. SOUND CARD AND/OR DAC?
I'm planning on getting an ASUS Xonar DGX 5.1 PCIe sound card for a new Ivy Bridge system.  Would it sound good if I used the Dolby Headphone sound card to listen to music as well?  Or should I buy an external DAC/amplifier for music?  I'd like to avoid switching back and forth if possible, so even if an external DAC would be better, could someone quantify how much better it really is?  If a sound card (not situated close to other components in my configuration) is in the same ballpark, I'd like to just stick with that.
Also, if I don't care about 5.1 vs. 7.1, what do I miss with the DGX instead of the DX version.  The only thing I can find at first blush is a signal-to-noise ration of 105 dB instead of 116dB.  Would this make a significant difference to my ears or is it mostly just marketing gimmick like megapixels in cameras?  Also, assuming a finite amount of cash to spend, is it better to get $150 headphones with Xonar DGX, or $110 headphones with Xonar DX?

I never use my ATH-AD700s anymore because of the light bass'
I would take the KNS 8400 over the ATH-AD700, because I like decent bass.
Save a few dollars and get the Samson SR850 ($50) and Superlux HD668B ($50), they are Taiwan knock offs of the AKG K240s.
Usually a decent sound card is better sounding the built-in audio.
The Asus Xonar DGX is a great value, the DG & DGX are better at driving headphones then the Xonar DX.
But, the Xonar DX would be a better choice if you were going to hook up an external headphone amplifier.
 
The SR850 or HD668B, with the Xonar DGX, would be under $100, total.