[JeoJuk]

There is a long back-story to my question, but basically I own an Asus Xonar Essence STX sound card I don't know how good it is/what it does. I am looking to purchase some high quality headphones, namely looking at the Sennheiser G4me Zero headphones (among other models from Sennheiser). I've watched several review videos on these particular headphones and it seems as though the headphones sound just decent when they aren't hooked up to an "amp," but when they are hooked up to an amp they sound incredible.
 
Is my sound card considered an "amp" in this case? If I buy these headphones, will hooking them up to my sound card (as opposed to a phone or the standard audio provided by my motherboard) make them sound the best they possibly can?
 
Basically I have no idea what I'm doing/how good the sound card I have is. Please explain! Thanks in advance!

 

[PurpleAngel]

The Asus Xonar Essence STX does come with a built in headphone amplifier and my Essence STX can decently drive my 600-Ohm headphones.
So the 150-Ohm G4ME Zero should not be a problem.
 
The Sennheiser HD558 should provide about the same quality for headphone surround sound and only costs $120.
You can then add any add-on mic you like.
 
Hopefully you disabled the motherboard's on-board audio, in the BIOS, when you installed the Essence STX
 
Here are some third party drivers for the Xonar sound cards.
http://maxedtech.com/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/