[Love-Nub]

Hey everyone, I've been watching this forum long enough to read some interesting posts as well as get "The Infection"!

I would like to comment that I have rarely seen a forum where everyone is so helpful and polite. We all have our opinions, of course, but people seem very respectful.

My main source is my pc, which has an Audigy 2zs, not the cleanest I know, but it works ok for now. It has no problem driving my senn hd280's, although I have to crank everything up in order to drive my new hd595's. I listen mostly to mp3 or cds, and both sets of senns that I have really do reveal the quality of the source, I have to say. I've spent all this time ripping my 500 or so Cd's to mp3, and now to my dismay they just sound like dodo compared to cd. Oh well. Btw I listen to a lot of electronic, industrial, 80's/new wave, etc. I'm currently listening New Order's "Low-Life", which sound great already on the hd595's, which only have 20 hours or so on them.

Anyhow, the other main reason for my interest in headphones is gaming, Quake 3 namely. I've noticed superior positioning in games with both my hd280's and hd595's, especially compared to my old $30 aiwa that I used for years. I was wondering what I could do, amplification-wise or otherwise, to improve the positioning and sound quality from the computer, and how much of a difference will it make? I'm not going to be doing anything for awhile, I kinda blew my allowance already with two sets of headphones within one month.

But I want to get started on ideas.

 

[ReDVsion]

Many of the more highly-regarded soundcards you'll hear about on the forum are typically NOT recommended for gaming due to increased CPU usage, so you'll probably want to stick with your amplification idea for the time being. (of course, if you wanted to get a second card for music listening alone, the Chaintec AV-710 is only $25)

And as far as headphone amps go, I'd start with a Pimeta.

 

[Jasper994]

Welcome to Head-Fi! sorry about your wallet. I'm glad you like your headphones. You should first consider a possible source upgrade then an amp. Both the headphones you have should be okay out of most sound cards on their own and but will definately improve once amped. The thing is that the source really is the bigger factor. Also if you get an M-Audio Audiophile USB/Firewire or the E-mu 1820 (or 1820m) they have headphone amps on them. The Audiophile's amp isn't the best in the world but it's clean and a good start until you can upgrade. If you have a Guitar Center nearby you could get my setup which works quite well for lower impedence headphones like what you are working with: Audiophile USB, PreSonus HP4, Monster Studio Link 500's. If you do some fancy bargaining you should be able to walk out with the set for around $250 - 260+tax.

BTW I have both the Audigy Platinum ex and M-Audio cards installed in my computer with no problems. I have the system default to the Audigy for gaming and have configured Foobar2000 to use the Audiphile USB. This has also been done by a several people with the A2 and internal cards like the RME...

Also you should definately download EAC and either FLAC or Monkey's Audio.

 

[commando]

What Jasper said - source first, then amp. From what i've read the emu would be the better choice, but the audiophile is fine too.

I didn't think the 280s improved much with my Pimeta amp, but the 595s probably will.