[PelPix]

Hello there! I'm new to this forum as a posting member, but I've referred to it a lot buying gear in the past as an unregistered member. I'm not really sure where to post this, as it contains content about both cans AND tube amps (Oh no!).

I'm coming off of some badly driven HD555's with a disgusting unboard audio board. I'm not entirely new to hardware, but I know fairly nothing besides basic electrical theory.

Edit:
Sorry for the mixup
My planned setup consists of a pretty high-quality digital out going to a Phenix G3 tube amp (a special Earmax implementation with many problems fixed.) (and probably some different tubes), and a set of Sennheiser 650's.
Is there anything you guys would change and/or something I should throw in there, like a pre-amp? I'm not entirely sure, seeing as the line out is pretty loud and not really distorted at all.

 

[sourced]

Hi there, welcome to head-fi.

I'm no expert, but you intend to run onboard sound -> tube amp -> hd650 ? You'd still be listening to onboard sound (which it sounds like you don't like). You may want to purchase a DAC so you can run digital audio out of your computer, avoiding the sound card; computer digital out -> dac -> tube amp -> hd650. That'd be quite an upgrade from sound card -> hd555, I imagine.

 

[PelPix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourced /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi there, welcome to head-fi. I'm no expert, but you intend to run onboard sound -> tube amp -> hd650 ? You'd still be listening to onboard sound (which it sounds like you don't like). You may want to purchase a DAC so you can run digital audio out of your computer, avoiding the sound card; computer digital out -> dac -> tube amp -> hd650. That'd be quite an upgrade from sound card -> hd555, I imagine.

Heck no! I have another, more expensive well-sheilded sound card I'm breaking in with external power and a 126dB SNR! Of course it'll be digital out!

Sorry for the confusion!

 

[earthpeople]

If it's digital out, you'll still need to run it to a DAC. Amps don't take digital inputs unless they have a built in DAC.

 

[moonshake]

Perhaps your well-sheilded sound card has already a good DAC so there´s no need for an external one.