[Guust-Fi]

Hi guys,

I am buying new headphones (Sennheiser hd-555) and I would like to benefit as much as possible from their sound quality.

(I will be using them a lot more than my speakers) Please have patience with a noob like myself …I provided as much information as possible below. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I will be using them for (in quiet environment):
Music > Gaming > Movies > TV

I was thinking about an external soundcard. But is the sound quality of an USB soundcard as good as an internal one? I would like to distress my CPU because it has to do al the audio calculations. USB soundcards, don’t they stress the pc more than internal ones? I only have an onboard soundcard and a crappy Geforce FX 5200 graphics card. My budget is between 80 and 200 $. I live in Belgium (Western Europe) so some sound cards may not be available to me. It is most likely that I will not upgrade my speaker system until I move and find a room which is more suitable for surround speakers. Who cares about having a great speaker system, when you just can’t position them right? Back to the point now. I do not necessarly need a 5.1 channel soundcard. I do not have a fire wire card but I would buy one if necessary. Is there any advantage over USB? The most important factor to me is the sound quality and distressing the CPU. Dolby headphone support would also be very nice.

BTW: should I upgrade to foobar 2000 instead of winamp if I would like to preserve audio quality? Al my mp3’s are encoded in VBR with the alt preset standard in dbpowerAMP 10.

Here are some products I found, but please help me out because I don’t know what’s best.

Waveterminal U24
http://www.csound.com/edata/catal.html?p_id=U24

M-Audio Sonica Theater
http://m-audio.rjmg.com/index.cfm?pid=3352

Aureon 5.1 USB
http://productsen.terratec.net/modul...d=178&menu=113
Aureon 7.1 FireWire
http://productsen.terratec.net/modul...rder=0&thold=0
Aureon 7.1 Universe
http://sounden.terratec.net/modules....d=197&menu=215

Sound Blaster® Audigy™ 2 NX
http://be.europe.creative.com/produc...t.asp?prod=517


Sennheiser HD-555:
Open, dynamic
Nominal impedance: 120 Ohm
Jack plug: 6,3 mm stereo + (3, 5 mm Adapter)
Ear coupling: circumaural
Frequency response (headphones): 15 - 28000 Hz
Sound pressure level (SPL): 103 dB (1 kHz and 1 Veff)
Total harmonic distortion: < 0,2 %


My PC: Dell Dimension 8300 specs
•Geforce FX 5200 (occupies AGP slot)
•512 Mb sdr-ddr RAM
•2.6 Ghz
•USB 2.0
•2 PCI slots available

Intel 875P chipset
http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets...s/25252502.pdf
with onboard Soundmax Digital integrated audio:
(Analog devices AD1980 AC97 Codec)
http://www.ortodoxism.ro/datasheets/...10AD1980_0.pdf
oAnalog Output Pass Band: 20 Hz to 20 kHz
oSample Rate (fS) 48 kHz
o20-Bit PCM DAC’s
oSPDIF out

My current speakers: Harman/Kardon HK395
•Total Power: 30 Watts @ 10% (THD+N)
•Input Sensitivity: 380 mV rms
•S/N Ratio: > 80 dBA
•Frequency Response: 45 Hz to 20 kHz
•
•5 inch Subwoofer with rubber surround
•Power: 18 Watts @ 10% (THD+N)
•Frequency Response: 45 Hz to 250 Hz
•
•2 inch full range speakers
•Power: 6 Watts/satellite @ 10% (THD+N) (12 Watts total)
•Frequency Response: 250 Hz to 2

 

[Guust-Fi]

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...USB-focus.html

They state: "frequency response:20Hz to 20kHz +/- 0.5dB"

Aren't there any larger frequency responses on similar soundcards. Or is this what to expect?

PS: Can some help me out here, please

 

[breez]

Yes it is what to expect. Your ears' frequency response is far worse

 

[proxops-pete]

If you are going to go external route, stick with Firewire as USB is more CPU dependent. Overall though, I would recommend internal route... If you are going to listen mostly to music, I'd say E-mu 0404 is your sureshot. The only downside is that 0404 doesn't support multi-channel sounds (no surrounds). But if it's mostly headphones you will be using, I'd definitely recommend 0404.

If you can get ASIO to work in Winamp, that should be fine. If not, go with Foobar and use either Kernel Streaming or ASIO. Another good cheap sound card is Chaintech AV-710. If you use its high-qaulity sampling mode, it does do 24-bit 96 kHz. Downside of that is inputs and other ports do not work in that mode, just Line Out for the Hi quality. But for around $24, it can't be beat!

Also, you may want to consider getting an amp for the phones. My AV-710 drives both my HD-497 and HD-535 well, but my 497's impedance is only 32 ohms. Your 555 is 120 ohm so you may need more power...