[fir3st0rm9]

Hey guys,
 
I want to get the most out of my computer's audio (like I'm sure most of you do) ,and I don't have a sound card just the integrated motherboard sound chip, but, I don't want to spend any more money as I have already spent a lot on my headphones (Sennheiser HD25-1 ii) and accessories for my headphones.  So what are some tips to optimize my computer's audio without spending money?
 
 
Thanks!

 

[Takeanidea]

Try experimenting with all the software out there. I use windows media player vlc itunes and foobar. Find which one you prefer. You have various equalizer / sound settings that'll help you tune the sound to what you feel sounds best to your ears. That's all there is to it. Enjoy your new headphones

 

[boomhaur]

Pick up an Asus Xonar DG, has a built in amp that can drive up to 150 ohm headphones and you can usually pick it up for around $20 though I've seen it as low as $15 after $10 mail in rebates, strangely enough they aren't running any rebates on amazon, newegg, tigerdirect usually one of them are. Give them a few days or a week and one of them will probably run a rebate.
 
After that use the unified drivers for it as it works a lot better for it than the official drivers. http://brainbit.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/asus-xonar-unified-drivers/
 
Here is something on DPC latency you may want to take a look at, if you want to optimize your computer for audio. I found out that my built in ethernet is causing me a lot of problems, and that the emulated ethernet drivers for my virtual machines also increased my DPC as well as my usb mic. I was able to eliminate all but the actual ethernet driver as I still want internet but I probably see what I have access to in terms of spare parts to see if I can eliminate this problem so I don't get any spikes which cause my audio to stutter from time to time.
 
http://brainbit.wordpress.com/category/articles/

 

[fir3st0rm9]

So after installing the Xonar DG sound card is it a very noticeable difference?

 

[boomhaur]

At first there was a slight difference I noticed, but that was before I became used to the higher quality audio these headphones provided. If I were to switch back to computer audio I imagine I notice a bigger difference. Going from my ARM based samsung chromebook to my desktop which has the xonar dg for example there is a difference in audio that is noticeable to me. But I doubt the average person will pick up on it too much.
 
I am also using a Superlux HD668b which is a 56ohm headphone which isn't the hardest thing to drive so I imagine that has something to do with it as well. And I use the amp on the Xonar DG (was in fact a major reason why I bought it). For me it's not night and day but it is noticeable difference, and was $20 well spent. And I will fully admit I use the dolby headphone and emulate 7.1 surround sound all the time for gaming, movies, and even music. That little feature is especially nice for movies especially action and war movies.
 
Either way you look at it spending around $20 is a good investment in my book to test it out. And I just double checked your headphones are 70ohm so I imagine you may notice a bit of a difference like I did when I used the amp built into the xonar dg. For a $200 pair of headphones I personally could justify the extra money to test it out, at that point I think trying to get the best you can out of it at this cheap of a price point is well worth it.

 

[HardDrive]

Question: do you have a HDTV and a spare HDMI port? If yes, use it! The internal sound card and sound processing coming from you TV is likely to superior of the 50 cent mangle of capacitor and relay that they put on the MB for integrated soundcard. Other thing is check your sound settings and set it to at least 16bit 48,000k if it isn't already. Probably wouldn't notice the difference but every little bit counts if you watch DVDs on your PC. If you even get $7 to spend go get a Syba usb sound card off amazon as even it will edge out a bit above intergrated sound. Lastly, don't sweat it to much. The difference from your source is likely going to be the least noticeable difference (not to say its unimportant by any means) out of the 3 major areas: Source, amplification (and preamp), and Delivery (aka your phones). You did good by investing in the area that brings the most return for your money first, the phones. If you do get some cash to throw around others here mentioned some cheap SC/DACs, and I just like to add the Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II to the mix. Bout' $20, and has served me very well over the years, plus if you ever upgrade to something using optical SPDIF, it supports it. 
 
Edit: Saw about the 70ohms, If you do want to get a SC/DAC without buying a seperate amp in the future I recommend heading for the TB DSS 7.1 emulator, as it has a built in amp. At low impedance I notice some hiss on my DSS but I can't detect it on higher Ohms, so it great for that, plus it has SPDIF and 7.1 emulation, which actually works!