[mikedp5]

I own a senn hd555 and I'm thinking of getting a forte or essence st/x.. will I notice anything on SQ with my headphones? they are rated 50ohm, is there a very noticeable difference between my onboard and the amplifier that the 2 soundcards have? (in terms of driving the 50ohm impedance.)
 
thanks!

 

[SP Wild]

My opinion...not worth it, not for entry level cans like HD555 - they're also very easy to drive already.  They do benefit from amping, but not as much as reference cans.

 

[kevral]

Well, what kind of sound card would you be upgrading from?
 
I went from onboard audio (although decent for being onboard, with software Creative X-Fi) to the Essence ST and the difference brought tears to my eyes. That's with Sennheiser PC 360, which I imagine aren't all too different from the 555s.

 

[winma]

The difference will be minimal. 

 

[mikedp5]

i'll be upgrading from onboard to either essence ST / auzen forte.. i'm just not sure if going for the forte is worth it based on the opamps, amplifier and components used. How good are the components of each other? What I mean is that I'm a noob on these components and I don't know what are good components. So which has good amp? good DACs? good opamps?
 
Thanks!

 

[kevral]

Quote:

The difference will be minimal. 

I thought the difference was huge, going from onboard to ST. It could of course be placebo effect, but I do hope I'm not actually that simple.
 

 

[mikedp5]

Quote:

I thought the difference was huge, going from onboard to ST. It could of course be placebo effect, but I do hope I'm not actually that simple.
 

i think the winma's answer was between the essence st and forte.. anyway, will i notice a big difference using my hd555? from onboard to essence?

 

[SP Wild]

Improved amplification will make a difference and it will be noticeable - but I argue that one is better off saving the cash for a true reference can - and by then I believe soundcards are out of the equation in lieu of off-board desktop devices.

 

[mikedp5]

i just ordered the essence st today. what are the best cheap opamp upgrades? and should i only change the njm2115D? or the LM4562NA too?

 

[Rudi50]

I went from onboard to an STX and the difference to me was quite big. I could hear many sounds in music which I could not before. I used to mostly game on my PC but now I listen to a lot more music. It's like I want to re-listen all my music to see what I missed.