Tell me how to get great audio!

[unclepauly]

Right now I've got a PC with an x-fi extreme music and an ATH-AD700 running out of the back.

It sounds OK, but I want more. What do I need to do? I use it for games/music/movies, but mostly games/music. From what I understand it goes sound card>DAC(or not depending on sound card quality)>AMP>HP/Speaker. Where is my weak spot that could use the upgrade the most?

*Wanted to add I'm looking for bang for the buck types of ideas, although I can stretch a little if it would be worth it.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Well, for me, I play games AND listen to audio on this computer.

So for me, for games, I use a Creative Audigy 2 ZS and a Koss KSC75. Simple.

For my audio, I use a DAC and amp, and use foobar2000.

So while Windows has the Audigy 2 ZS as the default sound output, I have foobar2000 treat the DAC as the primary sound output device, so I can easily swap between the two!

 

[unclepauly]

Why do you take the DAC/AMP out of the combo for games? Does EAX get screwed somehow?