Azsen
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2005
- Posts
- 15
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- 0
G'day all,
My Sennheiser HD595s have arrived today and they sound a lot nicer than my old HD515s however the 515s seem to have more bass.
I haven't burned the 595s in yet but I was reading on here that might improve the bass after a solid burn-in... I'm using them on my laptop unamped which has onboard Intel ICH7 HD Audio / Realtek ALC861 HD Audio device.
Anyway the 3.5mm headphone port on my laptop broke a few days, it still works but it crackles if you move it slightly. So I wonder if getting an external sound card (including amp) would make things sound a lot better? Or do I need to buy a sound card and amp? I'm thinking a USB sound card, my current laptop has an Express Card slot but they seem to going out of fashion on new laptops with USB 3 replacing it. So ideally I'd want to future proof my purchase so I can use the card on any new laptop I buy too.
Will be using it for:
Think the sound card needs:
I've had a hunt around and this is what I've come up with so far, but no idea if they will make an improvement over the onboard solution or if these will even work with games:
Any others I should consider? What should I get?
Thanks very much!
My Sennheiser HD595s have arrived today and they sound a lot nicer than my old HD515s however the 515s seem to have more bass.
Anyway the 3.5mm headphone port on my laptop broke a few days, it still works but it crackles if you move it slightly. So I wonder if getting an external sound card (including amp) would make things sound a lot better? Or do I need to buy a sound card and amp? I'm thinking a USB sound card, my current laptop has an Express Card slot but they seem to going out of fashion on new laptops with USB 3 replacing it. So ideally I'd want to future proof my purchase so I can use the card on any new laptop I buy too.
Will be using it for:
- lossless music (50%)
- movies/TV shows (30%)
- games (20%).
Think the sound card needs:
- 3.5mm headphone output
- 3.5mm microphone input (for Skype),
- and two RCA outputs (optional) to hook it up to my 5.1 surround sound system.
I've had a hunt around and this is what I've come up with so far, but no idea if they will make an improvement over the onboard solution or if these will even work with games:
- E-MU 0404 USB 2.0
- Creative USB Sound Blaster X-Fi Go!
- Creative Sound Blaster Digital Music HD
- Creative USB Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1
- M-Audio Transit
- M-Audio Fast Track
- M-Audio Fast Track Pro
Any others I should consider? What should I get?
Thanks very much!