[yoodeok]

I have the Logitech Z560s. My onboard audio was Soundstorm going through an ALC650, so I got a Chaintech AV-710 to listen to music and kept the ALC650 for everything else.

Now I'm thinking about connecting the Z560s directly to the high-quality jack on the AV-710 and plugging my Grado SR-80s into the headphone port on the Z560 control pod. I'm confused as to whether or not the Z560 control pod can function as a headphone amp - it will make the headphones change volume if I fiddle with the volume knob, but I'm afraid that sound quality will suffer a little bit as opposed to plugging the headphones directly into the alt out of the AV-710 if I put the Z560s in between them.

Can anyone inform me whether my plan has merit?


P.S. One last thing. Depending on the answer to that question I may go all out and get an Emu since that would let me plug in both the headphones and the speakers at the same time and with good sound quality. Does it do DirectSound3D with two channels, or is it totally focused on music?

 

[Mr.Radar]

The Z560's control pod will function as an amp, but not a very good one (think RadioShack Boosteroo quality). It will work just fine, but if you can afford it a CMOY or other entry-level amp would probably be a worthwhile upgrade over it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoodeok P.S. One last thing. Depending on the answer to that question I may go all out and get an Emu since that would let me plug in both the headphones and the speakers at the same time and with good sound quality. Does it do DirectSound3D with two channels, or is it totally focused on music?

The EMU will do two channel DirectSound, but I don't think that it's hardware accelerated at all. If you need hardware acceleration you could use the digital output from your SoundStorm into the digital input on your EMU then use the EMU as a DAC to still get all the sound quality benefits without sacrificing your framerate (SoundStorm is hardware accelerated).

 

[Asmo]

I would HIGHLY recommend against using the headphone jack on those logitechs, I tried a old pair of crap koss headphones on them waaay back when they came out, and it was awful, even on cheap headphones, compared to directly out of the soundcard.

CMOY would be your best bet, as Mr. Radar suggeseted

 

[neueziel]

Ya I agree w/the posts above. Although I had Z5300's (crappier model), the output still sounded like crap. I don't think that speaker manufactured speakers for the use as headphone amps. Your best bet would be to get an amp or just connect the phones straight to the line out.