sound card with headphones

[fruscai]

well the thing with the xi-fi is it has game fine tuning mode and music fine tuning mode, so i actually have the best of both worlds

 

[Beyond]

well the thing with the xi-fi is it has game fine tuning mode and music fine tuning mode, so i actually have the best of both worlds

No matter what you've read or been told about the X-Fi, the 0404 is still the better card for music.

 

[lincsman]

I would say, go for Bose, and hook them up directly to your sound card and then connect your amp to rear or something, which is what I do, and that works much better for me. I have a set of $70 Sonys and they are SWEET for movies, music and gaming, so $150 Bose will do the trick for sure. Depending on your equipment, 7.1 could give you the extra hook-ups you need, but chances are 5.1 is fine, all depends on your set-up. If you're not sure and the money is there get the 7.1 for future proofness .

 

[fruscai]

No matter what you've read or been told about the X-Fi, the 0404 is still the better card for music.

does it have good sound management options though? honostly, I'm upgrading from a dell dimension 4100 with santa cruz 5.1 sound, the whole setup is almost seven years old, obviously anything will sound incredible to me, but with this 0404, will the gaming sound good as well, and music wise, although i did mention mostly guitar based music, i really want to be able to feel that drum-n-bass

I would say, go for Bose, and hook them up directly to your sound card and then connect your amp to rear or something, which is what I do, and that works much better for me. I have a set of $70 Sonys and they are SWEET for movies, music and gaming, so $150 Bose will do the trick for sure. Depending on your equipment, 7.1 could give you the extra hook-ups you need, but chances are 5.1 is fine, all depends on your set-up. If you're not sure and the money is there get the 7.1 for future proofness.

what bose would you suggest, have you heard them before? from what i know from personal experience, money is really not an accurate representation of sound quality from hi-fi gear, so i dont want to buy something thats $200 only to find out a $100 model will sound just as good, or better for the things i like

 

[dillon157]

About the headphones. Go bose for around $150 usd.

No, don't go bose. Everything Bose is extremely over priced for the quality and even saying the work "bose" is going to drive an audiophile nuts. You need to visit http://www.head-fi.org/ and the people there can answer all of your questions, but as far as the sound card thing goes... The source of your audio is just as important as the means by which you are listening to it. In other words, you can have the best speakers/headphones in the world but playing them off your onboard soundcard is not going to do them any justice.

You're making the right move with headphones though. You can get better sound for less money with headphones because with headphones you dont have to worry about background noise and room acoustics as much as with a speaker system. But I can't stress enough that the source IS important.

Check out the forums at head fi and good luck!

 

[dillon157]

...money is really not an accurate representation of sound quality from hi-fi gear, so i dont want to buy something thats $200 only to find out a $100 model will sound just as good, or better for the things i like

I didn't see this before I posted, but you're absolutly correct!

Check out some Grado SR60, AKG 240s, or something like that. These brands arent that well known but they are at the top in the audiophile world.

 

[fruscai]

thanks dillon, i was actually loosing at the grado r1's, people have said good things about those, and the dt 880s like ive said before, they're right in my price range and ive only heard excellent things about them