Sound Card worth it for my headphones?

Mr.Moose

Mr.Moose

New Member
I'm fairly inept when it comes to audio equipment and was wondering whether a $50 or so sound card would be worth it for my Audio-Technica ATH-M50's


When using them on my MP3 player, the audio is much clearer and crisp, would a $50 sound card be enough to let my headphones work at closer to their full potential? Or would it not be worth it in terms of quality.

If not, then onboard will have to do. If it is worth the upgrade, any brands or models you guys can recommend?

Thanks, any help's appreciated

Have a good one, folks


Edit: (Amazon only provided marketing terms, so if this means anything, these are the technical specifications):

TYPE Closed-back dynamic
DRIVER DIAMETER 45 mm
MAGNET Neodymium
VOICE COIL CCAW (Copper-clad aluminum wire)
FREQUENCY RESPONSE 15 - 28,000 Hz
MAXIMUM INPUT POWER 1,600 mW at 1 kHz
SENSITIVITY 99 dB
IMPEDANCE 38 ohms
WEIGHT 284 g (10 oz) without cable and connector
CABLE 1.2 - 3.0 m (3.9' - 9.8') Coiled, OFC litz wire
CONNECTOR Gold-plated stereo 1/8" (3.5 mm) connector with strain relief and professional screw-on 1/4" (6.3 mm) adapter
ACCESSORY INCLUDED Protective pouch
 
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Your M50's are good cans. They have a flat frequency response, making them ideal for mixing.

Spending money on a sound card is all good and well, but what are you using to play your music, and what format is it?

I'd suggest you buy an X-Fi Titanium to start with. Not the newer Recon3D cards, they are trash.
 
linkin said:
Your M50's are good cans. They have a flat frequency response, making them ideal for mixing.

Spending money on a sound card is all good and well, but what are you using to play your music, and what format is it?

I'd suggest you buy an X-Fi Titanium to start with. Not the newer Recon3D cards, they are trash.
Click to expand...

I use foobar to play my music, and I generally never download anything less than 320 kbps, with songs that I like generally FLAC. And just to clarify, I'm no audiophile by any stretch of the imagination, just a fan of fairly high quality audio, and can tell the difference.
 
Well, if you plan on getting a sound card dont go cheap. Anything less then like $80 sound card will perform the same as your onboard audio, but may come with more features.

I would start with what linkin said, the "X-Fi Titanium" sound card. Which by the way I have the professional version of this sound card and it's fantastic. The sound quality is great and the features/software provided are amazing. Now I dont know if they still produce/sell the sound card I have, because I cant find it on newegg or tigerdiret, I think it is getting replaced by the "Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D" which they have a "Fatal1ty Professional" version of this card as well.
 
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Thanks for the help guys. I'll look more into the X-Fi Titanium. I have a few computer parts I've deemed more important (New CPU, HDD's, and RAM) But after I get those sorted out, which should be rather soon, I think I'll be adding the X-Fi titanium to my rig :)

Again, thanks for the help -- I'm clueless with audio hardware for the most part

Have a good one, people
 
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