A personal breakthrough!

[Alf]

I have just had a ' oh god what have i been doing all this time' moment.

I have been using my Logitech Z5500 for quite some time now. And I have been using the headphone jack on them for my Sennheiser 280HD.

I thought it was adequate.

I thought it sounded fine.

I was a fool.

Only now have I learned, from reading about higher quality headphones, that proper amps are needed to get the most out of your cans. Upon reading about this I searched high and low to see if the speakers could provide proper amps to headphones. They could not.

Then I searched to see if my Xfi titanium was capable, and after some searching it seems they are. And thus I decided to 'test' to see if there was any discernible difference.

A. Whole. New. Experience.
I was lost for words. Music ive heard tons of times with my headphones suddenly revealed new details that I never caught before. It was like I was listening to a whole new song! Everything was cleaner.

As cliched as is sounds, I think this fits under the 'hearing things ive never heard before' experience. Something that only has happened before when i got my first sound card (Creative Soundblaster Live!).

I have to say, Im really, REALLY excited to start listening to my music again.
This is one of those things you dont really think about, and rarely gets asked. I didnt know headphones needed a amp. I suppose if the music sounds fine to you, then why fix it? But with a little knowledge you can experience music like never before.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Auzentech Prelude with Corsair SP2200 2.1 loudspeaker setup and Sennheisser cordless HDR160 headphones here and yes, I well remember the first time I heard music and played games using that setup, it was a revelation.

My headphones connect directly to the sound card op-amps via a front mounted headphone socket connected to an internal on card connector.

Pleased your ears are having a treat Mr Alf

 

[crazylegs]

I have the Sennheisser cordless HDR110's and there is a remarkable difference in quality over the PC as opposed to plugging them into my Pioneer Amp!

Enjoy your new ears Alf..

 

[Quadophile]

Alf,

Not sure if you have read my headphone reviews but, yes, headphone amps do make a huge difference and in most cases if the quality of headphones is high it is a kind of a revelation.

Whenever I do music reviews it has to go through my headphones before I finalize it for publication.

You might want to check these reviews out which prominently features the headphone amplifier.

http://www.epinions.com/review/SENNHEISER_HD600_Corded_Headphones_Headphones/content_299449880196

http://www.epinions.com/review/Denon_PMA_S10_Amplifier/content_187985727108