What to drive Sennheiser HD595's?

[iddie]

I use my PC a lot especially for music and gaming. I currently have an Audigy2 with some Sennheiser HD570's and am not that happy with them.

I have been looking at upgrading my soundcard and headphones and like the look of the HD595's but am worried that the Audigy2 isnt up to the job.

I have two options really, get an X-Fi or get a seperate card for music (I know absolutely nothing about non gaming sound cards)

is the X-fi good enough for a significant improvement (in music)? or is a dedicated sound card better?

Thanks in advance

[HighlandeR]

X-fis quite good and the front panel has a direct headphone output and I hear its amp powered.

Sorta odd but it still provides a cleaner/powerful better SQ signal compared to my hi-fi amps even so ive ended up using it directly from there.

Maybe wiser to get the full x-fi one apparantly that has even better SQ, although dunno how much by.

Hd595s are lovely very well balanaced and are good from a X-fi output

[iAtticus]

Here is a little break down on the X-Fi seres cards:

X-Fi XtremeMusic - Base card. Best value.

X-Fi Platinum - Adds the X-Fi I/O Drive and a remote to the XtremeMusic package. If you are going to actually connect something besides speakers/headphones this may be a good choice.

X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS - Adds 64MB of on-board "X-RAM" and an LED to the Platinum package. Creative has pulled this before. I expect the same results this time as last. They get one or two titles to use the 'sound memory'. Then market it as the 'wave of the future'. The gaming industry will pass it by. It isn’t worth the cost to code for one product unless it has a HUGE market share. That "X-RAM" is going to be used by BF2 and *maybe* a few other EA titles. Ask yourself if it's worth double the cost of the XtremeMusic or a third more than the Platinum.

X-Fi Elite Pro - X-Fi I/O Drive is replaced with X-Fi I/O Console and some extra software is added to the Fatal1ty FPS' "X-RAM" modification. The "Fatal1ty" LED is removed. This is simply for the folks with more money than things to spend it on. It is a marketing ploy that promotes the sale of the Fatal1ty FPS. One gets the feeling they are being budget conscious by not getting the "high end" item and 'settling' for the Fatal1ty FPS.

[iddie]

Thanks for the replies, looks like I'l go with an X-Fi then.

Im a bit confused as to which one to go for is the elite pro worth it?

[DennyL]

It seems that you have made your decision. An alternative would be to buy a headphone amplifier with built-in DAC, such as the Corda Aria:-

http://www.meier-audio.homepage.t-online.de/aria.htm

This would connect to a USB port of your computer, and could also be used to very much improve the headphone-listening experience with a hi-fi amplifier. Hi-fi amplifiers are known generally to have terrible headphone outputs, maybe because reviewers never review their hadphone performance.

[iAtticus]

Originally Posted by iddie

Thanks for the replies, looks like I'l go with an X-Fi then.

Im a bit confused as to which one to go for is the elite pro worth it?

No. 350 for a soundcard with very minimal improvments is not worth it. the platnium does everything you'd need and if you want the 64mb of X-Ram you can go with the Fatal1ty.

[iddie]

Hi again, so the platinum as far as music is concerned is as good as the Elite pro? if so thats what I'll go for. Not tempted by the Fatality that extra ram is just a gimmic imo.

[iAtticus]

Originally Posted by iddie

Hi again, so the platinum as far as music is concerned is as good as the Elite pro? if so thats what I'll go for. Not tempted by the Fatality that extra ram is just a gimmic imo.

The Elite Pro is the fatal1ty with a I/O console instead of drive. The platnium will do everything you want it to and all the 64mb of ram does is help take some of the load off the CPU.

The platnium will play both music and games just as good as the elite pro and has the I/O drive with all the connectors you need.