Do I need an amp or new sound card for my headphones?

[Brendetta]

So I got some Sennheiser HD 555s today (first pair of headphones). I've been experimenting with the equalizer in itunes which I think is confusing my ears a little but it sounds good if I set it to "Hip Hop".

Is it worth getting a headphone amplifer or soundcard to kinda "match" the headphones I have?. I don't have a clue what an amplifier does tbh but I'm sure those 7.1 sound cards would be worth a buy. At the most I just have the headphones plugged into the green port at the front of my pc, are they supposed to go directly into the soundcard at the back even ifits onboard sound?

Any advice?

[ijd]

I just got myself a little dot headphone amp, it is a whole new level and i am grinning from ear to ear

[Brendetta]

do you have a link to the one you bought? so how does it improve on the sound?

[LFC_SL]

Equaliser = distortion, but that is just me. Some people get on with it

Anyway, what sound card do you have at the moment?

For your reading:
just added graham slee but no better sound :-(
Decent Headphone Amplifier

I want to point out that your headphones will only output 2 channel sound, so surround sound output in PC sound cards are intended for connecting to surround sound speaker sets... so you may not necessarily be wanting to buy a multi-channel sound card but if you want to think about your home theatre as well then perhaps two birds, one stone