Amp for Desktop w/ Headphones

[elkibblez]

Alright, so I currently have Sennheiser HD 380 Pros (54 ohm), which I mostly listen to off of my desktop. My desktop is a 4 or 5 year old HP with a 4 or 5 year old sound card. Now my questions are these:

1. Do I even need an amp?
2. I'm looking at Sennheiser 595s (50 ohm), would those need an amp?
3. If not an amp, what else should I look at to possibly improve sound quality so I get the most out of my headphones?

Thanks!

[CrowdAds]

[Szadzik]

If anything, you should first look at getting a DAC. A DAC will bypass your old sound card and give you better sound quality output. Here, you could use your headhones on their own or have an amp. An even easier solution is to get an amp/ DAC combinaion like iBasso D4/ D6 etc. You get a good package with a DAC and an amp.

The question is however - do these headphones get better with an amp? If the anwer is no, then maybe it would be better to think about a cheap but good DAC like the Headphonia USB DAC cable.

[sergivs]

Originally Posted by elkibblez

Alright, so I currently have Sennheiser HD 380 Pros (54 ohm), which I mostly listen to off of my desktop. My desktop is a 4 or 5 year old HP with a 4 or 5 year old sound card. Now my questions are these:

1. Do I even need an amp?
2. I'm looking at Sennheiser 595s (50 ohm), would those need an amp?
3. If not an amp, what else should I look at to possibly improve sound quality so I get the most out of my headphones?

Thanks!

1. Your headphones are relatively high-impedance, so probably not. Especially if the sound card does not have a separate line out. But even if it does, the chances that the headphone output stage sucks and line out shines are kind of slim. But it's possible.
2. Same deal
3. Get a good DAC, as Szadzik wrote.

[WalkGood]

I agree with Szadzik, I would start out with a USB DAC, there are several low cost ones recommended by members here. A DAC makes a big difference on my laptop compared to onboard sound card.