are most soundcards amplified? (sennheiser hd497 sounds bad through computer)

[LS20]

well, i was thinking that it was about time to invest in some headphones for late night music listening and gaming

so the guy accross from me has a pair of Sennheiser HD497 and, supposedly, they are 1 of the 2 best headphones for under 100$


I plugged it into the speaker-out jack of my soundcard (Realtek AC201A AC97-compliant built-onto Epox 8kha+ mobo) and it sounds really weak...its not loud and there is no bass... i messed with some settings in control panel and speaker volume and they did not help much


I'm thinking that the reason is that the headphones are unamplified...but so is the source (ALC201 soundcard)... Is this really why they sound bad? Should I buy different headphones or a new soundcard?


would something like the 30$ Philips Seismic edge be amplified and go well with the Sennheisers?

 

[QwErTyBk]

I have the Sennheiser HD497/Philips Seismic edge combo, and I think it sounds great.

 

[LS20]

can you define "great"? i mean i hear the highs and all, but the bass is very lacking. i have a cheap 3piece 40$ creative labs speakers and they sound good with the soundcard. they are loud and can hit decently hard... but these are amplified so im thinkng that its an amplification thing

 

[stonecold3169]

you'll definitely need an amp for the phones. The plugins on soundcards aren't designed for using good quality headphones like yours.

 

[dowxp]

Originally posted by: stonecold3169
you'll definitely need an amp for the phones. The plugins on soundcards aren't designed for using good quality headphones like yours.

not really. i ran on hd600's with a TBSC before getting a better sound card. try plugging them in a cd-player. is it still the same? if so, then you probably need to buy "better" headphones =) or play with an equalizer. if it is different. i have no idea. i have only used a TBSC with these. i remember a sblive being pretty weak though. reason being, the headphone jack on a TBSC is amplified.

 

[JellyBaby]

Most high-end phones need a lot of juice. Two that don't are the Grado SR-60s and Koss PortaPros (though these aren't really high-end).

My SoundBlaster Live!'s headphone out (on the LiveDrive) powers my SR-60s nicely. The SR-60s are 32 ohm phones.

 

[Cat]

www.head-fi.org has an excellent forum. They've discussed your problem repeatedly, so search on it