Need advice on beginner's amp/DAC

[christpunchers]

Let me first begin by describing my background.

I'm no audiophile, in fact I never had a CD player or even a casette player when I was a bit younger. It wasn't until a few years ago that I bought my first mp3 player. I went through a bunch of very low end headphones, most were only suitable for very casual listening and more PC gaming, and nothing more.

Recently I decided to treat myself, took a risk and bought the HD555s. For the price I got them for, they sound excellent. Better than anything else I've owned or have tried in recent memory. But I can't help that I'm not getting the most out of them.

Right now I'm running a PC with the original Audigy 1 soundcard. I've been doing some research over the last few days about how one could possibly improve the sound coming out of these cans. One was an amp. I'm wondering if an amp would be a wise investment not only for now (for the 555s) but also in the future when my ears and wallet expand. If so, how much money, within reason, could I get away with spending on an amp? I have no need for speakers, as I cannot house any sort of decent configuration where my computer is, so would a dedicated headphone amp be a good choice?

Also I've read discussions regarding "DACs". From what I understand it can improve the signal as the soundcard would send the pure digital data straight to some sort of decoder which is external and will basically do a better job of decoding the data into analog into one's headphone vs getting the sound straight out from the soundcard's port. Would a DAC be useful in my case? Does the quality of the soundcard matter if all it's doing is sending out digital data (my audigy only has a digital out AFIAK)?

Lastly, this is a question for anybody who's a gamer, if I use an external DAC with a PCI soundcard like the audigy, would my CPU usage go up or does it not really change at all vs going with the DACs on the audigy itself?

Sorry if I got anything wrong, I'm just starting out, looking for stuff to buy so I can slowly appreciate what good sound is. Any correction or advice as to what to buy would be greatly appreciated. I don't have too much money to spare, probably wouldn't want to spend more than 300 dollars on this stuff for now, but any tips would be great.

[deepak]

I have no need for speakers, as I cannot house any sort of decent configuration where my computer is, so would a dedicated headphone amp be a good choice?

A headphone amp should improve the sound of most headphones, but a poor quality headphone amp can make things sound worse.

Also I've read discussions regarding "DACs". From what I understand it can improve the signal as the soundcard would send the pure digital data straight to some sort of decoder which is external and will basically do a better job of decoding the data into analog into one's headphone vs getting the sound straight out from the soundcard's port. Would a DAC be useful in my case? Does the quality of the soundcard matter if all it's doing is sending out digital data (my audigy only has a digital out AFIAK)?

Lastly, this is a question for anybody who's a gamer, if I use an external DAC with a PCI soundcard like the audigy, would my CPU usage go up or does it not really change at all vs going with the DACs on the audigy itself?

A good DAC should improve the sound. But I believe the Audigy cards muck around with the digital signal before sending it to the DAC (basically they aren't bit perfect) so I'm not too sure how much benefit you'd see from the DAC.

Using a DAC and gaming will have no consequence with CPU use or your frame rate since the Audigy DSP is still doing all the processing- it's just sending that to the external DAC.

I'll recommend the E-MU0404USB. It's not purely an external DAC, instead it's an external soundcard, via USB. It sounds very good for a ~ $180 unit and has a built in headphone amp that will be adequate until you want to upgrade it later on. You can also use it with an external amp later on, and as a DAC IMO it's exceptional for under $200.

The only caveat is the headphone amp is bright (emphasizes the treble) and will be a poor match with Grados. But it will not give you EAX/advanced positional audio like the Audigy. However since it's USB you can unplug it when you're gaming and just use the Audigy/headphones for that.

[christpunchers]

Yeah I've thought about using USB for sound... but I have quite a few items hooked up that's already taking up a lot of USB resources (mouse with high polling rate, keyboard also, also a little usb soundcard that I use for my mic (it's clearer than my Audigy)). My computer isn't quite the best so I'm not sure if an USB card would be such a good idea (the USB sound adapter that I already seems to slow down my computer, for example a continous windows beeping noise would sometimes be rippling or skipping when the computer is trying to do something else at the same time).

So you're saying I should try and get another PCI soundcard then considering using a DAC? My local computer store here has the X-Fi Prelude on sale, it's not cheap but a lot cheaper than the retail price. I've read it's quite good for both music and games as it has quality parts and the creative X-Fi processor. Would that be a good choice? If I get that should I also get a DAC to go with it?

As for the amp I was looking at some reviews, people seem to say praise the total airhead. It would be my first amp so I have no idea where to go but to get the one within my price range with the most amount of positive reviews. What do you think of the TAH? Is it any good? Is there anything slightly cheaper but on par or better?

[deepak]

I've never heard or used an X-Fi, but I think they have bit perfect digital output.

As for amp recommendations, there are people here that know a heck of a lot more than me (in the lower/mid spectrum) so I'll wait for them to chime in.