Headphone amp question

[ScottinIndy]

I just ordered some Grado SR 80 headphones, A friend of mine has the SR 60's and I really liked the sound of them, Anyway, They will be mostly for computer use, Some gaming, However mostly just music listening, I have the X-Fi extreme music soundcard and I was wondering if a headphone amp would be a worthwhile investment and if so what would be a decent amp that would fit my system without getting overly expensive. As always, Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[MadMan007]

I'd say a headphone amp would improve the sound quality quite a bit over a stock Xtrememusic. You would probably want to use something that would take a digital output from the soundcard so you don't use the sound card analog section. From what I've read, but haven't tried personally, USB sound output isn't great because the USB converters aren't very good.

Personally I have a Zero DAC/Headphone amp that I use for music for my stereo and headphones, I also have SR-80s. It's pretty nice and for the price the functionality is good - it takes S/PDIF optical or coax and can output line level analog stereo and has a headphone amp as well. Check the classifieds ;) Having pimped my stuff a little I'd suggest going through the bother of registering at Head-Fi and seeing what you can find out there, the people there focus on headphones and would have a lot more info for you.

[ScottinIndy]

Thanks for the input MM, It is appreciated, I will go check out Head Fi pronto.

[vixro]

Head-fi is definitely the place to ask. I love the quality of my little dot MKIII amp, but it's on the pricier side and matches well with my Sennheiser HD580s