Sound Card for headphones

Kasenumi · June 10, 2020

Hello guys
Would Asus Xonar AE sound card do any difference with my Beyerdynamic DT990 600 ohm, Liquid Spark AMP and Geshelli Labs ENOG2 Pro DAC?
My friend who is good with hardware keeps telling me it would be an upgrade comparing to integrated MOBO soundcard of AB350 Gaming 3 MOBO?

The Flying Sloth · June 10, 2020

53 minutes ago, Kasenumi said:

Hello guys
Would Asus Xonar AE sound card do any difference with my Beyerdynamic DT990 600 ohm, Liquid Spark AMP and Geshelli Labs ENOG2 Pro DAC?
My friend who is good with hardware keeps telling me it would be an upgrade comparing to integrated MOBO soundcard of AB350 Gaming 3 MOBO?

A sound card is basically an internal DAC chip, you already have a DAC so there's no reason for you to buy another one.

Kasenumi · June 11, 2020

20 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

A sound card is basically an internal DAC chip, you already have a DAC so there's no reason for you to buy another one.

I might sound stupid but I feel like I am a beginning audiophile with lots of questions, if I am wrong in my thoughts I will express - please correct me.

The sound source is MOBO. AMP powers and processes digital sound coming from MOBO and improves it resulting in better quality sound that we hear in headphones. DAC clears "dirty" sound and noise. Good quality RCA cables help DAC and AMP to reduce the noise so the sound coming from headphones is "as clean as possible".

Wouldn't the better quality source of sound, which is a PCi E sound card make overall sound better and more pleasing?.

The Flying Sloth · June 11, 2020

1 hour ago, Kasenumi said:

I might sound stupid but I feel like I am a beginning audiophile with lots of questions, if I am wrong in my thoughts I will express - please correct me.

The sound source is MOBO. AMP powers and processes digital sound coming from MOBO and improves it resulting in better quality sound that we hear in headphones. DAC clears "dirty" sound and noise. Good quality RCA cables help DAC and AMP to reduce the noise so the sound coming from headphones is "as clean as possible".

Wouldn't the better quality source of sound, which is a PCi E sound card make overall sound better and more pleasing?.

The digital signal coming out of your PC is an exact version of the audio being produced on your PC. The motherboard DAC and AMP are what can degrade this signal by converting it (poorly) into analogue. You already have a Geshelli from what I understand that is used as a DAC, you cannot use multiple DACS. All a DAC does is turn digital audio into an analogue signal. I go through this in detail in the interface section of the guide in my signature, take a look at that if you're not quite following.