Well I got my sound card in and it seems I need better headphones, would love some suggestions - Page 4

Originally Posted by cuad 

Keeping on the topic...
I was dealing with the same thoughts as you in this thread: http://www.overclock.net/t/974786/edit-are-my-headphones-really-so-bad where I ask:
...
So I bought AD700s. Later I bought DT 990s. And it turned out that I didn't hear any difference because there was none, because no matter what head phone I used, they sounded exactly the same plugged into my ALC889 as in my STX, or Titanium HD, or FiiO e7 or whatever.

The main problem I have with you Cuad is that for every person like you there is a dozen or more people like this: http://www.overclock.net/t/1215433/to-those-debating-on-a-soundcard-heres-my-first-experience-using-one/0_50

you don't have the benefit of personal experience

Originally Posted by mikeaj 

Some quick notes, hopefully for a better perspective:

1. We're all human; placebo is strong. People hear what they want to hear.

2. Even when there is no incentive to hear things differently, people do. In one study, people listened to samples A and B and were asked which they preferred, or to say they had no preference. The majority of people said they preferred A or B, even though samples A and B were actually identical.

3. When people compare audio gear, they rarely carefully match volume. Small differences in volume can change perceptions of sound quality (not just quantity) significantly.

4. The quality of onboard sound can vary significantly, even if two motherboards are using the same audio chip. The ground/power routing, electrical noise, and EMI from other nearby electronics may be significantly different, impacting performance.

5. Some headphones, particularly multi-balanced armature in-ears with crossovers, can sound significantly different with different sources, where some headphones may be much less sensitive to these things. This is because of potential impedance interaction issues, and sensitive IEMs revealing differences in background hiss quite easily.

6. Different amps and sound cards definitely have different specs and performance, just maybe not audibly so in many situations. Keep in mind that the distortion levels and particularly FR and phase response shifts is generally much greater in headphones than it is in decent source gear. If you want to abuse terminology, you could say that the headphones are more often the bottleneck, in some sense.

Originally Posted by Cha0s_Cha0 

Someone hasn't delved deep enough into the world of audio
If you search through all the headphone recommendation threads, you might understand why. Though, nothing beats first hand experience or a good ear. This, though, is expensive so not many people have this option.

Originally Posted by PrototypeT800 

A headphone can be bad for gaming when it can not effectively (or poorly) give you positional audio and the quality of said audio.

Originally Posted by PrototypeT800 

Like the title says my headphones are just not good enough to hear any noticeable difference (besides how loud the audio is) between my on-board audio and the sound card.

Originally Posted by kikkO 

How long have you tried the M50s? Have you ever listened to the M50s?