Should I get a DAC to replace my dedicated sound card?

[Thunder]

I currently have a Sound BlasterX AE-5 in my gaming PC and I'm thinking about if it's worth it to replace my sound card with an external DAC and headphone amp or DAC/headphone amp combo to get a better sound quality.

 

[bcall]

Taking a quick look through some measurements posted at reference-audio-analyzer.pro (Headphone Out port) I'd say it looks to be a very competent device:

- Flat frequency response out to nearly 19.5KHz
- Very low output impedance (1.1 Ohm)
- Pretty good output power (216mw @ 100 Ohm, 92mW at 300 Ohm)
- Distortion spikes below -105dB with 100 Ohm load, ~110dB at 300 Ohm
- Jitter distortion elements below -125dB (in Line-Out mode)

There seem to be no glaring faults or bad measurements to my eye (I'm definitely no expert), and with regards to whether you'd achieve better sound quality with a separate DAC/amp combo, I would have to say the answer is no. Save that $ and experiment with different headphones to really hear any sound differences.

It's a solid card, I would stick with it.

 

[Svperstar]

What kind of headphones do you have?

I used to use an X-Fi Elite Pro and it was a rock solid source, no need for a DAC, I did get an amp(Gilmore Lite original) for my Sennheisers.

If you are using gaming headsets little reason for an amp.

 

[Thunder]

What kind of headphones do you have?

I used to use an X-Fi Elite Pro and it was a rock solid source, no need for a DAC, I did get an amp(Gilmore Lite original) for my Sennheisers.

If you are using gaming headsets little reason for an amp.

I have the Sennheiser HD 600 but I don't use them pretty much, I always use my speakers which are the Edifier Edifier Studio R1280T

So basically, even if I'd get for example the Topping DX3 Pro DAC/Headphone Amp I wouldn't benefit from it very much, is that right?

And what about a speaker amp? Would I benefit from it? Btw I don't completely understand the use of a headphone/speaker amp, what are the advantatges of using one?

Thank you.

 

[bcall]

I have the Sennheiser HD 600 but I don't use them pretty much, I always use my speakers which are the Edifier Edifier Studio R1280T

Your Edifier speakers are powered speakers and have their own amp internally, so there's no need to supply a speaker amp for them.

One benefit of soundcards I like is you can have both your speakers and headphones plugged in at the same time, and switch your output via Windows. Many lower/mid cost DAC/amps require you to unplug headphones to output audio via the rear RCA ports (not all of them of course).