CAfromCA

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Yes, Eloise is correct in that I do not actually have the Audiophile 192 and I have been plugging into the line out and not a headphone jack. I had to read up a little to understand your replies. I've decided to get a little more educated on both hardware and software before I make my next move. I may be back with more questions soon. At least you gave me some starting points. Thanks again, CAfromCA

Wow! Thanks for the quick, thoughtful replies. I feel like I’m finally in the right place. Per budget…probably under $1000 altogether. Per headphones I have currently been eyeing AKG701, just going by reviews and online buzz. But I believe headphones like these will require an AMP. Yes I am currently plugging directly into the audio jack. I’ve been through a few headsets which was why I was thinking of upgrading this time. I really don’t like my current sound card which does not even have an equalizer-- and I do need to shape the sound as Jerry put it. That’s exactly what I need to do! I need accurate, not distorted sound to start with, not booming bass and echoes. Then sometimes I need to be able to tweak it back and forth until I can tease out the details. And yes, I was also looking at software to this end. My question so far is if an external AMP bypasses the soundcard, would that teasing be possible? I guess I don’t get how they work or how you use them. CAfromCA

Working with headphones listening to sometimes badly recorded WAV files of human speech from computer. (Beyond quality headphones) what can improve the accuracy of what I hear in all ranges? What will allow me to tweak it until I can hear specific sounds. Sound card? AMP? DAC? I had hit upon the M-Audio Audiophile 192 as very true to original card (by reviews), but was told by another it is outdated... But should I care? A musician friend suggested external card FastTrack, knowing I may also do some recording later, but this is not currently my priority. I then found out the headphones I was eyeing would probably work better with an AMP. I talked to HeadRoom about TotalBithead but it sounds like this AMP/DAC bypasses the sound card and yet does not seem to allow tweaking. (I may be wrong.) Not sure where to start. CAfromCA