A few questions about ATH-M50 headphones, sound cards, and amps.

[DeathFang]

[i]I bought a pair of ATH-M50's about 3 years ago. It was probably the best purchase I ever made. That being said after those 3 years of very heavy use they have developed a crack and I will probably have to buy another pair soon. I've been looking at the ATH-M50X's and the ATH-M50S's alongside the original set trying to decide which to go with. After some basic research the ATH-M50X's seem to be near identical except for the interchangeable cables but I'm clueless about the differences between the ATH-M50's and the ATH-M50S's. So my first question is what are the differences? Are there any catches? Which is the best of all 3 in your opinion?[/i]

[b]EDIT:[/b] As it turns out, the S in ATH-M50S literally stands for straight, as in having a straight cable vs. the original's coiled cable. Sorry for the stupid question. This will most likely be my product of choice as the ATH-M50X's price is rather high considering the only thing that's new about it is the interchangeable cables. My second question still stands.

My second question is about my sound card. I have a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD. The increase in audio quality after installing it was noticeable but there is a lot of craze about needing an amp to get the best out of high quality headphones. Does my sound card have a built in amp? If not, do I need one? And if so, will an amp work WITH my sound card and which amp should I go with?

[Chubbs]

[url=facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1250718&p=45938597]ask here next time[/url]

In answer to your question: A sound card is a dac/amp combo which goes in a pci/e slot, so yours does have an amp. You really don't need one to drive m50's though

[DrTaxi]

Every sound card, even integrated sound chips on a motherboard, has a builtin amp. It just may not be as good as a dedicated one, or have a lot of interference on the signal path (motherboards are often guilty of this - many introduce a very noticeable hiss into any sound they play, though not all of them).
Some sound cards have amps intended for headphones, generally in addition to amps for speakers (though I don't know whether yours does).

Your headphones are low impedance, they don't need much amplification (so no extra amp).

You'll be just fine with your current setup, if you get headphones that aren't so easy to drive you'll have to judge whether the price of an amplifier is worth it, given that you already have a very good soundcard which should be able to drive most headphones and your headphones/speakers are still the parts that make the most difference in sound, especially in relation to price.

[DeathFang]

Alright, thanks for the replies. It looks like a pair of headphones is the only thing I will be purchasing when the time comes.