General question regard to sounds and headphones

kengkmz

Honorable
Jan 30, 2013
2
0
10,510
Hi everyone thank you for reading my post, and I wish someone here can give me an insight of what i need. I will be listing out few links to my parts.

Motherboard - Purity sound card (on board)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157629&cm_re=z170_asrock_mobo-_-13-157-629-_-Product

Speaker - logitech z313
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121034&cm_re=logitech_speaker_2.1-_-36-121-034-_-Product

Headphone - Audio technica ATH m40x
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA13X1UK9922&cm_re=ath_m40x-_-0TH-0045-000K5-_-Product


I will be mostly streaming music and playing games. My question is If i plug my Headphone to my logitech z313, would that decrease the headphone sound quality? Would it be best to connect my headphone straight to my mother board? Or it doesn't matter since my speaker is already connected to my mother board?


 
Solution
it is fairly standard practice to have the front audio connection more heavily amplified (for headphone use since they may require it) than the rear jacks (for speaker use, since they are usually self powered) except on certain models which note that they have amplified jacks on the rear for headphones. now, the m40x would likely work on your rear jacks fine since it is not hard to drive but it may sound a bit better on your front jack.

the z313 connects up to the rear and only acts as an extension cable when you plug headphones in. while generally this is acceptable, as noted the front jack is generally a bit stronger. also, there have been cases of buzzing, crackling, static and other sounds when using on speaker plugs. now, this...

kengkmz

Honorable
Jan 30, 2013
2
0
10,510


Any specific reason why? Because of my PC's placement it would be slightly inconvenience to do that. Also i was thinking of plugin it into usb adapter. So i can switch between speaker and headphones. Would plug it into usb adapter lower any quality?
 
it is fairly standard practice to have the front audio connection more heavily amplified (for headphone use since they may require it) than the rear jacks (for speaker use, since they are usually self powered) except on certain models which note that they have amplified jacks on the rear for headphones. now, the m40x would likely work on your rear jacks fine since it is not hard to drive but it may sound a bit better on your front jack.

the z313 connects up to the rear and only acts as an extension cable when you plug headphones in. while generally this is acceptable, as noted the front jack is generally a bit stronger. also, there have been cases of buzzing, crackling, static and other sounds when using on speaker plugs. now, this does not mean you will have issues just that its possible.

as for a usb adapter, you are basically talking about a usb soundcard stick. the quality of those is generally not great and your onboard might be better. they are a possible fix if you notice your onboard audio is giving you issues like distortion, crackling, buzzing or similar but unless you have issues its not really worthwhile as for similar cost of a half decent stick you can get a better internal soundcard. also, its possible to switch between headphone and speakers without going through that - just change the default audio device in playback devices.

tldr.. while with the m40x any of the solutions should work i would start with the front jack but you are free to experiment with other options as it really depends on your particular hardware and setup as to how things sound.
 
Solution