If you want to use a DAC, you need a digital output on your sound card. You don't say which SB16 you have, but the only SB16 cards with digital out are the AWE (64 Gold native, others need soldering + extra parts).
Also digital out on the AWE32 is limited to 16b 44/48kHz only, and might not give any output on lower quality.

dionb wrote on 2025-12-04, 08:45:

If you want to use a DAC, you need a digital output on your sound card. You don't say which SB16 you have, but the only SB16 cards with digital out are the AWE (64 Gold native, others need soldering + extra parts).
Also digital out on the AWE32 is limited to 16b 44/48kHz only, and might not give any output on lower quality.

Oh I guess my old Sounblaster 16, I guess a CT2230 or so, has only line out, so would that not work? Do I need something else? Gemini AI recommended this but now I am not sure if I miss something. What else would you use to connect to the line out?

A DAC is a Digital to Analog Converter, so takes digital input and converts it to analog.

Line-out is analog; the digital to analog is performed by the CT1703 DAC chip on the SB16. If you want to bypass that, you might theoretically be able to, but it would take major surgery on the card and require significantly more knowledge of its inner workings.

This suggestion that you should use an external DAC for best quality sounds with an SB16 suspiciously like the sort of thing AI might hallucinate.Let this be an example of the kind of poor output it gives when asking technically specific questions about things there's not a ton of training data on.

mombarak wrote on 2025-12-04, 08:35:

Now I am wondering if I can turn the notch even higher. My idea was to buy the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 Ohms headset but I read that it might need a DAC to work on old Soundblaster 16 cards.

That model doesn't seem bad, but..
a) I'm not familiar with it
b) it's a closed design, rather than an open or semi open design
c) the impedance of 32 Ohm would rather match something like a Gameboy, Walkman, Discman or consumer soundcard.
80 Ohm headphones are also still okay for that, though.

Headphones I've used to use are oldies such as AKG Monitor K-141,
Sennheiser HD 424, Sennheiser HD 433, Sennheiser HD 555, Sennheiser HD 600.

The difference between open/closed headphone designs basically is:
Closed designs have more "oomph", more bass and are used by DJs and gamers etc.
Open or half open headphones are more neutral, the heights are clear.
They're thus favorites of classic music fans or studios.

If you can't decide, you can try an inexpensive Sennheiser HD-515 (and buy some replacement ear pads maybe).
I've used that model to play MOD music and DOS/SNES emulators on PC.
The 3D/ambient sound provided by the reflections inside the headphones is nice.

mombarak wrote on 2025-12-04, 08:35:

So I am thinking of buying a DAC like this one if it is really adding value: https://www.amazon.de/Fosi-Audio-SK01-Kopfh%C … 1zcF9tdGY&psc=1

That's an headphone amplifier. It's fine to attach a pair of headphones to a line level source (such as SB16's line-out).

The term "DAC" was probably used because modern USB soundcards (for playback only) are sold as external DACs, too.
Because in a digital world, analogue audio is nolonger common.
Except for driving the physical, analogue headphones or loudspeakers..

The only other external devices I can think of are SPDIF <> analogue converters or SPDIF <> USB audio converters.
They look similar to those USB DACs (they're small boxes).

I have a similar setup to what you're asking about:

Sennheiser HD560s headphones (120 ohms), that Fosi Audio SK01 headphone amp (not a DAC, as mentioned above), and SB16 (with Wavetable Pi on a separate sound card).

At least for the HD560s, an amp is not required. As I recall, the line out on the SB16 can drive the headphones fine. So, the headphones you listed should work as well without an amp. However, I really like the Fosi SK01 as a budget amp. It gives you a convenient volume knob and basic equalizer functions.

I'd suggest getting some nice headphones and seeing how they sound on the SB16. If you find you want or need the amp, then get it after.

Also, Jo22 brings up a very important point about open/closed headphones. Research a bit more about what you might want before dropping a lot of money on it. I greatly, greatly prefer open headphones. The mid-range Sennheisers are really nice and generally affordable.

I have DT770 Pro 80 Ohm and it has good sensitivity, the volume is enough on most sound cards (ISA/PCI/AC'97/HDAudio) from line output or front panel.
DT770 also has 32 Ohm version, but sound quality will be worse. And top-level 250 Ohm version will definitely require amp.
So, 80 Ohm is ideal middle ground.

The DAC is on the sound card, it’s the CT1703 chip that provides the signal for the PCM/Wave input on the mixer.

With headphones, the thing that is usually recommended is an amplifier. Low impedance headphones tend to load a high-ish impedance output and pull down the voltage quite a bit. It leads to low volume and the sound can even sound strained.

Headphone amplifiers are easy to make, just use a pair of opamps with decent output current capability with a small +~ 12V supply.

If the sound card has speaker out (my CT2980 has) you can of course use that, but the TDA1517 amplifier it uses tends to be noisy, especially on headphones.

A buffered / low impedance source drive the headphones as a voltage source with high damping. High impedance sources approximate current sources and have low damping. Depending on the impedance curve of the transducer being driven, the sound can vary, as a voltage source delivers more power to low impedances and a current source to high impedances (loudspeaker impedance curve is not flat, it spikes at resonant frequency and rises at high frequency due to inductance in the voice coil)

I would say get the DT770 80Ohm and see how they go, I think you will be surprised at how strong some of the line drivers on older sound cards are since they were often used with passive speakers. The benefit of the FOSI headphone amplifier is the loudness and tone controls - Old sound cards often had significant frequency response deviation and those controls will be very useful.