Hi,

I was not sure where else to ask and I know there are many technical people here so I thought id just go for it. I was looking for some help with my current setup and suggestions for anyone who knows audio well.

Currently, I use 2 sets of headphones AKG K72 wired which plugs into my motherboard sound card (Realtek) and Bluetooth 5 Sennheiser HD450BT which connects via my Bluetooth 5 Adapter which supports aptX.

So I am finding a distinct difference listening to FLAC vs compressed sources like Spotify which is perfect but I see a lot of people have more complex setups using Amps, Pre-Amps etc, A friend of a friend has a Vacuum Tube Amplifier and when I was at their house I connected up my Bluetooth HD450BT and the sound was so much better, even from compressed sources. Which made me think that maybe I need a new sound card? I am not sure though if the sound card is even used when connecting via Bluetooth to my PC?

So how could I best improve my setup? Amps, Preamps, DAC? New sound card?

Thanks for any help