amythompson172 Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 Recently purchased AKG Q701 headphones and although they feel a little flimsy for their price tag they do sound great. I'm still debating what to power them with as my Xonar DG is rather noisy and weak. I've been looking at various dac & amp combos but for 200$, a solid soundcard like this doesn't seem like a bad idea. What do you guys think? HT | OMEGA Claro Halo 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card w/ a built-in HI-FI Headphone Amplifier ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express x1 Interface 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card Budget is ~ 200$ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black64 Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 The Omega is best the sound card brand out there right now, I would go for one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekiM Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 Either the STX or a USB DAC/Amp. I doubt you can get the latter for less than 200 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bp9801 Posted February 23, 2012 Posted February 23, 2012 I vote for the ASUS Xonar Essence STX. Basically the same as the card I'm using, and I can vouch for the excellent sound they offer. You will need a spare power connector for it, but that is just to ensure clean power to the headphone amp. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajaywilson Posted April 19, 2012 Posted April 19, 2012 Never take IDT soundcard because it does not have "stereo mix" option Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonerboy779 Posted April 19, 2012 Posted April 19, 2012 USB dac/headphone amp. Get that sh¡t out of the pc and onto the desk. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B006IPH5H2/ref=redir_mdp_mobile USB dac with headphone amp and RCA pre outs which is nice. The consistent theme of it's reviews is it performs well beyond it's price and that it is being sold almost criminally low. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wevsspot Posted April 19, 2012 Posted April 19, 2012 Wow, really jumping the spectrum here from a $30 dollar sound card to max $200 dollar sound card. Any reason to pass over the Asus mid-range options such as the DX or D1? Both of which are amazingly priced right now at Newegg. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stonerboy779 Posted April 19, 2012 Posted April 19, 2012 Wow, really jumping the spectrum here from a $30 dollar sound card to max $200 dollar sound card. Any reason to pass over the Asus mid-range options such as the DX or D1? Both of which are amazingly priced right now at Newegg. You realise how much has already been dropped on the headphones? They have an rrp of nearly $500 and I see no reason why a headphone amp/soundcard should stay inside a pc to pick up noise and possibly interfere with GPU cooling. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wevsspot Posted April 20, 2012 Posted April 20, 2012 To each their own I guess Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d6bmg Posted April 21, 2012 Posted April 21, 2012 Xonar STX, not ST which you have linked to in the first post. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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