Laptop audio recommendations

I own the Fiio E7 USB DAC/Headphone amp and am very happy with it but currently if i were in the market for a sub $100 usb dac/cans amp the Fiio E10 would be my choice  I use the E7 at home with desktop PC and lappi at work as well and am ideally looking for a W8/Ubuntu tablet for transit hehe

Hey Sam: sounds like we're in similar positions. As trog said, the E10 seems to fit the bill, although I'm still trying to get clarification on its impact in games.

Check out some impressions here: Head-fi.org - [Impression] FiiO E10

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamHeadFi 

For the Fiio's do the increasing numbers correspond with an increase in quality or is one the best out of them?

I'm still green, but from what I can tell, the increasing numbers correspond roughly with increasing size and feature lists. Personally, I need to be able to throw my DAC in a bag and go when traveling, and the E10 looks like the best transportable FiiO option. Hopefully someone with more experience will weigh in.

Take a look at iBasso dac/amp products.   They make several that would fit the bill.  

 http://www.ibasso.com/en/home/

Is gaming performance more important than sound quality? PC only or console too?

If you need positional audio, i.e. surround sound, for FPS titles then get a soundcard instead of a DAC.

Some gaming-oriented options (in rough order of smaller to larger size):

Asus Xonar U3

Creative Sound Blaster X-fi Go! (NOT the Pro version)

Astro MixAmp

Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D

Creative Soud Blaster X-fi HD

Just re-read the OP. If you're going to use IEMs exclusively, I'm pretty sure virtual surround and other pyschoacoustic effects won't have any real impact. Just get a quality DAC that travels well. Of course I'll defer to more knowledgeable members that may disagree :)
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SamHeadFi 

Ah so there are no gaming friendly DAC's? I wanted music for when i travel (500-1000 miles any given week) and gaming performance for everything else (10-30 hrs a week, depending on how busy i am), which ends up at around 50/50.

In case you have or are getting some headphones you'd use when gaming/not travelling, here are my general conclusions from two days of research (extensive, I know): 

DAC

+ Much better SQ improvement in music (and possibly other audio if you don't care about surround sound)

+ Many (e.g. Fiio E10) include a better headphone amp than similarly sized soundcards

+ Some are self-powered (battery) and can be used with other sources, e.g. ipod or other DAP

- No support for virtual surround or other psychoacoustic effects

- Relatively limited colorization options on trans/portable models without computer software

Soundcard

+ Across the board SQ improvement in music, movies and games

+ Extra features like Dolby Digital conversion and/or virtual surround sound/5.1 for tweaking your listening experience

- Not as good as a DAC for listening to music

- Headphone amp (if at all) may not be powerful enough, depending on headphones

I'm probably missing some stuff, but the tl;dr version is:

A DAC is great for music, but probably won't add much to your gaming experience.

A soundcard will make everything sound noticeably better (but not amazing) compared to your laptop, plus the virtual surround could greatly improve your FPS gaming and movie experience (based on personal preference).