[Willakan]

Right, as the title says, got a pair of SR80i headphones, and I am planning on using them with both my PC and a portable player (Sansa Clip+). Now, I know the headphone out of my XtremeGamer card isn't astoundingly good quality, so I looked into various options, with the focus on the best quality for the smallest amount of money humanly possible, without DIYing (I've fried enough components to know this isn't for me).
 
So, after a little research, I appear to have the following options:
 
A) Do nothing; my soundcard is fine and the Sansa Clip+ can drive such low impedance headphones.
 
B) Get an amp. Would I be correct in thinking that, if crossfeed doesn't interest me, a cmoyBB would be better than a Total Airhead, despite being somewhat cheaper? I am leaning towards this option, maxing out the headphone outs on both devices and using them both with a cmoy.
 
C) Get an amp AND a separate DAC. Will this yield significantly better quality for PC usage if I plug in a DAC instead of maxing out the volume of the X-FI and switching it to bitmatched playback? Are there any really cheap (ideally less than £50) DACs that would 
 
D) Get a Total Bithead, as it has both and amp and DAC. However, my problem here is that I suspect that the amp in the CMOY is better, so I would be better served getting a CMOYBB and a separate DAC. However, reviews of products such as the Nuforce uDAC draw attention to the noisy output, which is not something I want with a sensitive pair of cans, as my soundcard's output is currently noise-free (SNR of 109ish I think).
 
I am currently leaning towards getting a cmoyBB and being done with it, but would be interested to see how a total airhead/bithead does in comparison, or a nuforce uDAC.
 
Thanks in advance. 

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Maybe look at the FiiO E7/E9 combo. That will give you a portable amp and DAC (E7) and a desktop amp and DAC (E7 cradled in the E9). You're looking at about $200 for the combo.

 

[Willakan]

Hmm, I would prefer to use one thing rather than 2, and a quick google gives the impression that the amp in the E5 (which is also in the e7 with a DAC I think) sounds the same, if not worse than, you've guessed it, the humble cmoy. Is this the case?

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Not sure...I don't have experience with FiiO products...just what I read which is mostly about eh E7/E9 and they get good reviews. So I honestly don't know how it compares to the CMoy. I can only go by what others say.
 
IMO, the cool thing about the combo is that you have the E7 for on the go and that gives you an amp and a DAC. When you are at home and you cradle the E7 into the E9, it bypasses the amp on the E7 and uses the better amp of the E9 but uses the DAC in the E7. So yeah...it is two pieces of equipment but since you plan to use your headphones at home and on the go...I just thought that this setup would be great because it was very versatile. But that is only if the sound quality is there for you. Maybe someone will chime in that can compare the amps.

 

[Willakan]

It does look good, but for considerably more money than the cans it's powering, it had better be something quite special. $200 is rather more than I would ideally like to spend - as you say, perhaps someone could chime in with some comparisons to other products?