Sigh.  Now suddenly it works...  I disabled Dolby HEadphone, tested it, then re-enabled it and it worked fine.  It did make a staticy pop that was kind of loud though.   Weird.

Help!   It worked last night, but now it seems like the optical out is being ignored.  All the settings are the same and are correct.  It just doesn't send to optical.  How do I fix this?

Yeah, that's what did it for me.  Sounds great!  Set it on headphone mode for 5.1 virtual headphone surround.  Output = PCM.   Anything else I need to know?

I figured it out.  It was a setting in my Xonar control panel.  I also set it up for >64 ohms.  Any other important settings I should look into?

Alright, once again I'm running into trouble.  I have everything set up and plugged in proper, drivers installed, etc...  No sound via optical out through magni/modi/headset.  Sound works fine stereo out via green port on sound card.  What am I not doing that I need to do?

Sounds good.  Thanks.  Is it gonna be a pain to find a short AV cable?  If my Modi and Magni are stacked I won't want a 6 ft cable...

Alright.  I made my purchase, and I just got my optical modi + magni.  I now realize I have no optical cable or AV cords.  Is there a difference from brand to brand in these?  Should I just go to Best Buy later and pick them up?  Is there a certain brand or type I really want?

Sounds like it's not for beginners.  I'll stick with the original plan.  Thanks.

So now I have another question.  Is the Schiit Vali compatible with this setup without changing anything else?  What's the difference between a tube amp and a non-tube amp?  Is it worth the $20 difference?

  Good enough for me.   Xonar DGX = $40 Schiit Modi (Optical) = $100 Schiit Magni = $100 Beyer DT 990 Pro 250 ohm = $180 Total == $420   Seems like a good setup, then?

  So, does this mean it isn't viable to power a 250 ohm headset?  It seems like the wattage would be low.

  I've become concerned again.  I was browsing the Magni and saw this...  "Magni is quiet enough for many IEMs, but provides up to 1.2W into 32 ohms,".  Does this mean it can only power 32 ohm headphones?

I live near Cortland, NY, and ideally wouldn't need to travel more than 3 hours one-way.  Specifically I want to try some Beyerdynamic headphones.

  Didn't see this earlier - why the pro instead of the premium?  I feel like I remember seeing people say that there is a noticeable difference.  Something about the bass, soundstage, and overall clarity.  Should I disregard that?

  Eh. I suppose I'm not too worried about it.  Worst case scenario I plug it in and it doesn't work?  Shouldn't break anything, right?