So functionally, all I would need is *any* sound card that does... 3DCMSS or Dolby or whatever. Card processes 3d sound, pumped to my receiver via optical, which then in turn decodes with its own DAC, and sends signal to my headphones... So pretty much any budget sound card then, since I don't...

I have an Onkyo HT-R510 receiver. It has speakers plugged in at 6.1 surround. It has speaker-mode surround sound modes, but when I plug my headphones in, I can only seem to find two headphone modes - Direct and Stereo, both of which seem to be in PCM mode. I don't really even know what PCM mode...

Thank you both for your replies.    Not sure I understand. Isn't the Titanium sound card also a DAC? So you would get a soundcard which has a DAC and then another stand-alone DAC, and then an amplifier?    Or you mean Soundblaster optical out, which bypasses sound card DAC, to standalone...

I have the HT-R510 - ancient history, pretty much, same speakers/receiver I had from college. Left the country for a number of years and left it behind, came back and didn't see a point to upgrading...    All I get out of the HT-R510 is stereo mode. So any sound card plugged into the receiver...

I'm looking at getting one of the following, from Mad Lust Envy's reviews:    http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Pro-Audio-K712PRO-Headphones/dp/B00E4WXWBE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406732241&sr=8-1&keywords=akg+k712 AKG K712 Pro - 350 bucks  ...

I'm looking at getting one of the following, from Mad Lust Envy's reviews:    http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Pro-Audio-K712PRO-Headphones/dp/B00E4WXWBE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406732241&sr=8-1&keywords=akg+k712 AKG K712 Pro - 350 bucks  ...