[demize]

I bought a Little Dot I+ headphone amp off another Head-Fi user recently, and when I hooked it up to my laptop I discovered something awful! First of all, there's some sort of ground loop issue or other power related issue that generates huge amounts of noise when the laptop is connected to the amp (even with the volume at 0). Secondly and, perhaps, more importantly, my laptop is a POS source.
 
Now, I would like to use my laptop with this amp. That's the main reason I bought the amp, actually. And I'm willing to invest up to about $150 shipped in a DAC, but I don't know anything about DACs, and the only two I've really looked at are the Schiit Modi and the ODAC. The ODAC is a little out of my price range ($150 assembled and in case before shipping), but the Modi looks good except for the fact that I don't feel there's any guarantee that it'll solve the noise issue since it's USB powered (and, sadly, is the ODAC). So I need suggestions.
 
I'm willing to go past the $150 range if it's warranted, but I'd really rather not - if there's a DAC that'll solve my problem within the range, I'll be happy. Very happy.

 

[audiojun]

Some dacs to look at
hifimediy uses same chip as odac and a lot cheaper chinese made, cdac from audio poutine is an improved odac for $125. schiit modi is a good choice too.

i would probably get a sound card for computer or the hifimediy dac if i was you.