Asus Xonar Essence or Regular Sound Card with a HeadAmp

[Estel]

Hi,

I am opening this topic because I am really confused now. I have 300~400$ to spare. My initial intend was to buy;

- Asus Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 (includes a headphone amp with shiny technical specs)
- Grado SR80i

But then I started to reading and well you probably know what happened

. Especially there is a lot of mixed comments for the sound card. Some liked a lot and some really bad critics also present.

So what do you think about this? User/non user comments are welcome. I want to spend my tiny budget wisely. You can also suggest whole different components of course. I am going to listen music only, no games.

Thanks in advance.

 

[chinesekiwi]

Well, for the headphones, what's your taste in music?

 

[Estel]

Well generally I listen very broad range of music. But one thing I am certain that I don't like strong basses on the headphones.

Anyway Jazz (modern and electric mainly), classical and indie stuff are the most 3 types that I listen I suppose..

 

[Estel]

What about I buy a rather cheap soundcard M-Audio 24/96, and then support with a headphone amp? Maybe in the future I'll buy a DAC and get a more quality sound. This way my system will be more flexible I guess, what is your opinions?