[trig-]

Hello Head-Fi, I'm sure you guys get a million threads like this every day, but I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction for a proper audio setup.
 
My focuses are 60% fps gaming, 30% movies, and 10% music.  I've been using Astro A50's for a few years now, and after having gone through 4 pairs I decided to finally upgrade to some real headphones.  I've basically decided at this point that the Philips X2s would be my best bet as I've heard the earcups are fairly large and roomy; I've owned M50x's in the past and cannot stand how they rubbed against my ears.  I am by no means an audiophile or purist and will not be using this for professional work; I'm mainly just looking for something with satisfying, immersive sound and Dolby 7.1 Surround capabilities.
 
X2: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-X2-27-Fidelio-Headphones/dp/B00O2Y2MZG?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_12&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
 
The main problem that I'm having is deciding on the equipment to pair with the headphones.  The one thing I'm sure I will need is a dedicated sound card as my G45 Gaming motherboard does not support any Dolby surround sound technologies and the onboard sound is dying.  So far I've narrowed it down to the Asus Xonar DX and Creative SB Z for internals, and have checked out a number of externals such as the Creative G5, SB Omni and the Asus Xonar U7.  The externals seem like a very attractive option to me, is there any real reason to choose an internal over one?  I like the idea of being able to quickly change out cables and adjust the volume.
 
U7: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Xonar-U7-Sound-Card/dp/B00E7QA9E0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_6&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
G5: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-BlasterX-Headphone-Amplifier-SB1700/dp/B018JUPY3A?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_5&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Xonar DX: http://www.amazon.com/PCI-Express-Channel-XONAR_DX-XD-90-YAA060-1UAN00Z/dp/B00198DM2K?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
SB Z: http://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Performance-Headphone-Forming-Microphone/dp/B009ISU33E/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1462307163&sr=1-1&keywords=creative+sound+blaster+z
 
DAC/AMPs are what is confusing me; are they similar to the Astro Mixamp where it decodes the audio in the box before sending it to the headphones?  What extra features and performance does it offer that an external like the U7 or the G5 wouldn't.  The ones that I have seen recommended the most around here are the Magni 2 and the E11k, but would these add significant performance compared to running with just a sound card?
 
Magni 2: http://www.amazon.com/Schiit-SCH-0702-Magni-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B00SCBKPW2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_4&smid=A2MQBWZ25GS6JU
E11K: http://www.amazon.com/Kilimanjaro-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Extreme/dp/B00VETHZ04?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_2&smid=A364KLI3BZY8MZ
 
So basically I'm just looking for the best price-to-performance ratio equipment I can get to pair with these headphones.  I'm leaning more towards the single external sound card option such as the G5 or U7 since they seem to have all the features that I am looking for, but any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.  Sorry for the wall of text, thanks.

 

[cel4145]

Asus Xonar DX does not have a headphone amp built in. Really designed for working with external amplification plugged into it. Go with the Soundblaster Z for a stand alone card.

Otherwise, you could go with an external DAC/amp setup that has optical input, then use a basic Asus Xonar DG or DGX to get the Dolby Headphone capability by connecting the optical out on the card to the DAC.

 

[trig-]

Would there be any advantage to using the DAC/amp with the Asus card versus just the standalone Sound Blaster?  Also would the Asus U7 work as a standalone card with Dolby Headphone?  Thanks.

 

[cel4145]

I don't know much about the U7.

The Xonar DX + Schiit Magni would be a better headphone amp than the one in the Soundblaster Z.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Would there be any advantage to using the DAC/amp with the Asus card versus just the standalone Sound Blaster?  Also would the Asus U7 work as a standalone card with Dolby Headphone?  Thanks.

 
I would say to buy a Xonar DX sound card (used $50-$60), which has a nice CS4398 DAC chip.
And a FiiO A3 (E11K) headphone amplifier ($60).
So Xonar DX > A3 > headphones.
The Xonar DX's headphone jack is more like a line-output jack, that also pretends to be a headphone jack.
And the A3 amp has a very low output impedance (>1-Ohm), which is what you want for use with 30-Ohm headphones (Fidelio X2)

 

[Sakujin]

You can get secondhand Xonar STX 1 for roughly 50 bux(got mine 50bux 2yrs ago) these days which is a perfect fit for X2 imo. I also have Xonar D2X, Auzentech Prelude & X-plosion which I less with headphones. Also you can change the opamp to your liking on STX which is pretty cool, there's also a modding community for it to make it high end, but it also cost quite abit plus I'm afraid to brick mine.

 

[Sakujin]

Here is another option which I'm enjoying quite abit; hdmi/optical/coax out->Denon AVR(mine is 1611) or any reciever for that matter->X2.
Since the x2 is easy to drive headphone, you got alot of options.

 

[SeaWo|f]

I would buy the headphones you want first. Then I would simply plug them in to your pc in normal stereo mode with no processing and run this video
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BxO9cd-sYA&t=127s
 
It will demo all the sound tech out there except Asus tech that comes on the new STRIX cards. 
 
Virtual surround can be a bit synergistic between a tech and your specific headphones from my recent tests. 
 
For my AKG K701 headphones I found SBX and the Razer tech to work the best. Between those two options I went with the Razer virtual surround. You can get a lite version of it for free which is all I needed as the pro version only adds adjustments I don't use(They upgraded me for free so I did test the pro). My favorite part of the razer tech is you can apply it to ANY output including addon cards with a simple adjustment in the software. In my case I go mobo TOS > DAC > AMP > HP