[NinjaMilez]

I'm building a new PC soon and after considering different internal sound cards I've realized that my Creative Recon3D USB is fine for my gaming audio but not for music listening. Because of this, I can put the money that I was going to spend on a sound card towards a proper amp/DAC.
 
I'm looking for a desktop amp/DAC that fits the budget of around £250-£300 or $430-$510.
 
All of my music is in 320Kb/s MP3 files so something that would be adequate for that format.
 
I don't need an amp for my headphones since they're a very easy to drive pair of V-Moda Crossfade LPs.
 
Thanks,
Miles.

 

[fabio-fi]

Which headphones you have? 

 

[NinjaMilez]

I have a pair of V-Moda Crossfade LP headphones and Sony MDR-XB90EX earphones.

 

[uncola]

Usually you should spend most of your money on the headphone and less on the amp/dac since headphone has the biggest effect on sound quality.  
But since you're just starting out you may as well get a decent amp and dac.  Here's some in order of price and goodness sort of by my preference from about $130 to $499 preorder
Consider Fiio e17, it's portable amp dac
Aune T1 desktop amp/dac
Schiit Magni and Schiit Modi desktop amp and desktop dac
Audio-GD NFB-11 2014 desktop amp/dac - weird china ordering process but company and products are legit and known
ifi Micro idsd - desktop amp/dac but has battery, comes out next month so guessing at quality but all signs point to good

 

[NinjaMilez]

I was thinking about the Modi and Magni combo after reading some other posts about it.
 
The FiiO portable amp seems like a better idea since having something that I can use on-the-go suits me better.
 
Thanks for the response.

 

[NinjaMilez]

I've updated the title and description for a better reflection of my requirements.