[410107]

Hi everyone, I've been googling my fingers to the bone over the last few days trying to decide exactly what I should get .. I've chosen the headphones (Sennheiser HD650) which led me to endless debates on these very forums about whether a soundcard can drive them to their full potential. I was looking at the Asus Xonar Essence STX II, but then I saw the Essence One which has optical in (which would mean I could hook my PS3 up to it) and now I'm stuck trying to decide between the two. I watched an unboxing of the One and it does look pretty damn big, compared to most DAC/AMPs on the market is it oversized?
 
If neither of these would be enough, which DAC/AMPs should I look at? I've looked at so many and read so many reviews that I'm entirely lost, I need guidance! Budget is £300 (can probably go £100 higher, not certain yet). I need pretty much USB in, *maybe* optical in, headphone out, nothing fancy but like I said I'm lost. What pros/cons are there with a USB DAC/AMP compared to a soundcard or optical?
 
Thanks in advance for your patient, hand-holding answers

 

[PurpleAngel]

Audio-GD NFB-15, external DAC/Amp, 169 GBP ($270) + shipping
USB & S/PDIF (optical & coaxial) inputs
Dual WM8741 DAC chips
Plenty of amplifier power
http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFB1532/NFB15.32EN.htm
 
Audio-GD will list $100 value with the shipper, so import tax should be low.
 
The NFB-15 can be connect (S/PDIF) and used with lower priced sound cards, like Xonar DG/DGX or Sound Blaster Z (OEM).
Or connected to the motherboard's on-board audio.

 

[410107]

Thanks for the tip! I was wondering, is there a bigger advantage to using USB out of my motherboard over the optical out of a soundcard into a DAC/AMP?

 

[PurpleAngel]

  Thanks for the tip! I was wondering, is there a bigger advantage to using USB out of my motherboard over the optical out of a sound card into a DAC/AMP?

 
USB bypasses sound card features, S/PDIF (optical & coaxial) will work with sound card features.
With the NFB-15, you have all the options for a connection.
As USB automatically bypasses the sound card features, there is a little less interference in the signal path.
But S/PDIF optical can also be set to bypass sound card features, but S/PDIF the default setting does not bypass the sound card.