Rambobbybob,
If it helps any to make you feel better, it took me a month to settle on my AD700 headphones (and another month to actually receive them...), and then a few YEARS to decide on jumping to the Q701. Thinking is good (and so is saving money), but so is living your life
Isn't your Alienware a laptop? In that case, I don't think you can use an internal sound card like the Titanium HD or Asus Xonar DG/DX anyway. If you live in America, then you can find the USB external DAC like the ASUS Xonar U3 for cheaper than $50... Black Friday may be over, but you can still buy it for $35 new or $28 refurbished. None of those would work with a console. If you really just wanna hear a sample of Dolby Headphone, why spend $$$? Mad has a perfectly serviceable YouTube video linked at the top of his guide that already has Dolby Headphone baked in. Try listening to that first before you buy!
The other thing, which is true for all audio, is your own ears are ultimately the best judge of what you'll enjoy. Everyone's ear is shaped and damaged differently, lol, so we all respond to sounds differently. IMO there is a small caveat to that, I think Surround processed audio takes a bit of time to get used to... I had to play/watch for a bit before I stopped concentrating to "hear the effect" and instead watch the media and let instinct fool me for surround placement.
Back to unique ears, I think your ear will determine if you prefer Dolby Headphone, CMSS-3D, THX TruStudio, Silent Cinema etc, and that is the main audio difference between the Mixamp and Recon3D IMO. I happen to like my Recon3D (I use it with my Xbox and PC running Mac or Windows), and my ears actually put TruStudio ahead of DH, and CMSS-3D doesn't work
for me very well. NamelessPFG likes CMSS-3D best. So, just keep in mind YMMV. One thing I do notice with the Recon3D, dynamics and depth definitely improved on my Q701 by adding a powerful headphone amp. The Recon3D was perfectly suited by itself for the AD700 though, and the bass boost was a welcome option for that headphone as well. I saw Nameless selling his Recon3D at a very good price, bargain compared to the Mixamp.
Regardless whether you get a Xonar U3, Mixamp, Recon3D, DSS or something else, you're going to feel like you're missing something with harder to drive headphones like the Q701 (apparently the Beyer DT990 32Ω too, and all higher impedance headphones), so you'll eventually want an external headphone amp. All of the surround processors I mentioned have a built-in amp only about as powerful as an iPod classic (Mixamp may be a bit more, and I suspect the Recon3D is "capped" to prevent hiss), so I have come to view them JUST as a processor component, and I use an extra amp when I want to get serious
MLE amped his Mixamp with a FiiO E17 for a good ling time, using the E17 just as an amp. Ultimately, the E11 is a cheaper and more powerful amp, because it's only an amp, but Mad wanted the E17 to also use in stereo with music from the computer. An E9k (or Magni) is even more powerful, probably good enough to "stay" as a final headphone amp.
What would I recommend? Buy nice things so you don't have to upgrade later, and buy things separate as you are able to afford them. Like, a powerful stand alone amp can be used with soundcard or audio processor for consoles, but if you get an E17 and then an upgraded Amp or soundcard then half of the E17's features become redundant.
