[Xaborus]

I have a pair of DT990's (600 Ohm) that i have just been running of my Xonar ST's built-in amp for awhile now.
 
I feel like a dedicated amp would be much better for them. I'd like to stay under $100, but what im really looking for is the best value (bang/buck). If that's a bit higher than $100 that's fine.
 
Full desktop size is fine, portability is a huge bonus.
 
I saw that on the "head gear" tab under amplifier's, the Electric Avenues PA2V2 is #1. Is it really that good or is there better for the price?

 

[mikeaj]

Though I haven't really paid any attention to it, I'm pretty sure that that ranking just uses some silly algorithm based on a small amount of user data and as such, it's of course not to be taken seriously.
 
The ST's integrated amp does a better job than most audiophile or portable gear out there, particularly for fullsize headphones.  Performance depends on the other components in your computer (so stray EMI, maybe the quality of power, and so on), so it's not exactly an absolute though.  There's no dedicated amp that's going to be "much better for them" in terms of audio fidelity.  Some people prefer a less accurate presentation though.  
 
Unless you listen relatively quietly, there's not any cheap portable gear that can really power the Beyer 600 ohms headphones satisfactorily.  Cheapest desktop amp is maybe Fiio E9 for around the $100 range, but that's actually just very similar to the ST's integrated amplifier, so not exactly an upgrade in any sense.  Both use a TI TPA6120 headphone amplifier IC for the output, are limited to about 7V (rms) output which is plenty for most headphones, have similar performance, and have about a 10 ohms output impedance (as suggested by the data sheet, for various reasons).
 
You can see some comments and tests regarding the ST--and STX, and why they may perform differently in different systems despite being mostly the same thing--here:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/asus-xonar-essence-ststx-soundcards-measurements

 

[Xaborus]

Wow well that certainly makes me feel better.
 
Thank you very much! Although, i guess this means that i have to sell off my headphones. I hate the way they sound. I like the sound of my cheapy $100 computer speakers more..