[Bogatyr]

Good day, I'm currently in the process of determining the best Amp \ Dac or Combo for my desktop setup on a budget. My headphones are AKG Q701 and I need something to drive them well under 200-250$. I've been told to get Fiio e10 for 80$ or e9 + e7 combo for about 180$. Another option is a sound card Sonar Essence STX however with all of these I am a little concerned about noise.
 
Objective 2 looks like a solid amp for 160$ unfortunately it does not include a DAC. My current soundcard is Xonar DG with a built in amp, but even on lowest settings the amp picks up noise from my power supply. I've read that the creator of Objective 2 is in the process of making a budget desktop dac+amp but nobody know when it will be out.
 
Needless to say, I'm at a loss and any help or suggestions is welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[PurpleAngel]

The O2 (Objective 2) AC powered, DAC & headphone amplifier coming out soon should sell for around $180.
I'm thinking the Fiio E10 USB/DAC/headphone amplifier.
 
Are you into music, movies, gaming?

 

[Bogatyr]

All of the above. I'm not an audiophile nor do I have an audiophile budget. I guess that my best bet is waiting for ODAC. Fiio E10 looks like a good deal for 80$ but I believe my 20$ Xonar DG is on par with it.
 
Quote:

The O2 (Objective 2) AC powered, DAC & headphone amplifier coming out soon should sell for around $180.
I'm thinking the Fiio E10 USB/DAC/headphone amplifier.
 
Are you into music, movies, gaming?

 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Some long shots for fixing your noise problem.
Make sure you motherboard's built in sound is turned off in the BIOS.
Move the Xonar DG to another PCI slot
Install the third party drivers, "Unified Xonar Drivers", at BrainBit.

 

[Bogatyr]

Already using Uni Drivers, moving the soundcard to another slot will indeed move it further away from PSU but it will then reduce the airflow to my video card like by 20-40%. Onboard sound is already off. I've even lined the space between PSU and Xonar DG with tinfoil and wrapped the cable from Xonar to front panel in tinfoil and masking tape. By the way, you can't really hear the static noise with open headphones as its overshadowed by fans spinning and in house sounds, I mainly notice it at night with closed headphones. Thanks for the reply either way!
 
Quote:

Some long shots for fixing your noise problem.
Make sure you motherboard's built in sound is turned off in the BIOS.
Move the Xonar DG to another PCI slot
Install the third party drivers, "Unified Xonar Drivers", at BrainBit.