[Redcarmoose]

http://schiit.com



The Modi and Magni combo with a set of small interconnects would be under $250. Then his DAC is out board.


OP will have to be sure to ask for USB option and the correct power wall adaptor for his local voltage. My Asgard came with 230v which is the native power spec here.

 

[Mosstrekker192]

Sorry for the late update. Close to a week ago, I went and purchased an Auvio Headphone Amp from Radioshack for $30- I didn't plan on keeping it long, just to get an idea of what amps are really like. And while I'm not sure if it got damaged, this thing has been pretty much crap. Configuring the wires properly to get it to work was confusing, and 3 of the 4 sound settings were horrid and caused terrible background static- the one that does work works pretty well, but there's still a tad amount of background static and the sound just sounds rather artificial. Honestly, I've kind of forgotten some of the intricacies of what I've experienced, because the night I hooked it up, where I live got hit by some major winds from that hurricane (I live in New England), this thing pretty much started acting weird at the same time the lights were flickering, and while it may be a stretch, I find it weird how this thing has become virtually unusable since then. Configuring the wires became more confusing and convoluted than ever, and this thing literally lasts less than 10 minutes before it cuts out and stops working altogether. It could have just been out of the box, but either way, I'd like to get this returned as soon as possible. Nothing else on my computer was affected by the power fluxes, but I still find it very coincidental how this thing turned to complete crap when that happened. There also did seem to be a sound floor after all this happened, even when things were playing, but it was barely noticeable then. I was also pretty put off by how overwhelming the sound could be, even on more medium volumes- I don't mean for my ears, but the headphones, the thumping and vibration it caused. These are strong headphones, and I'll be getting memory cushions soon, but is this pretty much a universal thing with amps and soundcards?
 
At this point, I still don't know what I want. I should be returning the FiiO tomorrow, which isn't a big deal since it'll cost nothing, but I'm still pretty much clueless. I didn't get an answer on how to deal with a sound floor on soundcards, which turned me off, and nothing suggested since then is very appealing. The Auvio gave me a bit of an experience in seeing how sound can be rather tinny on cheaper ones, but beyond this likely defective or damaged amp, I've learned little else.

 

[stevieieie]

Personally, I haven't had much of a sound floor problem with my m100s (tested it on the NFB 15, Xonar U3, simple onboard audio, and phone), which is why I recommended the soundcard. The only difference I noticed with those sources was how loud I could get them.
 
Since you are concerned noise, an external dac should get rid of the noise floor, and an amp should help increase the volume level to what you want. The Schitt stack would work to accomplish those things for you. You could also try a Fiio E17, which has both a DAC and an amp, an is portable. They can get the M100s as loud as you'd want them and beyond without the noise floor problems.
 
There are a whole bunch of external dacs, amps, and dac/amp combos you can look at out there, and the M100s didn't seem too picky so most of them should work out fine.