[VeXun]

 
I have the Realtek ALC 889 on my GA-X58A-UD3R motherboard and recently got a pair of Sennheiser HD 558's and also use some Klipsch x10i's and am interested in making them sound better. They do sound pretty good with my onboard but that's probably because I haven't heard a dedicated sound card and don't have an amp for portable use. 
 
I am looking to invest in a cheap sound card if it will make a difference, I just saw an ASUS XONAR_DG 5.1 PCI card on newegg for 23.99 with a 10$ rebate. Would there be a noticeable difference in sound quality? The extra little details in my music make a huge difference to me.
 
Also I use an ipod touch 4 and want to get an amp for it so I don't have to use the aux port is there a headphone amp I can get that will work for both my ipod and my pc and make them both sound better? I am on a pretty tight budget because I just purchased these 558's a new samsung galaxy player 5 and new GPU. I was looking at an e7 or e9 for my 558's would it make them sound a lot better with my ipod if I use a line out cable? I am still new to everything as you can probably tell so please bare with me.
 
Thanks!

 

[NamelessPFG]

If you hear any sort of hissing or buzzing with the GA-X58A-UD3R's analog outputs using headphones, that should go away completely with any half-competent sound card, and I'd imagine the Xonar DG to be more than up to the task.
 
Plus, you get Dolby Headphone! If you bought a new GPU, you're probably gaming, and that will help immensely.

 

[VeXun]

Quote:

If you hear any sort of hissing or buzzing with the GA-X58A-UD3R's analog outputs using headphones, that should go away completely with any half-competent sound card, and I'd imagine the Xonar DG to be more than up to the task.
 
Plus, you get Dolby Headphone! If you bought a new GPU, you're probably gaming, and that will help immensely.

I haven't heard any hissing at all even at loud volumes, my awful bose companion 2 speakers hiss though lol.. 
 
I noticed that the Xonar DG sound card is PCI what is the difference between PCI express sound cards and pci? Is it a difference in sound quality? Also is there a decent budget headphone amp that would work with both the line out of my ipod as well as my computer?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Asus Xonar DG (PCI) or DGX (PCI-E) sound card ($14-$40)
 
The DG & DGX are only different with the PCI/PCI-E slot, everything else is the same.
So the DG is really low priced after the $10 mail in rebale.
 
The DG(X) come with a half-way decent headphone amplifier
and Dolby Digital (Dolby Virtual Headphone 5.1)
The DG(X) will make your audio sound better over the built in sound card on your motherboard.
 
Fiio E11 ($65) portable headphone amplifier (with L cable).
The Fiio L cable will plug into the IPod's LOD port, connecting to the E11 amp.
 
The E11's amplifier is better then the DG/DGX's, so you can just plug the E11 between the DG(X) and the HD558s.
(the HD558s will still sound good plugged straight into the DG(X))
 
For $13 (eBay), you can get two spare batteries (BL-5B) and a battery charger for the E11.

 

[VeXun]

Quote:

Asus Xonar DG (PCI) or DGX (PCI-E) sound card ($14-$40)
 
The DG & DGX are only different with the PCI/PCI-E slot, everything else is the same.
So the DG is really low priced after the $10 mail in rebale.
 
The DG(X) come with a half-way decent headphone amplifier
and Dolby Digital (Dolby Virtual Headphone 5.1)
The DG(X) will make your audio sound better over the built in sound card on your motherboard.
 
Fiio E11 ($65) portable headphone amplifier (with L cable).
The Fiio L cable will plug into the IPod's LOD port, connecting to the E11 amp.
 
The E11's amplifier is better then the DG/DGX's, so you can just plug the E11 between the DG(X) and the HD558s.
(the HD558s will still sound good plugged straight into the DG(X))
 
For $13 (eBay), you can get two spare batteries (BL-5B) and a battery charger for the E11.

 
Should I just get this? 
 
http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Accessory/dp/B004QVPGXK/ref=pd_sim_e_10
 
Will the E11 make my realtek sound better at all? Also would it make much of a difference with my ipod touch and my HD 558's and Klipsch x10i's?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

 
Should I just get this? 
 
http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Accessory/dp/B004QVPGXK/ref=pd_sim_e_10
 
Will the E11 make my Realtek sound better at all? Also would it make much of a difference with my iPod touch and my HD 558's and Klipsch x10i's?

 
The E11 deal on Amazon is really good, get it.
Apple products (like the iPod) usually come with decent DACs and headphone amps.
So how much the E11 will improve I can't say.
The Fiio E11 is for sure better for driving headphones then the motherboards built in sound.
 
I still recommend getting the Xonar DG ($14 after mail in rebate), it comes with a better DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) then the motherboard.

 

[VeXun]

Quote:

 
The E11 deal on Amazon is really good, get it.
Apple products (like the iPod) usually come with decent DACs and headphone amps.
So how much the E11 will improve I can't say.
The Fiio E11 is for sure better for driving headphones then the motherboards built in sound.
 
I still recommend getting the Xonar DG ($14 after mail in rebate), it comes with a better DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) then the motherboard.

One thing I just realized is that with my Crossfire-x setup my computer has the pci slot is being covered lol.. How are usb sound cards? My Pci-e slot is really close to  the northbridge heatsink on my GA-X58A-UD3R motherboard so that concerns me to add a pci-e sound card.