DAC/Headphone Amp/Soundcard advice

[Wageslave]

Until recently I have been a student and couldn't really afford to pursue my audiophillia and now that I'm working fulltime I've found myself with a bit of spare cash and want to improve my listening experience on my PC.

I'm looking into getting some decent headphones (possibly Audio-Technica ATH M50s, or similar in price) for use with my PC late at night when my fiancée is sleeping (I prefer to use my speakers when I can, as I feel they're more social/less isolating).


I currently have a very cheap external USB soundcard.


I was looking at getting a FiiO E7 DAC & amp to improve the sound quality for the headphones (as I feel that it would be a waste to spend so much on the headphones if the source input was lacking in quality) but then realised that as it featured an amp it would not really be suitable for use with my speakers and I would either have to keep the cheap external soundcard and have the annoyance of having to switch between the two (as I'm pretty sure having multiple USB sound devices will confuse the hell out of Windows) just for my speakers or I would be losing the minor increase in quality I gained when using my speakers.

It then dawned on me that I could probably save myself a lot of hassle by simply buying a decent dedicated soundcard, but then I realised that as far as I know soundcards don't amplify the signal, potentially meaning that if I got high quality (and generally high resistance?) headphones I might be losing out (and potentially wasting money on headphones capable of more than they will deliver sans-amp).


I feel I need expert advice on this, any comments are welcome!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Until recently I have been a student and couldn't really afford to pursue my audiophillia and now that I'm working fulltime I've found myself with a bit of spare cash and want to improve my listening experience on my PC.

I'm looking into getting some decent headphones (possibly Audio-Technica ATH M50s, or similar in price) for use with my PC late at night when my fiancée is sleeping (I prefer to use my speakers when I can, as I feel they're more social/less isolating).


I currently have a very cheap external USB soundcard.


I was looking at getting a FiiO E7 DAC & amp to improve the sound quality for the headphones (as I feel that it would be a waste to spend so much on the headphones if the source input was lacking in quality) but then realised that as it featured an amp it would not really be suitable for use with my speakers and I would either have to keep the cheap external soundcard and have the annoyance of having to switch between the two (as I'm pretty sure having multiple USB sound devices will confuse the hell out of Windows) just for my speakers or I would be losing the minor increase in quality I gained when using my speakers.

It then dawned on me that I could probably save myself a lot of hassle by simply buying a decent dedicated soundcard, but then I realised that as far as I know soundcards don't amplify the signal, potentially meaning that if I got high quality (and generally high resistance?) headphones I might be losing out (and potentially wasting money on headphones capable of more than they will deliver sans-amp).


I feel I need expert advice on this, any comments are welcome!

I never heard about FiiO brand, but while I don't put too much weight in consideration of DAC, analogue parts are more important and frequently subject to cut corners.

Few suggestions from brands we recognize are:
http://www.amazon.com/NuForce-uDAC-2-Black-Headphone-24bit/dp/B003Y5FRNS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304100527&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/ART-USB-Dual-Channel-Preamp/dp/B002KEAT78/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&qid=1304100561&sr=8-32

and for headphones: - great deal, expires soon
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD595-Performance-Premiere-Headphones/dp/B0001FTVE0/ref=xs_gb_rss_1093581/?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1303514475&sr=1-8&ccmID=380205&tag=rssfeeds-20

 

[Wageslave]

I never heard about FiiO brand, but while I don't put too much weight in consideration of DAC, analogue parts are more important and frequently subject to cut corners.

Few suggestions from brands we recognize are:

-removed because I'm not allowed to post links-

and for headphones: - great deal, expires soon

-also removed-

I saw the deal on the Sennheisers elsewhere in the forum, unfortunately I live in the UK, and the same deal doesn't apply on the .co.uk site (and they won't ship to the UK from .com). I'll have a look at the DACs, although the FiiO one did receive very good reviews everywhere I looked.


Also, any advice on using a DAC with speakers or soundcard with decent headphones?