Best sub $100 external sound card / amp?

theshickness

Estimable
Jul 8, 2015
8
0
4,510
Hello!
Budget Audiophile here, as the title says I'm looking for the best external sound card / amp under 100 bucks (I'm tired of my integrated sound!). I'm looking at a few now and would like some insight. The two I'm looking at now will be linked below.
Thanks!
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Performance-Headphone-Integrated-Microphone/dp/B00EZT7RE4

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/creative-sound-blaster-e3-usb-dac-amp-combo?referer=7ZW6WM&mode=guest_open&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Audiophile%20A%20Product%20Announcement%202015-08-20&utm_term=Community%20-%20Audiophile%20-%20MAU%20%28Active%29
 

theshickness

Estimable
Jul 8, 2015
8
0
4,510
the omni, x-fi 5.1, u5 and u7 are all decent options if you absolutely require a soundcard for 5.1

if you're looking for 2.1/2.0 only, there are nice amps and dac/amps which are specifically made for high end headphones which AA mentioned a few of.
 

theshickness

Estimable
Jul 8, 2015
8
0
4,510


Okay! That's settled then, I will just stick to a nice DAC/amp for my headphones, as I do not use a speaker system or even 2.1, thanks guys!
 

theshickness

Estimable
Jul 8, 2015
8
0
4,510


Currently I only have SuperLux HD 668Bs and Audio Technica ATH-AD700Xs, nothing crazy but I know I can squeak a bit better performance out of them if I escape from my onboard sound card.
 
for those cans an external headphone amp really is not required. any soundcard would do.

if you want virtual surround sound, you would need to go with a usb soundcard option (i'm guessing you have a laptop which is why you avoided internal cards).

if you do not care about virtual surround you could go with a cheap fiio as AA suggested. the fiios tend to add a bit of warm quality to sound so might push a little more bass (though still they are going to be light) out of the 700x.

if you're eventually looking at heavier cans to drive, you might want to pick something appropriate now instead of spending more on better things later... but as far as what you have now - none of it is hard to drive.
 

theshickness

Estimable
Jul 8, 2015
8
0
4,510


I don't have a laptop, and was mainly looking into externals because I can take ti with me and plug it in anywhere and into almost everything, I know I have no true need for a soundcard or amp with my setup but that little extra push in quality would be nice.