Need Advice on PC Audio Solution

[Sindorius]

Hey everyone, I've been meaning to upgrade to a more satisfactory audio solution for my PC for awhile now, but am extremely conflicted on what the best choice for myself would be so would love the advice of the peeps here.

At the moment I have a Sennheiser PC 360 headset and have been using onboard sound which has been fine (I do love my sennheisers, but haven't really tried much else), but I want to upgrade to a far more impressive sound solution that will really wow me in terms of audio clarity, quality, features, and versatility (gaming, music, movies). The whole package, if you will. All in all I'm looking to buy a new pair of cans and something like an external DAC/sound card (maybe both?), but am not sure what to get as the DAC vs sound card debate is heated and both seem to have their merits. It seems sound cards have a lot of DSP features I would benefit from in gaming, but DACs have a lot of merits in terms of audio clarity, quality, and neutrality (like the ODAC). So I'm conflicted.

To give you a bit of my personal situation and preferences to help:

• 
  ■ I listen to a lot of music and have a very eclectic taste, though I lean toward electronic, classical, and rock mostly
  ■ I watch a lot of movies
  ■ I play a lot of games spanning a lot of genres
  ■ I'd like as much futureproofing/upgradability as possible but if its impractical I understand
  ■ I'm looking for a headphone solution, not a speaker one
  ■ My computer room is quiet so open headphones all the way!
  ■ I'd like my microphone recording quality to be excellent (I'm not looking for a mic, just want to know my mic is going to perform as best as it can, you know?)
  ■ For my cans I'm looking for over ear/circumaural

In terms of cost I'd like to spend around $600-800 total but am willing to spend more if the additional cost is really worth it or necessary. I definitely want the most bang for my buck. I'm not interested in getting 2% better audio for $250 more than a cheaper solution that performs better per dollar.


If there's anything else you'd like to know feel free to ask.

 

[americanaudiophile]

The trade offs between audio quality and processing for gaming make your choice difficult. I would suggest that a headphone amp would be the best way to start, It would drive your Sennheisers better and improve sound on everything. These are quite good.
http/schiit.com/
You can check at www.headfi.org for other suggestions on phones and amps.
For music a DAC will be much better than any sound card. Just getting the audio out the the case via USB will be an improvement. Maybe you can use a card for games and a DAC for music.

 

[Sindorius]

I've been speaking with someone from headfi.org and they actually recommended I get a cheaper sound card that has the bells and whistles for gaming and surround sound and then connect it optically to an external DAC, that way I can get the best of both worlds.