External Sound Cards - Help!

[Myriam]

Can someone recommend an External Sound card for use as a music enthusiast?

 

I'm not looking to do any production at all... just want something to give me an eargasm . Just got some Sennheiser HD600's and need something to power em.

 

I would say the $300 area is the max I'd spend.

 

I'm preferrably wanting something thats readily available in NZ,

 

 

Cheers y'all

[Pakage]

M-Audio is pretty quality. Something like this could suit you nicely:

 

Mbox Mini

 

It has a line in and a microphone in if you ever did want to muck around with a bit of recording and it looks like a sexy little unit.

 

The only external soundcard ive ever had is the Lexicon Omega which ive been really happy with. Its probably a bit expensive though at $450.

 

Its little brother the Lexicon Lambda goes for around $350, but you may be able to get something cheaper that doesnt have the recording options.

 

Here's a good list to browse a bunch of external sound cards, ranging from amateur to pro:

 

pricespy.co.nz

 

Im sure someone else will throw their 2c in the ring in the morning.

[Teret]

This is useful

[Nato]

Honestly if you aren't producing and simply want a good soundcard with a decent built in headphone amp I'd go Asus Xonar ST or Asus Xonar STX. They are internal so need a PCI or PCI-E slot respectively but have more than enough grunt to run the 600's, and the sound from them is excellent. Yes ASUS is more a PC brand than an audio brand but these cards offer incredible performance. I have an Edirol FA-66 external firewire interface which is a Roland brand, and the Xonar absolutely dominates it in sound quality.

[Known One]

Just got some Sennheiser HD600's and need something to power em.

 

Good choice... I've got a pair at work to keep me sane. Wish I had a Xonar to accompany it. If I had the cash, that's what I'd go for as per Nato's recommendation.

[Dr Awesome]

Get an X-Fi, the marketing alone sells it.

[perceptualChaos]

If you are using a laptop and hence require an external card as per the original post, I think for your budget constraints, the M-audio fast track pro would be a good choice. It has a pretty beefy built-in headphone amplifier which will be able to power the 300ohm HD600s. It is $325 from the rock shop, but I'm sure you would be able to negotiate a 10% discount to get it inside your budget. If you want to take it to the next audiophile level later on, you can look into complementing it with a dedicated headphone amplifier.

 

If you don't like the sound of that, another option could be a more simple DAC/headphone amp combo like this. Or for twice your budget, this.

[Known One]

That DACport LX looks pretty sweet

[perceptualChaos]

I meant the standard DACport! The LX is just a DAC without a headphone amp...

 

P.S. Myriam, I forgot to say explicitly... if you have a PC rather than a laptop, follow Nato's advice and get the xonar STX for $250

[Known One]

This forum -> http://www.head-fi.org/f/ <- seems to have more HD600 Fanbois then anywhere else I've come across... with some really experienced audiophiles as well... probably worth doing some searching there OP. Found some really interesting information there over the weekend.

[perceptualChaos]

OP, I was reading a bit more today and the combination of the FiiO E7 as a DAC + FiiO E9 seems to be relatively popular in your price range. It could be another option worth considering. You could also buy just the E9 for now (i.e. connect it directly to your integrated soundcard), and then upgrade to the better DAC later.

 

They appear to be available in NZ from this website: http://www.soundessentials.co.nz for $350 for the pair, but it may be cheaper to order online - e.g. seems to be $200US + shipping from Amazon.