New sound card advice

[amythompson172]

Recently purchased AKG Q701 headphones and although they feel a little flimsy for their price tag they do sound great. I'm still debating what to power them with as my Xonar DG is rather noisy and weak. I've been looking at various dac & amp combos but for 200$, a solid soundcard like this doesn't seem like a bad idea. What do you guys think?

HT | OMEGA Claro Halo 24-bit 192KHz PCI Interface Sound Card w/ a built-in HI-FI Headphone Amplifier

ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express x1 Interface 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card

Budget is ~ 200$

 

[herbalfire]

from what ive heard the Asus card is crystal clear

 

[Buckshot420]

Have you thought about a sound card with a breakout box? This is just m-audio products but there are plenty of others.
http://www.google.com/search?q=m-au....,cf.osb&fp=5d18f67614ddc497&biw=1173&bih=843