Replacing a sounblaster Z

[kitchi]

Up until 2 weeks ago I was using a sound blaster z sadly it has died
I am thinking of replacing it with a DAC. Can any one give me some advice on a DAC that will be comparable to my old sound card with out breaking my bank account or get me a divorce.
The sound card is about $100 usd and I would like to stick with that price point if possible.

I will be plugging my Sennheiser 558HD headphones into it.
The DAC would have to have a built in amp for the headphones and preferably a volume control.

I have been looking around the internet but know one can seem to agree on anything.
They all seem to contradict each other.

Any advice would be appreciated

Steve

 

[E.Auer]

I would see what the folks over at Head-Fi have to say as that is right up their alley.

Eric

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Agreed, this is the kind of enquiries that forum specializes in.

 

[kitchi]

thanks guys

 

[gvl]

I'm happy with my Centrance DACPort Slim that is within your budget but the drop isn't active on Massdrop at the moment. Decent DAC, Class-A headphone amp, can't do much better for the money, not for use with mobile devices as it is relatively power-hungry being Class-A, very compact, has ASIO driver. There is also Emotiva Little Ego for $99, which is pretty good as well but no physical volume control, you'll need control volume from the computer but the built-in volume control is analog which is nice. Also check FiiO or Topping devices, many are happy with them.

 

[mjw21a]

The S.M.S.L M3 is great, though if you want tube warmth check out the Xiang Shen DAC-01A

 

[srb02]

HiFimediy: Clean, nice simple sound, for not a lot of money. Use two of them every day.

my two cents Stu