External Soundcard

[chuakid]

I currently use a Logitech G430 headset.

 

The front headphone jack on my computer works while the back jacks hiss, and the front and back microphone input both have a hissing sound that only goes away when I use the sound card that my came with the headset.

I'm looking to upgrade to a Sennheiser HD 558 + Modmic 4.0 set-up in the near future for gaming, listening to music and Skyping so I'm looking for a decent external soundcard/dac/amp with a microphone input — if possible, from $50 - $100 — to clean up the hissing and perhaps improve the audio quality. Any suggestions? I was looking at the Audiotrak Prodigy Cube but couldn't find any recent reviews, does anyone have experience with it?

 

Also, my current onboard sound is an AC1150 from Realtek.

 

[Guest]

If you really need microphone input, something like the Creative X-FI HD.