External USB Headphone Amplifier Advice

Hi all, i am getting more into listening to streamed music whilst working and when working late at night i'm forever having to turn the sound down (wifey) I tried to use the headphone output but it's not really cutting it tbh. I had a look at something like this and wondered if any of you had used an external usb headphone amp at all and have experience of them.

Meridian Explorer USB DAC - Asynchronous 24/192

or

Resonessence Concero HP DSD DAC and Headphone Amplifier

Cheers for the responses

 

I would get the ODAC or Schiit Modi + Magni
Or Fiio's products, such as the E10

 

I second the Fiio E10. Wonderful little amp.

Can I ask exactly what's wrong with your headphone output by the way?

 

If you are just streaming music then you likely won't see the benefit of going above a 24bit 44kHz (for the DAC stage). What headphones will you be using with this proposed system? If it's something cheap (under $100) you likely won't benefit a great deal even if you did upgrade to an external DAC/amp.

 

It's also debatable if you're not using top-end front-end stuff whether you'd be able to tell the difference between an X-Fi Go! Pro and one of those.

I would start with that actually - the Go! Pro. Hard to go wrong for $25, and genuinely debatable whether you'd hear a difference between it and the Meridian with it's 'audiophile grade' caps.

If you want something with a headphone jack that delivers adequate insurance whatever you're playing back, I'd go get something like the RME BabyFace. It's also bus-powered which is a bonus, but it is built like the proverbial brick outhouse - and is also a very flexible interface.