Sound Card: Worth it or not?

Thanks for your helpfull and insightfull info. What kind of ports should we want in a portable dac/amp combo for a laptop when wanting to use it for setting up 5.1 speaker system/headphones/any other uses that might benefit?

 

DAC's do not really mess around with 5.1 thats considered more of the movie side of things, while the DAC is the music side of things.

A digital out via optical to a receiver that decodes 5.1 is the best way to do that, but that is not a portable solution.

the 5.1 headphones either do it themselves via usb, or use those triple 1/8" jacks that connect to a 5.1 computer sound card.

I dont consider 5.1 to be very good for anything other than movies, I always use 2.1 even though I have a 5.1 setup at home.

2 speaker headphones are a better quality for a better price than any of there 5.1 counterparts and still give you very good positioning and localization.