Best USB DAC for music listening?

I'm looking for some recommendations on a USB audio interface. It'll mostly be for listening to music (and the occasional movie, though that's not really the priority here).

Here’s what I'm planning to plug into it:

1) M-AUDIO Studiophile BX5a Deluxe studio monitors, 5'' woofer, 70w amp
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BX5a--m-audio-studiophile-bx5a-deluxe-studio-monitors

2) A headset (mic and headphones combo)

3) Occasionally, I'd also like to hook up some "real" headphones—not a headset, but my Sennheiser 497s.

I was thinking about grabbing the M-AUDIO Fast Track USB or maybe an
Akai Professional MPC
or just anything else that fits the bill without breaking the bank.

The main thing is that I need to be able to plug in my headset so I can jump on Skype calls without a headache. Ideally, the mic input and headphone jack should be close together (or at least have the mic and stereo outputs near each other).

To be honest, I don't really get all these different inputs and outputs or which cables I'm going to need.
Which USB interfaces actually work for what I'm trying to do?

If there isn't a decent USB option out there, I guess I could look at a PCI card, though I'd rather avoid getting computer noise bleeding into my speakers.

Price is definitely a factor here.

Thanks.

Just go ahead and grab THIS, because honestly, anything less than this is just flushing cash down the toilet.

I think I saw someone selling a DMX 6 fire locally once—I'll dig through an old issue of an Apple magazine to see if I can track it down, assuming you don't stumble upon a local seller before I do. 🤔

Anyway, make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom so you can check out all the inputs and outputs.

swiftangler43 said:If there really isn't any decent option left for USB interfaces—which, let's be honest, feels like a losing battle lately—then I suppose a PCI card might be the only way to go (though, if my memory serves, that usually leads to all sorts of nasty electrical interference leaking from the computer straight into the speakers).

Look, you don't necessarily have to deal with speaker noise; I was actually using an

Focusrite Scarlett interface until just recently, and I didn't hear a single bit of hiss or hum—same goes for the older models, too.