I just got the corsair 1500 v2 headset so the onboard sound wont do anymore. I Don't wanna spend more than $150. Its mostly gonna be used for gaming and music.
It is the same quality as the original 1500s but uses USB and has Dolby Virtual 7.1. If you wanted a 3.5mm headset from Corsair then you needed to get the 1400s as those are just rebranded 1500 V1s and use a 3.5mm headphone jack.
As for sound cards, some like Asus Xonar others like Creative Labs SB-Z. I have the SB-Z and it has a separate 600Ohm headphone jack and I can switch between headphones and speakers pretty easily.
Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D
this card is superb in sound performance it very similar to Asrock Fetal1ty Performance motherboard (same chip use in recon3D)