USB-connected external audio DAC/AMP units are more common nowadays if you want to move beyond the onboard sound output. Theory is that moving the digital/analog conversion outside of your PC chassis achieves more in sound quality improvement (interference reduction) than a fancy internal card.

Any recommendations for a cheaper usb dac?

Edit: one that I could connect both headphones and speakers to and switch between each would be sweet.

If you’ve got active (powered) speakers then many headphone combo DACs have line-outs that will work well.

I personally have the ifi Zen dac and Fiio K5 pro, and recommend the Zen. The speakers and headphone outputs are always active, I just turn the speakers themselves on/off or mute to control which output I’m consuming.

If you need to power speakers then separate units are the way to go (DAC/Amp combo for the headphones and to PC, speaker amp chained to the line out on the dac). However units like the Loxjie A30 can do all three duties, it just may be a little weak on the headphone amplification side of things since it’s not the focus.

Note also if your pc/laptop has a toslink optical output you can alternatively use that to bridge to an external amp rather than using USB. Then your choice of dac/amp widens a bit to include units that don’t have USB inputs e.g. home theatre AV receivers and such.

Thanks for responding. I just ordered the Fiio K5 Pro though but both looked like good options. Excited to increase my audio quality after all of these year.

The k5 pro is excellent, and unlike the zen doesn't need a firmware flash to make it so. Enjoy!

It is excellent! Music is a lot clearer but now I am noticing that my headphones are a bit lacking in the bass department. Thanks for the recommendation.

I did recently as with on board audio I was not able to get low latency when toying with my midi keyboard. I looked at the prices and decided that SB with ASIO drivers would get me where I want to be cheaper than standalone USB audio interfaces. I did not get disappointed.

Most people go with USB DACs I imagine.