I considered the Goldrings DR150s, and I found a lot of comments to the effect that they weren't as good out-of-the-box compared to the Sennheisers. However, most people said that after they had bed-in for a long enough time, the sound quality improved. I just went for the safe bet really (it cost me a bit extra though, but peace of mind is great )

As to the war on XFI vs Xonar, this thread might help you decide. Alternatively, you may just get more confused . The way I see it, gamers go for XFI since EAX is shiny. My xtreme gamer fatality has never let me down, and because of the driver problems I've heard about the Xonar I personally would not switch to one.