Soundblaster Elite Pro versus M-Audio Revo 5.1

I am currently using the Revolution 5.1 and considering buying an Elite Pro, but I am uncertain if it is really an upgrade for me since I am interested in headphone output quality and consider a dedicated headphone output a necessity. The Revolution 5.1 has a dedicated headphone output and an AK4358 DAC.

The Elite Pro uses the famed CS4398 DAC; the problem that I have with the Elite Pro is that the dedicated headphone output is on an outboard module, and the headphone signal has to go through four unnecessary interfaces - the header on the card, the inside of the AD_link, the outside of the AD_link, and the AD_link connector on the external module itself. This leads me to suspect headphones will sound worse on the Elite Pro than on the Revolution 5.1