TOOdamnFRANK
Member
I’m fairly new to this whole world of home audio / audiophile products / headphones (less than 1.5 years or so) and my first real / external Amp & DAC stack was a Schiit Modi & Magni 3+. Since then I have moved on and purchased a Drop THX 789 with a Drop Grace SDAC that I did not care for. Right now I have a S.M.S.L. SU-9 DAC on the way after reading the reviews of that unit on this website (also what lead me to the Drop THX). Anyway, I was wondering if the SMSL SU-9 DAC will be a good pairing with my Drop THX 789 or if I should switch to the SMSL SP400 amplifier instead? I am running this setup from my gaming laptop. Right now My concern with something like the SP400 is that it’s apparently not very loud for how much power it claims to have according to the comments section under the review on this forum. And secondly, is it even worth the price tag when I already have a brand new 789? Would I notice a major difference between the two? And is the SU-9 a good pairing with the 789? I mostly use the combo for PC gaming and my laptop streaming music. 65% gaming 35% music (of that music I tend to listen to Spotify and Tidal both an equal amount of the time because while Tidal usual sounds better, Spotify is still a lot easier to use and has more of the music I love.)
If you were in my shoes would you stick with the SU-9 & Drop THX combo and wait for something that a bigger jump in performance to come out in the sub $500 range, or is there something out there already worth my time and money that would pair better with the SU-9? (Please don’t suggest the SH-9 as I’m not a fan of its “balanced” channel or lack of and fresh it’s a lateral move from the drop thx amp.) Should I just hold out another year and see what comes out in the “Mid-Fi” budget point? I haven’t listened to the combo with the SMSL SU-9 yet, it will be here Tuesday. I listened to the Grace with the drop thx and it sounded amazing, but I feel like there are way better DAC to pair with that amp and it had hardware issues so I returned it.
My main headphones at the moment are
Gaming: Hifiman Ananda & AKG K712 Pro
Music: Sennheiser 6XX, Hifiman Sundara & Ananda
Thanks for any incoming suggestions and advice, provided they’re good. Haha
If you were in my shoes would you stick with the SU-9 & Drop THX combo and wait for something that a bigger jump in performance to come out in the sub $500 range, or is there something out there already worth my time and money that would pair better with the SU-9? (Please don’t suggest the SH-9 as I’m not a fan of its “balanced” channel or lack of and fresh it’s a lateral move from the drop thx amp.) Should I just hold out another year and see what comes out in the “Mid-Fi” budget point? I haven’t listened to the combo with the SMSL SU-9 yet, it will be here Tuesday. I listened to the Grace with the drop thx and it sounded amazing, but I feel like there are way better DAC to pair with that amp and it had hardware issues so I returned it.
My main headphones at the moment are
Gaming: Hifiman Ananda & AKG K712 Pro
Music: Sennheiser 6XX, Hifiman Sundara & Ananda
Thanks for any incoming suggestions and advice, provided they’re good. Haha