FourT6and2
Member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2019
- Messages
- 80
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- 57
Hi all, I'm new hear and new to the high(er)-end audio world. I really just want to listen to my music and have a good experience doing so. For years I've just been plugging some Bose QC25s into my MacBook Pro or iPhone and rocking out. Recently, my favorite band released a new album in high-res and that piqued my interest. The mixing/mastering on this album is fantastic and I went out to buy some better headphones to do it justice and that's kind of how I went off the deep end with all this audiophile nonsense. Having done a lot of reading and demoing of various gear, I've encountered a lot of BS and snake oil.
Anyway, I've tried a bunch of different headphones. I've found that headphones seem to make the biggest difference in sound. I've landed on two or three I seem to like: Sennheiser HD820, Focal Utopia, and Meze Empyrean. I've demoed a ton of others but these are the three I like the most. Now I'm looking for a good headphone amp, DAC + amp, or DAC/amp combo to do the headphones justice. My goal is to get an amp/dac that I don't need to putz with. I want them to disappear so I can just listen to the music and enjoy.
I currently have a Sennheiser HDV820. It was a bit of an impulse buy after testing it out, admittedly before doing much research. I think it sounds good with the HD820 headphones. But they were developed/made for each other so that's no surprise. After doing some research I've discovered this amp/dac might not be the best match for the other headphones dues to its power output, impedance, and other specs. It's output impedance is 16ohms and its rated for something like 480mW @ 600ohms. I tested out the Utopia and Empyrean on it and they sounded good. But I'm wondering what else is out there that might work better.
Looking for either an amp/DAC combo or possible individual amps and DACs that might pair well together.
– Low output impedance; lower than 4ohms to work with these headphones if I understand the math correctly. Utopia = 80ohms, Empyrean = 31.6ohms.
– Enough juice to drive them, but they seem to have good sensitivity ratings.
– Signal chain will be via USB from my MacBook Pro using Vox player.
– 4-pin XLR or 4.4mm Pentaconn headphone output. Seems like you get a bit more power output with most amps like this vs. single-ended.
There are just so many choices out there. I'm a bit overwhelmed. I've looked at offerings from Chord, Schiit, Violectric, Benchmark, Questyle, ifi, Mytek, RME, etc. And I just have no idea which ones outperform the others.
I listen to a lot of hard rock, metal, prog rock, and some more chill styles as well. But I love a visceral, authoritative sound with tight bass response and a snappy mid-range with a natural treble response. I know the word on the street is DACs don't have a "sound" of their own. But in my experience the amps do.
Thanks in advance and if y'all need more info let me know.
Anyway, I've tried a bunch of different headphones. I've found that headphones seem to make the biggest difference in sound. I've landed on two or three I seem to like: Sennheiser HD820, Focal Utopia, and Meze Empyrean. I've demoed a ton of others but these are the three I like the most. Now I'm looking for a good headphone amp, DAC + amp, or DAC/amp combo to do the headphones justice. My goal is to get an amp/dac that I don't need to putz with. I want them to disappear so I can just listen to the music and enjoy.
I currently have a Sennheiser HDV820. It was a bit of an impulse buy after testing it out, admittedly before doing much research. I think it sounds good with the HD820 headphones. But they were developed/made for each other so that's no surprise. After doing some research I've discovered this amp/dac might not be the best match for the other headphones dues to its power output, impedance, and other specs. It's output impedance is 16ohms and its rated for something like 480mW @ 600ohms. I tested out the Utopia and Empyrean on it and they sounded good. But I'm wondering what else is out there that might work better.
Looking for either an amp/DAC combo or possible individual amps and DACs that might pair well together.
– Low output impedance; lower than 4ohms to work with these headphones if I understand the math correctly. Utopia = 80ohms, Empyrean = 31.6ohms.
– Enough juice to drive them, but they seem to have good sensitivity ratings.
– Signal chain will be via USB from my MacBook Pro using Vox player.
– 4-pin XLR or 4.4mm Pentaconn headphone output. Seems like you get a bit more power output with most amps like this vs. single-ended.
There are just so many choices out there. I'm a bit overwhelmed. I've looked at offerings from Chord, Schiit, Violectric, Benchmark, Questyle, ifi, Mytek, RME, etc. And I just have no idea which ones outperform the others.
I listen to a lot of hard rock, metal, prog rock, and some more chill styles as well. But I love a visceral, authoritative sound with tight bass response and a snappy mid-range with a natural treble response. I know the word on the street is DACs don't have a "sound" of their own. But in my experience the amps do.
Thanks in advance and if y'all need more info let me know.