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Requesting Headphone Amp/DAC Recommendations

FourT6and2

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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.
 

MRC01

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Any good no-nonsense solid state amplifier should do the job nicely. If its output impedance is much over 1 ohm there's probably something wrong with the design. You asked for balanced. That will cost more and the benefits are marginal, whether they're audible is debatable. If you want the most value for the dollar, consider re-cabling the headphones as unbalanced. That gives you more options and saves you money. You don't need that much power. If you use more than 250 mW with most headphones that's loud enough to damage your hearing.
Knowing that, peruse the reviews and measurements here. In particular, the JDS Atom, THX AAA 789 and Topping DACs come to mind.
 

Martin

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I’m going to pick up a Monolith THX AAA 887 / Topping D70 combo then start seriously looking for some headphones to replace my HD 598.

Martin
 

HLee

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According to ASR measurements, a Matrix sabre pro DAC / Monolith THX 887 combo is the best.
 

Crane

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If you are looking to get a single unit RME ADI2 DAC 1000$?

Separates:
any DAC in that first tier charts (geshli enog2pro, SMSL SU8, topping D70 are probably the cheapest with XLR)

Amp:
massdrop THX 789 400$
Monolith THX 887 400$
SMSL SP200 280$

If you want to spend more but it wont change the performance except have nicely built and engineered units benchmark audio or matrix audio offers are solid
 
OP
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FourT6and2

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Yeah, the Benchmark stuff seems top notch. I know I'm looking at expensive headphones, but man... having trouble justifying something like a DAC + Amp stack that's pushing $5,000. I would prefer an all-in-one dac/amp unit for simplicity. Is it safe to say the amp has a larger affect on sound quality than the DAC (not quality per se, but how the music actually sounds with regard to timbre and tone and all that subjective stuff)?
 

trl

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Here's how one of my Mac's is measuring on the headphone jack out:

MacBook Pro mid-2014.png

MacBook Pro (mid-2014 retina) @1V RMS
Background noise is kept below -140dB and the harmonics are definitely inaudible by "ordinary" humans (like myself).

I was using Solo2 (probably best headphones done by Beats, in terms of flatness and clarity) and AKG K550. Quite sensitive cans, with decent soundstage and pretty flat. In an A/B test against ODAC v1 + Objective2 I couldn't spot any difference. Of course, YMMV, depending on the songs chosen and the output volume, but I was thrilled of the unexpected quality of a laptop (at least when comparing against Lenovo, Dell, HP etc.).

Of course, trying to drive K701 or DT880 or planars was about impossible from this laptop. What I'm trying to say is that picking up an amplifier based on your existing headphones might be troublesome a bit, but if you're looking to Amir's measurements for all THX headamps you'll see that there's plenty of power there, low output impedance and pristine output quality.

As for the DAC, just read Amir's measurements or comments, but I guess any DAC with a THD_N higher than 110dB should please everyone here.

BTW, why don't you send out the HDV820 to Amir for an in-depth measurement and review? I was unable to find out any measurements by google-fu'ing around.
 
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FourT6and2

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BTW, why don't you send out the HDV820 to Amir for an in-depth measurement and review? I was unable to find out any measurements by google-fu'ing around.

Not a bad idea. Wouldn't do that until I have a replacement here though.
 
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FourT6and2

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Ok, I've basically read through most of the reviews and measurement threads on this site. Suffice it to say, I'm tired. :) But I've learned a lot and narrowed my options down some. I can go one of two routes: Separate DAC and amp or an all-in-one. Now I just need to narrow the following down. Some of them do have matching amps or dacs in the manufacturer's product line up that haven't been tested here—like the Cayin iHA-6 + Cayin iDAC6-MK2, for example.

Wondering if it's usually good practice to match DACs and amps together (like Benchmark DAC + Benchmark amp) or what? If I mix and match, should I put more money into the amp or the DAC? Pairing the Chord Qutest or Benchmark DAC3-B with the Massdrop THX AAA 789 or V280 vs. the Benchmark HPA4, which is pricy but a sold performer.

And finally, I could simply grab an all-in-one and pay around the same. The Matrix Element X is tempting.

SHORT LIST: DAC
Benchmark DAC3-B: $1,700
Matrix Audio X-SABRE Pro: $1,700
Chord Qutest: $1,700
Topping D70: $500
iFi Pro iDSD: $2,500

Cayin iDAC-6 MK2: $1,000

SHORT LIST: AMP
Violectric HPA V280: $1,500
Massdrop THX AAA 789: $400
Monoprice Monolith THX 887: $400
Benchmark HPA4: $3,000
Cayin iHA-6: 700
iFi Pro iCAN: 1,800

SHORT LIST: DAC/AMP COMBO
Matrix Audio Element X: $3,000
RME ADI-2 PRO FS
Violectric HPA V280 with optional built-in DAC: $1,800
 
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