Looking to get an external DAC and an amp for a DT770 Pro, what would you advise ?

[Lyraël]

Hello, I'm currently running said headset through an ASUS Xonar DSX, however I feel like I could still get more out of it. As it is, the headset feels slightly underpowered (being 80 Ohms), and I feel like I may as well run an external DAC through the S-PDIF of my soundboard to get the most of it.
I'll probably end up going for a higher impedance headset in the long run, but I feel like even now such a setup would substantially enhance my experience. This will mostly be used for listening to music in case that matters.

Thank you for reading.

[Lyraël]

Originally posted by Jamebonds1:

Yes, if you want Modi multibit, it is more expensive with more power cable option but it is better. If you choose Modi 3 at USA 100 dollar, you can still get US plug 100 to 240 volt with US plug to Europlug contverter. It is cheap. So my guess are Magni and D30 might be good for you for the price?

I'm not really interested in the Multibit, from what I've read multibit DACs as a whole have more of a theorethical advantage than a practical one, which does not really warrant the price bump for me. That being said, I've never had either to listen to so I might be wrong.

It would seem that I might as well buy from the European website as far as the Magni 3 goes. Power is aloready EU-compliant, besides between shipping and customs I would definitely lose out.
Looking around a bit more, even the D30 is shockingly hard to find. Auidophonics sells it at 120€, which sounds about right, Amazon has only one guy seeling it for a hundred more, and that's it in Europe. It's not like you need a thousand sellers as long as the price is fair, but still...

[Kaihekoa]

Try some entry-level products in person, if you can, otherwise order from a place that offers no hassle returns. I don't recommend investing more than ~$200 USD considering you're just looking to try out some audio gear and make your $180 DT770s sound better. Schiit Modi/Magni combo or the Schiit Fulla 2 is a great way to get into the scene. I use the Fulla 2 with my 250 ohm DT 770s and it's plenty loud. Here's a good rundown on other options: https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/66xylk/guide_dac_amp_combo_units/

[Lyraël]

Originally posted by Kai:

Try some entry-level products in person, if you can, otherwise order from a place that offers no hassle returns. I don't recommend investing more than ~$200 USD considering you're just looking to try out some audio gear and make your $180 DT770s sound better. Schiit Modi/Magni combo or the Schiit Fulla 2 is a great way to get into the scene. I use the Fulla 2 with my 250 ohm DT 770s and it's plenty loud. Here's a good rundown on other options: https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/66xylk/guide_dac_amp_combo_units/

In the long run I will definitely go for a higher impedance headset, therefore I'm not completely sure about the Fulla 2, as it will cover up to 300 Ohms and not really go beyond. As far as combos go, shouldn't I rather go for a Mayflower or an SMSL M6?

[Aliquis Freedom & Ethnopluralism]

Originally posted by Lyraël:

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

The DAC should replace the sound card entirely, not connect to it.
USB DAC usually connect via USB and are driven on the PC that way.
S/PDIF is more of a option on the DAC in order to output the PC Audio over to a surround sound receiver if needed.

Got it, since I read that S/PDIF is an overall better solution I figured I might as well use it and not treat the signal through my sound card.
That being said, I'm still not sure about what I should go for really. There are products in a wide range of prices and quality, and to be fair I have no clue as to what would be optimal.

I don't see why it would be better.

Using USB you can connect to smartphones and tablets and such as long as they accept an USB audio device.

SPDIF only support stereo uncompressed and then various surround audio formats compressed but lossy AFAIK.
HDMI cables can transfer surround audio lossless and as such doesn't lower the audio quality and is preferable over SPDIF for surround sound.

As for connecting by SPDIF for toslink optical spdif usually the support for stereo is 24 bit 96 kHz and since you won't be using either of digital to audio converters or amplificiation of the sound card I can't really see how there's all that much of a problem of using it for that format alone. The sound card won't really be doing much except sending out the bits through the optical output. However ... the sound card wan't be doing much except sending out the bits so .. what are you even using it for then? =P Getting microphone input and such I guess. But you can still do that even if you hook up the DAC over USB instead.

If you'd use just an amplifier then you'd connect it from the analog audio output on the sound card and use the DAC inside it, but if you have both DAC and amplifier then that's a sound card by itself.

Personally I wish there was something like long range bluetooth without the audio quality drop which could be used against a DAC + AMP solution which connected wireless so one could make any pair of headphones wireless as far as the audio source goes (they would be hooked up to the amp and dac of course) and hence walk around in the apartment or outside but still hearing audio from the PC or a phone or such.

[Malygos]

Originally posted by Lyraël:

Originally posted by Kai:

Try some entry-level products in person, if you can, otherwise order from a place that offers no hassle returns. I don't recommend investing more than ~$200 USD considering you're just looking to try out some audio gear and make your $180 DT770s sound better. Schiit Modi/Magni combo or the Schiit Fulla 2 is a great way to get into the scene. I use the Fulla 2 with my 250 ohm DT 770s and it's plenty loud. Here's a good rundown on other options: https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/66xylk/guide_dac_amp_combo_units/

In the long run I will definitely go for a higher impedance headset, therefore I'm not completely sure about the Fulla 2, as it will cover up to 300 Ohms and not really go beyond. As far as combos go, shouldn't I rather go for a Mayflower or an SMSL M6?

Jds labs element or mayflower both have clean audio and sound good or if you wanna spend more money schiit bifrost and then get an amp you can spend as much money as you want on this but the improvemnet only get slightly better unless you wanna use tubes

[Kaihekoa]

Originally posted by Lyraël:

Originally posted by Kai:

Try some entry-level products in person, if you can, otherwise order from a place that offers no hassle returns. I don't recommend investing more than ~$200 USD considering you're just looking to try out some audio gear and make your $180 DT770s sound better. Schiit Modi/Magni combo or the Schiit Fulla 2 is a great way to get into the scene. I use the Fulla 2 with my 250 ohm DT 770s and it's plenty loud. Here's a good rundown on other options: https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/66xylk/guide_dac_amp_combo_units/

In the long run I will definitely go for a higher impedance headset, therefore I'm not completely sure about the Fulla 2, as it will cover up to 300 Ohms and not really go beyond. As far as combos go, shouldn't I rather go for a Mayflower or an SMSL M6?

If you're planning on getting some serious $500+ headphones like DT1990s or HD 660s in the future and you have the budget, you might as well get the Mayflower and not have to worry about upgrading it at all. Your audio setup is like a chain with the output (headphones) being the most important link, so I'd always recommend spending the majority of your total budget there.

[Lyraël]

@Aliquis I misunderstood that when I posted, it's all good now. Thanks for the in-depht explanation however :)
@Kai I plan to do that in the long run, I know well that my current 770 would be just fine with a Fulla (speaking of which, why is the Fulla 2 unavailable anywhere I look ?), but since an upgrade is planned I feel like I might as well go a couple hundred dollars higher and be set for a long time.

[Malygos]

Originally posted by Lyraël:

@Aliquis I misunderstood that when I posted, it's all good now. Thanks for the in-depht explanation however :)
@Kai I plan to do that in the long run, I know well that my current 770 would be just fine with a Fulla (speaking of which, why is the Fulla 2 unavailable anywhere I look ?), but since an upgrade is planned I feel like I might as well go a couple hundred dollars higher and be set for a long time.

Better start looking into tubes then i got 2 different amps for my 600 and 660’s they sound much better with them but it ends up being another money hole

[Lyraël]

Originally posted by jefedemuchanina:

Originally posted by Lyraël:

@Aliquis I misunderstood that when I posted, it's all good now. Thanks for the in-depht explanation however :)
@Kai I plan to do that in the long run, I know well that my current 770 would be just fine with a Fulla (speaking of which, why is the Fulla 2 unavailable anywhere I look ?), but since an upgrade is planned I feel like I might as well go a couple hundred dollars higher and be set for a long time.

Better start looking into tubes then i got 2 different amps for my 600 and 660’s they sound much better with them but it ends up being another money hole

I guess I'll leave tubes for a later time, as you've said those can get really expensive :/ Especially since you can get a pretty good DAC + Amp setup for less than 300€.
Still, I'll keep that in mind in case a fine deal emerges. Thank you for the advice :)

[Malygos]

Originally posted by Lyraël:

Originally posted by jefedemuchanina:

Better start looking into tubes then i got 2 different amps for my 600 and 660’s they sound much better with them but it ends up being another money hole

I guess I'll leave tubes for a later time, as you've said those can get really expensive :/ Especially since you can get a pretty good DAC + Amp setup for less than 300€.
Still, I'll keep that in mind in case a fine deal emerges. Thank you for the advice :)

I use the element for mine when not using tubes keep in mind 660’s are only 150ohm a lot easier to drive they also have much better soundstage and bass than the 600’s whoch is mainly what i use tubes for but for 660’s it knocks the highs down a little they can be extremely peircing sometimes but overall youll love them be sure to get a different cable doesnt make it sound any better i just dont like it i got a periapt for mine