[solved]Looking for a good basic DAC/Amp[solved]

[Arya]

Hi guys. A few weeks ago I bought a set of studio headphones, in the knowledge that I'd probably also want an amp. After trying them out it's clear I do need some kind of Amp, and I'm now looking for recommendations.

I know I need one, but that's about all I know. I don't know what seperates a good amp from a bad one, or what brands to go with. My tentative budget is $100 USD, but I'm willing to adjust that if it's not reasonable.

I have a Realtek ALC1151 soundcard and Sennheiser HD599 headphones. They're a 92 OHM impedance model and use a 3.5 MM jack connector, if that makes any difference at all.

Let me know if there's anything else I should add, thanks.

[oobymach]

Check your advanced computer audio settings in control panel, see what you already have before going the dac route. I have 24bit 192khz onboard and bought a couple dac's to try out which were also in that range and there is almost no difference between good onboard and a good dac.

I have sennheiser hd6 mix headphones and a sound blaster omni and an ifi nano dac. The nano doesn't have its own software like sound blaster does, so it's less customizable but it does perform very well. I found though that some software (specifically bluray playback software) doesn't like dac's and so I had to go back to onboard.

Either would work well with your headphones and the sound blaster is cheaper and the sample rate is 24bit 96khz which is pretty much as good as it gets in hi-fi music quality right now (I shopped around for hi-def tracks and 24bit 96khz is the most common hi-def format available).

[Monk]

I spent alot of time looking for a DAC and amp to pair with my shure srh1540's, ended up with the schiit audio Modi/magni stack, costs about £/$200 and is a huge improvement over onboard or my old astro mixamp.
Sorry oobymach but while being nice entry level headphones, those aren't really of the level that will benefit to much from a good DAC / amp combo so sort of explains the limited improvement.

[Arya]

The issue isn't so much quality, it's crackling and distortion. I know it's a problem with the soundcard, I tried a couple of different headsets and all of the powerful/high end models showed exactly the same popping and snapping. So what I'm mainly looking for is a solution to that.

Extra audio quality would of course be wonderful, but it's not my top priority.

[tacoshy]

Fiio is also a nice DAC company to look into it.

[Talby]

When I was searching for one a while ago these two always came up:

FiiO E10K[www.amazon.com]
AudioQuest DragonFly Black[www.amazon.com]

I never did get one since the majority of my listening is though my AV amp and not so much on the PC, always curious about how much improvement it would be through my SHP9500s...

[Kaihekoa]

The Fiio E10K is a quality DAC/amp combo, but I ended up returning it to Amazon because I didn't notice much of a quality difference on my desktop setup. I don't have the interference problems you're experiencing with your onboard audio though. Also at 92 ohms, I'm not sure if you would really benefit from an amp. I researched audio forums and reddit quite a bit when trying out a DAC/amp, and the general consensus for this price point was the Fiio E10K or Schiit Fulla 2. I haven't gotten around to trying out the Fulla 2 yet.

[Arya]

Ordered a Schiit Fulla 2. And at this point I don't particularly care how well it works, it's worth having for the name alone. I'm tempted to put it on the coffee table next time I bring friends over, should be interesting.

[Monk]

Hehe, if it's anywhere near as good as it's bigger brothers I use (and by all accounts it is) it should be great, very small and minimal, and yeah, got to love the name hehe, expect it to arrive in a plain cardboard box, they spend all the money on the hardware not the packaging, which is what you want :)

[Arya]

Първоначално публикувано от Monk:

Hehe, if it's anywhere near as good as it's bigger brothers I use (and by all accounts it is) it should be great, very small and minimal, and yeah, got to love the name hehe, expect it to arrive in a plain cardboard box, they spend all the money on the hardware not the packaging, which is what you want :)

Funny, I started with three contenders; the Dragonfly, the FiiO E10K and the Schiit Fulla 2. I quickly dispatched the Dragonfly, but the article that finally decided me in favour of Schiit was titled "disappointed with Schiit's build quality"

It was one of those threads. A Reddit audiophile had actually gotten a Tape Measure and Spirit Level and measured their Fulla 2, and found the panel gap around the audio knob was slightly bigger on one side. Cue the rant. But from the comments I was able to paint a picture that Schiit's build quality was much better than FiiO's, and given Schiit were also available with free shipping, that decided me.

So I ended up paying more than I'd originally wanted, but I get the feeling it'll be worth it. Thankfully the store also has a returns policy, so I can always swap it for a FiiO if Schiit lives up to it's name.

[Monk]

Yeah the casing on one of mine isn't perfectly aligned, I'm pretty sure they are all hand made by a small team in the US, but the parts that matter, the internals, are, by all reviews very good, and that's the most important part,I'm normally stupidly picky about things like this, but it's performance that counts :)

[Arya]

Първоначално публикувано от Monk:

Yeah the casing on one of mine isn't perfectly aligned, I'm pretty sure they are all hand made by a small team in the US, but the parts that matter, the internals, are, by all reviews very good, and that's the most important part,I'm normally stupidly picky about things like this, but it's performance that counts :)

Ultimately it's a $200 part, most of the DACs I saw today were between $500 and $1000 AUD. So I'll happily accept some wonky buttons, if the internals work well. And all of the reviews I saw said the internals work extremely well.

[Monk]

Yeah, exactly, everything be read about schiit rates the internals as very good, and that's the important parts of a DAC and amp :)
Are you getting it from the EU store or US?
They were on a month holiday when I got mine so ordered from US and got hit with import tax / vat / something, oddly, still worked out cheaper than from the EU store lol

[Arya]

Първоначално публикувано от Monk:

Yeah, exactly, everything be read about schiit rates the internals as very good, and that's the important parts of a DAC and amp :)
Are you getting it from the EU store or US?
They were on a month holiday when I got mine so ordered from US and got hit with import tax / vat / something, oddly, still worked out cheaper than from the EU store lol

I ordered from a specialist music store here in Australia, Amazon doesn't ship here and UK stores charge insane import rates. By local is good, because I'm getting free import and free home delivery, with less tax. In total I'm paying about $130 USD. Which is pretty good, that's not a lot more than you'd pay stateside.

[Monk]

That's really good, I think it's £100 here near as damnit heh, so it may be cheaper than in the UK lol, that makes a change.