When to Get an DAC AMP to Enhance Your Music Experience?

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  BlazinPast on 18/06/2015 - 21:08

  Might get destroyed by the audiophiles, but I did end up buying a very expensive set of headphones (Beyerdynamic DT 990) + DAC/amp (FiiO E10k) and honestly didn't notice much at all to the Meelectronics M6P. I even thought the headphones were faulty at first because I was so unimpressed. I did plug the DAC/amp into some cheaper earphones and didn't notice much benefit from using it. There's definitely a step up in music when going spending above $20 in earphones, but imo the rate of return of over maybe like $75 in headphones is really not worth the money. Again, every audiophile will probably disagree. These are the same people who can probably pick out the difference between FLAC and 320kbps (which I definitely cannot) so more power to them if they need to invest in hundreds to get that extra 5%. I did end up realising that sound is sound, you really don't get a life changing experience paying for more. It's not like it will transform your music to the next dimension.

  Definitely recommend getting the headphones over the amp/DAC. You really only need the amp if you require a lot of power to run the headphones. For example the DT 990's were like 250 ohms compared to your standard 32 ohms. Honestly I noticed extremely minimal differences when plugging up the amp/DAC to something cheaper. The most I'd ever spend is for an ATH-M50 or ATH-M50X, but again, I'm already satisfied with much cheaper.

  • 

    yuuki on 18/06/2015 - 21:39

    +4

    Audiophile over here. A dedicated DAC will prove to be most useful when you have a set of headphones that can utilize the advantages of a external dedicated amp.

    E10 will make a difference on your existing set. Whether that difference is noticeable to you - is another question. Best if you can find somewhere to try it yourself; as like mentioned earlier; individuals significantly differ into what they define as an increase in SQ.

    Honestly speaking - I believe it would be more worthwhile to invest in a decent quality set of cans; can never go wrong with a second hand ATH-M50 which would be right about in your budget. Fantastic headphones with good response across the board. Different in SQ would be much more significant compared to a better DAC.

    Think of a better A/D converter as the icing on the cake - a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. For me; have found that I much rather listen to my good headphones/IEMs direct into my mobile as contrasted to using a cheap set of headphones with a high end DAC.

    For comparisons sake; take a Shure SE215 ($150) with a Fiio E18 and a UE900 ($300) running direct. Much prefer the sound of the UE900, however when using the UEs with the DAC - there is a noticeable increase in quality as the DAC on the phone no longer serves as a bottleneck.

    The advantage of a external DAC further increases when you enter in high end BA-type territory (Unique Melody, Westone, etc). Until you're willing to shell out that much however, you're better off investing more in a set of nice cans.

    TL;DR: spend it on headphones (second hand ath-m50s are the way to go)

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  gimli on 20/06/2015 - 21:35

  bump

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  gimli on 02/08/2015 - 21:09

  Lomp

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    krisspy on 06/08/2015 - 04:40

    +2

    Late to the party, have thousands of $$ worth of gear so I'm technically an "audiophile". I went from re-400 to vsonic gr07 then to a DT880 + matrix rip amp then a T1 with a power amp then I bought a matrix HPA 2 for the T1. The only reason to get an amp is because your headphones are either distorting or not getting enough gain. As for a dac, you basically want one to bypass the noisy environment of computer hardware and the windows mixer to remove popping and static sounds.

    If you like the sound of your headphones, then use an eq to improve it. Buying an amp to change the sound is textbook case of confirmation bias (been there, done that).

    Spend all your money on a good headphones, it has the biggest effect on final sound output. Buying an E10 with your current gear won't do anything except give you a ton more volume.

    • Get senheisser momentum over ears (they're better than the m50 IMHO) no need for an amp, got good portable and desk cans.
    • HD598/600 if you prefer open headphones - will need an amp, e10 should suffice.
    • Make sure your source is wav/flac (320kbps is fine, just most of the mp3 rips are dodgy as hell).
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  iridiumstem on 06/08/2015 - 06:30

  I've seen JDS Lab's O2 and ODAC combo being recommended several times.
  That said, I think you've seen what everyone else have been saying so I will not repeat them (the people who've commented are far more into this "hobby" than I am… So, yeah).

  Improvement from better headphone and better source (128kbps to something like 320kbps or more) would give you far far more bang for the buck then investing on an amp and a dac. There are not many headphones that absolutely requires an amp to be driven properly. DACs would depend on your situation, since internal soundcards on PC tend to be prone to noises. The improvements from investing $100s of dollars on those two, other than the situations I've just mentioned, were very small compared to improvements from investing on a better headphone and better source (this was from looking at measurements from a website I visit, they did an experiment).

  Well, there are definitely benefits from having one, but the improvement, imo, is very minimum compared to what you could do with better headphone and source.

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    tonyjzx on 06/08/2015 - 07:09

    audioengine dragonfly is supposed to be the bees

    i used to be a heavy duty home theater hifi nut… at one time i had a setup over $10k which isnt that much in the scheme of things… i still have some of the bits and dream of making another full on system and i still keep up on the tech to some degree

    i get the feeling most of the powered dacs are overkill for people here who are in love with xiaomi pistons and shit so a simple usb dac might be the go and tailor it to a set of sub $200 exotic headphones like B&Ws

    i probably dont want to spend $200 on a usb dac though

    geez how times change… used to be i'd spend thousands on power amplifiers….

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      iridiumstem on 06/08/2015 - 11:24

      I don't know, I've heard how USB powered DACs could potentially have problems with noises (it might be yet another bs from forums), so I've never touched upon them. When I was choosing things for my system (I feel slightly embarassed, since I've spent almost nil compared to many people here on it), I've skipped anything that was compact and USB powered for that reason.

      I don't know, I like my current setting and if nothing dies within 5 years or more, I'd be a happy man. It's not like I need the best set of everything to enjoy music. Though after I go and visit Minidisk during summer and try SR-009 out, I might start disliking what I have.

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        tonyjzx on 06/08/2015 - 13:40

        I appreciate that, I would have even agreed to it in the past but my activities is that I rarely sit at a PC and use it.

        I often lounge around with a laptop and in the case a USB inline dac would suit my needs.

        I mean I really should use a proper PC more, hell I have a few 24" LCDs and two i7 computers but a PC just doesnt fit into the way I do things.

        To be tied to a power point is a bit… eh?

      • 

        iridiumstem on 06/08/2015 - 14:04

        @tonyjzx: True, true, everything sorta all goes back to whether it's suitable for your usage…
        I've heard decent things about those audiophile portable DAPs (that could double as a USB DAC yaddi yadda), but they go north of $200 easily.

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  Max Power on 06/08/2015 - 14:24

  Some articles worth reading:
  http://www.headphone.com/pages/do-my-headphones-need-a-headp…
  http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/ultimate-headphone-guid…
  Gotta love that mint tin amplifier.