Looking for advice as an audio newbie - Did a bunch of research and narrowed my amp/dac stack to Schiit Magnius/Modius and Topping E50 / L50. I already have the balanced cables so the poor SE perf of the Magnius is not a concern. Both are almost exactly the same price for me.
It looks like to me that one combo has the advantage of an amp with more power (Magnius with the 6V balanced out vs. the L50 with the SE out at 3.5V), while the other (Topping) has the advantage of better specs/measurements, and things like DSD/MQA decoding that I don't care too much about (I use Tidal sometimes and have some ripped DSD files, but 85% use Apple Music for hifi/lossless streaming which looks like maxes out at 24/192).
What's going to make more of a difference for my listening experience? Does power and/or balanced out on the amp outweigh the other benefits? My understanding is that both should be enough power for my current cans with headroom (HD 6xx and Hifiman Edition XS) and my next target headphone (Focal Clears), but that more power/headroom can benefit these headphones. But I also understand that the Topping DAC uses a newer DAC chip (does that mean better?), and that both the Topping DAC and Amp measure significantly better than the Schiitius stack. Does it make sense at all to go Topping E50/Magnius for the extra power/balanced out, or better to stick with the same brand/design?
For what its worth, I tend to prefer a neutral sound, but not too clinical. I care more about a musically enjoyable experience (for me, that means things like tone, timbre, soundstage, staging), and don't care as much for clinical accuracy. I mostly listen to R&B, jazz, pop, classical, and care a lot about vocal presentation. I do care about how things look/feel/are built, but both of these stacks seem pretty equal in this respect to me.
Any advice on these two stacks (or alternatives under $600 or so) would be greatly appreciated!!
It looks like to me that one combo has the advantage of an amp with more power (Magnius with the 6V balanced out vs. the L50 with the SE out at 3.5V), while the other (Topping) has the advantage of better specs/measurements, and things like DSD/MQA decoding that I don't care too much about (I use Tidal sometimes and have some ripped DSD files, but 85% use Apple Music for hifi/lossless streaming which looks like maxes out at 24/192).
What's going to make more of a difference for my listening experience? Does power and/or balanced out on the amp outweigh the other benefits? My understanding is that both should be enough power for my current cans with headroom (HD 6xx and Hifiman Edition XS) and my next target headphone (Focal Clears), but that more power/headroom can benefit these headphones. But I also understand that the Topping DAC uses a newer DAC chip (does that mean better?), and that both the Topping DAC and Amp measure significantly better than the Schiitius stack. Does it make sense at all to go Topping E50/Magnius for the extra power/balanced out, or better to stick with the same brand/design?
For what its worth, I tend to prefer a neutral sound, but not too clinical. I care more about a musically enjoyable experience (for me, that means things like tone, timbre, soundstage, staging), and don't care as much for clinical accuracy. I mostly listen to R&B, jazz, pop, classical, and care a lot about vocal presentation. I do care about how things look/feel/are built, but both of these stacks seem pretty equal in this respect to me.
Any advice on these two stacks (or alternatives under $600 or so) would be greatly appreciated!!