Choosing a Sennheiser HD569 headphone amplifier/dac

[Zygot]

Hello everyone,

I am currently choosing a budget amp/dac to accompany my headphones Sennheiser HD569. I usually use them at work because of their closed design with my phone mainly to reduce noise. With lockdown and permanent home office I would like to enjoy a little bit of quality sound without giving away any extra money. These headsets will only stay at work, so JDS Atom +D30 are unnecessarily expensive for this not so quiet environment and average headphones.

Since I have no experience with such devices, would you comment your choice that would power the headphones well enough. I just want to unlock 99% of the headphones potential.
How Tempotec Sonata HD Pro will fit with HD569?
I saw that with high impedance headphones low frequencies do not reproduce well due to lack of power. Should i expect same behavior with HD569 23Ohm?

Regards,
Zygot

 

[solderdude]

32 Ohm (HD569) is a standard headphone impedance. Given it's efficiency not much power is needed.
No portable devices will have problems driving this headphone.
Straight from a phone should already be enough so the Tempotech will do fine as well.
The 60mW output will give you 116dB peak levels (is NOT the same as average music levels) but certainly enough for loud levels.

 

[Zygot]

32 Ohm (HD569) is a standard headphone impedance.

Oddly these headphones are 23 ohms.

No portable devices will have problems driving this headphone.
Straight from a phone should already be enough so the Tempotech will do fine as well.
The 60mW output will give you 116dB peak levels (is NOT the same as average music levels) but certainly enough for loud levels.

Once i have tried Objective dac+amp of a friend and in the low frequency range i feel the most difference. Bass was a lot more explosive and fast.
If there are not any better budget proposal (like Meizu Hifi DAC PRO) i am going to order Tempotec Sonata HD Pro.

 

[Veri]

If there are not any better budget proposal (like Meizu Hifi DAC PRO) i am going to order Tempotec Sonata HD Pro.

Those should work fine

 

[Svperstar]

Schiit Fulla isn't a bad entry level DAC/amp

 

[solderdude]

Oddly these headphones are 23 ohms.

They are specified at 23 Ohm but oddly they measure 28 Ohm and 32 Ohm in the area where most of the signal is.
I measured 27.8 Ohm (at 1kHz) as well.

So for all purposes this is close to a 32 Ohm headphone. No problems to use this from the Sonata.

 

[Hoary]

I have a twin of HD 569, the HD 598 Cs. AFAIK, internally they are identical, the differences are only on outside, cosmetic as far as I'm concern.
When I got a new phone (Pixel 4XL) I decided I want something better than Google dongle but still powered from phone USB C port and small. After a brief research I narrowed it down to iBasso. They have 2 models, DC01 and DC02. DC01 has AK4493 and 2.5 mm TRRS balanced output (apparently with 2 separate amplifiers, one each channel), DC02 has AK4490 and regular 3.5 mm TRS unbalanced output. I got my DAC shipped directly from China, (Penon Audio, no affiliation, but there was the lowest price). Both DACs are available in US at a higher price.
I was curious about advantages of balanced output and wanted a newer chip, so I got DC01. However, that led to additional $30 for the balanced cable (there is only one compatible cable everywhere I looked). While I do like the sound, I'm no crazy about the cable itself. It;s stiff and produces audible noise when physically touches surfaces or itself. I want to make my own cable but so far cannot find a compatible connector (headphones side).

 

[Zygot]

Thank you all I ordered Tempotec Sonata HD Pro.