Combo amo dac for th900 fostex

[Zakuman]

Hello,
Could you please recommend any dac plus amp (combo also allowed) for fostex th900? I know it should be easy to drive due to low impedance

I was thinking to buy:
Rme dac fs
Topping dx3pro+ / dx5?
Topping a70pro with d70pro combo (overkill?)
After reading review of woo audio wa7 it is not a option

 

[ZolaIII]

One with great measured SINAD at 50 mV and stable at 20 Ohms output. Now go to index and search for what you find good for you.
Edit: tho in index you won't find 50 mV out measurements so I guess you will have to dig more into reviews.
Edit no#2: the last uper part of 50 mV table (which is easier to read):

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/best-headphone-amp-2024-zoomed-review-png.344856/

 

[Zakuman]

@ZolaIII So if i understand correcly i should check those blue bars and seek for highest value as well as looking for info regarding 20Ohm, i saw info about 33Ohm idk it that makes difference

also i have headphone amp on my STRIX ASUS mainboard:
ALC4080 with Savitech SV3H712 amplifier, along with DTS® Sound Unbound™ and Sonic Studio III
this is any good?

 

[ZolaIII]

Those are 26.6 Ohms average and have slight surce impedance dependance that starts from 100 Hz and under so you probably can use MB output to drive them without problems. Main problem for MB's is relatively high self impedance. If you want however to go with separate DAC amp (or thumb alike USB one) then yes blue bar in that table is your guide line rest are personal subjective (looks and feal and such) and objective (suported futures, inputs and functionality) preferences.

By the way welcome to ASR!
Before I forget it's nice to use EQ's with cans so read a bit about EQ-APO for headphones and/or Wavelet if you intend to use them with Android phone. Have a nice time!

 

[Zakuman]

Those are 26.6 Ohms average and have slight surce impedance dependance that starts from 100 Hz and under so you probably can use MB output to drive them without problems. Main problem for MB's is relatively high self impedance. If you want however to go with separate DAC amp (or thumb alike USB one) then yes blue bar in that table is your guide line rest are personal subjective (looks and feal and such) and objective (suported futures, inputs and functionality) preferences.

By the way welcome to ASR!
Before I forget it's nice to use EQ's with cans so read a bit about EQ-APO for headphones and/or Wavelet if you intend to use them with Android phone. Have a nice time!

Ok thank you, however from what i see even low tier toppings for example have a really good mentioned stats in those reviews but i was able to read that not all sounds good (or something more expensive sounds better)

Thank you for kind words ! EQ-APO noted i will try to search this in forum. I think i will use them will my rog phone6 as well as with pc

I see that schiit products are also now in eu so maybe i will also take a look at them

 

[ZolaIII]

Ok thank you, however from what i see even low tier toppings for example have a really good mentioned stats in those reviews but i was able to read that not all sounds good (or something more expensive sounds better)

Thank you for kind words ! EQ-APO noted i will try to search this in forum. I think i will use them will my rog phone6 as well as with pc

I see that schiit products are also now in eu so maybe i will also take a look at them

What you read doesn't drink water hire, this is based on measurements however before buying especially in case of Topping read how often people had problems regarding reliability for particular model especially on the long run (from forums and Amazon reviews as a example). If you are into PC and gaming, virtual sound, Dolby's and such take a look at Creative AE-5 Plus it's not mind blowing or top of the pop's but quite decent in every way and not too expensive. On ROG phone definitely go with Wavelet and eventually buy a full version (for reverb and loudness tho it has & virtual sound) or use free without those. You might also look at CS43131 based thumb alike USB dongles to use with both for cheap (starting about 30~40 €) and with very good performance. On PC side avoid ASUS and ROG in most cases for terrible Armour Crate software and i'in generally not great but very expensive gear. In that tire I would suggest good old Tempotec Sonata HD Pro for the good quality ASIO driver on Windows side.

 

[Dunring]

Value for money: SMSL C200 used on Amazon for $125
Best stack I think for the money is the Topping E50/L50
Using an SMSL DO300EX now and it sounds epic but power limited at 1w @ 32 ohms
At 3amp EST the 18th the Aliexpress sale starts through the 27th. The price cuts are big and the coupons huge. It's Black Friday pricing like Singles Day. Only 4 sales this big each year. Would recommend price comparing there if you're going to get something.

 

[Zakuman]

For now my nr one is topping dx5 lite, i also think about some schiit audio stuff

 

[Phorize]

Are you planning to use eq? I'd personally look for something that provides eq (such has the rme) if you don't have a software solution.

 

[Zakuman]

Are you planning to use eq? I'd personally look for something that provides eq (such has the rme) if you don't have a software solution.

Rme dac fs has a good amp also?

How good eq is there? I think i will use:
Pc > dac/amp combo > headphones
Or phone - usb c - dac/amp - headphones

How much audio will be nicer with rme vs topping

 

[ZolaIII]

Rme dac fs has a good amp also?

How good eq is there? I think i will use:
Pc > dac/amp combo > headphones
Or phone - usb c - dac/amp - headphones

How much audio will be nicer with rme vs topping

It won't be nicer, only thing I will prise RME for is loudness compensation but again you won't have much use of it with headphones. Rugh by hand EQ won't be as good as complex from measurements one. On the other hand automatic from measurements one's can vary on various things also (product sample, seal, hat, your actual ear chenel and hearing state and so on). Best practice is to use automatic one and future adjust it to your liking. When I say automatic I think on one's based on measurements from same repositories used with EQ-APO and Wavelet. And still there are other thing to desire for other than EQ and frequency response in the first row wet reverberation.

 

[Phorize]

Fostex TH900mk2.pdf

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

Assuming you have the mk 2. You can see from @oratory1990 measurements that the headphone definitely benefits from eq. How much will depend on your personal taste but I'd personally deal with the bass and 3-5 dip.

You've suggested lots of viable options-your problem is that there is a lot of choice on hardware. In your shoes I'd investigate eq options and work backwards because a good dac with a powerful headphone amp is easy to find. Do you have eq software currently?

 

[Phorize]

Just realised how sensitive these are. 83.98 dB/MV means you'd get very sufficient spl out of a qudelix 5k, with eq that frankly crushes all opposition, powers from the vbus when it's plugged in to a pc, battery when it's not, plus Bluetooth (inc. ldac) with a pretty long range (goes a across 3 floors in my house). Yes I've just recommended a £100 DAC/amp for a 2 grand flagship headphone.

 

[Zakuman]

hello so i will share my impressions about th900. I absolutely love them 10/10 and they sound fantastic just driven from my motherboard right now ( ALC4080 with Savitech SV3H712 amplifier) i listen mostly at 40 volume - i wouldnt change anything in them. Bass is fantastic, much better then in audeze LCD2 ( matched with schiit mjolnir gungnir)

So i wonder if they could be any better. Plus i think i will add more heaphones to my collection so i need AMP for that (or DAC + AMP/combo). RME ADI-2 would be nice, however headphone amp is quite weak there, so with more power hungry headphones i would need also AMP it seems