dac amp recommendation

[bugis]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a good DAC/amp for Arya Organic and ROG Kithara. I’ll be using the Kithara mainly for gaming, and the Arya Organic for music and movies.

I’m currently stuck between three DAC/amp options:

AH90
EF600
Hiby FD5


When listening to music, I don’t want harsh treble, and especially in games, I want gunshots and explosions to not be painfully irritating.


From what I understand, the EF600 has the strongest amp and with its R2R topology it can smooth the treble a bit. But because it’s so powerful, I may not use most of its output, and I’ve also heard that at low volumes it could have channel imbalance issues.


The AH90 seems technically the best, but I’ve read comments saying it’s too analytical and boring sounding.


The FD5 seems like a middle ground between those.


I don’t know much about DAC/amps in general I once returned a Topping DX1, and right now I only have the EU version Apple dongle.

Looking forward to your recommendations and experiences.

If you have any other DAC/amp recommendations, I’d be happy to hear them

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Amp topology do not affect frequency response.

The only things about a DAC+amp that significantly affects frequency response is
1. any particular tone curve that the manufacturer decided to deliberately cook in (this is rare, but slightly more prevalent with NOS R2R, it is often indeed a slight downslope in the treble, but ONLY if the input sample rate is 44.1 or 48kHz, if it's the NOS being the cause)
2. output impedance of the amp (but this does not skew the response for single dynamic headphones. And for other headphones, the result is effectively random unless you know the impedance response curve of the headphones themselves)
3. the presence of any actual explicit onboard EQ / tone control (this is much more predictable and useful)

 

[Steven Holt]

Take a hard look at the iFi ZenDac v2

 

[bugis]

Take a hard look at the iFi ZenDac v2

thanks but his model is a bit old, and there are no brand-new units available in my country.

 

[pioterd]

Creative X G6. From neutral with all effects OFF to some special effects for gamers/counter strikers/fortniter's and so on.... A lot of options to accentuate sound as you like through Creative software. And a lot of power as well in high gain mode if you ever need it.