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Headphone amp recommendation.

Philim

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Joined
Dec 18, 2024
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Hi all

New to the forum. Been into hifi a few years and had a lot of different kit at varying levels. (Focal 1028, Focal 936 K2, Chord Hugo TT, musical fidelity nuvista 800, Supernatural 2, naim 282 etc.)

I've just started getting into headphones and have a pair of Focal Elegia headphones but am just playing off of phone at the moment.

Two questions:
1. Any recommendations for a good headphone dac. Desktop or dongle. I know they are very different but could live with a desktop where I do 90% of listening

2. Do measurements translate into a great dac. I used to have a chord Hugo TT which to me sounded sublime but see that it didn't measure as well as £200 toppings. I've tried some of those bad they didn't sound as good as the chord to my ears.
 
Hello Philim. I suggest you to stick with Chord Hugo TT (if you can). As I heard it has really good headphones output. If you like the sound why bother to change it?
I also thought about Chord as a DAC, but they charge too much for my budget. I suppose it could be better sound it you divide DAC and amplifier for your headphones. But you need to listen to such setup. Nobody except your ears can't tell you what will be good for you.
For now I use notebook as a streaming device (transport). Lynx Hilo 2 as a DAC. McIntosh MHA200 as a headphones amplifier (connected to balanced line output of the DAC). Audeze LCD-5 as a headphones. For my taste this setup gives me an excellent sound impressions. For now I don't want to change it to anything else. It might that I will think about a streamer, to not use a notebook, but I'm not sure.
If you don't want to have several boxes at your table, stay with Chord Hugo TT or get a 2 version of it. FPGA must give you great DA conversion if you up to date your DAC.
 
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