Ideal DAC+Headphone Amp?

[MRC01]

I typically use my phone or tablet for music listening only in noisy environments like cars or airplanes, where sound quality is less important. That's also why I never invested in expensive IEMs because what would be the point a noisy environment? But recently due to working from home I was listening to my phone in a quiet environment (with VSonic VSD3S) and realized it didn't sound as good as my audio system or even my PC (Juli@ sound card to JDS Atom). So I measured it and found it was nowhere near "neutral".

This got me thinking why doesn't anyone make a little USB DAC that:

• Has DAC performance in Amir's best "blue" section
• Has a built-in headphone amp
• Has enough clean power to drive full size headphones like HD600 or Audeze LCD-2
  • At least 3.5 Volt
  • At least 120 mAmp
  • At least 400 mW
• Has a high/low gain switch so it can also drive sensitive IEMs
• Has great headphone amp performance
  • SINAD at least 100 dB at full scale
  • SNR at least 90 dB at 50 mV
  • L-R channel match within 0.25 dB down to -40 dB

Of all the DAC + headphone amps reviewed here, some meet some of these goals, but none (below $500) meet all of them. One could meet these goals with a separate DAC and headphone amp (say, Topping E30 + JDS Atom), but that requires 2 devices. It would be nice to have 1 device that does it all. The SMSL M500 comes close but its SNR at 50 mV is only 80 dB.

 

[maverickronin]

The RME ADI-2 DAC will do that, but it's like 5x more expensive than a Topping JDS stack...

 

[MRC01]

Right, and the RME ADI-2 is a great device. But it's a bit too expensive and not easy to move around. If it's possible for a $100 amp (JDS atom), and a $130 DAC (Topping E30) to meet these specs, then it must be possible for a single device (DAC + amp) to meet them at a much lower price and more portable package than the RME ADI-2.

I'm thinking something that would be easy to carry around in a bag back and forth, home/work or easily plug into different sources (computers, CD players or whatever). Doesn't have to be battery powered, but that would be a nice option.

 

[maverickronin]

You're right, their should be. Marketing is weird sometimes.

Maybe someone else can dig deeper and find something worth sending to Amir for a test.

 

[SwainVoorman]

I've been thinking along these lines as well. Have been thinking about the Topping Dx7pro but increasingly think waiting for a E30/L30 stack will be quite formidable. Would be pairing with a LCD2-C.

 

[Nango]

I typically use my phone or tablet for music listening only in noisy environments like cars or airplanes, where sound quality is less important. That's also why I never invested in expensive IEMs because what would be the point a noisy environment? But recently due to working from home I was listening to my phone in a quiet environment (with VSonic VSD3S) and realized it didn't sound as good as my audio system or even my PC (Juli@ sound card to JDS Atom). So I measured it and found it was nowhere near "neutral".

This got me thinking why doesn't anyone make a little USB DAC that:

• Has DAC performance in Amir's best "blue" section
• Has a built-in headphone amp
• Has enough clean power to drive full size headphones like HD600 or Audeze LCD-2
  • At least 3.5 Volt
  • At least 120 mAmp
  • At least 400 mW
• Has a high/low gain switch so it can also drive sensitive IEMs
• Has great headphone amp performance
  • SINAD at least 100 dB at full scale
  • SNR at least 90 dB at 50 mV
  • L-R channel match within 0.25 dB down to -40 dB

Of all the DAC + headphone amps reviewed here, some meet some of these goals, but none (below $500) meet all of them. One could meet these goals with a separate DAC and headphone amp (say, Topping E30 + JDS Atom), but that requires 2 devices. It would be nice to have 1 device that does it all. The SMSL M500 comes close but its SNR at 50 mV is only 80 dB.

You're talking about a DAP Astell Kann. And it has battery too.

 

[MRC01]

Regarding Astell & Kern - (1) do they measure as well as they look? (2) do they meet the above output minimums? this is to comfortably drive full size headphones (3) they're not in the price range - even more expensive than the RMI ADI-2.

 

[Nango]

(1) https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/report/amp/astell-kern-kann-balanced.php

(2) refurbished "like new" ~ €500 at Amazon EU

That's it!!!!!!!