just another DAC/headphone amp recommendation needed

[kurcatovium]

Hello, I've been stalking this forum for quite some time and I must say it's absolutely fantastic. It's so refreshing to see analytic approach with actual measurement. It's just so different to "your typical audiophile" sites, where reading about audio HW feels like looking at wine vignette. Lots of spectacular expressions, smart word plays and metaphores, but the result is just... wine. Winedresser might call me ignorant but my senses can't really find those raspberry tones, undertones of exotic fruits or slight smell of fresh hay. The best I can do is to say whether I like it or not. Having hard numbers in the audio area is a huge benefit to this very person-specific descriptiveness, at least for me.

...

The thing that finally made me register and post something is that I'm at point where I need an advice, obviously. I'm currently sorting my PC/desk/office/workplace/gaming station out, thinking it's the best time to sort the audio too. And I'm a bit lost as what to look for or else, how to spend the budget (set at around 200 €, possibly reaching 300 if need be) most reasonably. Right now I have an audio interface Steinberg UR22MkII that's working as a DAC/amp with condenser mic hooked up for calls. I use it mostly with Philips SHP9500s and sometimes with Superlux HD681 Evo, both of which it can push reasonably well. Both of those are low impedance, easy to drive cans and I tend to listen at low-ish volumes, so it's been fine for me. Up until recently when I purchased Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro that are much harder to drive and poor Steinberg really struggles there. Volume level itself would be enough for me, but the sound gets muddy, distorted and with no bass, device simply doesn't have enough power to drive Beyers...

So here I am asking for help to:

• drive more demanding headphones (not just Beyers, there are others on my wish list, like HD650),
• still be able to do voice calls (need to have mic option for Skype, Discord, Teamspeak)
• and lastly keep things as simple as possible, because nobody likes cable mess...

As I see it now, I have handful of options, but I have no idea which route I should follow. I tend to listen mostly while doing stuff at PC, when source quality is far from optimal - either Spotify or local collection where even the lossless stuff doesn't have the best mix & production quality (rock, metal and more obscure genres, lots of it from semi-local bands - not really Abbey Road stuff, lol). What I think I can do is:

1. buy just headphone amp, keep Steinberg as DAC and microphone ADC and call it good
2. get gaming device that has mic input (suitable for things like BoomPro or ModMic) and use just that
3. get propper device and keep Steinberg as ADC only
4. get separate DAC and amp and either keep Steinberg as ADC / replace it with USB mic like Blue Yetti/Snowball to ease the mess

It probably won't help that I'm located in Czech Republic (central/eastern Europe), where prices are way different and availability of stuff is far from the best. As for #1 I can order JDS Atom from US, with postage, import tax and VAT I'm at 140-150 € and that's completely fine. But can it get better? The #2 is IMO the least viable as there's probably just SoundBlasterX G6 that could fit in, it costs 150 € locally. Considering #3 it just screams Topping DX3 Pro all the way... until I found out Topping is not available here. Not just the DX3, shops aren't offering Topping stuff at all - it's like the brand doesn't even exist in our market. Given DX3 Pro's reliability concerns I'm really reluctant to buy it from Aliexpress/eBay :-( Second in line there would be possibly Aune X1s, I managed to find one for 200 €, with full 2 years warranty. Good or bad? And as for #4, options are countless. Topping D10 seems like especially good idea here as it's USB bus-powered reducing cable mess. I, then, could pair it with basically anything. But then again, with better gear there's also higher price tags (Atom + D10 would be like 240 €).

So what do you think I should do to spend the budget wisely?

 

[M00ndancer]

Option 1. Cheapest and you can do the option 4 later on.

 

[kurcatovium]

Option 1. Cheapest and you can do the option 4 later on.

Well, this was my first thought. Until I saw nice combo-units like DX3Pro. Then it went crazy with all the options and possibilities.

Also really stupid question, Steinberg has balanced output jacks only. Do I get it right that if I use TS > RCA cable, it will behave just like normal unbalanced output? This way it will short R with S, but that shouldn't be a concern as R carries jsut inverted signal, or?

 

[Tidaliser]

I can tell you this from owning this kit, the sound quality of the Soundblaster AE5 (as in audio out - never used the mic input) is no where near as good as the topping D10 or topping D50 external DACs. So if audio quality is important then don't bother with a soundblaster AE5, that's not to say it's horrid or that bad you can't listen to it but as soon as I went for an external DAC to listen to music - boom !! what a difference.

 

[bravomail]

ye. external DACs rule!

 

[amirm]

As for #1 I can order JDS Atom from US, with postage, import tax and VAT I'm at 140-150 € and that's completely fine. But can it get better?

From sound fidelity, power, etc., you cannot. The only thing better would be the Massdrop THX AAA 789, not because of sound fidelity but because it has balanced inputs. You can pair that with a balanced DAC and get immunity from ground loops.

 

[kurcatovium]

I still haven't ordered anything, 'cause it's still puzzling my head. It doesn't really help in decision making process that the Aune X1s I mentioned earlier is now exactly 200 € delivery included + it has full 2 year warranty locally, which might be a huge plus in case something goes wrong. Nobody wants their stuff to break and it usually doesn't... but I've been let down by new electronics breaking down so many times already it's getting really hard to convince myself of buying something of non-trivial value with shady warranty. 20 € headphones from Ali is fine, but 200 € is not.

I went through the X1s review once again and I'm more and more inclining towards it, thinking it might be good starting point. It probably can be considered "jack of all trades, master of none", but would I notice the difference? Built-in amp looks powerful enough and the DAC itself seems pretty good by the measurements so it might be upgraded by simply adding something like Atom in case I didn't like built-in amp. Good or bad train of thought?

 

[flipflop]

When I read your posts, I get the impression that you're asking for someone to tell you what to buy, rather than asking for technical assistance, because you're indecisive.

I own a ModMic and a BoomPro and both are fine in their own rights.
Despite the clamps on the ModMic cable, it still added too much clutter, so I stopped using it in favor of the BoomPro. The mute button was also too close to the mic, with the result of being unable to see whether it was on or off, and I had to buy a USB dongle because the mic wouldn't get loud enough directly from my mobo.
My biggest gripe with the BoomPro is that the cable is too short. Thankfully, I had a spare extension cable lying around.
These are just my experiences FWIW, YMMW, etc.

On the topic of Aune X1S, I can't recommend it due to its poor channel matching at low levels and high output impedance.