• Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Need advice for new DAC/AMP (Currently own Audient id14 MKII)

splinterm93

New Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2025
Messages
1
Likes
0
Hi guys! I'm newbie, appreciate all contribution you make to audio communty with kinda "scientific" approach, so decided to ask here:

Need advice for new DAC/AMP in a sub-100$ range (probably to 150$ if it makes any sense for my usage scenario).

Currently own Audient id14 MKII and Douk U3 mini as headphone amp. My headphones/IEM - AKG K612 PRO and Letshuoer S12 Pro.

Why I (supposedly) need new DAC/AMP or headphone AMP:

- id14 have high headphone output impedance - around 22 ohm. So not optimal for K612 (120ohm) and S12 PRO (16 ohm)
- Douk U3 barely suitable for S12 Pro - usable range is about 1-2 notches on volume dial, at about 3-4 notches from 0. Put it higher - it becomes veryy noisy, put it lower - too quiet and has noticable channel inbalance. K612 become noisy at high gain too
- Douk U3 have RCA connectors, ID14 - balanced output, so not sure at all if its good match
- I think U3 is noisy, i can hear quiet noises even at low gain. Tried different power - USB bricks (67W) and 12v 4A power adapter, doesnt make much difference.
- I'm a bit paranoid about CS43198 (which ID14 has) and CS43131 DACs "clics" bug - i defienetly hear clics here - https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/demo-cs131.php#gsc.tab=0. Cant hear clicks on my old M-Audio Fast Track MKII (it has some AKM DAC i think). I think I hear clicks on ID14 MKII even with daily music/audio - i thought it was clipping at records themselves (sometimes its defienetly on records), but now I'm not that shure.

My main criterios - non-audible noise/distortion, good match with both S12 Pro and k612 (impedance/power/gain cotrol-wise)
Currently thinking about Akliam PD5/PD6, they have AKM/ESS DACs and pretty good measurments on paper, compact, and I can use them with phone as a bonus. Dont wanna any CS based DACs since i'm paranoid about clics. But probably I miss some options? Or buying new DAC/AMP wont get me any benefits at all? Thanks in advance!

* English is not my native language, sorry for mistakes here and there.
 
Hi guys! I'm newbie, appreciate all contribution you make to audio communty with kinda "scientific" approach, so decided to ask here:

Need advice for new DAC/AMP in a sub-100$ range (probably to 150$ if it makes any sense for my usage scenario).

Currently own Audient id14 MKII and Douk U3 mini as headphone amp. My headphones/IEM - AKG K612 PRO and Letshuoer S12 Pro.

Why I (supposedly) need new DAC/AMP or headphone AMP:

- id14 have high headphone output impedance - around 22 ohm. So not optimal for K612 (120ohm) and S12 PRO (16 ohm)
- Douk U3 barely suitable for S12 Pro - usable range is about 1-2 notches on volume dial, at about 3-4 notches from 0. Put it higher - it becomes veryy noisy, put it lower - too quiet and has noticable channel inbalance. K612 become noisy at high gain too
- Douk U3 have RCA connectors, ID14 - balanced output, so not sure at all if its good match
- I think U3 is noisy, i can hear quiet noises even at low gain. Tried different power - USB bricks (67W) and 12v 4A power adapter, doesnt make much difference.
- I'm a bit paranoid about CS43198 (which ID14 has) and CS43131 DACs "clics" bug - i defienetly hear clics here - https://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/demo-cs131.php#gsc.tab=0. Cant hear clicks on my old M-Audio Fast Track MKII (it has some AKM DAC i think). I think I hear clicks on ID14 MKII even with daily music/audio - i thought it was clipping at records themselves (sometimes its defienetly on records), but now I'm not that shure.

My main criterios - non-audible noise/distortion, good match with both S12 Pro and k612 (impedance/power/gain cotrol-wise)
Currently thinking about Akliam PD5/PD6, they have AKM/ESS DACs and pretty good measurments on paper, compact, and I can use them with phone as a bonus. Dont wanna any CS based DACs since i'm paranoid about clics. But probably I miss some options? Or buying new DAC/AMP wont get me any benefits at all? Thanks in advance!

* English is not my native language, sorry for mistakes here and there.
You can look at Amazon for customer returns for SMSL C200 or TOPPING DX3 Pro+, around €150-160. Many customers order several devices and then send the others back, a good way to save money.

Both devices have significantly more power (around 1.5 watts at 32 ohms) and have been tested very well for ASR. The TOPPING DX3 Pro+ is said to go into protection mode at under 20 ohms.
 
Back
Top Bottom