Need amp/dac for M1060 under $250

[Samurai_Warrior]

First time poster,
I have been doing a lot of research to find the best amp/dac for under $250 US dollars and it seems every product I find has something wrong with it example, Schiit modi 2 or Magni 3.
After reading the review here of the Topping D30 that looks like a great dac for me but idk if its overkill compared to the BEHRINGER U-PHORIA UMC204HD.
So should I get separate dac and separate amp for my m1060s or a all-in-one?
And which product(s) do I get?

 

[sssn]

Objective 2

 

[Samurai_Warrior]

I heard some bad things about the Objective 2 amp, like it was designed to be portable so it runs of batteries.

 

[Samurai_Warrior]

Is the Magni 3 good for the price some people have said bad things about it but there will always be those people.
So is the Magni 3 good?

 

[Gabs]

Maybe "SMSL sAp-10"

 

[Samurai_Warrior]

The SMSL sAP-10 is out of my budget

 

[Gabs]

I don't know if the SMSL Ad18 is any good with headphones.
I was very surprised how well my HE400i is driven by the Alientek D8.

 

[Rod]

Xduoo TA-o1 Dac/Amp. I have one of these. 2 watts power for the He-400i. Amir has it to test but from what I remember its 12 volt so could be portable I think. But verify that. On Amazon there 160.00(plus 30 day return if you dont like it). The drivers on the cd were corrupted but it uses x-mos V.3 drivers available on mega download. There is a link to the drivers in the Amazon questions and answers on this amps sell page. I have seen them for 120 on Massdrop. It sounds OK for the price.

 

[Rod]

Xduoo TA-o1 Dac/Amp. I have one of these. 2 watts power for the He-400i. Amir has it to test but from what I remember its 12 volt so could be portable I think. But verify that. On Amazon there 160.00(plus 30 day return if you dont like it). The drivers on the cd were corrupted but it uses x-mos V.3 drivers available on mega download. There is a link to the drivers in the Amazon questions and answers on this amps sell page. I have seen them for 120 on Massdrop. It sounds OK for the price.

It has a cheap tube. I changed mine to a 12au7 Gold Lion. So about 200 with a new tube.

 

[Rod]

Be careful, this amp sounds good enough that higher sound levels can be achieved without apparent distortion so I could see hearing loss with it.

 

[Samurai_Warrior]

I don't really want to buy a tube amp, thanks tho.

 

[Rod]

I don't really want to buy a tube amp, thanks tho.

Its solid state, I think the tube just goes between the dac and amp to warm the sound signature a little. Sometimes it was hard to tell it was there. A hybrid amp I think there called. Happy hunting.

 

[Rod]

Of course if Amirs testing comes out bad I will have to conclude that I dont have golden ears.

 

[Samurai_Warrior]

The Aune x1s looks like a great deal especially when its on Massdrop.
Do y,all have any thoughts on the x1s?

 

[sssn]

I heard some bad things about the Objective 2 amp, like it was designed to be portable so it runs of batteries.

It CAN run off batteries, but you can use it with a wallwart permanently too. The batteries don't even need to be installed.

 

[bunkbail]

I have a M1060 myself, O2 sounds pretty meh with it (it sounds fine with my other cans). I've never tried Magni 3 so I don't know. It sounds awesome with either Audio-gd NFB-11 or R2R-11. You can find used NFB-11 for less than USD250 I think.