Next desktop DAC/Headphone Amp recommendation needed

[KR22]

Hello,

I am now using Windows 7 notebook / SONY MDR-V6 / Micca OriGen+, and, although I have no particular complaints about that combination, I am still thinking of a desktop DAC/Headphone Amp upgrade.

The budget would be about $200 (give or take), neither Bluetooth nor a remote control needed, DSD support (up to 128, at least) would be welcome, and I am not going to use speakers (well, maybe desktop ones someday, not sure). I also have Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO (250 Ohm), and although I prefer the sound of MDR-V6, I should probably keep those in mind too.

I have read several reviews here and at Amazon etc., but, having no technical skill or experience, I still can not decide what to choose.

The suspects are usual, of course:

Fiio K5 Pro, Topping DX3 Pro, LOXJIE D30, JDS Atom Combo, or maybe Topping D10s plus some good headphone amplifier, or something else...

Any recommendations/advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[twsecrest]

I would look into upgrading the headphones, before spending on a DAC/amp.
Unless your into audio production (good reason for keeping the MDR-V6), I would sell off both the DT770 & MDR-V6.
For a DAC/amp, the Schiit Fulla 3 is a good value ($100).
The Massdrop (Drop) Sennheiser HD58X headphones are great for music.
https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-hd-58x-jubilee-headphones

 

[dmac6419]

Hello,

I am now using Windows 7 notebook / SONY MDR-V6 / Micca OriGen+, and, although I have no particular complaints about that combination, I am still thinking of a desktop DAC/Headphone Amp upgrade.

The budget would be about $200 (give or take), neither Bluetooth nor a remote control needed, DSD support (up to 128, at least) would be welcome, and I am not going to use speakers (well, maybe desktop ones someday, not sure). I also have Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO (250 Ohm), and although I prefer the sound of MDR-V6, I should probably keep those in mind too.

I have read several reviews here and at Amazon etc., but, having no technical skill or experience, I still can not decide what to choose.

The suspects are usual, of course:

Fiio K5 Pro, Topping DX3 Pro, LOXJIE D30, JDS Atom Combo, or maybe Topping D10s plus some good headphone amplifier, or something else...

Any recommendations/advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Dx3 pro is a good choice good snr,fiio k5 pro lots of power for headphones don't own n the rest

 

[mongobot]

@KR22 - For my desktop setup I went with the Topping E30 (because I also wanted to play with DSD) and the JDS Atom Amp. I'm pretty happy with this setup at the moment and it's close to your budget. You could reduce the cost of the above slightly by going with the Monoprice Liquid Spark DAC instead of the Topping and still get DSD support.

As you note, lots of good options to choose from - have fun!

 

[KR22]

Thank you all for the answers. I have bought the Atom Line. Listening to it right now (with the MDR-V6).

As to the headphones, I am not ready for new ones yet. Could it be possible to enhance the performance of the MDR-V6 with Equalizer APO?

 

[twsecrest]

Thank you all for the answers. I have bought the Atom Line. Listening to it right now (with the MDR-V6).
As to the headphones, I am not ready for new ones yet. Could it be possible to enhance the performance of the MDR-V6 with Equalizer APO?

Sony MDR-V6 are good monitor headphones, so their having a somewhat boring sound is a benefit for audio production.
So might be fairly limited to changing it's sound.
But give Equalizer APO a try.

 

[KR22]

But give Equalizer APO a try.

I have tried it. Since I did not find settings for V6 here, I tried those for 7506, and I must say I did not hear any difference. Just to check if I set up Equalizer APO right, I tried some random settings, and there was a difference (but not for my headphones, of course).

Also I found out that in order to make Equalizer APO work, one must choose (in foobar2000, at least) an Atom as a "default output device" (not as an ASIO device I mean) which I did not like because in that case any music files were played according to the "default output device" settings: 24/192 in my case. And I did not like that.

Maybe I got something wrong?

 

[AnalogSteph]

No, this is expected. You need shared mode for APOs to be included, while ASIO generally involves exclusive mode which bypasses a lot of the audio stack. Since version 1.6, Foobar2000 ships with WASAPI shared mode output built-in to replace the obsolete DirectSound API (which would only be getting wrapped to WASAPI shared right away on any Windows since Vista anyway), otherwise you can always add foo_out_wasapis. The usual caveats related to using shared mode apply (notably, having to set output format manually).

 

[KR22]

So I thought. Thank you.

 

[kiyu]

HI KR22,

I am in a similar situation, I was thinking of E30 + A50s(due to I want balance output) but E30 + l30 should sound really nice, but apart from that I am also waiting for the measurement of a new product Khadas tone pro 2, technical specs look more than promising but I guess we will have to wait and see. It cost 200$ but is quite new and not sure if it can manage your Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO, I guess we will know after review and measurement. but I would consider it.

 

[KR22]

Thank you, kiyu. I have already bought Atom DAC & Amp.