One Box DAC / Amp/ Audio Interface for HD800s?

[Urushi]

I just ordered a pair of the HD800s. (Adorama had them for $1200). My source is going to be my computer so I should be able to EQ them.

Ideally I would like one box to do everything for me: DAC, AMP, Audio Interface. Would a Motu M2/M4 be enough? I could also pair the Motu with my Dragon Fly Red v2 if that would be better.

My goal is to not have too many boxes on my desk. I am willing to spend up to $1k but considering how good the new Chinese stuff is I am hoping I can be under $500.

 

[staticV3]

A Motu M2/M4 would be enough, and leagues better than your DF Red.

 

[IAtaman]

I just ordered a pair of the HD800s.

No savings then? Enjoy.

 

[Urushi]

A Motu M2/M4 would be enough, and leagues better than your DF Red.

Would I be missing out on anything buy not having a higher end Amp?

I also own an Audient Evo 4 but I think the Motu might be nicer.

I used to have the Topping EX5 and I thought that was very good with my HD6XX.

No savings then? Enjoy.

I asked customer service and they matched yesterday's price for me.

 

[IAtaman]

Wonderful. HD800s is a great set of cans, hope you will enjoy it.

Motu M2's headphone amp has 22mw max output power at 300ohm it seems from the measurements. At 22mW HD800s is supposed to reach 110db SPL according to its specs. It should be fine mostly. If you are into nitpicking you might want to get something more powerful.

 

[Urushi]

Wonderful. HD800s is a great set of cans, hope you will enjoy it.

Motu M2's headphone amp has 22mw max output power at 300ohm it seems from the measurements. At 22mW HD800s is supposed to reach 110db SPL according to its specs. It should be fine mostly. If you are into nitpicking you might want to get something more powerful.

What would I gain in terms of sound by having a more powerful amp?

 

[IAtaman]

Mostly headroom. If you EQ the headphones with, say a 6db bass boost, you’d want to put in a pre-amp value of -6db to avoid digital values to try and go beyond their max. With that fo example, headphone amp of the interface might not have enough power to drive your cans to their full output.

 

[Urushi]

Mostly headroom. If you EQ the headphones with, say a 6db bass boost, you’d want to put in a pre-amp value of -6db to avoid digital values to try and go beyond their max. With that fo example, headphone amp of the interface might not have enough power to drive your cans to their full output.

What amp would you recommend. I would definitely be willing to pay more for something small.

 

[IAtaman]

Motu M2 plus any decent headphone amp would be fine. I have seen Topping L30 for $90 on Drop I think, that should do the trick and is quite small. There might also be interfaces below $500 that can do everything you want and drive the HD800s but I don't know much about interfaces. You can check out Julian Krause's Youtube channel for that or ping staticV3 to see if he can help you.

 

[Roen]

I just ordered a pair of the HD800s. (Adorama had them for $1200). My source is going to be my computer so I should be able to EQ them.

Ideally I would like one box to do everything for me: DAC, AMP, Audio Interface. Would a Motu M2/M4 be enough? I could also pair the Motu with my Dragon Fly Red v2 if that would be better.

My goal is to not have too many boxes on my desk. I am willing to spend up to $1k but considering how good the new Chinese stuff is I am hoping I can be under $500.

I use the Apple DAC + JDS O2 Amp for my HD800S. I think my electronics is about $120 total?

I probably can't hear a difference between that and the balanced D70/A70 Stack.