One box headphone amp/DAC required. A few requirements. Suggestions?

[deniall83]

I'm after a one box headphone amp/DAC. Must have optical in, RCA out, low output impedance and enough power to drive planar magnetic cans. I was looking at the Mayflower ARC but have been turned off by a lot of people posting issues online. Quite happy to spend what I need to get something that fits the bill.

 

[Veri]

The iFi micro black label comes to mind and ticks off all your reqs such as low output impedance and power: some of the most power in a single handy box amir has measured so far, but there's better measuring ones when it comes to raw signal over noise. Comes with some fun switches such as bass boost and crossfeed to play around with. Also it can run off battery power which can come in handy. Not a cheap device though.

Are you really dead set on a single box? Getting an arcam RHead with a DAC like the D50 will cost less and have better specs on paper.

Both the iFi and the RHead have output impedance of 0.9 as seen on the latest Rhead/Aune post. You can get some more ideas on said graph displaying output impedance of devices measured so far by amir.

 

[deniall83]

The iFi micro black label comes to mind and ticks off all your reqs such as low output impedance and power: some of the most power in a single handy box amir has measured so far, but there's better measuring ones when it comes to raw signal over noise. Comes with some fun switches such as bass boost and crossfeed to play around with. Also it can run off battery power which can come in handy. Not a cheap device though.

Are you really dead set on a single box? Getting an arcam RHead with a DAC like the D50 will cost less and have better specs on paper.

Both the iFi and the RHead have output impedance of 0.9 as seen here. You can read further along the line of low output for some more ideas if you'd like.

Thanks for your reply. The iFi is a nice little unit but no optical in? I will consider a stack but would really prefer one box for simplicity sake and to integrate with my HiFi system.

The DX7S is almost perfect but the output impedance is too high for some of my headphones.

 

[Veri]

Thanks for your reply. The iFi is a nice little unit but no optical in? I will consider a stack but would really prefer one box for simplicity sake and to integrate with my HiFi system.

The DX7S is almost perfect but the output impedance is too high for some of my headphones.

The iFi has a coaxical input sorry I always confuse coaxical and optical for some reason. The coaxical is both an input and output with a smart detect.

But as a matter of fact, the iFi comes with a coaxical->optical adapter. It can accept optical, too

 

[andreasmaaan]

I have the RME ADI-2 DAC which is not the cheapest option at about $1k, but measures exceptionally well and has all the features you require (I believe).

The thing I find particularly useful with it is the on-board DSP, which allows you to set your own EQ curve for a particular set of headphones and/or for bass management when used as a preamp via the RCA or XLR outputs (you can save multiple settings for multiple different outputs).

Another useful DSP feature is level-dependent "loudness", which can be used to boost bass and treble increasingly as the volume is lowered below a certain user-defined level (or can be disabled of course).

Output impedance is under 0.5 Ohm and it puts out up to 10 V depending on load impedance.

Which particular headphones are you using?

 

[Dana reed]

If you want to spend even more, there's the Chord Hugo or the Benchmark DAC3. I have the Chord Mojo which has optical in and more than enough power for my planars (HE560). But for RCA out, you would need an adapter. The DX7s discussed often in these forums should also fit the bill, depending on the exact nature of the planars.

 

[Veri]

Thanks for your reply. The iFi is a nice little unit but no optical in? I will consider a stack but would really prefer one box for simplicity sake and to integrate with my HiFi system.

The DX7S is almost perfect but the output impedance is too high for some of my headphones.

Actually now that I think about it, which planars? Most planars have a completely flat impedance curve right? In which case the output impedance has no effect on your headphone output frequency as I have noticed myself with my own amps/headphones in the past. Flat impedance curve = output doesn't matter as much.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Why would you choose the DX7s over the D50 if there is no need for balanced line output though? Measurements and features are otherwise fairly consistent between the DX7s and D50, I thought..

 

[JJB70]

How about the Arcam irDAC 2?They can now be picked up for reasonable prices, seem well specified and have a headphone amp. Most reports seem positive.

 

[deniall83]

I have the RME ADI-2 DAC which is not the cheapest option at about $1k, but measures exceptionally well and has all the features you require (I believe).

The thing I find particularly useful with it is the on-board DSP, which allows you to set your own EQ curve for a particular set of headphones and/or for bass management when used as a preamp via the RCA or XLR outputs (you can save multiple settings for multiple different outputs).

Another useful DSP feature is level-dependent "loudness", which can be used to boost bass and treble increasingly as the volume is lowered below a certain user-defined level (or can be disabled of course).

Output impedance is under 0.5 Ohm and it puts out up to 10 V depending on load impedance.

Which particular headphones are you using?

It's certainly a nice unit and one I'm considering. Did they ever sort out that issue with Windows that locks you into one sampling rate? The only problem with it from my perspective is in Australia it's nearly double the price making it a pretty expensive unit. Headphones are Focal Clear, Audeze LCD-2C and Sennheiser HD600. I might be adding some harder to drive planars in the future though.

Actually now that I think about it, which planars? Most planars have a completely flat impedance curve right? In which case the output impedance has no effect on your headphone output frequency as I have noticed myself with my own amps/headphones in the past. Flat impedance curve = output doesn't matter as much.

Potentially some from HiFiMan but none specific. Just want to know I can drive them.

Why would you choose the DX7s over the D50 if there is no need for balanced line output though? Measurements and features are otherwise fairly consistent between the DX7s and D50, I thought..

Forgive me if I'm wrong but the D50 is a DAC only and has no headphone out?

 

[Veri]

It's certainly a nice unit and one I'm considering. Did they ever sort out that issue with Windows that locks you into one sampling rate?

It's only locked like that if you use their ASIO Driver. If you use windows UAC (or by uninstalling their ASIO driver again), it works like any other DAC.

Also it's not an issue but on purpose, so that a workflow will always use the last ASIO configured sampling rate, read a blog post where they explained it once.

 

[ghostfox]

If you decide vs a Dac/Amp Combo.. i recommend as an Amp the Lake People HPA RS 02 for unbalanced or the HPA RS 08 for a balanced Setup.

 

[andreasmaaan]

It's certainly a nice unit and one I'm considering. Did they ever sort out that issue with Windows that locks you into one sampling rate? The only problem with it from my perspective is in Australia it's nearly double the price making it a pretty expensive unit. Headphones are Focal Clear, Audeze LCD-2C and Sennheiser HD600. I might be adding some harder to drive planars in the future though.

Fair enough. Didn't realise there was such a price difference.

And yeh, the Focal clear seem to have a wild enough impedance response to warrant a very low impedance source.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but the D50 is a DAC only and has no headphone out?

You're right I was thinking in terms of the DAC side only, as the DX7s has a high output impedance and would require a separate headphone amp in your case.

Given it costs double the D50 though, D50 + headphone amp makes for a more attractive proposition (but isn't a one-box solution unfortunately...)

 

[andreasmaaan]

I'm going to sound like a JDS Labs salesperson following my comment yesterday on a similar thread (in fact I've never even listened to one of their products and am simply going on published independent measurements), but Amir just measured their US$350 Element DAC and Headphone Amp today and it did quite well overall and has a lot of power and a very low output impedance.

Although the DAC section is not SOTA, it's worth noting that its IMD performance is good, while its harmonic distortion is primarily of the less audible low-order type. I'd think a strong argument could be made that this would be a transparent device with most headphones.

CORRECTION: just noticed there is no optical in on this unit