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Overwhelmed need guidance

weap0nkil

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Joined
Apr 16, 2019
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So I am getting a little lost in the weeds at this point on what to buy after visiting this site. I am looking for a amp plus dac or combo together, open to either way. I generally always try to buy something a bit more expensive to get quality that will last.

my headset are the Sennheiser HD650s. (used for Music, and heavy pc gaming)
I also want to be able to hook up some good studio monitor speakers.


I was first looking at the schiit stack combo for like $200 thinking that was decent. Then I started reading about the upgraded vallhalla 2 plus bifrost. Then I stumbled on this site saying they were a big disappointment. I am open to spending a $1000 or under or somewhere in that range. I am a bit out of my depth overall, and any help is much appreciated. This site has tons of reviews but I dont seem to find any articles that summarize top picks and etc.
 

Tarzan

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Dec 3, 2018
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Location
Brisbane, Australia
The combo I have is the:
Sennheiser HD660s
SMSL SU8 Dac
SMSL SH8 headphone amp

I think this is a very cost effective set up. The HD660's are much easier to drive and the dac amp combo are great, good open sound stage, very detailed, and plenty of power for these headphones for the money, don't think there is enough for the 650's mind you, also the 650's are very sluggish for gaming, the 660's are much more dynamic. You'll be able to add monitor's to the mix with this Dac as well. It's very good for the money. They only thing I'm going to add is a tube amp, not sure which yet, there is a guy in Sydney Australia that builds them. I think I'm going to get one from him. Just to get more sound stage, thicker notes when playing live recordings from Tidal.
 
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weap0nkil

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Apr 16, 2019
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Now this looks like it is just the amp so I will need a dac also to hook to my pc correct? Any suggestions?
 
Last edited:

DuxServit

Senior Member
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Apr 21, 2018
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I like to split DACs from Amps, so I try to avoid combos.

For my HD650, I’ve tried several setups. Decided on the THX AAA 789 for the headphone amp, and Topping D50 for the DAC. Acquired both on MassDrop.
 

Tks

Major Contributor
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Apr 1, 2019
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Do consider getting the RME ADI-2 DAC. That thing is just amazing for it's package..
 
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