Hello friends, please excuse the long post.
This is my first foray into the world of AMP/DACs and I have very particular requirements, which I can't seem to find met in any devices.
Context: My cans are beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80 Ohm and I own a TEAC AI-101DA, which is working well as both a speaker and headphone AMP. However, after a certain volume level, I get a hiss/bg noise in my headphones. I know this comes with the territory with all AMPs and I also know that I can avoid that by setting the Windows master volume and app volumes to 100% and only using the TEACs master volume knob, but, considering the myriad of sources with all levels on PC, I end up using the Win master volume for control. Since I'll be doing a platform upgrade, I first considered going with a motherboard with competent heaphone AMP, and the only ones available are ASUS' ROG SupremeFX with Realtek S1220A and Savitech SV3H712 AMP, which, I presume, support both rear and front amplificated audio(Question A: am I correct in assuming this?). My current Gigabyte cca 2012 motherboard with VIA VT2021 sounds 100% clean to me, but definitely lacks volume, so I'm not worried about internal sound integrity. The problem is that I need a microATX M/B, and that would force me to go with Intel, which is not ideal these days. There just aren't any AMD uATX M/Bs with headphone AMP. Question B: When using Windows volume control on a M/B with headphone AMP, does that control the analog power output of the AMP, or is it digital control and the AMP is always at 100%?
Beacause of the above, I'm considering an AMP/DAC that would have to meet the following, in order of importance:
1. (most important) Windows volume control should control the master volume of the AMP/DAC, and that volume should be analog, not digital, so as to avoid any hiss/bg noise.
2. It should be as good or better than something like the aforementioned ROG SupremeFX with Realtek S1220A and Savitech SV3H712 AMP
3. It should be able to drive better headphones than my current beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80 Ohm, because I plan to upgrade them wiht some that will be able to output higher volume without distorting
4. 100 euro or below if possible, but I could stretch it to 150 if really worthwhile
5. No drivers needed, if that doesn't conflict with no. 1(do UAC1/2 support volume control?)
6. Toslink input aswell, since I'll also be using this to watch movies and I already have the optical cable setup from my TV
7. Have a remote for no. 6
8. No lights whatsoever. I'm a freak about this, to the point where I will open the AMP/DAC up and kill all the LEDs if need be. Though, I'd rather not have to do that.
Thank you for bearing with me!
This is my first foray into the world of AMP/DACs and I have very particular requirements, which I can't seem to find met in any devices.
Context: My cans are beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80 Ohm and I own a TEAC AI-101DA, which is working well as both a speaker and headphone AMP. However, after a certain volume level, I get a hiss/bg noise in my headphones. I know this comes with the territory with all AMPs and I also know that I can avoid that by setting the Windows master volume and app volumes to 100% and only using the TEACs master volume knob, but, considering the myriad of sources with all levels on PC, I end up using the Win master volume for control. Since I'll be doing a platform upgrade, I first considered going with a motherboard with competent heaphone AMP, and the only ones available are ASUS' ROG SupremeFX with Realtek S1220A and Savitech SV3H712 AMP, which, I presume, support both rear and front amplificated audio(Question A: am I correct in assuming this?). My current Gigabyte cca 2012 motherboard with VIA VT2021 sounds 100% clean to me, but definitely lacks volume, so I'm not worried about internal sound integrity. The problem is that I need a microATX M/B, and that would force me to go with Intel, which is not ideal these days. There just aren't any AMD uATX M/Bs with headphone AMP. Question B: When using Windows volume control on a M/B with headphone AMP, does that control the analog power output of the AMP, or is it digital control and the AMP is always at 100%?
Beacause of the above, I'm considering an AMP/DAC that would have to meet the following, in order of importance:
1. (most important) Windows volume control should control the master volume of the AMP/DAC, and that volume should be analog, not digital, so as to avoid any hiss/bg noise.
2. It should be as good or better than something like the aforementioned ROG SupremeFX with Realtek S1220A and Savitech SV3H712 AMP
3. It should be able to drive better headphones than my current beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80 Ohm, because I plan to upgrade them wiht some that will be able to output higher volume without distorting
4. 100 euro or below if possible, but I could stretch it to 150 if really worthwhile
5. No drivers needed, if that doesn't conflict with no. 1(do UAC1/2 support volume control?)
6. Toslink input aswell, since I'll also be using this to watch movies and I already have the optical cable setup from my TV
7. Have a remote for no. 6
8. No lights whatsoever. I'm a freak about this, to the point where I will open the AMP/DAC up and kill all the LEDs if need be. Though, I'd rather not have to do that.
Thank you for bearing with me!