Powering the DCA Aeon

[nerdemoji]

Hello guys I'm new here and I don't know too much about this stuff. I am looking to go from tidal on a computer to some variant of the DCA Aeon. Also, I listen to metal so I like to play fairly loud music. I understand that the DCA Aeon is very power hungry but I don't know how much I will need to get the most out of it. Some of the ideas that I have had are
SMSL M500Mkii (seems too low power)
Topping E30ii>L30ii (Seems decent, but would balanced be better?/ provide enough power)
Topping E50>L50 (Kinda expensive, especially if I go balanced bc the Drop version comes with only an unbalanced cable)
Some cheap DAC into the A30Pro which seems very high powered even on unbalanced.

I am also trying to reduce price as well so... Any thoughts to help me out?

Thanks guys!!!

 

[staticV3]

Hi @nerdemoji! Welcome to ASR.

A Topping E30ii>L30ii should provide more power than you'd ever need for the Aeon.

Edit: perhaps consider a DAC with both RCA and XLR/TRS outputs like the SMSL D-6, instead of the E30 II.
That way, you could more easily switch to a balanced Amp in the future, should you want or need to.

 

[anotherhobby]

I recently got the DCA AEON2 Opens (and I love them), and I'm currently powering them with a Topping L30. On the higher gain I seem to have more than enough power, but I also don't have a more powerful headphone amp to compare to. I also need to get another headphone amp for these at my cabin, but I've been undecided if I should "upgrade" to something with more power, or if I should just get another L30. I also need another DAC, so the Topping DX5 Lite is high on my list too.

So, this is to say that the L30 seems to have plenty of power, but I'm also very interested in the responses you get here.

 

[nerdemoji]

Hi @nerdemoji! Welcome to ASR.

A Topping E30ii>L30ii should provide more power than you'd ever need for the Aeon.

Edit: perhaps consider a DAC with both RCA and XLR/TRS outputs like the SMSL D-6, instead of the E30 II.
That way, you could more easily switch to a balanced Amp in the future, should you want or need to.

Thanks for the amazingly fast response. Thats a good suggestion; I'll check it out.

 

[nerdemoji]

Hi @nerdemoji! Welcome to ASR.

A Topping E30ii>L30ii should provide more power than you'd ever need for the Aeon.

Edit: perhaps consider a DAC with both RCA and XLR/TRS outputs like the SMSL D-6, instead of the E30 II.
That way, you could more easily switch to a balanced Amp in the future, should you want or need to.

I have another question, I have found different viable options now (that are cheaper im pretty sure). Should would I be able to get the SMSL C200 to power my headphones or is it better to get the SMSL C100 into the L30 ii? Amir said in his review that the C200 lacks the power to drive the most power hungry headphones but the measurments seem to point that they have enough power. Also I think he said that the SMSL M500 Mkiii had enough power for the stealth but it has less power than the C200. Man this is getting weird