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Recommend a DAC / Headphone Amp stack for $700’ish

Dougey_Jones

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I currently have a Wadia 121 Decoding Computer which is a balanced DAC with Class A HP amp that retails for $1,299. I’m satisfied with the sound, but want very much to try either THX AAA or something with similarly high SINAD performance, and want to pair it with a balanced DAC whose performance will let the HP amp shine. The most obvious option in my head would be SMSL SU-9 + SH-9, what other options should I be considering for stacks? I’m ruling out the Schiit Modius + Magnius because I’m not getting balanced headphone cables for all of my headphones in order to minimize the noise floor.

Headphones are Sennheiser HD6XX, HiFiMan HE4xx, AudioTechnica ATH-AD700 and many pairs of various IEMs.

What should I be looking at?
 

Veri

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Honestly? Those are all 3 fairly non-demanding loads. L30 + any good DAC should suit you just fine. If you want to go really future-proof A90 + cheapest balanced DAC like Soncoz LA-QXD, Schiit Magnius, SMSL SU-8 or Grace SDAC balanced is within your given budget.
 
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wasnotwasnotwas

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I currently have a Wadia 121 Decoding Computer which is a balanced DAC with Class A HP amp that retails for $1,299. I’m satisfied with the sound, but want very much to try either THX AAA or something with similarly high SINAD performance, and want to pair it with a balanced DAC whose performance will let the HP amp shine. The most obvious option in my head would be SMSL SU-9 + SH-9, what other options should I be considering for stacks? I’m ruling out the Schiit Modius + Magnius because I’m not getting balanced headphone cables for all of my headphones in order to minimize the noise floor.

Headphones are Sennheiser HD6XX, HiFiMan HE4xx, AudioTechnica ATH-AD700 and many pairs of various IEMs.

What should I be looking at?

If you kept the wadia in the chain and used xlr out, the geshelli archel 2.5 is balanced in / single ended out and (if you look at the single ended 2.0 reviewed here) should have SoA measurements and power your HP fine
 

tvrgeek

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Buy the Schiit Modi-3 and Magni. Then send the remaining $500 to a food bank and e-bay all the expensive stuff that does not work as well. Balanced lines are for studios that have to run cables hundreds of feet, or to overcharge suspecting customers who buy $1200 DACs. Your money of course.
 
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Dougey_Jones

Dougey_Jones

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If you kept the wadia in the chain and used xlr out, the geshelli archel 2.5 is balanced in / single ended out and (if you look at the single ended 2.0 reviewed here) should have SoA measurements and power your HP fine

I’m selling the Wadia to fund my expansion, and since it’s an early 2000’s product, even tho it is Asynchronous USB, balanced and has proprietary tech like Wadia Digimaster, I doubt it’s as resolving as newer DACs reviewed here. I already own an SU-9 for my main stereo rig and like it very much.

I like the idea of a matching stack, but it doesn’t haaaaaave to be..
 

RickSanchez

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I'm assuming you mean balanced XLR outputs (DAC) --> balanced XLR inputs (amp)? Which is a good thing to have but doesn't improve sound quality; it will only help eliminate ground loops if they exist in your setup.

I'd start by looking at some of the top-measuring amps and see if they have enough power + low impedance to match with your headphones (current or future). I don't own this amp -- I have a Sabaj D5 DAC/amp combo -- but you'd be hard pressed to do better than the Monoprice THX 887, especially now while it's on sale. From there you can work backwards into a top-measuring DAC with XLR outputs:
 
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Dougey_Jones

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I’m intent on having 120db SINAD performance for both the DAC and HPA. I looked at the Geshelli Archel 2.5 but honestly, it’s too ugly to consider, for me anyway.

And people saying that balanced is unnecessary clearly didn’t read the Magnius review where it goes from mid 90’s SINAD to 120db when using balanced headphone cables. I already own lots of balanced cables, and my system is computer based, so I might as well stick with XLRs to guarantee none of my computer noise leaks into my sound.
 
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Dougey_Jones

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Right now I’m mostly considering the SU-9 / SH-9 and then sorta the Schiit Modius + Topping A90.
 

Veri

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And people saying that balanced is unnecessary clearly didn’t read the Magnius review where it goes from mid 90’s SINAD to 120db

This is kinda "on purpose"/a design flaw though. Schiit made an affordable balanced amp. The single ended is basically a freebie, the distortion stems from the very simple approach of how it's derived from the otherwise balanced circuit. If they made a separate single ended high-performance output within the Magnius, it would have been a lot more expensive (my point being, you can't conclude from this that any one balanced amp will somehow be better than any single-ended amp).
 
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Dougey_Jones

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This is kinda "on purpose"/a design flaw though. Schiit made an affordable balanced amp. The single ended is basically a freebie, the distortion stems form the very simple approach of how it's derived from the otherwise balanced circuit. If they made a separate single ended high-performance output within the Magnius, it would have been a lot more expensive (my point being, you can't conclude from this that any one balanced amp will somehow be better than any single-ended amp).

I wasn’t slamming Schiit in any way, just stating that since all of my headphones are SE cabled, that I want to stick to an HPA that offers at or near its peak SINAD while still using SE cables.

It’s for that reason that the Modius is still in the running, it has amazing price/performance and I’d be using its balanced outputs.
 

Helicopter

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I wasn’t slamming Schiit in any way, just stating that since all of my headphones are SE cabled, that I want to stick to an HPA that offers at or near its peak SINAD while still using SE cables.

It’s for that reason that the Modius is still in the running, it has amazing price/performance and I’d be using its balanced outputs.

I might do Modius + A90 then...

Or Modius + Magnius + Periapt XLR headphone cables, depending on headphones.

I went with the latter + a Heresy for SE which I already had and hardly use, because I do mostly have the XLR headphone cables.
 

Veri

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I might do Modius + A90 then...
Stacks pretty well :D:

index.php
 
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Dougey_Jones

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Dougey_Jones

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Other question, if I want to drive a pair of powered monitors from the same DAC, is it a bad idea generally speaking to use a splitter / y adapter between the DAC and HPA / Monitors? If it’s going to be a huge loss of performance from splitting the output, I might as well get a separate USB DAC for the powered monitors.

What would be really perfect for me would be a top tier DAC/HPA combo that has near SOTA performance while still having XLR/RCA pre outs so I can drive monitors and also a sub. The SMSL M500 would be a no brainer for me as it has all this and a 116db SINAD but the measurements from the included headphone amp are between 101-104db SINAD, which kinda defeats the whole purpose of switching. Though Amir did seem to enjoy the sound through 650’s, and that’s what I listen to the most. Decisions decisions.
 

Helicopter

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Other question, if I want to drive a pair of powered monitors from the same DAC, is it a bad idea generally speaking to use a splitter / y adapter between the DAC and HPA / Monitors? If it’s going to be a huge loss of performance from splitting the output, I might as well get a separate USB DAC for the powered monitors.

What would be really perfect for me would be a top tier DAC/HPA combo that has near SOTA performance while still having XLR/RCA pre outs so I can drive monitors and also a sub. The SMSL M500 would be a no brainer for me as it has all this and a 116db SINAD but the measurements from the included headphone amp are between 101-104db SINAD, which kinda defeats the whole purpose of switching. Though Amir did seem to enjoy the sound through 650’s, and that’s what I listen to the most. Decisions decisions.
Don't use a splitter or Y cable. Use headphone amp pre outs if you can, or maybe get a preamp.

A splitter probably won't have a big audible impact but it will hurt measured performance enough to make a lot of your effort wasted.

All the outputs on Modius are always on so you could run that into an A90 with XLRs and run RCAs from Modius to your monitors. Or run XLRs from headphone amp pre outs to monitors.
 
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