Recommendations for headphone AMP & DAC options/requirements to accompany Focal Elear headphones.

[Fluffy]

Let me break a misconception – you should definitely fault the headphones. The primary factor in how a headphone sounds is the headphones themselves. A good amplifier's job is only to enable the headphones to sound how they are supposed to, not to improve them or have a sound signature of its own (contrary to the popular audiophile myth). It's even truer in DACs, that should never have a discernable impact on sound, and if they do that means they are defective. By that I mean, a DAC sole purpose is to deliver an accurate signal to be amplified, and that's it. If you are in anyway unhappy with the sound coming out of the headphones, the first thing to blame should always be the headphones.

You shouldn't expect getting new electronics will magically bring up the bass or widen the stage or stuff like that. The physical transducer (aka the driver) affects the sound several orders of magnitude more than any electronic part in the signal chain. Of course, you should still have electronics that have the minimal specs to operate the headphones correctly, as I noted before.

 

[ZolaIII]

Just get a Creative Sound BlasterX G6.

 

[smallricey]

+1 to the above, with a caveat – the open Focal headphones like the Elear tend to have an elevated and muddier mid-bass when connected to an amplifier with relatively high output impedance. You can see it in the measurements here, under " output resistance / damping-factor". A trusted headphone amplifier (meaning, you have the specs for or have been measured) with an output impedance of 1 ohm or lower is preferred to get the frequency response that these headphones were intended to have. on top of that, these are not especially efficient phones, so powering it from a mobile device/laptop might be limited in volume and dynamics.

Generally, what is recommended in terms of headphone amps are ones with a flat frequency response, output impedance of 1 ohm or lower, at least 500mw of power into 33 ohm, and SINAD of 96 db or better. You could do without a separate DAC if you can connect it either to your computer or amplifier (stereo line out), and when doing so don't hear any unwanted hiss or ground loops.

All of these may well be achieved by the headphone jack of your computers, but since they probably don't come with accurate specs and measurements, it's not guaranteed. I do advise against using the headphone out of the Denon receiver, because those are known to sometimes have very high output impedance (and thus will affect the FR of the Focals).

What is considerably an high output impedance 20ohm? Would that significantly change the FR of the headphone and what other effects are there?

 

[Fluffy]

What is considerably an high output impedance 20ohm? Would that significantly change the FR of the headphone and what other effects are there?

20 ohm is very high for output impedance. The rule of thumb is have a dumping factor of at least 10X – meaning the output impedance is at least ten times smaller than the headphone impedance. In dynamic headphones like Focal's, ideal output impedance would be lower than 1.

20 ohm output impedance will change the FR by adding more mid-bass and making it less tight.

 

[abhijitnath]

Topping DX3 pro is a nice DAC/Headphone amp for about $200.

I tried this with my Elex and wasn't very happy, I think there is an impedance mismatch. My apogee ensemble seems to drive them much better.