Before you buy amp and DAC + recommendations.

[Dackzy]

2 hours ago, Windows95 said:

I haven't found much, other than some used Lake People g92.. not sure if you got any info on these. Then some magni uber 2, but mostly out of my reach as im not from on the US and most ads seem to be there, and they go for above $120+, so at that point I think spending $99 on a new 3 makes more sense.

 

Unfortunately no g103 for sale or let alone the more expensive ones at good prices.

 

Also, im not sure how im going to place an amp if I end up buying one. I mean, I don't have enough space, and unfortuantely the AK1 is not flat, it has that knob on top, so it doesn't allow me to put the amp on top of it.. I put the AK1 on top of my computer case, so there's no space for the amp. Do you know if you can buy something to attach under my table, like a small rack to fit the amp and the USB interface? or at least one of them and I will keep having one on top of the computer case. I just don't want more stuff on top of my table, and having the headphone cable across your table is so annoying.

yeah sure get the new magni 3 then. The G92 seem familiar in looks, but I certainly haven't tried it in the past 2 years, might have been a amp I tried when I started to get into audio, so I can't really say anything about it.

 

I can't really help you with the desk situation.

[Windows95]

On 9/9/2018 at 12:12 AM, Dackzy said:

yeah sure get the new magni 3 then. The G92 seem familiar in looks, but I certainly haven't tried it in the past 2 years, might have been a amp I tried when I started to get into audio, so I can't really say anything about it.

 

I can't really help you with the desk situation.

Which RCA unbalanced to TRS would you buy? will this one do for example?

 

https://www.adamhall.com/shop/gb-en/pro-audio/pre-assembled-cables/audio-cable/3192/k3-tpc-0100

 

This thread made me confused:

 

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/newbie-audio-engineering-production-question-zone/991796-connecting-balanced-trs-outs-unbalanced-rca.html

 

 

[Mahadi]

Hello. I just switched my audio technica at1000x to a pair of hifiman he500's. Now in every track I hear a low hiss, on some tracks it's much clearer and easier to hear. I haven't change anything in my setup that consists of an odac revb and schiit magni 2 (non-uber). I listen through tidal with hifi quality (sometimes masters). Anyway, does this hiss simply depend on the production quality of the track? Or is something in my setup perhaps broken or so? 

 

Also, as a second note. I would like to switch my magni 2 for a aune x7s or similar. This is mainly because I want to use the xlr cable that feels more higher quality and looks better. Also I tried the headphones with the mentioned amp and thought it sounded better than my magni 2 did. Hwoever, I realise after watching the video in this post, that it might have been to do with place. The setup was similar to mine, ol dac, tidal hifi/masters. I listened to the same tracks I did at home. Only difference was the amp. Also the setup was cleaner, and better lighting. Im starting to think there's a whole lot of things that can act as placebo in the world of hifi.. The tracks I listened to were "hotel califorina- remastered", "It's time" by imagine dragons, "Chin Check" by N.W.A, "Skinny love" by birdy.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Dackzy]

26 minutes ago, Mahadi said:

Hello. I just switched my audio technica at1000x to a pair of hifiman he500's. Now in every track I hear a low hiss, on some tracks it's much clearer and easier to hear. I haven't change anything in my setup that consists of an odac revb and schiit magni 2 (non-uber). I listen through tidal with hifi quality (sometimes masters). Anyway, does this hiss simply depend on the production quality of the track? Or is something in my setup perhaps broken or so? 

 

Also, as a second note. I would like to switch my magni 2 for a aune x7s or similar. This is mainly because I want to use the xlr cable that feels more higher quality and looks better. Also I tried the headphones with the mentioned amp and thought it sounded better than my magni 2 did. Hwoever, I realise after watching the video in this post, that it might have been to do with place. The setup was similar to mine, ol dac, tidal hifi/masters. I listened to the same tracks I did at home. Only difference was the amp. Also the setup was cleaner, and better lighting. Im starting to think there's a whole lot of things that can act as placebo in the world of hifi.. The tracks I listened to were "hotel califorina- remastered", "It's time" by imagine dragons, "Chin Check" by N.W.A, "Skinny love" by birdy.

 

Thanks in advance!

the X7s has a 10 ohm output impedance, which means you will run into dampening problem with headphones that have sub 80 ohm impedance, always try and follow the simple rule of always at least have a output impedance that is 8 times lower than your headphones impedance to get proper dampening. I highly recommend that you stay away from the X7s because of the extremely high output impedance considering it is a solid state amp. And yes the place you test things can affect your preception of things, your mood will also affect your preception, which is why we have a thing called the honeymoon fase. If you were excited to test the X7s, then there is a big chance that your impressions will be better, than if you haven't been excited.

 

The hiss is most likely a hardware problem, especially if it is always there when you play music or watch youtube or something else involving audio. You can try and connect the magni 2 to a different wall outlet, change the USB port for the ODAC, see if the wires touch anything else.

[Settlerteo]

Any opinions on the Audio Komplete 6 from Native Instruments? I'm willing to pair it with two Yamaha HS7s(and maybe make them 4 in the future), a Headphone(AKG M220) and a microphone. Source will be my desktop. Use will be Movies, Gaming, Music and a bit of mixing.

P.S. The guide is amazing. Kudos!!

Thanks guys

[Dackzy]

22 hours ago, Settlerteo said:

Any opinions on the Audio Komplete 6 from Native Instruments? I'm willing to pair it with two Yamaha HS7s(and maybe make them 4 in the future), a Headphone(AKG M220) and a microphone. Source will be my desktop. Use will be Movies, Gaming, Music and a bit of mixing.

P.S. The guide is amazing. Kudos!!

Thanks guys

I don't have any personal experience with it, but I have done a bit of diging in my own studio/home studio circle to see if anybody had any experience with it and a couple of people have had one of them. They said that the audio quality was fine/good, but they had some connection issues with it, it would suddenly drop out. Also be aware that you can only connect 2 monitors to it. From what I understood then it has balanced fixed line out that you would use to connect to a amp or something like that and then a variable out for studio monitors.

 

One of the guys suggested looking at the offerings from PreSonus.

 

And thank you.

[Cue]

Hi guys, very new to the audiophile community, so please forgive me if I sound amateur.

I just bought a pair of the Massdrop/Sennys HD6XX along with a Magni 3 AMP.

Coming from the Senny Game One's, I realized how much of a sucker I am for hi-fi audio.

I understand that the One's are extremely entry level in terms of audiophile headphones, which is why I plan to switch it out.

 

My question is: Will I need to get a DAC (basically the Schiit stack)?

I'm running with the Asrock Killer Z270 SLI/AC with Realtek ALC892 onboard.

I understand that it has to do with my other components as well, even so much as to how the wires are routed, but I just need a general idea.

So far, with the One's, even running it from the front IO, I do not get any interference. Sometimes it sounds muddy, but i'm assuming this would be fixed with the AMP and not a DAC anyway. Similarly, I could have music run at 100% volume, and to me it sounds only slightly loud (I have pretty sensitive ears), but again, AMP issue.

Is it even worth it to get a DAC at this point? Maybe later in the future *IF* I upgrade to some studio-grade cans, but as a snapshot of my current setup, I really don't know.

 

Of course, I could just wait for the cans and amp to get here, but i'm impatient like that. 

 

Please help a noob!  

 

[Settlerteo]

22 hours ago, Dackzy said:

I don't have any personal experience with it, but I have done a bit of diging in my own studio/home studio circle to see if anybody had any experience with it and a couple of people have had one of them. They said that the audio quality was fine/good, but they had some connection issues with it, it would suddenly drop out. Also be aware that you can only connect 2 monitors to it. From what I understood then it has balanced fixed line out that you would use to connect to a amp or something like that and then a variable out for studio monitors.

 

One of the guys suggested looking at the offerings from PreSonus.

 

And thank you.

Hey, thank you for your answer, i just found out that SCHIIT europe ships to Greece so i am now considering of going with these products as i read such good comments about them. My problem is that i am a bit confused because of so many products on their page. Could you recommend me something like a DAC or a combo(i really don't know what is the best option, i should pair to the yamaha HS7s). My budget would be around 250-300 € .

[Dackzy]

8 hours ago, Settlerteo said:

Hey, thank you for your answer, i just found out that SCHIIT europe ships to Greece so i am now considering of going with these products as i read such good comments about them. My problem is that i am a bit confused because of so many products on their page. Could you recommend me something like a DAC or a combo(i really don't know what is the best option, i should pair to the yamaha HS7s). My budget would be around 250-300 € .

schiit magni 3 and schiit modi 2 uber, but keep in mind you will need RCA to XLR cables to connect the pre out from the magni 3 to a pair of HS7. Just keep in mind you can't connect a mic or a midi keyboard to these.

 

14 hours ago, Cue said:

Hi guys, very new to the audiophile community, so please forgive me if I sound amateur.

I just bought a pair of the Massdrop/Sennys HD6XX along with a Magni 3 AMP.

Coming from the Senny Game One's, I realized how much of a sucker I am for hi-fi audio.

I understand that the One's are extremely entry level in terms of audiophile headphones, which is why I plan to switch it out.

 

My question is: Will I need to get a DAC (basically the Schiit stack)?

I'm running with the Asrock Killer Z270 SLI/AC with Realtek ALC892 onboard.

I understand that it has to do with my other components as well, even so much as to how the wires are routed, but I just need a general idea.

So far, with the One's, even running it from the front IO, I do not get any interference. Sometimes it sounds muddy, but i'm assuming this would be fixed with the AMP and not a DAC anyway. Similarly, I could have music run at 100% volume, and to me it sounds only slightly loud (I have pretty sensitive ears), but again, AMP issue.

Is it even worth it to get a DAC at this point? Maybe later in the future *IF* I upgrade to some studio-grade cans, but as a snapshot of my current setup, I really don't know.

 

Of course, I could just wait for the cans and amp to get here, but i'm impatient like that. 

 

Please help a noob!  

 

It isn't a must for you to go out and buy a DAC too, but you will see some improvement. The HD 6XX are very good headphones for their price, they are afterall the massdrop version of the HD 650, which already were good for their price. If you keep on using your onboard then you will need a 3.5mm to RCA cable and use the audio ports on the back of your PC. If you want to get a DAC, then I will highly recommend getting the Modi 2 Uber over the normal Modi 2, since it is less sensitive to a bad USB signal and overall cleaner, plus not a lot more than the normal one.

You should set windows volume to 100% and control the volume via the magni 3. Also there really aren't any headphone that is officially studio grade, all of this "Monitor headphone" is mostly marketing.

[Cue]

1 hour ago, Dackzy said:

It isn't a must for you to go out and buy a DAC too, but you will see some improvement. The HD 6XX are very good headphones for their price, they are afterall the massdrop version of the HD 650, which already were good for their price. If you keep on using your onboard then you will need a 3.5mm to RCA cable and use the audio ports on the back of your PC. If you want to get a DAC, then I will highly recommend getting the Modi 2 Uber over the normal Modi 2, since it is less sensitive to a bad USB signal and overall cleaner, plus not a lot more than the normal one.

You should set windows volume to 100% and control the volume via the magni 3. Also there really aren't any headphone that is officially studio grade, all of this "Monitor headphone" is mostly marketing.

I see, thank you for your input. I think I will just keep using the onboard for now, and see how I like it.
Sorry for another amateur question, but are there "better" 3.5mm-RCA cables? 

Will having a lower-quality cable affect the sound? I'd rather not spend a fortune on a cable, but neither do I want to compromise the HD6XX/Magni performance.

[Dackzy]

1 minute ago, Cue said:

I see, thank you for your input. I think I will just keep using the onboard for now, and see how I like it.
Sorry for another amateur question, but are there "better" 3.5mm-RCA cables? 

Will having a lower-quality cable affect the sound? I'd rather not spend a fortune on a cable, but neither do I want to compromise the HD6XX/Magni performance.

I wouldn't worry about cables, as long as they aren't wired wrongly or broken in some other way. A amazon basic cable is probably fine or something similar to that.

[Cue]

Oh alright, that's good to hear.

Thank you so much for all the help!  

 

Much appreciated.

[Mahadi]

On 2018-09-17 at 6:15 PM, Dackzy said:

the X7s has a 10 ohm output impedance, which means you will run into dampening problem with headphones that have sub 80 ohm impedance, always try and follow the simple rule of always at least have a output impedance that is 8 times lower than your headphones impedance to get proper dampening. I highly recommend that you stay away from the X7s because of the extremely high output impedance considering it is a solid state amp. And yes the place you test things can affect your preception of things, your mood will also affect your preception, which is why we have a thing called the honeymoon fase. If you were excited to test the X7s, then there is a big chance that your impressions will be better, than if you haven't been excited.

 

The hiss is most likely a hardware problem, especially if it is always there when you play music or watch youtube or something else involving audio. You can try and connect the magni 2 to a different wall outlet, change the USB port for the ODAC, see if the wires touch anything else.

Thank you for your response! The thing is, I want a new amp with balanced headphone jack since my balanced cable is much better quality than the stock he500 6.3mm cable. Im afraid if I continue using it, it might break. I was thinking of the schiit jotunheim since I've heard good things about it. I've really tried hard finding amps with balanced headphone jack, but only found a few. Only interesting ones were aunes x7 and jotunheim. Do you have any recommendations for me? Preferably around 500 dollars. Thanks in advance

[Dackzy]

On 22/9/2018 at 11:52 AM, Mahadi said:

Thank you for your response! The thing is, I want a new amp with balanced headphone jack since my balanced cable is much better quality than the stock he500 6.3mm cable. Im afraid if I continue using it, it might break. I was thinking of the schiit jotunheim since I've heard good things about it. I've really tried hard finding amps with balanced headphone jack, but only found a few. Only interesting ones were aunes x7 and jotunheim. Do you have any recommendations for me? Preferably around 500 dollars. Thanks in advance

well, if you just need a pure amp, then you could get a Audio GD NFB 1amp, it is about 490 USD, but I would recommend looking used and then also see what else there is on the used market. It is a rather akward price range you are in, since the best value gear is usually in the high end and the entry level end. This mid range stuff is usually rather mediocre for the price. Though again you can try and give the used market a look and then maybe PM me about what you find. devbrada.com is a good website for easily get a overview of what is on head-fi

[Babsen]

Dacksy, same position as the Guy above. Coming with a gaming background wanting to move into hifi equipment. Have had a Beoplay H6 for the most of the year and just decided That i Will go for the DT 1990 based on reviews and own experience.

 

However, being a bit og a newbie. What DAC/Amp would i go for? Would be using it with my pc which has a rog Hero x motherboard. Still shit chipset i presume.

 

Should i go for the stacks, og Will a fulla 2 be enough?

[Dackzy]

9 hours ago, Babsen said:

Dacksy, same position as the Guy above. Coming with a gaming background wanting to move into hifi equipment. Have had a Beoplay H6 for the most of the year and just decided That i Will go for the DT 1990 based on reviews and own experience.

 

However, being a bit og a newbie. What DAC/Amp would i go for? Would be using it with my pc which has a rog Hero x motherboard. Still shit chipset i presume.

 

Should i go for the stacks, og Will a fulla 2 be enough?

if you can swing it, then I think the stack is worth it. It is just a cleaner sound and you get more input options and much more power. The Fulla 2 is like the unit to get if you only have $100 to spend, but it is easily beaten by the modi and magni.

[Mahadi]

On 2018-09-23 at 9:34 PM, Dackzy said:

well, if you just need a pure amp, then you could get a Audio GD NFB 1amp, it is about 490 USD, but I would recommend looking used and then also see what else there is on the used market. It is a rather akward price range you are in, since the best value gear is usually in the high end and the entry level end. This mid range stuff is usually rather mediocre for the price. Though again you can try and give the used market a look and then maybe PM me about what you find. devbrada.com is a good website for easily get a overview of what is on head-fi

Yeah im definetely getting used. Although I don't find the site you linked that usefull since I live in Sweden. The amp you recommended is nowhere to be found here. Also, I can go below 500dollars to buy an amp, but not over since I'd rather put that money on better headphones. I heard the he500 likes a strong amp, so the schiit jotunheim seems perfect. I was thinking of getting it used when I find one. Would you recommend it, and if so, should I get it with a dac chip or not? If not, what other amps for under 500dollars are there with balanced headphone jack? I use an odac atm. Thank you for your help so far

[Babsen]

5 hours ago, Dackzy said:

if you can swing it, then I think the stack is worth it. It is just a cleaner sound and you get more input options and much more power. The Fulla 2 is like the unit to get if you only have $100 to spend, but it is easily beaten by the modi and magni.

Alright. Another one. i found the Aune S6 on massdrop for 400 dollars https://www.massdrop.com/buy/aune-s7-balanced-headphone-amp/talk?sort=latest Would i gain more value buying this device, or will it simply be overkill for the headphones in question?

 

I Know the budgets are completely different and obviously the Aune S6 should perform greater than the stacks, i'm more curious if it is even neccesary.

 

And going for the stacks, could i simply just make way with a Magni 3 without the DAC? I know the optimal route would be the whole stack, but originaly you mentioned that, as long as no noise is present, a DAC is unneccesary?

 

[Dackzy]

2 hours ago, Babsen said:

Alright. Another one. i found the Aune S6 on massdrop for 400 dollars https://www.massdrop.com/buy/aune-s7-balanced-headphone-amp/talk?sort=latest Would i gain more value buying this device, or will it simply be overkill for the headphones in question?

 

I Know the budgets are completely different and obviously the Aune S6 should perform greater than the stacks, i'm more curious if it is even neccesary.

 

And going for the stacks, could i simply just make way with a Magni 3 without the DAC? I know the optimal route would be the whole stack, but originaly you mentioned that, as long as no noise is present, a DAC is unneccesary?

 

generally stay away from Aune, their gear is pretty mediorce at best and they have a thing for high output impedance, which means they will be bad for any planar headphone and any low impedance headphone, so you will limit your future headphone options a lot if you want them to play nicely with that.

 

The modi will be able to produce some extra detail that your onboard couldn't and be cleaner than your onboard.

6 hours ago, Mahadi said:

Yeah im definetely getting used. Although I don't find the site you linked that usefull since I live in Sweden. The amp you recommended is nowhere to be found here. Also, I can go below 500dollars to buy an amp, but not over since I'd rather put that money on better headphones. I heard the he500 likes a strong amp, so the schiit jotunheim seems perfect. I was thinking of getting it used when I find one. Would you recommend it, and if so, should I get it with a dac chip or not? If not, what other amps for under 500dollars are there with balanced headphone jack? I use an odac atm. Thank you for your help so far

you will have to buy from a store in another EU country. The Jot is mediocre, a NFB 11.28 is better and this is a EU based store for Audio GD products https://www.magnahifi.com/en/ where you can also find a NFB 1 amp. Honestly I would just buy a new headphone cable and then either the stack or the NFB 11.28. The HE 500 aren't really worth a $500 stand alone amp or a $500 combo unit.

[Babsen]

Alright, Thanks alot for the help! helped smooth a few confusions i had!

[gamelovers11223]

Hello everyone. 

I almost got my rig perfect. That almost part is speakers. I have Logitech z5500 5.1 system that is connected digitally to an on board sound of Asus Maximus X Hero wi-fi/ac. The problem is that when turn on my speakers I get very annoying high pitched noise. Due to that I use my wireless Corsair Void RGB headset for games and Sony bluetooth headphones for music. Sometimes I want sound through the speakers but this noise really drives me nuts.

What do I need for my application, that is connecting only z5500 speakers and getting good sound quality?

Thanks. 

[skooooooooooooooooooooooma]

I have a Sound Blaster Z sound card in my desktop and currently have Beyerdynamic 880 Pro, and a Sennheiser HD58x Jubilee and I would like to know if my current sound card is enough for gaming, music and movie. I appreciate a cleaner sound quality for music listening if the difference is noticeable by purchasing a DAC/AMP combo or would a headphone AMP be sufficient? I am considering the O2 or O2 + SDAC combo (output impedance of <1), but if shelling out a $100 more or so can attain a better sound clarity then I am open for that as well. My main question is which of the setup can satisfy both the Beyerdynamic 880 pro and the Sennheiser HD58x Jubilee headphones?

[Dackzy]

58 minutes ago, skooooooooooooooooooooooma said:

I have a Sound Blaster Z sound card in my desktop and currently have Beyerdynamic 880 Pro, and a Sennheiser HD58x Jubilee and I would like to know if my current sound card is enough for gaming, music and movie. I appreciate a cleaner sound quality for music listening if the difference is noticeable by purchasing a DAC/AMP combo or would a headphone AMP be sufficient? I am considering the O2 or O2 + SDAC combo (output impedance of <1), but if shelling out a $100 more or so can attain a better sound clarity then I am open for that as well. My main question is which of the setup can satisfy both the Beyerdynamic 880 pro and the Sennheiser HD58x Jubilee headphones?

I would recommend going with a magni 3 over the O2, because it is just a much better overall amp and then also the Modi 3 over the SDAC. 

And what do you mean by satisfy? I mean your sound blaster z can probably power both, but the schiit stack (modi 3 + magni 3) is going to be cleaner and more detailed. It is more about what you can be satisfied with.

On 10/8/2018 at 9:17 PM, gamelovers11223 said:

Hello everyone. 

I almost got my rig perfect. That almost part is speakers. I have Logitech z5500 5.1 system that is connected digitally to an on board sound of Asus Maximus X Hero wi-fi/ac. The problem is that when turn on my speakers I get very annoying high pitched noise. Due to that I use my wireless Corsair Void RGB headset for games and Sony bluetooth headphones for music. Sometimes I want sound through the speakers but this noise really drives me nuts.

What do I need for my application, that is connecting only z5500 speakers and getting good sound quality?

Thanks. 

it honestly sound like there is a problem in the actual system, since it is connected digitally, you can try and problemshoot it a bit, by trying it with another PC and then also try a different wall outlet. Though I would recommend that you start a new thread with your findings.

[skooooooooooooooooooooooma]

Thank you for the quick response Dackzy, I do meant satisfy by being cleaner and more detailed. I am assuming that I am going to hook the cables from the Soundblaster Z soundcard to the schiit stack? 

[Dackzy]

19 hours ago, skooooooooooooooooooooooma said:

Thank you for the quick response Dackzy, I do meant satisfy by being cleaner and more detailed. I am assuming that I am going to hook the cables from the Soundblaster Z soundcard to the schiit stack? 

if you get the stack then you can connect it to your PC either via USB or optical. If you choose optical then yeah you can connect it to your soundblaster.