Do I need a DAC for my headphones?

[Porama6400]

I've been looking around in Schiit website, and Fulla seems pretty interesting to me.

 

I have

• ATH-M40X
• Sennheiser IE 40 Pro

Would a DAC make a difference in these headphone?

[Guest]

Nope. Neither have qualities that would be enhanced with a DAC (or an amp).

[Joshcanread]

11 minutes ago, Porama6400 said:

I've been looking around in Schiit website, and Fulla seems pretty interesting to me.

 

I have

• ATH-M40X
• Sennheiser IE 40 Pro

Would a DAC make a difference in these headphone?

If you're going to buy something from a good audio company atleast don't get the cheapest thing they sell lmao

[RainingTacco]

16 minutes ago, Porama6400 said:

I've been looking around in Schiit website, and Fulla seems pretty interesting to me.

 

I have

• ATH-M40X
• Sennheiser IE 40 Pro

Would a DAC make a difference in these headphone?

Sennheisers are definitely high end headphones, but their driver is way too small to benefit from a DAC. 

[rice guru]

would they benefit? that depends on what you are already using is the sound clean to your ears and do they get loud? then no they don't really benefit. if they dont get loud enough or you hear electrical noise then you may benefit from a dac/amp. I iwould say if you go up a tier in performance ortget harder to drive headphones or want to start becoming a collector then a dac /amp may be worth something top look into. I personally wouldn't reccomend the Fulla as the internal DAC is pretty wierdly shotty. I would look into something like a fiio k3 or k5 pro at that price point as they sound better  

[rice guru]

5 minutes ago, RainingTacco said:

Sennheisers are definitely high end headphones, but their driver is way too small to benefit from a DAC. 

you would be surprised by how well they benefirt from a good dac amp regardless of driver size. of course not as much as harder to drive headphones but somethimes a dac amp can take an IEM over the edge of great

[Porama6400]

1 hour ago, rice guru said:

would they benefit? that depends on what you are already using is the sound clean to your ears and do they get loud? then no they don't really benefit. if they dont get loud enough or you hear electrical noise then you may benefit from a dac/amp. I iwould say if you go up a tier in performance ortget harder to drive headphones or want to start becoming a collector then a dac /amp may be worth something top look into. I personally wouldn't reccomend the Fulla as the internal DAC is pretty wierdly shotty. I would look into something like a fiio k3 or k5 pro at that price point as they sound better  

I feel like my laptop audio output treble is not very clear but I am not very sure to be honest.
What DAC/AMP would you recommend for budget around $100 - $200 USD though?

EDIT: I saw you mention Fiio K3 and K5 pro, but I've also notice your bio mention Topping d10, would it be better for me to buy a DAC and Amp instead of all in one?

Edited November 10, 2019 by Porama6400

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, Porama6400 said:

I feel like my laptop audio output treble is not very clear but I am not very sure to be honest.
What DAC/AMP would you recommend for budget around $100 - $200 USD though?

EDIT: I saw you mention Fiio K3 and K5 pro, but I've also notice your bio mention Topping d10, would it be better for me to buy a DAC and Amp instead of all in one?

well that depends will you be upgrading in the future? if so what are you future plans in acquisitions. or are you just looking for something that works is reliable and is great value? or want something in between?

[pas008]

2 hours ago, Porama6400 said:

I feel like my laptop audio output treble is not very clear but I am not very sure to be honest.
What DAC/AMP would you recommend for budget around $100 - $200 USD though?

EDIT: I saw you mention Fiio K3 and K5 pro, but I've also notice your bio mention Topping d10, would it be better for me to buy a DAC and Amp instead of all in one?

Have you tried other sources to see?

1 hour ago, rice guru said:

well that depends will you be upgrading in the future? if so what are you future plans in acquisitions. or are you just looking for something that works is reliable and is great value? or want something in between?

Agreed only worth it our he's having issues with that laptop sound

[Porama6400]

19 hours ago, rice guru said:

well that depends will you be upgrading in the future? if so what are you future plans in acquisitions. or are you just looking for something that works is reliable and is great value? or want something in between?

I am looking for something that is reliable and great value. But something that is future proof would be neat.

 

18 hours ago, pas008 said:

Have you tried other sources to see?

I had tried with monitor's built-in DAC and on my phone.
Treble does sound better IMO on the monitor but there's almost no bass and noise is very high.
on my phone, it does sounds a bit better overall.

haven't try with professional DAC yet.

[rice guru]

15 minutes ago, Porama6400 said:

I am looking for something that is reliable and great value. But something that is future proof would be neat.

 

I had tried with monitor's built-in DAC and on my phone.
Treble does sound better IMO on the monitor but there's almost no bass and noise is very high.
on my phone, it does sounds a bit better overall.

haven't try with professional DAC yet.

The fiio k5 pro is somewhat future proofed decent dac and a powerful  amp to go with it. Or something like a topping d10  and a JD's labs Tom or monoprice liquid spark as mentioned before if you really want to get into audio hard and want to start collecting harder to drive gear. But if you just want to casually get into things the k5 pro is great

[Porama6400]

4 hours ago, rice guru said:

. Or something like a topping d10  and a JD's labs Tom or monoprice liquid spark as mentioned before if you really want to get into audio hard and want to start collecting harder to drive gear.

I guess I'll go that route

 

What about portable setup though, do your have a recommendation?

p.s. I've seen K3, e10k, ubtr, BTR3 on location store, are they any good?

[rice guru]

3 minutes ago, Porama6400 said:

I guess I'll go that route

 

What about portable setup though, do your have a recommendation?

p.s. I've seen K3, e10k, ubtr, BTR3 on location store, are they any good?

The btr 3 is what I would use I use the cheaper fiio ubtr for my iems for portable. Decently powerful for a small unit. The k3 and e10k can't really power themselves

[Porama6400]

14 hours ago, rice guru said:

The btr 3 is what I would use I use the cheaper fiio ubtr for my iems for portable. Decently powerful for a small unit. The k3 and e10k can't really power themselves

self-powering or not shouldn't be a problem for me I think.
I just want one with Android support.

[joinally]

Recoommend Fiio BTR5 or shanling UP4, all portable

[Porama6400]

2 hours ago, joinally said:

Recoommend Fiio BTR5 or shanling UP4, all portable

Interesting

BTR3 already on the market here, but BTR5 haven't come yet
Should I wait for it?

[joinally]

4 hours ago, Porama6400 said:

Interesting

BTR3 already on the market here, but BTR5 haven't come yet
Should I wait for it?

no, fiio btr5 have launched about two monthes ago, you can get from hifigo, they will be shipping next week, you can learn more

https://hifigo.com/products/fiio-btr5-dual-es9218p-dac-native-dsd-decoding-bluetooth-amplifier