Schiit DAC/amp With Yeti Mic

[Garrzilla]

I'm a noob when it comes to audio. I'm looking to get this dac/amp combo https://www.schiit.com/products/hel for my Sennheiser 6XX headphones. I also was wondering since the dac/amp has a microphone port on the front, can you somehow route the Yeti Nano into it? or does that not make sense

[Volbet]

The Yeti Nano is a USB microphone, so that wouldn't make sense. The Hel only accept a 3.5mm microphone.  

[The Flying Sloth]

As Volbet said, Yeti Nano is USB (digital) and cannot be routed to an analogue input.

If you want to upgrade your microphone game you want to be looking at a product category called Audio Interfaces and many audio interfaces will be able to power those headphones as they have fairly powerful headphone amps in them. I have always disliked the Hel for that reason, it actively discourages those seeking high quality audio from effectively upgrading their inputs. If you're interested in learning a little more the link in my signature has a fair amount of detain about higher quality inputs.

Sloth
 

[Dr0y]

On 5/11/2020 at 6:47 PM, The Flying Sloth said:

I have always disliked the Hel for that reason, it actively discourages those seeking high quality audio from effectively upgrading their inputs.

Does it sounds adequate/better than the onboard audio or is it just a waste of money. 

[The Flying Sloth]

3 minutes ago, Dr0y said:

Does it sounds adequate/better than the onboard audio or is it just a waste of money. 

The mic input?
It's 3.5mm and while it may have a decent converter, XLR with phantom power is an upgrade, 3.5mm with fancy converter is at best an expensive sidegrade, nothing special.
It won't change the sound to any meaningful degree.
If you want to know just how bad of a deal it is (at $180), it's more expensive than a UMC1820 with 8 real XLR mic preamplifiers, two independent headphone amps, a speaker output (with volume controls) and another 8 independent output channels and ADAT lightpipe to connect to another 8 inputs and outputs. I know they're products serving very different markets, one is the studio audio market and one is a prosumer headphone amplifier.... But it's fairly obvious which is the better value.

[Dr0y]

51 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

UMC1820

Well here it's 100$ more than the hel but I see your point.  You get way more than what the hel gives you, but it might be overkill for someone like me.

[rice guru]

5 hours ago, Dr0y said:

Well here it's 100$ more than the hel but I see your point.  You get way more than what the hel gives you, but it might be overkill for someone like me.

The hel's mic in is more intended for mics such as the modmic which have and increasing popularity of for gamers who like to use audiophile headphones and need a mic. 

[Dr0y]

On 5/14/2020 at 1:31 PM, rice guru said:

The hel's mic in is more intended for mics such as the modmic which have and increasing popularity of for gamers who like to use audiophile headphones and need a mic. 

Ok thanx.  Well I have the sennheiser gsp 300 with separated mic and phone jack, so the hel would probably be good for me ... at least I suppose it's better than the syba sonic. 

[rice guru]

1 minute ago, Dr0y said:

Ok thanx.  Well I have the sennheiser gsp 300 with separated mic and phone jack, so the hel would probably be good for me ... at least I suppose it's better than the syba sonic. 

honestly if you spend just a little more a scarlett 2i2 with something like aschiit heresy is much better cause you can use xlr mics as well. but if you intend to just use a gsp 300 anyway it might not be worth

[Dr0y]

8 minutes ago, rice guru said:

honestly if you spend just a little more a scarlett 2i2 with something like aschiit heresy is much better cause you can use xlr mics as well. but if you intend to just use a gsp 300 anyway it might not be worth

 

Well I don't have any xlr microphone so I would have to add it to the total cost.  For now I don't have that budget but it's something to keep in mind for future upgrade.  I'll skip the hel too and save money for nice headphones and some higher end gear. 

[The Flying Sloth]

I think you made the right choice.