Need help with audio

Entropy. · September 3, 2020

I'm looking for some amps/dacs for the Drop x Sennheiser HD 6xx. ATM I have a budget of $200 USD for an AMP, or AMP and DAC, but I might be able to extend it to $300. I have a few questions:

1. How much will DACs affect the performance of the headphones?

2. Is it worth purchasing a DAC?

3. Best AMP, or AMP/DAC combos (Besides the obvious, like the schitt stack lol)

4. Tube amps will make your headphones sound warmer right? By how much? What music goes best with Tube amps?

5. Are tube amps worth it? Or should I go with just a normal amp?

6. How much money do I need to spend to get the relative best experience out of my headphones?
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rice guru · September 3, 2020

1. a dac can noticably improve headphopne performance . the extent of which entirely depends on your amp, the quality of your headphones , the quality of your music files, and your ability to hear. people can train themselves to get to the point to telling the difference between dacs but honestly its not as important as the headphone or amp or music files as those make more difference to your sound.

2. that's up to you and your ability to hear the difference. perosonally It's worth it but not to the extent that many audiophiles will take it.

3. this entirely depends on what headphones you go for as Pairing your gear is very important

4. DEpends on what amp is used , what tubes are being used, what music goes best entirely depends on what headphone is being used and taste, personally I like inherently lo fi stuff on tubes, lo fi hip hop by nujabes and j dilla, or older recordings from the 80's and lower a lot of classic rock or classical paired with aheadphone like a hd 650, or dt 880 600 ohm.

5. for a beginner a solid state amp is a better purchase, as honestly I wouldn't go for a cheaper tube amp.

6. if this is for the 6XX you can spend a ton on this headphone as it really scales well with expensive headphones. Im not a big fan of the 6xx personally so Im not the best person to answer this but from what I hear from the people I know that really like their pair and personally tubes are the best way to go. BUT I also hear the ifi X massdrop zen can made specifically for the 6xx iprobably the best pairing your gonna get solid state amp wise. and ifif make pretty great DACS as well so the drop zen DAC might be worth looking into as well

marcgii · September 5, 2020

If you really want a tube amp, you could get a Darkvoice 336SE. But my recommendation is start off with a solid state amp. Two of best amps for $200 are the Schiit Asgard 3 and Magnius. If you don't care about the balanced outputs, I'd get the Asgard 3. Regarding the DAC, I suggest picking one up at a later. A $100 DAC may not be noticeably better over your mobo output. But at least you'd the get the peace of mind knowing that your DAC isn't hindering your audio quality.

Do you already own the 6XX?