Thoughts on schiit DAC & AMP stack?

[DriedSponge]

Hello everyone!

Some of you may know from my previous thread that I recently picked up the Philips Fidelio X2HR's and they are a fantastic sounding pair of headphones. At the moment I'm currently driving them with a Hyper X USB sound card that I used with my old pair of Hyper X Cloud II's. I was planning on upgrading to a Schiit Fulla E, but while I was browsing their website I also saw they had the Schiit Modi DAC and the Schiit Magni AMP.

 

I was wondering if it would be a better idea to get a separate DAC & AMP? I was thinking it would be good for future proofing, in case I upgrade to headphones that can't be driven by the Fulla E.

If I do get AMP & DAC stack, would it be good to go with the Schiit products, or are there better combinations out there? For reference, I would like to spend under $300 dollars.

Thank you!

[NinJake]

The Schiit stack is a perfectly capable entry level combo for people to get into the audio world. I myself started with (and still use) the Schiit stack. There are alternatives out there but for the price they are very reliable.

[cmndr]

The schiit stuff is probably "good enough" (usually overkill - spend more on headphones instead) until you're looking into VERY VERY pricey headphones (think thousands of dollars) or need balanced connections as an option (which mostly matters if your headphones are 25+ feet away). In all likelihood the schiit stack will be "good enough" for you for the next 20 years.

As an FYI the rule of thumb I use is that the headphones should be 3-20x as expensive as the DAC+amp. If you're using $300 on source hardware for $100 headphones, you're doing it wrong.  (also cables hardly matter as long as they're not broken)

For context, the $10 apple lightning adapter to AUX is "not awful".

 

As an FYI I have a Schiit Magni. I've used it with my HD800s (the older one, not the newer HD800S that is now easier to drive). It works well. I did find myself getting lazy at times and just plugging things right into my laptopa. I feel like there was a difference but not enough to compensate for the fact that an extra 10 seconds of listening (and less effort) mattered more to me. Here and now I plug my HD800s straight into my AVR (auto switches from speakers to headphones) because it's easier than using my Magni (moderately better but not good enough of a jump to overcome convenience).

 

 

[BobVonBob]

The Schiit Fulla is good enough to be the last headphone amp/dac you ever buy, so is the Schiit Modi/Magni stack, so is a Topping D50s/A50s stack, so is a JDS Labs Atom stack, so is an iFi Zen DAC V2, so is a ....

 

There are so many good ways to power headphones now. If you think you'll want to experiment with new amps or new dacs in the future, maybe a tube amp or a DAC with DSP filtering, then I'd say separating the two, or at least a combo with a line out, could be a good idea. If you don't think you'll want to experiment like that in the future it's totally fine to go with a combo, maybe something about that combo really appeals to you like the Fulla's mic input or the Zen DAC's truebass button.

[cmndr]

I will add that there are some very real benefits to having EQ as an option.
In many cases software EQ on a computer is good enough, though I've found that some company laptops won't allow that as an option (maybe a chrome extension and you're using something like youtube but...)

[Psittac]

Everyone has given good advice, I'll throw in my $.02

 

I have many amp's and many headphones but for the longest time I only had one dac.  I don't necessarily believe in splitting up your dollar allocation like you would on a PC build because to me it's about having as many different experiences as I can reasonably have and both my dac/amp and dac are double the price of what any one pair of headphones cost me.  Though that's also due to my financial habbits, I rarely have an extra $800 for a pair of focal's but I can swing $200 4 times pretty easily.

 

Anyways ever since your post I've been using the Schiit Fulla E along with my X3's and I'd have to say it's a pretty good pairing.  I did try out my Sennheiser 6xx on the fulla and I had to crank it all the way.  But that's not to say it's a bad option because some day you could just use the 3.5mm output to a stronger amp and use the schiit as a preamp and dac because the volume knob will still work.

 

Option #1 $150 dac/amp

This will be the easiest entry, it should offer everything your X2HR could need to be happy and it will still have the option of acting as a DAC and interface (knob and headphone input) down the road should you decide you want to go further with the hobby.  But if you don't, there isn't a lot left on the table for the headphones.

 

Option #2 $150 dac/amp and $100 tube amp

This is my favorite option because along with the benefits of going with a fiio or schiit you get to have more experiences with the headphones you already have and see what different tubes do to the sound.  I only use tubes for special listening sessions, like music naps or if I'm playing a game that doesn't need sound or comms.

 

Option #3 $200-250 stack

This will probably jump you ahead to potential end game (not that it actually exists in audio but Your end game).  But it may leave a slightly smaller selection of potential headphones out of reach.

 

Option #4 $100 dac $200 amp

Something like a THX AAA Linear will bring basically anything within reach so far as difficulty of driving.  I have a class A headphone amp that produces 600mw @600ohm's  IE: about as difficult to drive as it gets and I can't turn the thing up much past 1/3 without making my eyeballs pop out, ok well at least causing hearing damage.  There are far fewer headphones that would need this much power than those that would.  But this would jump you straight to the world of..... yeah I can power those.

 

Final thought, it's not always about difficult to drive headphones, I like the oddballl stuff like T50rp and dt880-600.  But overall that's my personal take on the hobby and how I go about it.

[DriedSponge]

8 hours ago, Psittac said:

Everyone has given good advice, I'll throw in my $.02

 

I have many amp's and many headphones but for the longest time I only had one dac.  I don't necessarily believe in splitting up your dollar allocation like you would on a PC build because to me it's about having as many different experiences as I can reasonably have and both my dac/amp and dac are double the price of what any one pair of headphones cost me.  Though that's also due to my financial habbits, I rarely have an extra $800 for a pair of focal's but I can swing $200 4 times pretty easily.

 

Anyways ever since your post I've been using the Schiit Fulla E along with my X3's and I'd have to say it's a pretty good pairing.  I did try out my Sennheiser 6xx on the fulla and I had to crank it all the way.  But that's not to say it's a bad option because some day you could just use the 3.5mm output to a stronger amp and use the schiit as a preamp and dac because the volume knob will still work.

 

Option #1 $150 dac/amp

This will be the easiest entry, it should offer everything your X2HR could need to be happy and it will still have the option of acting as a DAC and interface (knob and headphone input) down the road should you decide you want to go further with the hobby.  But if you don't, there isn't a lot left on the table for the headphones.

 

Option #2 $150 dac/amp and $100 tube amp

This is my favorite option because along with the benefits of going with a fiio or schiit you get to have more experiences with the headphones you already have and see what different tubes do to the sound.  I only use tubes for special listening sessions, like music naps or if I'm playing a game that doesn't need sound or comms.

 

Option #3 $200-250 stack

This will probably jump you ahead to potential end game (not that it actually exists in audio but Your end game).  But it may leave a slightly smaller selection of potential headphones out of reach.

 

Option #4 $100 dac $200 amp

Something like a THX AAA Linear will bring basically anything within reach so far as difficulty of driving.  I have a class A headphone amp that produces 600mw @600ohm's  IE: about as difficult to drive as it gets and I can't turn the thing up much past 1/3 without making my eyeballs pop out, ok well at least causing hearing damage.  There are far fewer headphones that would need this much power than those that would.  But this would jump you straight to the world of..... yeah I can power those.

 

Final thought, it's not always about difficult to drive headphones, I like the oddballl stuff like T50rp and dt880-600.  But overall that's my personal take on the hobby and how I go about it.

Thanks for laying out these options, I'll definitely explore them all before I make a decision.

 

Thank you!!!