Looking for a good ~$100 Amp to power my new HE400SE’s

[Ampd]

So my old Sennheisers have seen better days and I finally decided I wanted to try something new without spending a ton. After reading around, I settled on the Hifiman HE400SE. I saw mixed feedback about whether my motherboard would power then okay or not (Asus Maximus Hero XI Wi-Fi). Turns out, while the audio is clear, I’m now only getting about 50-60% of the volume I used to get with my old headphones. I used to run discord, chrome, and most games around 30-60% volume in windows and now to achieve the same volume I have everything at 100% lol. So now I’m looking for recommendations for a good amp solution around the $100 price point to up the volume and maybe improve the dynamics. I’ve narrowed my search down to a few different options and wanted to know y’all’s thoughts and/or experiences with any of them. Looking at either the Schiit Magni+, SMSL M300SE, iFi Uno, or maybe the JDS Atom 2 or Fiio K11. Thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thank you. 

[8tg]

The Schiit Magni is solid, and it’s probably what I would look at first in this scenario. I use a Fiio/JadeAudio KA3 which I’ve found can definitely power a decent bit despite being just a beefier dongle dac in essence, and products of its caliber would also be solid choices.

Just as a fair warning though, no dac/amp is going to make low end planars sound particularly impressive. The HE400 SE’s are good in their bracket of low end planars but they’re still low end planars, 

[Tigerleon]

1 hour ago, Ampd said:

So my old Sennheisers have seen better days and I finally decided I wanted to try something new without spending a ton. After reading around, I settled on the Hifiman HE400SE. I saw mixed feedback about whether my motherboard would power then okay or not (Asus Maximus Hero XI Wi-Fi). Turns out, while the audio is clear, I’m now only getting about 50-60% of the volume I used to get with my old headphones. I used to run discord, chrome, and most games around 30-60% volume in windows and now to achieve the same volume I have everything at 100% lol. So now I’m looking for recommendations for a good amp solution around the $100 price point to up the volume and maybe improve the dynamics. I’ve narrowed my search down to a few different options and wanted to know y’all’s thoughts and/or experiences with any of them. Looking at either the Schiit Magni+, SMSL M300SE, iFi Uno, or maybe the JDS Atom 2 or Fiio K11. Thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thank you. 

All those you mentioned will work well but the FX Audio DAC X6 is also a good choice for the money. I'd say SMSL tho.

[Cocococo]

I have a pair of HE400SE's as well, unless you're planning to get some decent desktop speakers down the road/ buy harder to drive Planar/ Electret headphones a Schiit Magni/ JDS Atom isn't really a worthwhile upgrade compared to the Qudelix 5k, if you are planning to get low sensitivity headphones or bookshelf speakers for your desk the Schiit Magni is the best choice in this kind of budget. The Qudelix is essentially a dac/amp combo that also has the option of bluetooth input and has EQ customisation better than everything else you can get for roughly 100usd, also outputs just as much power as the majority of desktop amps in this budget, imo the best headphone amp under Schiit stacks 

[Ampd]

12 hours ago, 8tg said:

The Schiit Magni is solid, and it’s probably what I would look at first in this scenario. I use a Fiio/JadeAudio KA3 which I’ve found can definitely power a decent bit despite being just a beefier dongle dac in essence, and products of its caliber would also be solid choices.

Just as a fair warning though, no dac/amp is going to make low end planars sound particularly impressive. The HE400 SE’s are good in their bracket of low end planars but they’re still low end planars, 

Thank you for the suggestion. Also fortunately for me "impressive" is relative. I'm coming from PC37X. I'm definitely aware that they are not close to end game headphones by any means, but I'm not looking to dive down that rabbit hole. Once paired with a good amp, they will scale well and give me significantly better sound than my PC37X's gave me and that's all I'm looking for  I appreciate the warning. I'm doing my best to keep my expectations to a minimum so I don't feel disappointed. 

[Ampd]

11 hours ago, Cocococo said:

I have a pair of HE400SE's as well, unless you're planning to get some decent desktop speakers down the road/ buy harder to drive Planar/ Electret headphones a Schiit Magni/ JDS Atom isn't really a worthwhile upgrade compared to the Qudelix 5k, if you are planning to get low sensitivity headphones or bookshelf speakers for your desk the Schiit Magni is the best choice in this kind of budget. The Qudelix is essentially a dac/amp combo that also has the option of bluetooth input and has EQ customisation better than everything else you can get for roughly 100usd, also outputs just as much power as the majority of desktop amps in this budget, imo the best headphone amp under Schiit stacks 

Yeahhh I looked at that unit also, but it would seem the more I look around and read, the more I find myself leaning towards the Magni+. Seems to be a good "end game" unit for those not interested in diving into the expensive audiophile rabbit hole lol. Plus I can add the Modi to it later and complete the stack so I'm thinking the Magni+ might be my choice in the end.

[Psittac]

Where do you live on the planet?

 

If the states I can recommend this Douk Audio U3

 

I tested it with an apple dongle dac and while the characteristics of the dongle dac sucked, the power of the amplifier was adequate.  You would hook this up to the line out of your motherboard with an Aux to RCA cable

 

Just keep in mind that a DAC is the expensive part and difficult to get right on a budget.