Good budget amplifier?

[iHope]

Hi, I'm debating to buy the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro 250 ohm.I've read that if you want to get the most out of it, you need an amp.

I don't have the slightest clue about amplifiers, what's good, what's overkill etc...Any suggestions about a good enough amp to run with them, that is not too expensive?

I'd like to invest no more than 200$ (and that's a bit too much as well but idk the price range) on an amp.Which of the following Amps would be best here? If any? -

1. Sound BlasterX G6 Hi-Res 130dB 32bit/384kHz Gaming DAC

2. FiiO K5 Pro Headphone Amps Portable Desktop DAC and Amplifier 768K/32Bit

3. TempoTec Sonata BHD Pro Type C USB dongle DAC

4. Topping L30II NFCA Linear Headphone Amp - 6.35mm Jack 3.5mm

5. FiiO E10K (OLYMPUS2) TYPE-C USB DAC

Thanks

[emosun]

does the computer not already have a headphone jack

[iHope]

4 minutes ago, emosun said:

does the computer not already have a headphone jack

It does, but I've read that the motherboard built in amplifier wouldn't get the best results with these 250 ohm headsets, and that an amplifier will give the best results for better audio overall and higher volumes.

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, iHope said:

It does, but I've read that the motherboard built in amplifier wouldn't get the best results with these 250 ohm headsets, and that an amplifier will give the best results for better audio overall and higher volumes.

have you tried it with the boards built in audio

[_Omega_]

What board do you have?

 

[podkall]

5 minutes ago, iHope said:

It does, but I've read that the motherboard built in amplifier wouldn't get the best results with these 250 ohm headsets, and that an amplifier will give the best results for better audio overall and higher volumes.

board audio could be enough given your scale in audio enjoyment or if you produce audio stuff

 

250ohms is just resistance, so obviously the headphones might sound quieter overall without amp,

 

but that doesn't always mean you need an amp.

 

(don't quote me on anything I'm just assuming that's how it works, I know when the resistance is too big an amp might be [more] necessary)

[Tigerleon]

23 minutes ago, iHope said:

Hi, I'm debating to buy the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro 250 ohm.I've read that if you want to get the most out of it, you need an amp.

I don't have the slightest clue about amplifiers, what's good, what's overkill etc...Any suggestions about a good enough amp to run with them, that is not too expensive?

I'd like to invest no more than 200$ (and that's a bit too much as well but idk the price range) on an amp.Which of the following Amps would be best here? If any? -

1. Sound BlasterX G6 Hi-Res 130dB 32bit/384kHz Gaming DAC

2. FiiO K5 Pro Headphone Amps Portable Desktop DAC and Amplifier 768K/32Bit

3. TempoTec Sonata BHD Pro Type C USB dongle DAC

4. Topping L30II NFCA Linear Headphone Amp - 6.35mm Jack 3.5mm

5. FiiO E10K (OLYMPUS2) TYPE-C USB DAC

Thanks

Any of these would be great but Sound Blaster is a nice choice in terms of the software side as well. Their DACs and amps are pretty high quality. Far better than most think only because its a "gaming" soundcard or just because it's Creative

[iHope]

15 minutes ago, _Omega_ said:

What board do you have?

 

I have the Asus PRIME Z370-A

[_Omega_]

The ALC1220 Sound chip on it should have no problem driving your headphones i would just use your onboard audio.

[Cocococo]

990 don't need an amplifier, ohms is a very bad way to measure the "difficultly to drive" part of headphones, the number you'll be wanting is Sensitivity, measured in db/mw. Beyerdynamic DT990 and 770 have a Sensitivity of 96db/mw, this is fine for pretty much any 21st century device to power, if you really want a dac/amp thenAbigail CX1993/ Apple USB-C ((Apple in USA, Abigail everywhere else)) are more than sufficient for most headphones out there. 

 

Side note idk what you're looking at budget and location wise but you can get much better headphones than Beyerdynamic, feel free to reply if you are open to looking at alternatives 

[Tigerleon]

43 minutes ago, Cocococo said:

990 don't need an amplifier, ohms is a very bad way to measure the "difficultly to drive" part of headphones, the number you'll be wanting is Sensitivity, measured in db/mw. Beyerdynamic DT990 and 770 have a Sensitivity of 96db/mw, this is fine for pretty much any 21st century device to power, if you really want a dac/amp thenAbigail CX1993/ Apple USB-C ((Apple in USA, Abigail everywhere else)) are more than sufficient for most headphones out there. 

 

Side note idk what you're looking at budget and location wise but you can get much better headphones than Beyerdynamic, feel free to reply if you are open to looking at alternatives 

They do. I needed 100% volume on my old mobo with the ALC1220 with very sloppy frequency response. Getting an amp or a soundcard will give you more playroom which indicates you're powering them properly. Why are the beyerdynamic bad in any way?

 

1 hour ago, iHope said:

I have the Asus PRIME Z370-A

If you can get the Tygr 300R from Beyerdynamic they will get plenty loud with your onboard. They are essentially a less sibilant 990 pro.

[Cocococo]

2 hours ago, Tigerleon said:

 Why are the beyerdynamic bad in any way?

Every beyer headphone i've tried (it's a lot) has had at least one of these problems; overblown bass that screws the lower midrange, hyper piercing treble that hurts my ears, really badly featured for the price, way overpriced in the rare scenario Beyer makes something that sounds alright, uncomfortably hard clamping force that wears out the earpads far too quickly. 

 

It feels like a repeat of beats, lots of misleading marketing, main one being about "studio professional" equipment, recording studios just want headphones that will survive lots of falls, for doing any actual audio work they have speakers (and airpods lmao, modern mastering is a meme) the build quality is usually good but the sheer volume of vastly superior options available with in pretty much every market Beyer plays won't stop amazing me, nor will how many DT770's sold every year (AKG K361, K371 and Shure SRH440A and 840A are just as widely available and are much better closed backs up until Audeze Maxwell prices) 

[iHope]

4 hours ago, Cocococo said:

990 don't need an amplifier, ohms is a very bad way to measure the "difficultly to drive" part of headphones, the number you'll be wanting is Sensitivity, measured in db/mw. Beyerdynamic DT990 and 770 have a Sensitivity of 96db/mw, this is fine for pretty much any 21st century device to power, if you really want a dac/amp thenAbigail CX1993/ Apple USB-C ((Apple in USA, Abigail everywhere else)) are more than sufficient for most headphones out there. 

 

Side note idk what you're looking at budget and location wise but you can get much better headphones than Beyerdynamic, feel free to reply if you are open to looking at alternatives 

I'm looking for an open-back, that are comfy for long sessions (not leather pads), with good sound quality for FPS games and overall. A mic is a good to have but not a must since I can get a mod-mic.

[Cocococo]

5 minutes ago, iHope said:

I'm looking for an open-back, that are comfy for long sessions (not leather pads), with good sound quality for FPS games and overall. A mic is a good to have but not a must since I can get a mod-mic.

Sennheiser HD560S are some of the best options out there for open back gaming headphones, also the best sounding headphones you can get for around 150usd. If you're in the US then Sennheiser HD6xx from drop are an absolute must buy for about 200usd

[Tigerleon]

1 hour ago, Cocococo said:

Sennheiser HD560S are some of the best options out there for open back gaming headphones, also the best sounding headphones you can get for around 150usd. If you're in the US then Sennheiser HD6xx from drop are an absolute must buy for about 200usd

2 hours ago, Cocococo said:

Every beyer headphone i've tried (it's a lot) has had at least one of these problems; overblown bass that screws the lower midrange, hyper piercing treble that hurts my ears, really badly featured for the price, way overpriced in the rare scenario Beyer makes something that sounds alright, uncomfortably hard clamping force that wears out the earpads far too quickly. 

It is personal preference but you're saying that all Beyerdynamic headphones are worse than the rest of the market although they have some of the best headphones for multiple reasons. The Tygr 300R for example, are good for the price. No piercing treble, detail beasts, although not as much detail as the 990 pros, punchy bass and yeah they lack a bit of midrange but that can be EQ'ed a bit to your liking. Not all Beyer headphones are ear-rape.

 

2 hours ago, Cocococo said:

DT770's sold every year (AKG K361, K371 and Shure SRH440A and 840A are just as widely available and are much better closed backs up until Audeze Maxwell prices) 

I pretty much agree with this but they aren't bad.

[Tigerleon]

1 hour ago, iHope said:

I'm looking for an open-back, that are comfy for long sessions (not leather pads), with good sound quality for FPS games and overall. A mic is a good to have but not a must since I can get a mod-mic.

I'd recommend the Tygr 300R's which can be driven pretty easily on your motherboard audio. Also what genres of music do you listen to? The HD560S's aren't that widely liked for listening to electronic music or rock compared to the Tygrs or any other Beyer headphone. The 560S are a bit more V-shaped than the other Sennheiser headphones but are mostly vocal forward and a bit more treble with a smaller soundstage. Both image great.

[Rodinski]

SMSL C-200 ES9038Q2M DAC, USB/Optical/Coaxial/Bluet... to RCA/TRS Hi-Res Audio DAC with 4.4mm/6.35mm Headphone Output, Support PS4/PS5/XBOX, PCM32Bit/768kHz DSD512 DAC : Amazon.ca: Electronics

 

Review: ASR Review

 

You got 1.5 W to play with.  Will even drive the Moondrop Paras that require 1W for 80 db.

 

Edit: You will have pure unaltered sound all the way to hearing loss levels.  You're sitting at end-game with this all in one.

[Psittac]

Sybasonic SD-dac is the cheapest dac/amp I've found that is a little better on sound quality than a good onboard solution and has a little more power.  The Douk Audio U3 offers more power without a dac.  These are what I would consider the lowest bar for entry for either dac/amp or amp when power is a concern.  Where are you located?  If you are in the states there are many options in the sub $200 range

 

The only experience I have in the $150 open back category is the Philips Fidelio X3 which is an excellent headphone but certainly not a flat sounding headphone, it has an overall "warm" feeling to it and rather airy.  It has excellent imaging and soundstage but some people may not like the warmer tone to it.  This isn't extreme or anything, someone with no other point of reference wouldn't know the difference and just enjoy it and move on.  This is also an extremely easy to drive headphone.

 

As to the Apple Dongle DAC, I don't know why this is recommended by so many people, it has zero redeeming qualities in my experience.  I've purchased 3 of them and they don't provide adequate sound or power.

 

If you want to go to closed back I have far more experience in this price range.  First is the Rode NTH-100 which is a very pleasant headphone to listen to, it does have boosted upper bass/lower mid's so it has a little bit of the beats effect however it is done very well and leaves a crisp clean sound overall (and a huge bonus is it'll sound almost as good on a potato as a higher end dac and amp).  The AKG 361 or 361-BT is rather similar to it but the build is a little cheaper with some creaks in the headband and mounting mechanism, it also really want's some thick pads to reach full potential in sound and comfort but leather pads are what I'm using and I believe you said no leather, also it has boosted bass.  The Beyerdynamic DT770 is a great headphone as well, it is overall flatter than those I have listed but has that classic Beyerdynamic signature to it, almost like a light airy energy that is difficult to describe.  I've heard that the DT990 is very bright aka treble however I haven't heard them.  I have only had one pair of headphones that was so siblant and bright that I couldn't listen to them for more than 5-10 minutes before I was completely removed from the immersion and started to get a headache, that's the Phillips SHP9500 however that was only with onboard audio and a quality dac/amp fixed this.  The SHP9600 is supposed to have fixed this.  The DT880 is better than both of them but I have heard that the 250 ohm isn't very good, but my 600 ohm is fan freaking tastic.

 

My point here is that unless you've heard something, you'll have no frame of reference.  My first pair I thought was great as it was named a "reference" pair of headphones, the HiFi-man HE400i (2017) and I was good with those for a couple years until I heard the DT770 and realized what I was missing out on, I dove headfirst into headfi after that.  Today my HE400i are sitting in a drawer missing pads and I refuse to put them on because they are flat and lifeless compared to everything else, great soundstage and imaging but that's it.

 

There are many factors that go into a headphone, Beyerdynamic have amazing durability repairability and options for pad mods.  If you enjoy their sound signature you'll be in heaven.  The signature can be tweaked quite a bit with a large variety of different pads. (zreviews has an extensive dekoni pad video and his descriptions nailed it, I got 3 pairs of pads from that video and loved each set).

 

a couple key attributes to look into

 

Driveability: Higher ohm and lower sensitivity will be inherently harder to drive, when a solution is pushed to hard the sound quality goes down before the volume ticks out.  This manifests with bloated bass first followed by overall dullness.

 

Comfort and environment: Open Closed or Semi-Open.  Does your environment need a closed back?  Do you want a more open sound to an open back?  Closed tend to have more bass and open tend to have better soundstage.  But there are headphones in each category that can overlap.

 

Build Quality and Durability:  Some headphones are durable but have poor build quality, some the other way around.  Thing's like adjustability and lack of added noise like creeks and pops.  Also weight can be an issue.

 

Sound characteristics: This is by far the most vast category and also the most difficult one to agree on.  Do you prefer a bassy sound, open and airy, warm, bright, detailed, good imaging, soundstage etc etc.  This comes down mostly to preference and while some words can be used to describe the audio characteristics of a headphone, it's honestly something you need to experience to understand.

 

Repairability and Modability:  Some headphones have good support for repair parts, some have good customer support and some have neither.  Some headphones can be completely torn apart and tweaked to high heaven while others can't even have the pad's or cables changed.

 

This is a vast hobby and we haven't even gotten into dac's and amp's.  On this sub-forum our job is to ask some key questions and give our best assesment of what you would enjoy because most people want a solution not a wallet eating hobby.  I find that being negative about a product is less productive than offering an informed rational to why someone might enjoy a certain product.  The only exception to this rule is when it comes to gamer headsets as essentially the companies aren't trying to do much more than be at least acceptable, sometimes excellent at games and comms while forgetting about everything else.

[Psittac]

With all of that said

 

End game open back with the price of a DT990-250 and $200 dac and amp budget is Sennheiser 6xx and magni with internal dac, but to hit the sub $400 price point you need to be in the united states.

[AndyluvzDub]

On 1/6/2024 at 5:53 AM, emosun said:

does the computer not already have a headphone jack

Beyerdynamic DT990s require a dedicated headphone amp to power 250ohms. MOBO jack WILL NOT power these cans, audio will be very low

[AndyluvzDub]

If I'm not mistaken DT990s might come in a 90ohm variation eliminating the need for dedicated headphone amp

[emosun]

8 minutes ago, AndyluvzDub said:

Beyerdynamic DT990s require a dedicated headphone amp to power 250ohms. MOBO jack WILL NOT power these cans, audio will be very low

ill keep that in mind for the next time im born yesterday

[AndyluvzDub]

On 1/6/2024 at 9:42 AM, Cocococo said:

Every beyer headphone i've tried (it's a lot) has had at least one of these problems; overblown bass that screws the lower midrange, hyper piercing treble that hurts my ears, really badly featured for the price, way overpriced in the rare scenario Beyer makes something that sounds alright, uncomfortably hard clamping force that wears out the earpads far too quickly. 

 

It feels like a repeat of beats, lots of misleading marketing, main one being about "studio professional" equipment, recording studios just want headphones that will survive lots of falls, for doing any actual audio work they have speakers (and airpods lmao, modern mastering is a meme) the build quality is usually good but the sheer volume of vastly superior options available with in pretty much every market Beyer plays won't stop amazing me, nor will how many DT770's sold every year (AKG K361, K371 and Shure SRH440A and 840A are just as widely available and are much better closed backs up until Audeze Maxwell prices) 

Beyerdynamics are known for that "treble peak", some people love it (why?) some dislike it. Tube headphone amps are used to help out that infamous treble peak.

 

I personally use Sennheiser headphones, better well-rounded headphones imo 

[AndyluvzDub]

6 minutes ago, emosun said:

ill keep that in mind for the next time im born yesterday

This is what I use to power my Sennheiser Headphones

 

 https://drop.com/buy/drop-thx-aaa-789-linear-amplifier

 

My gaming audio is next-level, and my music experience is ear-melting

[emosun]

Just now, AndyluvzDub said:

My gaming audio is next-level, and my music experience is ear-melting

well that'll definitely explain why you need your headphones so loud.