New to Audio Gear – Got ATH-R70x for $70, Need Help with AMP/DAC Setup

[hefee223]

I got a great deal on the ATH-R70x, only $70 through a bid, and I actually won it. I don’t care about the highest quality audio or audiophile stuff. To be honest, I’ll mostly use them for gaming, YouTube, and work calls.

I want to replace my current Arctis Nova 7 headset, and while researching, I realized that the R70x probably needs an AMP/DAC to work properly. I don’t want to spend much, just want something cheap that works reliably.

After looking around, I landed on the Fosi Audio K5 Pro. It seems like a solid choice, even though I saw it doesn’t fully power the R70x's 470 ohms but honestly, I don’t think I care too much about that. That said, I’m still a bit confused and dont know if what my opinion above is right. I’ve only been learning about DACs, amps, and ohms for a day, so I’m not sure I’ve understood everything correctly.

Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

[Psittac]

Nice pull!  Those are some great headphones, I have the refine's and absolutely love them.  Very light weight and great sound quality.

 

If you aren't going to be picking apart the sound quality then I say run them onboard.  They are rather sensitive headphones but high ohm's.  I've never been one to understand amplifier requirements.  I know that there is something to gain from a higher end dac and amp but I always just buy overpowered amps.

 

The first thing you'll notice if your headphones are underpowered is that the bass will get bloomy and bloated.  But again since you won't be doing any sort of "critical" listening it won't matter.  Honestly at the ohm's of those headphones it doesn't look like the Fosi is going to be much of an improvement over onboard.

 

I've even had my beyerdynamic DT880 600ohm run "good enough" with onboard audio.

 

Again, I'd say just try it first and see how it does.

 

*edit: Also most gains that you get from a higher quality dac and amp are lost when you listen to compressed audio anyways so you shouldn't be missing out on much if anything

[hefee223]

7 minutes ago, Psittac said:

Nice pull!  Those are some great headphones, I have the refine's and absolutely love them.  Very light weight and great sound quality.

 

If you aren't going to be picking apart the sound quality then I say run them onboard.  They are rather sensitive headphones but high ohm's.  I've never been one to understand amplifier requirements.  I know that there is something to gain from a higher end dac and amp but I always just buy overpowered amps.

 

The first thing you'll notice if your headphones are underpowered is that the bass will get bloomy and bloated.  But again since you won't be doing any sort of "critical" listening it won't matter.  Honestly at the ohm's of those headphones it doesn't look like the Fosi is going to be much of an improvement over onboard.

 

I've even had my beyerdynamic DT880 600ohm run "good enough" with onboard audio.

 

Again, I'd say just try it first and see how it does.

 

*edit: Also most gains that you get from a higher quality dac and amp are lost when you listen to compressed audio anyways so you shouldn't be missing out on much if anything

Thank you, that's good to hear. I'll keep them on board I guess for now once I get them and see how it goes. I just saw that the sound may be low or might have hissing and I had no idea and just wanted them to work better than my worn out gaining headphones and open back is exactly what I wanted since I hate not hearing my surroundings when I'm at my desktop.

[jaslion]

11 minutes ago, hefee223 said:

Thank you, that's good to hear. I'll keep them on board I guess for now once I get them and see how it goes. I just saw that the sound may be low or might have hissing and I had no idea and just wanted them to work better than my worn out gaining headphones and open back is exactly what I wanted since I hate not hearing my surroundings when I'm at my desktop.

Try it an if its satisfactory keep it! If not satisfactory then get a nice budget amp just dony overspend

[hefee223]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

Try it an if its satisfactory keep it! If not satisfactory then get a nice budget amp just dony overspend

Asrock A520M-HVS AMD A520 - this is my motherboard do you by any chance know or can tell me how I can check if the DAC would be "good enough"? I'm still trying to learn a bit about these things

[saintlouisbagels]

3 hours ago, hefee223 said:

Asrock A520M-HVS AMD A520 - this is my motherboard do you by any chance know or can tell me how I can check if the DAC would be "good enough"? I'm still trying to learn a bit about these things

Buy the $9 Apple USB-C to 3.5mm headphone adapter. It is a known good DAC with good output strength.

I use them for all of my headphones $10-$300.

 

If it sounds no different from your motherboard, then your motherboard is good enough.

Do not bother reading about amplifiers, DACs, etc. Almost every person does not understand what they're talking about, but they're just parroting other users with absolute confidence.

[GoldenSound]

5 hours ago, hefee223 said:

I got a great deal on the ATH-R70x, only $70 through a bid, and I actually won it. I don’t care about the highest quality audio or audiophile stuff. To be honest, I’ll mostly use them for gaming, YouTube, and work calls.

I want to replace my current Arctis Nova 7 headset, and while researching, I realized that the R70x probably needs an AMP/DAC to work properly. I don’t want to spend much, just want something cheap that works reliably.

After looking around, I landed on the Fosi Audio K5 Pro. It seems like a solid choice, even though I saw it doesn’t fully power the R70x's 470 ohms but honestly, I don’t think I care too much about that. That said, I’m still a bit confused and dont know if what my opinion above is right. I’ve only been learning about DACs, amps, and ohms for a day, so I’m not sure I’ve understood everything correctly.

Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

Honestly, it really would not make sense to spend much money on a DAC/Amp here.

Get the Fiio KA11 as that will have far more power than they need, it's great, and it's about $20. Don't spend any more than that. Any further funds would be MUCH better spent on a headphone upgrade

(Note: Apple USB C to 3.5mm adapter is also fine, but they break easily, are volume limited on android devices and in the EU, and the KA11 is more powerful and objectively a fair bit better for $10 extra plus far more durable)

[hefee223]

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Edited June 22 by hefee223

[hefee223]

1 hour ago, GoldenSound said:

Honestly, it really would not make sense to spend much money on a DAC/Amp here.

Get the Fiio KA11 as that will have far more power than they need, it's great, and it's about $20. Don't spend any more than that. Any further funds would be MUCH better spent on a headphone upgrade

(Note: Apple USB C to 3.5mm adapter is also fine, but they break easily, are volume limited on android devices and in the EU, and the KA11 is more powerful and objectively a fair bit better for $10 extra plus far more durable)

 

1 hour ago, saintlouisbagels said:

Buy the $9 Apple USB-C to 3.5mm headphone adapter. It is a known good DAC with good output strength.

I use them for all of my headphones $10-$300.

 

If it sounds no different from your motherboard, then your motherboard is good enough.

Do not bother reading about amplifiers, DACs, etc. Almost every person does not understand what they're talking about, but they're just parroting other users with absolute confidence.

Thank you. I found a good auction and put a bid on a AUDIENT iD14 MKII for $30 so if I snipe that I guess It's all good, otherwise I will likely just buy one of these cheap dongles suggested here and use that should be good enough for me it seems.

[Psittac]

I'm kind of a stand alone around here, I believe that gains can be made with a proper dac and amp.  That doesn't change the fact that for what you're doing it won't matter.  If you're listening to lossless music then it can matter.  There are diminishing returns though on dac's and amp's.  The best money is spent on the headphones to begin with.  But a clean dac and a powerful amp are the next step after pad's.  Biggest improvement's come in this order Headphones -> Pad's -> Amp -> DAC but again only if listening to lossless content.

 

I have multiple dac's and multiple amp's and I can hear a difference on all of them depending on the headphones.

 

Some headphones do not reflect what is driving them, some show improvements really well.  I haven't tried my ATH-R70x on anything but an SMSL SU-9 and Topping A70 dac and amp combo because I'm done testing thing's and learning what affects headphones and what doesn't.  I'm tired of changing my setup.

 

The Apple Dongle DAC IMO is a turd, I mean it's ok but it's colored to my ears.  I have much better options and can tell a difference without a doubt.  In my book it's a good way to see if your ears can pick up on a change from onboard to the dongle dac.  If you like it more, or dislike it over the onboard then you get a glimpse of what impact a dac and amp can do.  I've bought like 4 of them and just do not like the characteristics.  But it's a good test for ~$10usd.

 

My go to budget recommendation is the SybaSonic SD-DAC, it's on par with high end motherboard audio and very cheap.  I tested several "budget" dac/amp combo's and that one stood out as a champ, only being beaten by the schiit fulla and tied with onboard audio.  There were some issues with the 600ohm headphones and volume but everything else was fine.  So if volume is your biggest concern I wouldn't worry about getting something as these are much easier to drive.

[GoldenSound]

On 6/23/2025 at 1:26 AM, Psittac said:

I'm kind of a stand alone around here, I believe that gains can be made with a proper dac and amp.

Oh so am I, hell right now I'm using a $5k DAC and $10k amp 

 

But there are some great options for very little money nowadays too