Headphone AMP/DAC

[Geotropism]

Hello everyone,

I've decided to sell my Logitech G633's because I want proper sound. I'm getting the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (80 Ohms) soon enough, and I was wondering what the best DAC/AMP under €100 would be. Just incase my onboard sound is already good enough to handle it, my motherboard is an Asus Strix Z-370F 

[STRMfrmXMN]

Your onboard sound is better than any combo for $100, at least for the money.

[Geotropism]

Even for the DT990 Pro, at 150 Ohms? There wont be any noticeable benefit in having something like a Soundblaster E1?

[STRMfrmXMN]

3 minutes ago, Geotropism said:

Even for the DT990 Pro, at 150 Ohms? There wont be any noticeable benefit in having something like a Soundblaster E1?

DT770s and DT990s are likely different in terms of needing an amp. I've listened to DT770s on an iMac and they've sounded fine and were plenty loud, not sure about the other models.

 

You can find out if you need an amp by purchasing the headphones, seeing if they get loud enough for your liking, and then buying an amp if not. If you end up buying an amp it would be good to get a standalone DAC as well or a combo unit that plugs into USB/SPDIF so you don't have double amping.

[Geotropism]

4 minutes ago, STRMfrmXMN said:

DT770s and DT990s are likely different in terms of needing an amp. I've listened to DT770s on an iMac and they've sounded fine and were plenty loud, not sure about the other models.

 

You can find out if you need an amp by purchasing the headphones, seeing if they get loud enough for your liking, and then buying an amp if not. If you end up buying an amp it would be good to get a standalone DAC as well or a combo unit that plugs into USB/SPDIF so you don't have double amping.

Thanks for your replies. I'm very ignorant when it comes to headphones, and I was wondering, do amps/dacs actually improve sound quality or do they only increase the sound volume?

[STRMfrmXMN]

14 minutes ago, Geotropism said:

Thanks for your replies. I'm very ignorant when it comes to headphones, and I was wondering, do amps/dacs actually improve sound quality or do they only increase the sound volume?

Amps can increase volume and color sound a bit while increasing sound depth. DACs just convert 1s and 0s to sound you can hear. The an upgraded DAC definitely helps a lot with sound though.

 

Both are a good thing to upgrade, but you can't upgrade your DAC system without an Amp for it to send power to your headphones with.

[Geotropism]

Just now, STRMfrmXMN said:

Amps can increase volume and color sound a bit while increasing sound depth. DACs just convert 1s and 0s to sound you can hear. The an upgraded DAC definitely helps a lot with sound though.

 

Both are a good thing to upgrade, but you can't upgrade your DAC system without an Amp for it to send power to your headphones with.

Once again, thanks for the help. What would you recommend for an AMP/DAC under €100?

[STRMfrmXMN]

8 minutes ago, Geotropism said:

Once again, thanks for the help. What would you recommend for an AMP/DAC under €100?

Your onboard sound.

 

Until you can get something like a Schiit Stack or an O2/ODAC then I don't think it's worth worrying about.