Headphone+DAC for Sennheiser HD 650 Under £200

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I'm looking for either a separate DAC and separate headphone amp or a combination of the two - which ever is better value.

I currently use the headphone amp on my motherboard. The Asus Maximus Hero VIII has a ESS ES9023P DAC and 2Vrms headphone amp. I'm not sure how this would compare to an external amp in my price range.
Looking for the best music quality but will also use the headphones for games and films.

A question about headphone amps in general.
How are they usually connected to the source?
Can I connect a headphone amp to my AVR and then switch between different inputs on the AVR? (pc,wiiu,blu-ray player and tv set top box connected with HDMI).
My AVR (Denon AVR-X2200W) has USB ports on it but I don't know if you can output audio through them.

If the amp will only work when it is connected directly to the pc that would be ok because that's what I use for all music and the majority of other media but it would be nice to have everything connected to the amp.

Also, where do people try out headphones, amps and other audio equipment? I assume some shops will let you try stuff.
 
Extend your Budget if you can to £150 and grab a Geekout 1000 + Vali2. I doubt you will find anything as clean, resolving with better sound quality for a long time.
 
A Geekout 1000 may well be all he needs, it will drive pretty much any headphone and has an ESS Sabre 9018 DAC plus an XMOS USB controller.
Unless the OP is looking for some sound shaping via tubes, the GO 1000 should be more than up to the job.
 
Yeah that's true, but the Vali2 works better an amp with GO1000 as a DAC. I did like the 1000 on it's own though.

That said my Mojo isn't THAT much better than the GO and I actually find myself using the Mojo on it's own more than as a DAC hooked up to Vali2.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure what I'll get but I might go with the TEAC
UDH01 over the GO1000 because of the extra inputs.
Having said that my AVR doesn't seem to have any audio outputs that I can tell (only composite or HDMI out). I can connect my blu-ray player to an amp if it has a digital coax input.
I might also get the Vali2 + GO1000. It's not that much more than £200.
Anyone know any UK sites selling the schiit vali 2?
 
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electromod.co.uk are the official stockists for Schiit products in the UK but they are currently out of stock.
 
Ephemera said:
Apologies if I'm in the wrong but I thought schiit.eu.com was their new website for the UK?
Click to expand...

It's in stock on there.

If I were to use the analogue output of my AVR would it be a waste of time to connect it to a separate DAC and connect that to a separate amp? Would the digital to analogue conversion be done by the AVR?
 
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What confuses the issue is I think they are running a distribution centre from the Netherlands as well as the UK store, so what may be in stock in the Netherlands isn't necessarily available in the UK.

From what I gather, if it plugs into the mains then you need to get it from Electromod, otherwise it will come ready to plug into European sockets.
 
The Schiit EU site is the official site now. You do get an option of which plug type too. I just ordered a Magni 2 from them on Wednesday.

The Schiit EU address is in the UK, ships from the UK and communications from Mark so it's all UK based.
 
They must still be transitioning over then, hopefully they will pull their collective fingers out and get the Electromod site taken down or at least updated.
 
mof said:
It's in stock on there.

If I were to use the analogue output of my AVR would it be a waste of time to connect it to a separate DAC and connect that to a separate amp? Would the digital to analogue conversion be done by the AVR?
Click to expand...

Depends where all the equipment is, is your receiver next to your computer?
 
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