Headphone AMP/DAC

PapaLazaru

PapaLazaru

PapaLazaru

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I feel I may be covering old ground here, but is there anything actually worth considering around the £400 Mark than the MoJo?

It's mainly for desktop use. The only other possible option is the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200m, but it has a load of stuff I don't need (Bluetooth etc).

Anything else out there worth considering?
 
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JDS Element gets the simplicity vote quite often and sounds good too?

jdslabs.com

Element IV _ Shop JDS LABS

We’ve reimagined our flagship amp+DAC to create a listening experience you will notice and appreciate. Element IV operates on our third-generation XMOS hardware and firmware, blissfully integrated with our latest discrete optical encoder. You’ll hear perfect channel balance down to the black...
jdslabs.com jdslabs.com
 
There's a lot of options for that money from the likes of fiio, schiit, topping, smsl etc Audiolab also have the d7 releasing this month for 450.

The dacmagic 200 has a pretty weak headphone output so i would discount that.
 
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PapaLazaru said:
I feel I may be covering old ground here, but is there anything actually worth considering around the £400 Mark than the MoJo?

It's mainly for desktop use. The only other possible option is the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200m, but it has a load of stuff I don't need (Bluetooth etc).

Anything else out there worth considering?
Click to expand...

For £400 there are tons for options out there, this is one of my top picks for the price,

Atom 2 Bundle - Shop JDS Labs

We built Atom Amp 2 for those who demand more. Atom Amp 2 is like Atom Amp+ on steroids. It's housed in an aluminum chassis with an easier to grip knob, featuring both 4.4mm and 6.35mm headphone jacks, failsafe DC protection, and octo-buffers pumping out more than twice the power of Atom Amp+...
jdslabs.com jdslabs.com

This will give you completely transparent sound and power your 660s amazingly well, lot of people including myself use this as a 'basic reference setup', I've ran the HD650's on this and it beats many amps way above it's price range, also don't worry about it coming from the states, the support from JDS Labs is first rate, email response is very quick and quite often the founder himself answers them, I recently had a JDS Labs Element 2 that was faulty and even though I wasn't the original owner they offered to send out a free replacement express delivery from the states!

If you want to grab something local (UK) value chi-fi then here are a few options for you,

Fosi Audio SK02 £84

Fiio K11 £119 or R2R version around £149 (R2R isn't inherently better, it's a preference)

Xduoo XA-02 £199

Don't be fooled by the low price, all of these will power the 660s like a champ!

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Something a bit more expensive,

Hifiman EF499 £299

SMSL DO400 £429

Fiio K9 £475 (if you google can get £374.99 open box) <---- This is a bargain!!! for this price this would probably be my top choice.

Xduoo TA-22 DAC/Tube £489

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Many more options out there!

You mentioned the Mojo, (I'm assuming Mojo 2), this has a special place in my heart, right now you can grab one from Peter Tyson for £305.10 VIP price (you just need to be subbed to emails), this is arguably imo the best sounding dac/amp combo under a grand, it's genuinely phenomenal, but unfortunately it isn't without it's foibles, Micro-USB charging/power, non-intuitive menu system, small, no rotary volume dial, your limited to 600mw into 30 ohms, although it powers my HD650's very well.

The pluses are that is does have battery protection if you want to use as a desktop amp/dac and powered on all the time, lossless EQ, it's portable which can be very handy, and also the two 3.5mm outputs can be used as dual lineouts, this is great if you want to use the Mojo as a dedicated DAC pushing audio to a headphone amp and a separate stereo integrated amp for speakers.
 
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Thanks all. What I am looking for has one single job, a DAC to power headphones. Nothing else as I have powered speakers already (Ruark Audio MR1 MK2). I'll have alook at the options you havd kindly provided :)

FYI it will be replacing a knackered Marantz HD DAC1, I am looking for at least the same quality.
 
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Yeah D7 I saw back when it was announced, looks rather excellent. Wouldn't mind one sliding across my desk :p
 
The Audiolab D7 @ 500mW into 33Ω is leaving a little to be desired on the power front for a desktop amp, especially considering the cost, remember the 660's are 300ohms, there are dongle DACs that provide more power than that! it's not up to scratch for this day and age, like the Audiolab M-DAC it seems like it might make a better DAC than a headphone amplifier.
 
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The FiiO K17 does actually look really good, the streaming part might be half baked and the silver defo isn't looking too nice with the silver on grey print, but the black one does look nice with the same chipset and loads of EQ features to boot.
 
Things change I've changed said:
The Audiolab D7 @ 500mW into 33Ω is leaving a little to be desired on the power front for a desktop amp, especially considering the cost, remember the 660's are 300ohms, there are dongle DACs that provide more power than that! it's not up to scratch for this day and age, like the Audiolab M-DAC it seems like it might make a better DAC than a headphone amplifier.
Click to expand...
That's still more than enough for the 660's and 99% of headphones out there.
 
Planars would be affected, my ~700mW x2 output on the Topping MX3S for example would trip the amp's protection mode randomly which was the reason I ended up having to upgrade it, this happened with both Ananda Nano and Arya Stealth. 16-32 ohm headphones are too sensitive for that kind of power and 1400mW+ was needed to avoid this happening.
 
Thats more down to the design/implementation of the circuit than specifically the power output vs impedance. Ive been using 13ohm aeons for years with their old qdac and never had that issue.
 
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PapaLazaru said:
I feel I may be covering old ground here, but is there anything actually worth considering around the £400 Mark than the MoJo?

It's mainly for desktop use. The only other possible option is the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200m, but it has a load of stuff I don't need (Bluetooth etc).

Anything else out there worth considering?
Click to expand...
The Marantz HD Amp1
 
PapaLazaru said:
Haven't pulled the trigger yet as read about the new Topping DX5 11, so waiting for some more reviews, but it looks pretty good for £299.
Click to expand...

A few of the posters on here who have owned or still have that one; @mrk @Raymond Lin and at least one other who can give you first hand experience. It does sound like a good unit, potentially let down by some firmware/software issues, but I'm not an owner on this.

Personally you're so close to it's potential release that I would wait for both the new Fiio K13 R2R and K15 unless you have to buy something now in-which case you've already been given some good options. The only other model I'd add to the list would be the iFi Zen DAC (any Version). Will pair very well with the HD 660S and has expansion capability with the separate CAN. And I say that as a current owner of the HD6XX Signature stack.
 
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