Head phone amp

Boozebeard · 2 Jul 2013 at 01:45

Hello, I'm thinking about maybe replacing my soundcard with an external headphone amp. Last time I was looking at this stuff the zero dac/amp was pretty popular as a budget device. Is this still the case or is there something else I should be looking at?

I'm using 250ohm DT770

gregorius · 2 Jul 2013 at 07:21

A lot depends on how much you want to spend. But you might like to think about something from Fiio (the E07k or the E17) at under £100 or the Epiphany Acoustics EHP-02D at under £200/

Akagi · 2 Jul 2013 at 08:31

As above really. I have the FiiO E7 (the version that the E07K replaced) and its pretty good.

Yaayuh! · 2 Jul 2013 at 12:02

I use the FiiO E17 + E09K combo, i find it's a fantastic setup for the money.

I use Sennheiser HD650 but also use the DAC to output to my Marantz amp.

Demon · 2 Jul 2013 at 23:53

I'm also using an old fiio E7 into an E09K, with the gain set to high, and it absolutely makes my DT770s (also 250ohm) absolutely rock...

spacedskunk · 2 Jul 2013 at 23:55

The Arcam rPac is probably the best dedicated headphone+DAC setup without spending too much money, although I am a FiiO fan!

Boozebeard · 4 Jul 2013 at 01:26

Need something that takes toslink input as I do a lot of gaming and I would be wanting to still use a cheaper sound card to do 3D sound emulation when playing. Assuming 3D emulation works over digital output. Anybody know? And that's assuming I get a DAC amp combo. How would the FiiO E7 hooked up to a sound card perform? Would an external dac in this price range make much impact?

I'd really be looking for something around 100-150

Marsman · 4 Jul 2013 at 02:15

Surround sound emulation over SPDIF works, but you still need a sound card in order to send Dolby Headphone or the Creative equivalent to the DAC/headphone amp. You could replace your Titanium HD with a cheap card, maybe a Xonar DGX.

Boozebeard · 4 Jul 2013 at 17:13

Might just keep the sound card as the dac and add a FiiO E09K. Thoughts?

Marsman · 4 Jul 2013 at 20:19

No reason you shouldn't keep it. Only reason I mention it, is because you'd have a £140 sound card doing nothing more than what a much cheaper card will. Depends if you'd want to try recoup some money from the Titanium HD or not.

Boozebeard · 4 Jul 2013 at 20:56

Marsman said:
No reason you shouldn't keep it. Only reason I mention it, is because you'd have a £140 sound card doing nothing more than what a much cheaper card will. Depends if you'd want to try recoup some money from the Titanium HD or not.

Well if I just hook up a headphone amp to it via analogue then it will still be doing its job as a decent quality dac (at least as far as soundcards go).